I would really like to have a more momentous post with which to end the year, but I really want to finish posting the last bits of GameSpite Quarterly 5 so I can close that InDesign file and never have to worry about it again. Also, I’m hard at work on GSQ7 this week and don’t have time for original thought. Sorry about that.
Technically, this article isn’t from GSQ5; it’s one of the three articles that somehow got lost in the GSQ5 production shuffle and had to be printed in the next volume. But at heart (and page layout) it’s totally GSQ5. And isn’t heart what counts at this time of year?
GSQ7, by the way, is shaping up really nicely. I was worried about it for a while, since it’s the villains-only counterpart to GSQ3, which wasn’t all that popular. But the layout and contents are really strong, and there’s a section at the end with half a dozen straight-up game critiques with varied layouts and strong art, so now that it’s all coming together it has a little something for everyone. Please look forward to it, bow bow bow, etc.
Anyway, read this Contra article or Bill Rizer will blow up your face and run through your esophagus and destroy your parasite-spawning heart. He’ll do it, you know. He’s crazy. And he has thirty lives, too.
I find it ironic that I used to not like Contra. Mainly because it wasn’t an RPG, and it was very, very difficult.
But then, a funny thing happened. I gained an appreciation of well-done action games, and Contra is still one of the best. Every once in a while, I’ll try to make a one-life run through the game. I haven’t succeeded yet (my best is dying once), but the game is good enough to inspire me to try it again and again.
The NES version just felt more right in its mechanics.
Funny thing: I’ve been reminded of Bill by Vash of Trigun a couple times just because of the spiky blonde crew cut.
Technically speaking, the NES version didn’t have “more stages”, it’s just that ones in the NES version were remixed and made longer.
Shigeharu Umezaki was a programming genius on the NES. The man and his crew sure knew how to push the NES hardware to its limits. He also worked on Super C, Life Force, and the Famicom-exclusive Gradius II.
Gradius II was Famicom exclusive because Konami never saw fit to convert it from VRC4 to whatever MMC was available. (All the VRC related goods from Famicom Contra and Life Force got cut for us.)
Duh! Thanks for pointing out a fact I already knew! Did my post even had a question? :p
Guys, guys, guys. It’s New Years. Let peace and understanding reign! The last thing we need today is a slap-fight between my two most didactic commenters, OK?
My bad, guys. I had no idea I was causing a ruckus.
Just realized that Umezaki is the founder and head of Good Feel Inc. (Wario Land Shake It!, Kirby’s Epic Yarn). The more you know!