The 16 bit era of Contra, the fearless Commando
My first encounter with Contra happened on the NES, where the exploits of the eponymous fearless soldier sure kept me busy for days. Not because this NES game was too long, although it sure packed some rad levels, sidescrolling ones as well as a few bonus static ones, but because it sure could be hard enough to keep me replaying levels crazy style! At any rate Contra III: The Alien Wars is a DOS game that sports a 16 bit era graphics, takes the game from its mainly open world jungle environment towards a more punk cityscape zone and there it pits you against a host of mostly robot wrong doers. The backstory is alien infused and pretty convoluted, but let's not forget, this was the case in the older Contra as well, though few remember, as the game took so much time to finish and few ever got to do it, all things considered! But, at any rate, the gameplay is pretty fantastic here as well, as long as you don't mind the recipe repeating and repeating itself ad infinitum, because that's pretty much it: left to right exploits with some special stages that play out as static shooting stages and the occasional bosses. In my book that is more than enough to spice up a lazy afternoon in the weekend!
