This game epitomises the late 80s action-platformer. Like so many games of its time, Contra started life in the arcades. In other words, it was designed in a way that kept you inserting as many coins as possible. And what's the best way to do that? Well, to keep you dying of course. Konami achieved this for Contra not strictly by making the game impossibly hard, but by enforcing one-shot kills on the player. The fact that you only ever had a limited amount of coins in the arcade gave these games an urgency, forcing the arcade gamer of the era to hone their reflexes to levels that the modern gamer simply doesn't require. When a game is quite literally pulling the money out of your pocket, then you're going to try a hell of a lot harder to get the most bang for your buck. Contra is up there with the likes of R-Type and 1942 for games that were designed for the hardcore arcade crowd, with its subsequent console port barely easing up on the intense gameplay. Playing these games today is like being thrown into a gladiatorial arena when your only fighting experience comes from boxercise.
Gamer, Researcher of strange things.
I'm a writer-editor hybrid whose writings on video games, technology and movies can be found across the internet. I've even ventured into the realm of current affairs on occasion but, unable to face reality, have retreated into expatiating on things on screens instead.
