Top 50 Video Games: Number 41

#41: Contra
System: Nintendo Entertainment System
Publisher:Konami
Released: 1988
Players: 2


Army Guy #1 vs the first of many Bad Army Guys.


Some things become hardwired into your memory. How to ride a bike is the classic example. The Konami Code ((Up, up, dow, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, Start)) used to start the game Contra with 30 lives is hardwired for me and for many gamers of that era. It also worked for Life Force and Gradius, probably other games as well. It seems like a lifetime ago that codes such as these were not easily accessable knowledge. Before every home had internet access you had to get game codes from either a magazine or a friend, and game magazines certainly weren't the big business they are now. It was kind of cool, people used to come to me with video game questions in elementary school. I played all kind of games. And I had a subscription to Nintendo Power magazine, which was awesome when I was a kid.

Contra is a side scrolling action game, what people now refer to as a twitch game. A twitch game is a fast paced game that requires sharp reflexes and little else. In Contra, you play the role of Army Guy #1 or Army Guy #2. There is an alien thing taking over the world, and it has employed countless Bad Army Guys to stand in place and fire their rifles on the off chance that Army Guys #1 and #2 should come along. Alright Guy Tom and I were Army Guys 1 & 2 countless times.


The endgame boss. A big pulsating heart which shoots liitle white fluffy things at you while little pink scorpions chase you around. 80's NES games rock!


Contra was difficult without the cheat, and the multiplayer mode was more fun than the single player game. There were a variety of weapons to be found, but the rapid fire Spread gun had it hands down over everything else in the game. Konami has released numerous sequels, the only of which I ever played was Super C for the NES (pretty good.) I just fired up Contra and played it for the first time in probably ten years; it's just as engaging and fun as ever.