CptRetroBlue's Contra 4 review

Cool review. I always wanted to play this one. How would you rank it in terms of difficulty alongside the others (assuming you've played them all)?

Be careful with the typos, as I did spot a few -- I can't remember them all but this one stood out: saying "rump" when you meant "romp."

Hmm, I wonder if it's worth it for me to get a used DS for super cheap to play games like this and the Castlevania games.

Thanks for the typo spottings, even when using spell checking software it seems I have to work kinks out on my reviews. Well, Contra 4 is *fairly* difficult especially when you have to memorize enemy spots and their firing range as you rush towards the stages. I'd say its moderate compared to the likes of Contra III on SNES which to me seemed far more difficult, but easier than Hard Corps for Sega Genesis, and I am sure you heard how difficult that title is overall. What threw me off mostly is the double screen which does not align properly when it comes on stages and enemy fire, and the fact you use more buttons than shooting and jumping such as forgetting there is a grappling hook setting. Otherwise, its as difficult as the amount of time you are willing to put into it really.

Yeah, I need to re-read my reviews a few times before submitting them to catch everything.

I haven't played much of Hard Corps, and I really need to. Some say it's the best in the series. I still love the original Contra, which people don't think of as being as hard as it really is, because of the 30-man code, and because it's so old and well known so the strategies are second nature.

I seem to recall Contra III's overhead levels being dumb, but the rest of the game being fantastic.

Just the other day I was playing this clone:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/341550/Super_Cyborg/

I dunno how that guy didn't have Konami coming after him for that. Anyway, it plays exactly the same, but looks uglier, has forgettable music, and its levels are too long and unforgiving. But that Contra feel is definitely there.

Wow, Super Cyborg looks nice, think I will give it a try sometime, appreciate the link. And sure, I will be more careful on submitting reviews as I get a bit excited when I finish anything and just push it out of my way without much thought at times ha ha.

I will agree on Contra III, unlike Super C its top down levels seem cumbersome at best. To me the easiest on the series was Super C itself as it was the game I bought when I owned an NES back in the day. To this day I still manage to get pretty far without having to resort to the classic Konami Code and without using a continue. I played it that much lol

I guess older titles seem "easier" for the fact that nostalgia plays a big part and you simply don't bother on how difficult they actually are after going through them for a while, but that's my two cents.

Yes, agreed. I'm pretty sure I got to a point where I was beating Contra without continuing (or the code). Not quite doing it on one man though. That's after years and years of repetition. Super C I didn't play that much -- nobody had it on their NES in my area at the time. I went back and emulated it and maybe beat it once. I think I'll do a Contra revisiting this weekend!

Go for it.

This is a list I mostly agree with:

https://chiscroller.wordpress.com/2016/09/15/all-13-contra-games-ranked-from-worst-to-best/