And, as well as being a
gaming saviour, the NES was the home to a large
number of great games. Two genres seemingly
dominated the NES's software library: platformers
like Super Mario, Bubble
Bobble and Castlevania,
and shoot-em-ups like Gradius, Salamander
and Contra. Perhaps
this was largely due to the suitability of
platformers and shooters to the world of 2D
(something the NES excelled in). At any rate,
regardless of the reason for the popularity of
shooters at the time, one thing is certain: the
shooters available on the NES were ground
breaking, and highly enjoyable.
One of the masters of the NES shoot-em-up was Konami.
They created the hugely popular Gradius and
Salamander games, and also the legendary platform
shooter Contra. Following the success of the
first Contra game on the NES and in the arcades,
Konami soon went to work creating a sequel. That
sequel is Super C. It provides a
greater challenge, and better level design than
the original Contra. And as well as being a
better game, it also managed to help boost
Contra's popularity further.
One quick warning on Super C: If you don't have
quick reflexes or plenty of caffeine to fuel your
gaming, you may find Super C pretty hard to play.
It's a game with a high difficulty level, not
unlike Irem's classic shooter
R-Type. In other
words, it's BLOODY HARD! Fear not, though. With
plenty of practice, it's possible to master the
gameplay, and memorise the levels sufficiently
enough to kill the Red Falcon, and complete the
game. Just be prepared to swear a lot if you're
not a seasoned gamer..
The majority of Super C's gameplay is traditional
side-scrolling stuff, with the odd vertically
scrolling overhead level in the vein of
Ikari Warriors to add some variety. The
pace of the game is pretty manic and unrelenting,
but thankfully the controls are extremely tight
and respsonsive, giving you a fighting chance.
One neat feature Super C has, and which many of
its more recent imitators (Metal Slug etc) lack,
is the ability
to fire your gun in all 8 directions, even while
jumping. It's important to master utilising this
ability, because it means you can jump to dodge
enemy fire, while simultaneously taking out the
bad guy responsible. And when the going gets
tough later in the game, the more of an edge you
pack, the better...
The graphics in Super C are great by 8-bit
standards. The heroes are smoothly animated, as
are their adversaries, and the characters and
backgrounds all show great attention to detail in
their construction. As the game progresses, the
environments you traverse get a little weirder
(think fleshy alien "walls" and
"floors", and mouths trying to spit
acid at you), but they still look very cool and
help maintain the creepy atmosphere Konami
attempted to create in the Contra series. The bosses
are also a graphical highlight - they're big,
they're bad, and they're detailed and smooth
moving. All in all, Super C is a graphical
tour-de-force by NES standards.
Sonically, Super C is also a
masterpiece. The soundtrack resounds with techno
and rock beats that keep your adrenaline pumping,
and your senses on edge. I found myself humming
the tunes from the game long after I finished
playing it. That is as good a sign as any that
Super C's soundtrack kicks ass! The sound effects
are the usual PCM generated grunts and explosions
we are used to hearing from the NES, and although
they aren't anything amazing, they get the job
done. The excellent and highly atmoshperic music
more than makes up for the mediocre sound effects
anyway, so there's no real reason to complain
about Super C's audio at the end of the day. The
soundtrack is great, and the SFX get the job
done, and that's what matters.
All in all, Super C is one of the all-time
classic NES shooters. It betters it's
predecessor, Contra, in all respects, and gets a
big thumbs up from yours truly. It's truly one of
Konami's best games of all time, and provides a
hefty clallenge, so it's a must-play for shooter
fans. It's just a pity the Contra series seems to
have died recently (mainly due to the original
Contra development team leaving Konami to form Treasure),
because if Konami could keep the series going, it
would probably not have lost as much credibility
with hardcore gamers as it has over the last few
years...
Remember Konami: Contra: Legacy Of War
and C: The Contra Adventure do
NOT constitute true Contra gameplay. Either get
it right, or leave the series to rest in peace.
No Contra at all is still better than
sub-standard trash that just belittles the
reputation the series once had as a classic game!
Understand?!?
At any rate, despite the Contra series now being
seemingly well and truly dead, it's still
possible to replay the original Contra trilogy on
the NES and SNES and have a DAMN good time. Super
C is just how Contra SHOULD be. A tightly
executed piece of 2D wizardry, not some lousy 3D
hunk of trash which reeks of sheer developmental
incompetence. The former Contra team are gaming
geniuses, and games like Super C will demonstrate
just why that's so...
