Super C (NES) review "Super C, short for Super Contra, was Konami's sequel to their great NES masterpiece, Contra. While this game stepped up graphically from Contra, unfortunately, it did dip just a little bit in design, but that's not too bad, since the game is still very good anyway. Heck, I bet Siskel and Ebert gave it two thumbs up! Errrr... that is if Siskel were still alive... and if they actually rated games. Whatever.... "

Super C, short for Super Contra, was Konami's sequel to their great NES masterpiece, Contra. While this game stepped up graphically from Contra, unfortunately, it did dip just a little bit in design, but that's not too bad, since the game is still very good anyway. Heck, I bet Siskel and Ebert gave it two thumbs up! Errrr... that is if Siskel were still alive... and if they actually rated games. Whatever....

Okay, now, get prepared. I will reveal the plot to this game, and it may get really intense at this moment. Take a deep breath to stead yourself. Okay, you ready? One.. two.. three... THE WORLD IS BEING TAKEN OVER BY ALIENS! Where have we heard this one before? Oh great, you didn't faint did you?! Don't worry, you should only feel that dizziness for a couple of weeks, and it'll all be over.

Playing one man with no face -- or two if you want to play simultaneously with another player -- you must push your way through hordes of aliens and attackers as you try to get to and defeat Red Falcon, our evil ''thing'' and end boss for the game, the boss that is behind the whole alien invasion.

Your character is armed with a gun upon the start, effective, yet puny compared to the other weaponry you can collect. Other neat guns you can find include the machine gun and the spreader, though a loss of a life will cause you to return to your wimpy gun again. The more advanced guns will come in handy much later, as enemies increase, through the evil influence of the Red Falcon. But you must be careful not to get hit yourself, for one hit from an enemy will cause you to lose a life -- of which you start out with three, though with a few continues added in as well.

The first level, and every other level after that, will take advantage of a side view, with enemies ranging from running/standing (but armed) gunners in the beginning, to creepy, miniature, mutated-dinosaur types of creatures near the end. From the second level, and every other level after that, the view will range from an overhead view to a side-scrolling view, enemies consisting of still the usual gunners and weird aliens. At the end of each level, you will have to fight a boss to continue through the game.

The control of this game is very, very tight, to say the least. Hit-and-detection is even more accurate than the predecessor, Contra. The players follow the movements of the control pad very accurately, as the perfect gentlemen should be. You don't see your characters slide when you take your hand off the control pad (unless you're on a slanting hill), nor does the game have any other dangerous slips of the control, besides slight character slowness during the overhead levels, which may cause you to get hit if you can't dodge the enemies' shots very well.

The graphics come out to be some of the most stunning the NES has ever produced. Sure the main characters have no faces, but I'm sure you've seen a faceless person by now anyway, haven't you? The backgrounds are very elaborate at spots, which you will notice upon the awesome wreckage of the city in the first level alone; though, at other spots, the backgrounds are nothing but a black screen. The enemies are great looking... you'll see what I'm talking about when you see some of the boss aliens... they're actually pretty creepy looking! Perhaps one of the most awesome graphical achievements that the game was able to reach was the ability to have so many characters on the screen at one time with little-to-no slowdown. Simply amazing!

The music is outstanding, but a little drop down from the music of Contra. The songs that are played during the action are able to invoke a great feeling of an urgent mission ahead -- ''Heck with the pizza delivery guy, I must save the world!'' The boss themes give the great serious tone that a good, yet bad, enemy deserves. Sound effects are nicely put, good gun shot sounds, good I-just-fell-down-and-died sounds... good sounds altogether.

Good challenge? I wish I could say that completely, but it is adequate. The game's not as tough as I thought it would be, but it is tough. No passwords, no save feature, you must battle the multitudes of insane enemies all at one time, with the little continues and lives compared to the many times you may get hit. There is a ''special'' Konami code that will give you a whole lot of extra lives, but that's for you to know and me to find out! Err... no, the other way around.

The original Contra had some awesome level designs and innovative areas, but Super C fails to complete the same. While Contra took you through enemy bases, forests, hangars, and waterfalls, Super C takes you through a broken-down city, then one dark, dank building/lair place to another, with a few exceptions. I'm in no way saying that the game is much worse off due to this, it is still a load of fun, but the big changes between the levels of Contra give it a much wider appeal. Yet, entertainment value of the game still soars high.

Failing to entertain is a bad thing in a game, and Super C managed to avoid that pitfall tremendously. Maybe the level designs weren't as creative as one would hope, but the game is still an enjoyable little cart deserving of being a Contra sequel. If you haven't bought it already, and you have a NES, you must try to get this game when you can!

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Story (3/10): Like, big wow, aliens taking over the world. Oh no, you fainted again?!
Gameplay (8/10): A good gun game. A neat gun game. A nice gun game. (heh)
Control (8/10): Besides a little bit of slowness at certain levels, the control is very tight.
Graphics (9/10): The backgrounds... the characters... everything looks so good!
Sound (8/10): Nice songs that manage to capture the mood and atmosphere of each moment.
Challenge (8/10): It's hard, alright, though not as hard as I expected.
Replay (8/10): This game is very fun, one you'll want to play over... and over... and over.

Overall (8/10): In short, Super C rocks!

Community review by royalranger (Date unavailable) A bio for this contributor is currently unavailable, but check back soon to see if that changes. If you are the author of this review, you can update your bio from the Settings page.