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"Twenty years ago, the world learned the meaning of ‘awesome’. The original Contra hit arcades, but didn’t truly gain popularity until the series came to the NES. The series continued to Super Contra, and Contra III: The Alien Wars, both of which maintained the amazing level of quality held in the first. Eventually moving on to the Game Boy and Game Boy Advance, Genesis, PS1 and PS2, the series quickly deteriorated into nothing but a name that Konami slapped onto poorly developed titles to spur some level of interest and sales. But despite the poor quality, Super Contra and Contra III were still burned into gamers’ memories as titles that deserved such high respect. To celebrate the original’s 20th Anniversary, Konami has published a brand new numbered iteration of the series - the first in 15 years. Contra 4 is a complete throwback to the original game design that made the series so memorable, with the ‘4′ meaning to symbolize the series’ return to the quality that was found in the original three games. But has the Old School design aged gracefully enough to warrant another title?"
Full Source:
NWaffle via
Gonintendo
"November 30,2007 - When it comes to arcade-style classics, Contra ranks incredibly high on that list. There aren't too many games that feature the sheer challenge that this non-stop shoot-em-up series definitely possesses. The series has been making gamers throw their controllers at their television sets for over 20 years now. To celebrate this frustration, Konami has released Contra 4 on the Nintendo DS, and it's every bit as satisfying as it is challenging."
Full Source:
Gamer 2.0
"After a decade-plus of 3D missteps, Konami finally delivers a Contra title worthy of succeeding the SNES classic, The Alien Wars. One part homage and one part evolution, Contra 4 is two screens of delicious torture.
At first glance, Contra 4 seems like it would be a better fit for the Sony PSP. The wide screen could have accommodated the action better and the ability to choose between analog or digital controls would have been welcome. Konami, however, saw the potential that lay in the DS' dual screens and took the opportunity--to double the difficulty."
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Gamepro
"They weren't joking when they said Contra will finally go back to its roots and bring us all the things we loved about the 2D side-scrolling shooter. As fans of Bill Rizer and Lance Bean, just imagine our surprise when Konami announced Contra 4 for the Nintendo DS back in June. It was to be developed by WayForward Technologies, known for the facepalm inducing Ping Pals, but we did not lose hope."
Full Source:
QJ.net
"There was a time when videogames were the domain of men. Well, okay, boys -- but manly boys. And these manly boys played manly games. Games where dudes that looked like Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone ran around and shot everything in sight: aliens, robots, army dudes -- everything. There weren't any sniper rifles or cover locations or rocket jumps or any of those modern-day distractions; just hordes of bad guys that needed their bellies filled with lead (or lasers if they were available)."
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Gamespy
"Talk about taking me back to the old days. Quite simply Contra 4 does everything to pay homage to the old 2-D sidescrollers while avoiding the pitfalls of copying them exactly. I mean let's be honest, those games WERE great, but they definitely had problems that we really wouldn't (or shouldn't) tolerate with new games these days. So yea, go out and buy Contra 4 post-haste (that means like now). Why, you ask? Let me count the ways…."
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Siliconera
"Well, lo and behold, it looks like Dyson has finally decided to come out of writing retirement to make a post. It sure has been awhile folks, hasn’t it?
Since it’s been awhile, you may be asking yourself, “What could possibly draw the ever-elusive grumpy old gamer away from his reclusive retro hideaway?” Well folks, it shouldn’t come as too much of a surprise that the only reason that I’m bearing the harsh light of the world of current-gen gaming, is to talk about something retro."
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Destructoid
"Let's forget everything in the Contra series except Contra, Super C, and Contra 3. Now, let's pretend that someone was going to make a sequel to the third Contra game, in 2D, using all the old-school weapons and taking notes from the classic level designs. That's basically what we have with Contra 4, a reboot of the series that takes many cues from the older games while still giving you a reason to play through. The question is, after asking for a game exactly like this for so long, are we sure that this is actually what we wanted?"
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Ars Technica via
Gonintendo
"The first time I played Contra 4, I died within a few seconds, having ignored the bullet that sneak-attacked my ankle. I remarked at the accuracy of the death sound and at the humorous Duke Nukem-style taunt that my dude issued afterward, and tried again. The same result. During that first session, I lost all of my lives before the halfway point of the first level."
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DS Fanboy
"When I first heard that Contra 4 was being developed for the DS, I doubted that the game would be any good. However, it turns out that my fears were premature. Not only has WayForward (under direction from Konami) created a game that I can wholeheartedly recommend to fans of classic Contra, I'm even prepared to recommend it to everyone else as well, although not without a few caveats."
