Hello everyone I'm Jack Red, Not long ago I reviewed Castlevania Anniversary Collection. On and off I wasn't sure if I wanted to try my hand at Contra Anniversary Collection. Thankfully, great deals on Xbox One are going on. I bought some stuff including Duke 3D along with it. I know a lot of action within twenty bucks lol.
I will straight with my biggest problem right out of the gate. From the trailer to the actual compilation itself claims to have ten Contra games. Unlike Castlevania Anniversary Collection, they sorta included some region versions in the main line up as well as Bonus JP versions section. Technically speaking seven Contra games from my point of view.
1. Contra (Arcade)
2. Contra (NES)
3. Super Contra
4. Super C (NES port)
5. Contra III
6. Operation C
7. Contra Hard Corps
Also in Europe, this franchise is actually called Probotector series. Where most living beings except aliens are replace by robots. Which likely would cause confusion among those new to Contra franchise. Not to mention, the achievements are virtually the same as Castlevania Anniversary Collection. You play all line up games once with majority of them being beat the game.
In Contra Hard Corps' case including the European version called Probector you got to beat it six times. They want you to fully experience the game by going for every ending. Thankfully, the conditions for doing so are easy to understand. Sometime, it takes a little bit before doing something on emulator menu. This is a solid action packed compilation.
The bonus book itself was beautifully done I was very impressed. I still prefer Metal Slug series over it. Honestly, I kinda wish they had Contra 4 despite being an DS game. But Mega Man Zero/ZX Legacy Collection has two DS games included. So I don't see why we couldn't get that as well. I do recommend using save states/load states because it is very easy to die in these games.
All of them are one hit deaths regardless what hits you. There's a handful of exceptions that won't kill you. I felt the overall emulation was great. The audio is absolutely great stuff indeed especially the explosions. This may not come as a surprise that Contra Hard Corps quickly became my favorite. Personally save up money to get yourself an Sega Genesis Mini instead.
You will get a lot more great games with Contra Hard Corps & Castlevania: Bloodlines included. I will say this, I do prefer Famicom version of Contra over NES version due to extra parts of it's presentation. You do need to get use to replaying most of these games again for achievement hunting. Which could quickly wear on me.
I could recommend this to a lot of people. I just felt out of respect, Castlevania Anniversary Collection had a better line up of games. It's tough to beat games like Castlevania III, Super Castlevania IV and Castlevania: Bloodlines. Also, you will get more help completing those in comparison. Maybe because I'm a huge horror fan over action.
Contra did earn my respect, I knew this was going to be a challenge. I am not trying to say we got rip off. Well in a sense they sorta did because Contra 4 or Hard Corps: Uprising should've been included. It is still a better compilation than their Arcade exclusive compilation. Which oddly has a bad Castlevania game included.
I do need to say the controls parts of them do take a little time learning. Mostly it is very easy to memorize how to use em. Some of the finest run & gun controls I ever seen. I still strongly prefer games like Gunstar Heroes. Come on, that one Genesis game was even better than Hard Corps. Most of them are very straight forward experience.
Yet Hard Corps brought in multiple paths concept. There's five endings you can go for with the joke ending being the fastest. Also, you actually can select your characters. I also liked you can keep power ups as long you don't get hit as well as switch em out at any given time. This prevents a recurring problem in the other Contra games when you pick up the wrong power up by accident.
Of course, in these style games that one little mistake will get you quickly killed. I got to say for the most part, I loved the artwork in most of these games. I don't actually feel any of them suck, something I didn't expected. From the start you will be gun blazing until you take out the final boss. These are the kind of games that brings out our gaming spirits.
This is a great compilation despite some major issues I had. Sadly, there isn't as many great Contra games as Castlevania or Metal Gear for that matter. Contra does change things to a degree at times so it doesn't get boring. Even the craziest it gets, doesn't even come close to Metal Slug series lol. Honestly, this compilation is meant for anyone use prefer save states or hardcore gamers that doesn't.
Now I do prefer a couple other compilations over this without question. My favorite from Konami has to be Metal Gear Solid HD Collection. Yes even more than Castlevania Anniversary Collection. Contra is like Rambo on steroids taking on humans, aliens and robots. There's a lot of boss fights as well, you better bring your A game if you want to survive.
The default price being twenty bucks is not bad whatever version you may buy. I felt in most categories, these games are solid possibly legendary action games. Especially Hard Corps that really goes the distance with pure epic proportions. Honestly, I would stick more to Castlevania Anniversary Collection since that has more interesting differences in it's own right.
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