Format: Advance
Genre: Action platformer
Developer: Konami
Publisher: Konami

Up Up Down Down Left Right Left Right Your Ass. Don't bother, the code doesn't work here, this is the big kid's table. This is Contra on the Super Nintendo, but this isn't a straight up port. The strange top-down levels are missing in this version and replaced by different 2D levels. I'm not sure if they're from some other contra game (maybe the gameboy contra?). Unfortunately this game suffers from 1 major issue, that is that the entire screen is scrunched too close. What this means is that some of the original things in the SNES Contra game become far more deadly in this remake-port. For example; some of the fireballs in the first level, the entirety of level 4, and the final level. For those that have never played Contra, It's a 2D run and gun platformer where you die in a single hit from any enemy or projectile. This GBA version, luckily, has passwords for you to continue after you beat a level. You continue with all of the stats you beat the level with, which can also be bad if you beat it with only 1 life left. Sadly you have to enter the password manually. The game only remembers the last password you've entered and forgets it if you power down or reset. There are a few other differences between this version and the SNES version as well. To start, You only get 1 weapon in this version instead of 2. There are no bombs either. The weapons themselves are also a bit different in their amount and latency. That is to say that weapons like 'F' are degraded damage-wise, and 'L' are 1 shot locked that can't be stopped or replaced. It feels like the other guns also have had some modifications made to them, but I've never been the biggest SNES Contra buff. There are 2 difficulty modes, baby bitch mode and normal mode. The game comes pre-set on normal mode but you can always change your diapers to young children's difficulty if the game is too tough for you. There's not a lot of replay value in this either, unless you wanna just play contra again, which honestly might be fun. The way the password is handled in this though, really kills it's opportunity to be more of a relaxing pick up and play game. One more thing about this one is that the defenses of the enemies were increased in this game, making it a slightly slower experience.

All in All, Contra comes roaring in with a 7.8 score for it's fast action big explosions. The downsides of this game are quite a few; passwords, screen sizing, weapon differences, lack of bombs, lack of second weapon, increased enemy defenses, sticky walls/ceilings, less i-frames. The biggest problem is how the game handles passwords. They didn't go the bubble bobble(nes) approach, they forced it to be manual. No Dog -1 point.