A playthrough of Konami's 2007 run-and-gun shooter for the Nintendo DS, Contra 4.
Played through as Jimbo on the hard difficulty level.
Contra 4 is a game that I ignored for quite awhile after it was released. I have always loved the older games in the series, but Konami's track record with the franchise hadn't been great in the decade or so leading up to this game's release ... well, okay, besides Shattered Soldier. That was awesome.
I wasn't enthusiastic about this one at all, though. I figured that the DS was just going to be used to throw useless touchscreen gimmicks into the mix. My friend Tim, however, bought it and was glued to it for quite awhile. Hearing him talk it up so much, I finally caved and gave it a go.
Best. Decision. EVER.
I was in no way prepared for how good Contra 4 really was. The mechanics are pulled directly from the likes of Contra III: The Alien Wars and Hard Corps, but slightly expanded to accommodate the dual-screen vertical layout - a grappling hook is now used to reach particularly high up spots. The smart bomb has been removed, and the weapons now have an upgraded power mode. It's all just as tightly put together as the classics of the late 80s/early 90s, and the new additions feel completely at home here.
It's also an impressively difficult game. It's not as hard as Contra: Hard Corps on the Genesis or Hard Corps Uprising on PS3/360, but it's not far off either. The dual-screen mechanic takes some getting used to - there is a lot to keep track of at any given time.
The presentation really deserves a lot of praise - WayForward went out of their way to ensure that C4 was a faithful tribute despite its upgrades. The graphics and sprites all take their style cues from the SNES game, but the DS's power is used to bring it all closer to the 32-bit era's level of 2D graphics while nicely disguising the low screen resolution. The amount of attention paid to sprite detail and animation is obscene, and the backdrops have never looked better - that last stage in particular knows how to make an impact. I didn't like the big gap between the screens (sometimes I'd lose track of what was flying between them), but that's a small complaint in light of everything it does right.
Contra 4's sound is beyond reproach - the sample-driven music sounds like it was ripped straight out of one of Konami's early 90s arcade games. I love those guitars and orchestra hits! And the soundtrack is exactly the reason I never bothered trying to play the game on normal - you only get to hear the original jungle stage theme remixed if you play on hard.
And finally, the cart is packed with loads of bonuses, including an interview with the producer, a look-back at previous Contra titles, comics for both Contra III and 4, and even emulated copies of the NES's Contra and SuperC! I show all of these bonuses after the ending (42:21) if you'd care to take a look. I have no idea how they crushed this much stuff into a tiny 32megabyte card, but wow, WayForward. Wow.
And is it just me, or do those toothy doors in Stage 8 look like they were lifted directly from Final Fantasy II? Remember, the underworld cave that was full of evil doors that attacked when you tried to go through them? And if you didn't kill one fast enough, it would cast death on you and then become a chimera? I swear it looks exactly the same as the door on the wall in Stage 8!
Anyway, let's attack aggressively!
_
No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
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30 сен 2024