Full Source:
Nintendo World Report
"I think the Contra series holds a spot in many a gamer’s heart. Anyone that owned an NES definitely poured a lot of hours into the game. There’s nothing like jumping into Contra with a friend and fighting your way start to finish. Sure, some of us used the infamous Konami code to make it through the game, but it doesn’t make us bad people! Following shortly after that, Super C gave us more of the same Contra fun, albeit a little more insane. This is actually the highlight of the series for me. Just recently I was at a party where all the guys slowly gravitated towards a Super C fest. We all took our turns trying to make it start to finish without any continues. It may not seem like a hard thing to do, but when you have a crowd of people watching, it’s a bit different! The Contra series continued on, and gave us many more successful entries. From GB to SNES and Genesis, Contra was still kicking our asses…and that’s just how we liked it. Run, jump, shoot, dodge…that’s all we had to worry about. When gaming was officially ushered into the 3d side of things via the PS1, that’s when Contra started to go wrong. When I say wrong, I mean very, very wrong. The developers just lost sight of what the game used to be, and they got swept up in all the new technology. Through that move, the Contra series was ruined. We eventually made it to the PS2 titles which weren’t that great, but they were a step in the right direction. I had long thought that the Contra series was pretty much dead, never to return to its former glory. That is, until Konami showed off the first footage of Contra IV. Old-fashioned side-scrolling action on the DS. I was in retro heaven. I’ve had my hands on the game for awhile now, and it’s been kicking my ass since day one. Contra is indeed back."
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Gonintendo
"Konami has had a pretty solid year when it comes to the return of old school favorites. Last month, the company paid a visit to a long-lost Castlevania game with Dracula X Chronicles for the Sony PSP. Earlier in '07, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles arcade game returned on Xbox Live Arcade, complete with four-player online play. Now Contra gets a turn, and Konami couldn't have put its latest incarnation in better hands. WayForward dis a commendable job with Contra 4, though only a handful of gamers have to skill to beat it."
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GameDaily
"20 years since its debut, Konami's arcade-bred run-and-gun Contra franchise has seen its share of ill-advised series "reboots." From the schlocky 3D (via red-and-blue glasses, no less) visuals of PS1's Contra: Legacy of War to the blink-and-you'll-miss-it isometric action in PS2's Neo Contra, none of these tweaks improved upon the core Contra gameplay. And considering the fact that the worst-ever offerings in the Contra pantheon sprang from Western development houses, Konami's decision to hand Contra 4 over to Ping Pals developer WayForward seemed...questionable. Yet, the gamble has paid off: Contra 4's developers have eschewed innovation in favor of unadulterated mimicry -- 1992's brilliant Super NES installment (Contra III: The Alien Wars) serves as the main inspiration here -- and it's a winning choice."
Full Source:
1up
"The Contra series, like any great and popular videogame franchise, has been spun-out into sequels almost at a bi-yearly rate since the creation in the arcade two decades ago. Contra games have been produced on systems across the whole spectrum, from the NES classics to the Genesis and Super NES, eventually moving into 3D on the PlayStation and Saturn, and ultimately capping off (currently, anyway) on the PlayStation 2 in Contra: Shattered Soldier and NeoContra. Each sequel had its ups, downs, pros, and cons, but ask the hardcore fanatics which one's their favorite and chances are they'll harken back to the old-school trilogy: Contra, Super C, or Contra III."
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IGN
"Unlike most recent game sequels, Contra 4 holds fast to the difficulty found in the original games. This means one hit and you’re dead. Period.
Contra 4 plays very similarly to the run-and-gun NES and SNES originals, which is an interesting fusion of the platforming and shoot-em-up genres. The hero runs from left to right with no scroll-back. A plethora of enemies who enter the screen from all directions try to stop him. The hero can jump and shoot in eight directions. The game makes no use of the DS’s touch capability, but it does use both screens to pile on even more action."
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Nintendo World Report
"No, no - don't watch me! It messes me up!"
That's what I said to a Konami rep at the E for All Expo while spending some time with WayForward's revival of the classic Nintendo Entertainment System co-op shooter, Contra.
He giggled and told me that wasn't using the grapling hook enough and jumping into bullets way too much. I glared at him and told him to stand further away from me. I knew I couldn't face Destructoid's readership if I couldn't get far enough into Contra 4 for the Nintendo DS. I mean, come on, this is a DS game, right?"
Full Source:
Destructoid
"Not much has changed with WayForward and Konami's Contra 4 for the Nintendo DS, but attendees of E For All got a chance to spend time with what appeared to be the final build of the side-scrolling shoot 'em up sequel. Yes, it's still pure run and gun action, bringing hardcore, old-school Contra gaming to the DS, but now it's more complete. Having bested the first level, after burning through many a credit, at E3 this year, I found working my way through the jungle themed opening level just a hair easier. That means it wasn't blindingly difficult but just challenging to make a grown man cry. The second level? It felt near impossible."
Full Source:
Kotaku
"During E for All, a product manager for Contra 4 mentioned that he couldn't tell whether or not people liked the game after stepping away from the Konami booth. Whether it was genuine dislike or a sense of dejectedness at the game's difficulty, he wasn't sure. He asked us what we thought, and we freely told him. Make no mistake about it, Contra 4 is hard as nails. If you were of gaming age in the late 80s, you either put in your fair share in the arcades or the legendary 30 lives code is still burned into your brain. Your reflexes, however, might not be as agile as they were during the summer of 1988, even if Ninja Gaiden has lulled you into a false sense of arrogance. Nintendo even had a download station set up at its booth. You could tell who'd downloaded Contra 4 based on the winces on their faces."
Full Source:
Gamespy
