Let's start with my usual curmudgeonly rant about naming conventions. What's so hard about calling this one Contra II? I mean, really. It's the second Contra game. It's sandwiched between Contra and Contra III. But alas, Konami went with SUPER Contra for the arcade game. And then even worse, when it was ported to NES (which is the superior version, and the version I'm playing today) they lopped off the "ontra" and just called it Super C. Dumb. They did the same thing for the Game Boy's Operation C as well, but thankfully, all the other entries used the full Contra name. Well, except for Hard Corps Uprising. Ugh.
Alright, I'm ranting, I know. Anyway, I picked up the Contra Anniversary Collection on Xbox a while back. And while I certainly dabbled in Contra games as a kid (the original was a big co-op favorite, and Operation C was a pretty incredible portable iteration), it's really only recently that I'd say I've become an honest to goodness Contra fan. I don't know, it's like it just really sunk in that these games are totally inspired by Alien and Predator and 80's action cheese. They're kind of great. I honestly don't remember if I played Super C as a kid. I think I must have, but have no solid memories of it. But I know I played the arcade Super Contra probably around 2011 or so on XBLA. It wasn't great, mostly because using a TATE screen for a side-scroller is a bad mistake. So let's talk about Super C, then. I mean the most obvious thing I can say is that it is very much a sequel in that it feels like more of the same. Mostly. It carries over the same sort of run-n-gun vibe of the NES original. The same physics with jumping and aiming. Which is fine, as it feels solid for sure. Those original mechanics were perfectly sound. However, gone are the over-the-shoulder stages, and in place of them you now have overhead levels (think Ikari Warriors or Commando). These levels actually play pretty well! Speaking of the stages, they also feel considerably longer to me than the first game. There's lots of changes to them, be it verticality or surprises like ponds in which you can duck underwater to avoid enemy fire. It's good stuff. I feel like the boss battles are the real highlights here, though. Shooting down an entire helicopter as it bombards you with enemies and bullets? That feels cool and totally satisfies the 80's action cheese I was talking about. And that spider-robot boss can go take a hike! I hate that jerk. Speaking of which, I feel like Super C is overall more difficult than the original game. Although I find the overhead stages easier than any of the side-scrolling stages in either game. Go figure. As a sequel, Super C is a success. It keeps what made the original so good, while adding some tweaks and surprises to make it interesting. And to that point, I really can't say which game I prefer. The first is more iconic and holds more nostalgia for me, but the original feels slightly more polished and interesting. Both are awesome and recommended (not that anyone needs to be recommended Contra at this point).
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Nowadays it's hard to think of SNK for anything other than the Neo Geo. But there was once a time before they were pumping out gloriously animated 2D fighting games and run-n-guns. And the SNK 40th Anniversary Collection has been a lovely reminder of that time. The amount of love put into compiling this collection is staggering, and I hope it sets a new high water mark for other publishers to bring out their old games.
The love that I speak of comes in many shapes here. There are plenty of options on how you want to play the included games. You can stretch the screen or not. You can play with scanlines. You can choose between different regions or arcade and console versions where applicable. Beyond the usual save states you've also got the ability to easily rewind or fast-forward a game. Heck, there's even a mode that will play a game for you so you can see how it's played. But beyond all that is the extras. Y'know when you buy an overly expensive 3-disc version of a movie on Blu-Ray just to get all the extra stuff? It's like that. There's a timeline/gallery of all of SNK's output prior to Neo Geo - which makes me wonder if we'll get all of these games eventually. There have been more games added as free DLC post-launch, so it could happen. I say totally unironically that I want Fighting Golf! Beyond that the collection is loaded with scans of magazine ads, strategy guides, promo artwork, arcade manuals and so on. And then there's a full audio collection of each game's soundtrack, which is something we're starting to see more and more of with the likes of Smash Bros Ultimate, and is appreciated. Crystalis seems like the true standout in this collection, though. Certainly there are other games I remember from the NES era. I hate to say that I spent so much time playing Athena back then, but when you're young and have no money of your own, you play what you have. Crystalis was a game I was totally aware of when it was released on NES. A friend of mine had it and it looked awesome. But I never got to play it back then. Eventually I picked up the GBC port about a decade ago and gave up on it fairly quickly. It turns out the GBC version is much maligned for its zoomed in aspect ratio, so it's not just me. So here I am playing Crystalis almost thirty years later. Does it actually live up to the expectations I've created in my head? Well, yeah. It turns out that Crystalis is fairly awesome. While it's easy to superficially dismiss this game as a Zelda clone, that's not quite fair. Considering its release late in the NES lifetime, it has a lot more in common with something like Link's Awakening, which often feels like a 16-bit RPG that's been magically programmed for 8-bit hardware. There's some truly impressive technical feats here - namely in the boss battles, or later on when you finally get the Flight spell. Combat works well enough. You've got eight directions of attack, though I often found it more comfortable to just stick with the cardinal four. There are four main swords to find throughout the quest and each has two levels of power-ups to find. You'll be switching between these elemental swords often depending on enemy types as some are immune to each element. This can be slightly annoying but not rage-inducing. The same can be said about the grinding in this game. Surely it's important but it's not overbearing. The level cap is a mere 16 which can be hit easily enough. In fact, I eventually found a cave that I was able to continue through and level up from 14 to 16 in a pretty fast clip. The setting really connects with me. Although it's mostly a sort of traditional Zelda-ish fantasy world, it actually takes place in a more technologically advanced world. In fact the story revolves around computers and AI and stuff like that. I don't really know, because I didn't pay close attention haha. But there's definitely computers and technology and in that sense, I'm reminded a bit of Phantasy Star with its mix of sci-fi and fantasy - which is good. My only real complaint probably isn't even fair as it's one of the era: there's a lot of cryptic stuff that isn't properly explained to the player. There are key items you'll need to have obtained to beat the game (or even do certain battles) that can EASILY be missed. This means that if you're not using a walkthrough, you should expect a lot of blind backtracking. Also the last boss feels laughably easy compared to the one right before it. But whatever. Crystalis is an awesome game and everyone should check it out. |
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