Review: Contra (NES)
Nowadays, when folks think of Konami, their minds invariably drift to the wild and wacky adventures of one Solid Snake, as he stealthily makes mincemeat of all manner of sci-fi/supernatural/G.I. Joe-level paramilitary freaks. But if you were to hop into the Way Back Machine and touchdown in the late ’80s/early ’90s the Konami name was associated with another kickass military-themed series: Contra, one of the early (and best) entries in the run-and-gun genre.
The ’80s were filled with such anti-drug slogans as “Just Say No”, “Crack Is Wack”, and the like, but Mrs. Reagan, and dozens of PSAs overlooked Contra’s shoot-everything-that-moves gameplay that had millions of kids strung out and looking for their “just a few minutes, ma!” fix. Bedrooms and living were just really tidy back alleys, really.
Contra’s premise is remarkably simple: two buffed soldiers named Mad Dog and Scorpion are dropped onto a small, alien-infested island that has the most bizarre climate known to man (it somehow pulls off being both tropical AND polar) to regulate in the name of the third rock.
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