/vr/ - Retro Games

[Anonymous No.1409460]

So was this the best Contra game of all time?

I believe so, and by quite a substantial margin.

[Anonymous No.1409483]

I strongly disagree. Always felt like Hard Corps had pacing problems. Contra III, though short, is probably the best retro Contra. I actually think Contra 4 and Rebirth are even better though.

[Anonymous No.1409515]

>>1409483
If you wanna talk pacing problems, those those isometric stage in C3 always felt like huge speedbumps.

[Anonymous No.1409531]

>>1409483
>Contra III

>isometric shit

Nope.

[Anonymous No.1409540]

>>1409460
Hard Corps is absolutely fucking amazing but fuck you for starting a pissing contest over it.

[Anonymous No.1409596]

>>1409540
blow it out your ass

[Anonymous No.1409639]

>>1409483
No way. First Contra game I played was III. I love it, and played it for a long time before I even heard about Hard Corps. Hard Corps is better in every way imaginable, it's almost like a pipe dream. Multiple characters, split paths, holding ALL weapons at once, dem graphics, dat music...C3 can't even compete with this beauty of a game. And the lack of overhead levels is such a boon, i fucking hated those.

[Anonymous No.1409656]

Super C Negros deal with it

[Anonymous No.1409695]

>>1409656
This anon gets it.

[Anonymous No.1409706]

>>1409483
>Contra 4
>Stiff level designs rife with pacing problems, in particular a stop-move type of design which feels obnoxious compared to the flow of every goddamn 2D Contra before it
>Bosses that play and look boring
>Spreadshot is the only weapon that matters
>Return of the embarassingly bad 3D corridor levels
>Invisible space between screens
>DS d-pad
In the family of 2D Contra, Contra IV is absolute shit. It's pretty decent for some sidescrolling action on the DS though.

[Anonymous No.1409714]

>>1409596
Man, this is why I love /vr/. Spotting the underaged /v/ metastases has never been easier.

[Anonymous No.1409716]

I always felt like HC was like a weird game that was just called Contra. Besides killing the same aliens and dying in one hit, not much else reminds me of Contra. If anything, this is Contra Force done right.

[Anonymous No.1409794]

>>1409706
>Spreadshot is the only weapon that matters
Bahaha, what? Have you even played Contra 4? Spread Shot is probably one of the least desirable weapons in all honestly. Not that it's bad though, that's just how well-balanced they made the weapons.

[Anonymous No.1409814]

>>1409515
Until you git gud at them. Hard Corps is littered with these weird moments where nothing is really happening.

[Anonymous No.1409823]

>>1409515
>Contra 3
>Isometric stages

[Anonymous No.1409834]

>>1409716
>killing aliens
>extreme difficulty
>run 'n' gun
How is it NOT Contra?

[Anonymous No.1409835]

>>1409823
You undermeant what Anon stood.

[Anonymous No.1409845]

>>1409814
Are we talking about the same game, friend?

Every fucking second in Hard Corps is
>HOLY FUCK A WEREWOLF WITH A MINIGUN FOR AN ARM IS FIGHTING A KING KONG-SIZED ROBOT WHO IS THROWING CARS AROUND JESUS CHRIST
>A HAX0R HAS DIGITIZED ME INTO HIS VIRTUAL REALITY NIGHTMARE WHERE HE KEEPS TURNING INTO CONSTELLATIONS WHAT THE SHIT
>SEVEN FORCE FFFFFFFFFFFF
>IS THAT SIMON BELMONT WHAT IN THE FUCK

It's probably the highest hype:screentime ration I've seen. The only "moments where nothing is happening" are the short little breathers in between bosses.

[Anonymous No.1410069]

>>1409814
its literally non-stop action
maybe THE best action game ever made

[Anonymous No.1410078]

Well, the true question is: the original or the Western version?

[Anonymous No.1410080]

>>1409656
Super C is inferior to every other Contra, but it still is a great game and one of the best in the genre.