Track yourself down a copy of Super C and a
working NES and try it out for yourself. If
you're a shooter fan, you're bound to fall in
love with Contra's classic gameplay style. And,
even if you've never played a shooter before,
Contra is still a fun game to play, and may just
be the game that converts you into a shoot-em-up
fanatic...
SUPER C scores a 5/5 rating from yours truly, and
is a definite must-play! Play it. Play it now!!!
Score out of 5
Luke O'Sullivan
Luke is the webmaster of
Ox Man's Probotector Base
Tres excellent review..
thanks Luke! As Luke said NES Cuper Contra is
definitely one of the highlights of the series -
and anyone who ever had the privilege of playing
the arcade game (you can also try it in the MAME
emulator) will realise what a good version it is.
Another one of my favourites is Contra Hard Corps
on the Megadrive/Genesis (It was renamed
Probotector in Europe). Contra 3 (aka Contra: The
Alien Wars or Super Probotector) wasn't quite as
good as the latter I think, but still a darn
sight better than the awful Legacy of War
travesty on Playstation. How about a new 'proper'
2D Contra Konami?! Mike
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Super
Contra, also known as Contra 2 (and best known to
Europeans in its roboticised incarnation of
Probotector 2) was one of Konami's finest hours
on the NES.. 
Long
before the days of 3D graphics and texture
mapping, gamers played games via a rather
wonderful console called the Nintendo
Entertainment System (NES). The NES was the
system which actually managed to be largely
responsible for saving the gaming industry,
following the financial disaster which faced many
gaming companies as the golden age of gaming drew
to a close. The NES brought gamers a powerful
(for the time) system, and inventive games. This
managed to revive the interest of many gamers who
had tired of the glut of mediocre games that had
ultimately desroyed the once-popular Atari 2600
(Pac-Man or ET, anyone?)
(Above) The title screen is
probably the
most sedate part of Super C...
(Above) The Contra soldier is
dropped into enemy
territory, completely oblivious as to what awaits
him.
"Bring it on!" he naively yells.
SUPER CONTRA
STORY
An evil alien entity called the Red
Falcon landed
on Earth, and had attempted to conquer Earth by
utilising alien minions and robotic
war machines to
kill anyone who opposed it. Two marines were
sent in to stop the Red Falcon, by striking at
its
South American island base, and
were successful
in defeating the Red Falcon and its forces. Or,
at
least they thought so...
The Red Falcon had actually been merely wounded
in the attack, and after it had healed itself, it
concocted a new plan for world domination.
It
called on its galactic allies, and together they
took
mental control of US army forces,
using a mind-
altering chemical agent. The Red Falcon
gained
control of these US soldiers, and then began its
second campaign toward
conquering the planet Earth.
The marines responsible for destroying the Red
Falcon's previous form were called back to active
duty, and flown into the Red Falcon's base by
Helicopter, with one single order:
destroy the Red Falcon and its forces,
once and for all. You take control of these
marines, and guide them through 8 levels of
frantic and challenging side-scrolling mayhem
in their quest to kill the evil alien warlord and
end its reign of destruction.
(Above) A soldier under the Red
Falcon's control tries to
avoid fire by hiding behind sandbags. Too bad for
him
that I can just shoot straight through them..
The Level 1 boss: an army helicopter. It hovers
overhead,
firing down at you with its machine guns, before
landing
briefly to throw enemy soldiers at you, and then
becoming
airborne again. The helicopter isn't that hard to
beat, so
use it as target practice before things get
harder.
(Above) Level 2 is an overhead, upward scrolling
affair,
resembling Gunsmoke and Mercs - two classic
Capcom
shooters. The first big nuisance to show up is
the level
boss: a tank armed with three gunners, and a
bizarre
cattle-prod. Shoot at it from the side, where you
are less
likely to be hit by incoming bullets. (Looks
a bit like
SMASH TV here eh? Mike)
(Above) Level 3 sees you take to the jungle for a
bit of
guerrilla warfare. Soldiers attempt to take you
out from
above, as they are often hiding in trees. A bit
of jumping at
upward shooting at the right time, and they'll be
biting
the dust before you know it.
Level 3
mid-boss: A cable TV satelite...with guns, and
legs. Shoot at his torso, and when he attempts to
stomp
you, jump on top of him. Repeat this tactic to
toastify
Mr. Satelite Dish. (Hey I remember this chap
being in Contra Hard Corps! - Mike).
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