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Title: Contra 3: The Alien Wars
Platform: SNES
Developer: Konami
Publisher: Konami
Release: 1992
Contra III: The Alien Wars  is ©1992 Konami Corporation.



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As you may have noticed in our previous flashback reviews, the Yamisoft team grew up together playing these reviewed games. In fact, we're brothers and one of the major benefits of having a brother is the ability to enjoy 2-player action. The 

large majority of the classic games we played were 2-player titles simply because we both wanted in on the action. There's nothing more fun than a cooperative challenge, hence today's massive multi-player genres.
To this day, whether we're playing the latest sequel to Age of Empires or Unreal Tournament over the Internet, Scorpion and Maddog remain a team. So where did we acquire those long term aliases? From the best action-packed series ever created: Konami's Contra.            


Despite the hundreds of blissful hours spent playing Contra and Super C on the NES (we'll stick to the home console versions), this short review covers Contra III: The Alien Wars for the SNES as it is easily the best in the series due to hardware assisted enhancements. Unfortunately, the commando legends Scorpion and Mad Dog were replaced with Jimbo and Sully in Contra III, but their names live on through our persistent game aliases.

Konami holds the best recipe for addictive 2-player non-stop action. Contra III is by far the best cooperative platform shooter for the SNES. Set in an industrial future, Jimbo and Sully are out to rid the Earth of a destructive alien invasion. That's all you need to know to start firing away and venting a little stress.


Ammunition is unlimited and weapons are plentiful. Machine guns, lasers, flame-throwers, homing missiles, Spreads, and grenades are your weapons of mass destruction against some of the largest and ugliest bad-ass bosses in the SNES world. The first boss you'll have the pleasure to toast is a mutant dinosaur able to breathe fire and spit maggots while its enormous half-screen carcass shakes the ravaged concrete scenery. Its eerie shriek and bestial comportment make it seem almost alive.

Special effects are the best any SNES title has seen. From air raids to blinding explosions, the earth trembles at the weight of some beasts, and the TV room seems to get warmer as a mechanical boss tries to obliterate you with its steel rattling explosives. You get to climb walls and ride futuristic motorcycles, air missiles, tanks, choppers, and spinning quicksand, all in the same game! And when you think it's finally over, the final boss makes you rethink what end bosses are all about (PS: You haven't defeated "it" until you've finished the HARD game).

Controls are flawless, making defeating foes the challenge as opposed to mastering some awkward interface. The levels in Contra III alternate between side scrolling and top-view, and each level is unique and progressively more difficult, keeping the action fresh and entertaining. Music and sound perfectly complement the look and feel of the game.

As usual, our flashback reviews aren't aimed at describing the game content, as you'll find an abundance of such information in other reviews. We aim to capture the feelings our favorite classic games convey and focus on the magic behind such titles. Pondering our last edge-of-your-seat-throbbing-thumb Contra experience, a great sense of power, 2-player fun, and accomplishment are the most prominent memories. A series we will never forget.

- Scorpion and Maddog.








 

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