[Anonymous No.1410202]

>>1410080
How the balls is super c not better then contra and contra force

[Anonymous No.1410206]

>>1410202
Not that guy but the top down segments were horrible.

[Anonymous No.1410207]

>>1410202
The Famicom/NES Contra is still better. It's just better put together.

Contra Force is not a real Contra game, and nor are the PSOne games. Those don't ocount.

[Anonymous No.1410229]

>>1410207
I liked the top down segments better
ps super c is harder

[Anonymous No.1410236]

How do you guys play Contra?
Do you shoot like there is no tomorrow or do you shoot sniper style super precise.

[Anonymous No.1410232]

Hard Corps:
+Most explosions per second
+Nonstop intensity
+Amazing constant boss fights
+Branching paths
-Doesn't really feel "contra"
-Pointless story sections
-2p mode doesn't feel as fun as it should be

Contra 3:
+Best OST of the series
+Great variety
+Mode 7 everywhere
+Fantastic 2p play
+Beautiful spritework
-Top down levels are lame
-Slower gameplay and not as intense
-Slowdown

[Anonymous No.1410243]

>>1409834
Well,

>generic spehs murine
>girl ripped straight out of a 90's hentai
>robot furry
>robot
>none, if any, of the original contra weapons are available, like Contra Force
>everyone has a weapon selection, akin to Contra Force

This like those spinoffs that third parties make for Nintendo consoles, the ones that vaguely resemble the games they are named after. Such as that BlayzBloo Super Melee Brawl etc etc that only had 5 characters and doesn't play anything like BlazBlue, or every other third party game on Nintendo consoles. Only difference is that, surprisingly, this sold, despite being an entirely different game with the Contra name slapped on it.

[Anonymous No.1410247]

>>1410078
Considering the Western version was indeed the original version...

[Anonymous No.1410253]

>>1410247
What? How come?

[Anonymous No.1410258]

>>1410253
US version came out in August, JP came out in September.

[Anonymous No.1410260]

Contra 3 alone for the fact that they made smart bombs useful for once.

[Anonymous No.1410263]

>>1410243
>generic spehs murine
Because Ray is so much more spehs mehreen than Bill?

>girl ripped straight out of a 90's hentai
What 90's hentai have you been watching? 90's was all about gigantic eyes and comic relief.

>robot furry
>robot
Yes.

>none, if any, of the original contra weapons are available, like Contra Force
Did you, like, stop playing before you even got to the first weapon drop? Or did you play exclusively as Brownie?

[Anonymous No.1410262]

>>1410258
But why? It wasn't developed in the West, was it?

[Anonymous No.1410270]

>>1410262
Most Genesis games developed in Japan were primarily developed for an American audience. The Japanese version was too hard as they had to give the player 3 hits and unlimited continues, Japs aren't used to such types of difficulty.

[Anonymous No.1410295]

>>1410270
>Japs aren't used to such types of difficulty.
This is horribly wrong. If anything the trend is entirely the opposite: Hard games are more often toned down for North America.

[Anonymous No.1410304]

>>1410232
>Best OST of the series
>Not Hard Corps
welp

[Anonymous No.1410312]

Is Hard Corps considered canon?

[Anonymous No.1410315]

>>1410295
Actually, I think he's right when speaking about the late eighties and early nineties. Western versions of Japanese games were often made harder, because, while the better Japanese companies like Capcom, Konami et al wanted their games to be good and balanced, the Western publishers were operating under the arcade game mentality of "unbeatable = profit". Even though on home consoles you couldn't pay shekels to buy additional lives even if you wanted, the Western publishers still insisted on increasing the difficulty out of sheer mental inertia.

The trend's changed towards the 6th gen, when corporate management overdid it again and Western-made games became almost unlosable, while Japanese ones started becoming increasingly nostalgic for difficulty and indeed became harder on the average. But it wasn't always like that.

