Honestly, Contra might be one of the most well-tuned and tightest games on the NES outside of like, Super Mario Bros. Fantastic level design and super solid controls really make this one of the all-timers on the console.
But I think what stands out is the difficulty, which hits a real sweet spot of being tough but still pretty doable. It can be a bit maddening at points, and the game isn't always ENTIRELY fair (fuck that one turret guy near the start of Stage 7. Pure cheap shot) but every time you play, you make that little bit more progress, and when the game only takes half an hour to beat, well, it becomes real easy to want to see it through.
There's a reason why AVGN always used this as his go-to "good video game"
But I think what stands out is the difficulty, which hits a real sweet spot of being tough but still pretty doable. It can be a bit maddening at points, and the game isn't always ENTIRELY fair (fuck that one turret guy near the start of Stage 7. Pure cheap shot) but every time you play, you make that little bit more progress, and when the game only takes half an hour to beat, well, it becomes real easy to want to see it through.
There's a reason why AVGN always used this as his go-to "good video game"