Game:

Contra III: The Alien Wars (1992)

Duration: 1:00

155 views

4

Contra 4 is a 2D action game published by Konami Digital Entertainment in the United States and developed by WayForward Technologies. It is the eleventh overall installment of the Contra series, and was released in North America on November 13, 2007 for Nintendo DS. A mobile port was released six days later on November 19, 2007. Contra 4 serves as a direct sequel to 1992's Contra III: The Alien Wars for Super NES, in celebration of the 20th anniversary of the franchise. It was the first Contra game released on a portable platform since 1991's Operation C for Game Boy.
The plot is set two years after the events of Contra III: The Alien Wars. Following the defeat of Red Falcon, a new entity called "Black Viper" begins launching attacks against the human race.[5] Bill Rizer and Lance Bean are joined by Mad Dog and Scorpion as they travel to the fictional Galuga archipelago near New Zealand (the setting of the original arcade version of Contra.) on a "final" strike mission. The game's producers took a number of liberties with the established canon. In the North American versions, Black Viper was originally the name of the main antagonist in Operation C, while "Mad Dog" and "Scorpion" were the codenames of Bill and Lance.

Contra 4 is based on the same 2D gameplay featured in the series through Contra III: The Alien Wars, ignoring many of the game mechanics introduced in later games, and returning to the old method of picking up power-up icons to obtain new weapons. The play controls are similar to Contra III:, including the ability to hold two weapons in the player's inventory. The action spans both screens of the Nintendo DS system and a grappling hook can be used by the player's character to latch onto railings, allowing the player's character to move from one screen to the other. Similarly to the arcade version of Super Contra, the player can pick up the same power-up twice, giving them an improved version of the same weapon. The player can also discard a power-up, allowing them to try out a new weapon without losing a previous one.

In addition to the standard side view stages, there are also tunnel stages similar to the two "3D view" stages from the original Contra, in which the perspective shifts behind the character's back. The action in these stages is displayed solely on the upper screen, while the bottom screen is used to display the stage's map and the locations of power-ups. Other than using both screens, Contra 4 makes no usage of the DS' special features such as the touchscreen (besides navigating the main menu), microphone, or multiplayer modes.

Other Statistics