[Anonymous No.1410321]

>>1410315
It was because of rentals. Someone at Sega of America specifically said this was why they changed the difficulty in Dynamite Headdy. Not that it wasn't an improvement, anyway. The Japanese version, much like The Hard Corps, is far, far too easy.

[Anonymous No.1410403]

>>1409714
eat shit and die

[Anonymous No.1410409]

Sup plebs?

[Anonymous No.1410412]

>>1409706
>>Return of the embarassingly bad 3D corridor levels
Are you talking about pic related? If you are, you're fucking retarded as these were awesome.

[Anonymous No.1410415]

>>1409834
>extreme difficulty
>contra

lol /vr/ you make me smh more every day

[Anonymous No.1410417]

>>1410232
>-Doesn't really feel "contra"
Why do retards itt keep saying this?

[Anonymous No.1410420]

>>1410412

yeah those were fun, I wouldn't say "awesome" myself cos they were kinda samey but they were not at all embarrassing

[Anonymous No.1410427]

>>1410420
They were well designed levels and they offered nice variety to the standard left to right run n gun.

[Anonymous No.1410437]

>>1410243
The inclusion of robot was probably an attempt at fusing elements from the different versions of Contra. Browny sort of reminds me of a dwarfed version of the robot protagonists in Probotector, the European spriteswap of Contra.

[Anonymous No.1410439]

>>1410412
They don't belong. The only alternate levels in the Contra series I like are the Super Contra top-down levels.

The corridor levels were full retard and in Contra IV they are pulled off with embarassing nostalgia and way worse than on NES.

[Anonymous No.1410461]

>>1410439
your opinion is as shitty as your face is
impressive

[Anonymous No.1410665]

For me Super C was the best. I like the level design and also the top down levels. Everything about it is pretty much perfect imo. The original is also great.

Hard Corps was a good game, obviously a lot of work went into it, it's a quality product. I just don't like how it's Boss Rush Mode: The Game. I like the constant flow and jumping around, not having to stop and battle a boss every few minutes. I still beat every route though, a lot of the bosses were pretty cool, gotta say.

[Anonymous No.1410678]

>>1410236
>do you shoot sniper style super precise

I do this mainly. Once you know the stages and where enemies will appear from you can anticipate them and fire the second they show up. If you're using spread shot it really doesn't matter as much, since the whole point of that gun is to litter the screen with bullets. But if you're using the laser you have to be precise, since firing a second shot erases your first one. Also for a lot of the other ones like grenade and fire there is a delay period between shots, so you don't want get caught off guard in that period being unable to fire.

[Anonymous No.1410703]

always liked 3 better. even the isometric stages don't bother me.

[Anonymous No.1410707]

>Contra Hard Corps
>dat yoyo gun

[Anonymous No.1410715]

>>1410439
>They don't belong
They were one of the key elements of Contra since day one, what the fuck are you even talking about?

[Anonymous No.1410726]

>>1410715
He's clearly a '90s born asshat.

[Anonymous No.1410748]

>>1410412
It's exceptionally retarded too because Contra 4 did the 3D levels way better than the original.

[Anonymous No.1410754]

>>1410315
No... He really isn't. I can name countless arcade games from that time period that were toned down for their Western releases.

[Anonymous No.1410968]

Super C

[Anonymous No.1411043]

>>1410707
When I learned to keep tapping it for massive damage, it really killed any sense of tension I had prior to that. Broken as fuck.

[Anonymous No.1412917]

>>1409460
Yeah it probably is the best one, The japanese version at least.

[Anonymous No.1412979]

>>1410754
And I can do the opposite.

Let's try. The Western arcade release of GnG is unbeatable. ALL Japanese releases of Makaimura are easier than it.

Your turn.

[Anonymous No.1413000]

>>1412979
Mahou Diasakusen
Shippu Mahou Daisakusen
Great Mahou Daisakusen

All through have their difficulty toned down subtlely in one way or another.

