Contra 4 -- DS

[Skulkraken]

I mentioned this in the random entertainment thread, but Konami apparently announced the development of a new Contra game about a month or two ago. I didn't know about it myself until this (http://pixel-arts.org/pixelation/index.php?PHPSESSID=cf354604ead2ea35b11e4f886d168c 78&topic=4324.0;all) thread turned up in another forum I go to. Konami's handed off the actual development to an western company, Wayforward. The team seems to be aiming to have the game be at least as difficult as the original Contra. This leaves me wondering one question: how hard *is* the original Contra? (I never actually played it.)

[Modus Ponens]

It's pretty hard. There are often a lot of bullets flying around and explosions here and there, and of course one hit is too much for your frail human form. Of course, the well-known Konami Code bumps your chances up tenfold, outfitting the player with thirty lives instead of three. If you manage to burn through all thirty, just Continue and you've got thirty more.

Incidentally, I would be surprised if developer WayForward Technologies were not named after Way Forward Technologies, the computer company for which Michael, one of the protagonists of the magnificent Douglas Adams book Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, works.

...Love that book.

[MottZilla]

The original Contra is not that hard. Contra 3 Alien Wars, now that's hard! And the original Contra, while it'll give the unexperienced a challenge, Contra 3 is what gives the experienced a challenge. Contra 4 is something I'm looking forward too. Also wondering about this rumor that a new 2D metroid game for DS is supposively coming.

[Warlock]

The thing about Contra though is that it was always designed more as a co-op experience. If you have two players, original Contra is not *that* hard. By yourself, it's pretty decently challenging. But in either case, it's still a decently hard game, at least harder than most games these days. It was designed as an arcade quarter-muncher afterall.

And yes, Contra III is crazy hard.

[MottZilla]

But if one of the two players sucks, it only makes it harder. Like the waterfall one player can scroll the screen up killing the other player at the bottom.

[Cloral]

Yeah I always found Contra harder as a 2 player game. In single player, you can learn the levels and where the enemies tend to spawn and basically shoot them before they ever pose any threat to you. In 2 player, you're never 100% sure what your buddy is going to do, and his scrolling (or lack thereof) of the screen can screw up what you're trying to do.

As for the difficulty of the original Contra, I recall seeing it near the top of a 'hardest games of all time' list somewhere. At the same time though, I can beat it without dying quite easily. So it depends. Once you learn the levels and what to do in each situation it really isn't that hard. If you're just reacting to everything though, it is a hell of a lot more difficult.