Contra has a reputation for being way too hard and that's probably because it's way too hard. This game is unforgiving, and on your first play, you'll be doing better than most if you can clear the first level even with all the continues the game offers you. I couldn't as a kid and I didn't as an adult either, but eventually I beat the game -- more on that in a minute.
It's a side-scrolling shooter with nice, tight controls, and good stage layouts that are never particularly unfair although they may feel that way at first. The one hit deaths when so many bullets and enemies come onto the screen feel particularly frustrating, but once you learn the patterns, you realize the game is actually very generous about it. Mostly. There are some bad egg examples of things that you could hardly be prepared for, such as the pressure panel (?) spike walls that shoot out in one of the later levels, killing you instantly if you don't know you need to stop perfectly in front of where they'll drop to shoot them open.
Anyway, about beating the game -- I rarely like to use save states but now that I've gotten older I sometimes allow them, but I always have to find a way to do it that isn't going to make me feel disappointed or frustrated or impatient with the game. For me, I have noticed that my opinion of a game is generally lowered by usage of save-states, and sometimes even leads me to have a false perception of the difficulty of the game (it's so hard because I've cheated my way forwards into an area I haven't practiced properly). Contra provided a great opportunity to tinker with it and discover the method of using save states that I still use on games now and enjoy. In short: I only save stated at the end of any level I was able to clear without dying a single time, pushing my checkpoint back repeatedly. If I did die, I'd go ahead and play out my continues before reloading.
Anyway, by doing this, then going back and playing the game again with no save states at all, I found I had learned to beat the game in its entirety without the need for them, by the end. It was a magical feeling, and probably one of my favorite gaming accomplishments of all time -- I still occasionally go back and clear it through just to relive how fun it is to be able to do it and keep the skill in my tool-belt (for no reason whatsoever other than self-satisfaction).
So anyway, some may consider Contra's extreme difficulty to be a negative, but I would argue that its extreme difficulty coupled with just being a good feeling game to play makes it a very trying challenge with a huge pay off. I'm really glad I beat it, and it'll always be a standout gaming memory for me. I'm also glad it was so difficult that it necessitated me finding a way to use save-states that I could be okay with in my own gaming (as a training method for being able to clear the game legitimately). It's the game that broke me a little, but by doing so it taught me a better way to appreciate retro games.
4.5 - Excellent: The main stock of my list of "greatest games ever"
It's a side-scrolling shooter with nice, tight controls, and good stage layouts that are never particularly unfair although they may feel that way at first. The one hit deaths when so many bullets and enemies come onto the screen feel particularly frustrating, but once you learn the patterns, you realize the game is actually very generous about it. Mostly. There are some bad egg examples of things that you could hardly be prepared for, such as the pressure panel (?) spike walls that shoot out in one of the later levels, killing you instantly if you don't know you need to stop perfectly in front of where they'll drop to shoot them open.
Anyway, about beating the game -- I rarely like to use save states but now that I've gotten older I sometimes allow them, but I always have to find a way to do it that isn't going to make me feel disappointed or frustrated or impatient with the game. For me, I have noticed that my opinion of a game is generally lowered by usage of save-states, and sometimes even leads me to have a false perception of the difficulty of the game (it's so hard because I've cheated my way forwards into an area I haven't practiced properly). Contra provided a great opportunity to tinker with it and discover the method of using save states that I still use on games now and enjoy. In short: I only save stated at the end of any level I was able to clear without dying a single time, pushing my checkpoint back repeatedly. If I did die, I'd go ahead and play out my continues before reloading.
Anyway, by doing this, then going back and playing the game again with no save states at all, I found I had learned to beat the game in its entirety without the need for them, by the end. It was a magical feeling, and probably one of my favorite gaming accomplishments of all time -- I still occasionally go back and clear it through just to relive how fun it is to be able to do it and keep the skill in my tool-belt (for no reason whatsoever other than self-satisfaction).
So anyway, some may consider Contra's extreme difficulty to be a negative, but I would argue that its extreme difficulty coupled with just being a good feeling game to play makes it a very trying challenge with a huge pay off. I'm really glad I beat it, and it'll always be a standout gaming memory for me. I'm also glad it was so difficult that it necessitated me finding a way to use save-states that I could be okay with in my own gaming (as a training method for being able to clear the game legitimately). It's the game that broke me a little, but by doing so it taught me a better way to appreciate retro games.
4.5 - Excellent: The main stock of my list of "greatest games ever"