[Anonymous No.1414724]

>>1410715
That they are out of place and do not jive with the rest of the game. Just like the top-down levels of Contra III. That they were part of the series since day one is irrelevent and there's good reason no Contra (other than the Wayforward NES nostalgia cash-in) repeated the 3D corridors, because they just plain sucked and were dragging down the action.

>>1410726
Grasping for straws cause you don't care to defend your shit opinion? 80's born and grown on NES here, man.

[Anonymous No.1414736]

>>1414724
The base levels don't fuck around with the basic gameplay. You're still shooting and jumping on a 2D plane like you do in the rest of the game.

The isometric stages, on the other hand, change the perspective completely and remove jumping. They look and feel like a completely different game altogether.

Don't try to equate the two.

[Anonymous No.1414781]

>>1414736
They are the same in that THEY DONT FIT IN.
And so what if it's done in the same platformer engine as the regular game? This still doesn't change that the 3D corridors are the most boring "shooting gallery" type levels without anything exciting happening. Every one of them is the same cubic room with enemies running across the far wall, shooting at you but never shooting the ground, while you need to shoot the core of the wall that shares the same weakness. Occasionally you have to move because some dick threw a grenade. There may be multiple cores. The rolling stuff on the ground was a cool feature too bad I can just shoot them before they reach me.

This type of level in between could have been great later on in the series if it would take level design cues from cool games of this type, like Wild Guns and Cabal to keep things interesting.

[Anonymous No.1414806]

>>1409460
Top Tier
Rebirth, HC, Shattered Soldier

Mid Tier
3, Super C, 4

Nigger what are you doing tier
Uprising

[Anonymous No.1414819]

>>1414806
Original not even on the list?

[Anonymous No.1414864]

>>1414819
never played it

I should some time though

[Anonymous No.1414873]

>>1414864
You haven't played the best game in the series and you're seriously writing up tier lists?

[Anonymous No.1415086]

>>1414781
>like Wild Guns and Cabal
It's pretty asinine to say Contra should take inspiration from games that happened later. Regardless of prefixing it with "later on." They can't plan on copying games before they even happen. Let alone they may have taken inspiration from Contra itself and simply built on top of it.

Yeah, Cabal and Wild Guns had deeper "shooting gallery" gameplay. So what? That doesn't mean Contra didn't do it damn well within the context of what and when it was.

[Anonymous No.1416614]

I only used the girl in Hard Corps

[Anonymous No.1417365]

Well, it's certainly my favorite of the series.

The character-specific weapons and divergent story paths add some replay value

[Anonymous No.1417415]

>>1414864
Don't listen to them. 1 is overrated shit.

[Anonymous No.1417685]

>>1417415
What a terrible opinion.

[Anonymous No.1417761]

>>1414736
>isometric

Stop calling it that. It's called a top-down view, because your line of sight is perpendicular to the ground you're walking on.

Super Mario RPG was isometric, since everything was shown at an isometric angle.

[Anonymous No.1417938]

>>1417761
But it's not top down, the levels in Super C and Contra 3 are top down.

I just call them the base levels. Also, once you have them memorized, they can be super fun if you try to speed run them.

[Anonymous No.1418153]

>>1417938
>But it's not top down, the levels in Super C and Contra 3 are top down.
But those were exactly the levels they were talking about.

[Anonymous No.1418341]

>>1415086
Not saying the first Contra should. I'm saying that could have made it a welcome inclusion in later games. I understand it was easier to do away with them though and just focus on improving the sidescrolling parts.

And I don't care if it was 1987 and this was unusual then, the corridors just aren't very interesting. They are like an awkward experiment that doesn't really work at that point. It's like how I don't care how the first Gradius was so revolutionary when all the sequels is where the excitement is at.

>>1417761
Another thing about isometry is that things don't scale in size the further away they are, which clearly makes any mode7 stuff non-isometric.