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If you can beat Battle Toads, you might have a chance...

2 Rating: 2, Useful: 1 / 8
Date: December 28, 2007
Author: Amazon User

I have been a Contra fan for a long time, maybe with the exception of Contra Force, but needless to say, I LOVE Contra. There was something about the mindless task of blasting every moving, blinking, or creeping thing into oblivion that fills you with that kind of glee, that only classic games of yesterday can bring.

Well, seeing Contra 4, I was really excited, anticipating another great Contra 2D shooter like the classic ones. Sadly, I was mistaken. :(

What I was expecting was a 2D shooter, full of crazy alien blasting, and a god bit of difficulty. What I got was a hard to see split screen, poor controller layout, and difficulty that is unwarrented.

Now don't get me wrong, Contra games are difficult. But when I can nail all of them in 3 lives or less, and I can barely make it through level one on easy with 10 lives... something is wrong. And the deaths don't come from enemy bullets, lasers, or fast enemies. They come from off screen bullets, instant lasers, raining missiles you can't dodge, and poor vertical scrolling dropping you. Oh, and the no scrolling back left or down should have been left in the past.

To top it off, the parts that are easy, are ridiculously easy. Like the first 3D stage. All you do is duck everything and shoot the one thing that rolls at you. You have to TRY to die. But the jumping is messed up. No more jumping to dodge bullets. Jump, and die. Duck, and live.

The bottom line is, this game isn't much fun without cheats for infinite lives. The difficulty comes more from annoying visual trouble, falling, and the screen being crowded by bullets. The game should be called Jump and Die, not Contra. Do yourself a favor, and just rent this if you must. If you are a glutton for pain, and enjoy almost impossible odds where you rely on memorizing patterns where to dodge and jump, buy 2 copies.

For those of us mortals, stick to Contra, Super C, or Contra the Alien Wars to name a few. This game only seems to succeed in making friends and I mad.

This game is harder than Ghosts n Goblins

1 Rating: 1, Useful: 0 / 8
Date: January 14, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I really wanted to like this game because I LOVED the first Contra games for the NES. The Alien Wars for SNES was great too. This game is flat out TOO HARD though. I read several positive reviews online and in magazines which I honestly cannot believe were written by honest magazine writers because this game is literally impossible.

My video game skills are decent, my Contra skills are decent too. This game is just ridiculous. Don't waste your money. I sold my game after a couple tries because its beyond frustrating.

Its just like Ghosts n Goblins - beautiful to look at, but horrible to play. The only difference is that Ghosts n Goblins managed to be fun in parts. One of the biggest wastes of money in years. I will never get fooled into buying another Contra game.

Old School

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: February 03, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Reminds me of the good old Contra on the NES. Just as hard and decent visuals. Highly recommended if you liked the original and are into action/shooters but not if you give up easily as it's relatively difficult even on 'easy'. However, I bet there's a code to give you more lives (up, up, down, down, left, right...etc.) Give it a go!

Challenging but fun!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: February 19, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Contra 4 for the Nintendo DS is not what most would call a casual game. The challenge in this game ramps up quickly and never lets up. If you want a fun arcade like game, or enjoyed the older Contra games from back in the day you will LOVE this game. If you however get angry at dying from one hit and losing all your weapons... then you might want to pass. Besides the main game which makes good use of the dual screens and keeps you on your toes, you also have alot of unlockable content to keep things fresh for a long time.

I would recommend this game to anyone with a DS that likes a little challenge in their games.

Contra 4 is an excellent addition to the series

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: December 26, 2007
Author: Amazon User

Contra 4 is challenging, fun and contains plenty of unlockable content (including alternate characters to use). It will keep you busy for hours. If you were a fan of Contra 3 or some of the other classic titles, this release is definitely going to satisfy. The only deviations from most of the other Contra games are the grappling hook and the weapon power-ups starting off at half power. The DS has both screens being used at almost all times to show the battle. The top screen often has to be monitored for oncoming fire as you run along the bottom. The only time the top screen is a map instead of an extension of the bottom is the indoor stages.

Comes in second to Contra Hard Corps

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: January 14, 2008
Author: Amazon User

I was introduced to Contra when my friend recommended me to play Contra Hard Corps on the Sega Genesis almost 6 years ago. I still play that game alot because I still haven't beat it yet. I tried Contra EX Advance, and it was dull and not the same as CHC. I tried Contra III, but mehh I didn't like it as much. Contra Hard Corps was incredible. Not only did it have 4 different playable characters that had a different set of weapons each, or have 5000 robots moving at high speeds at you along with the screen shaking, cars exploding, millions of bullets being fired at you along with HUGE bosses that threw cars at you, fired lasers, transformed, and caused huge amounts of havoc on screen at once. That was pure bliss. It was the best game to ever grace a Sega console.

Then I found this game and decided to check it out. It was pretty damn hard. It also paid a lot of homage to previous Contra titles. The jetski part in Ocean, climbing a missile, running through a jungle...it all is reminiscent of the past Contra games on the Genesis and the (S)NES and it is very nice to see some of that stuff given new life. However a few things feel weird.

The grappling hook thing I dont like. It just isn't fun, its irritating looking for bars to latch onto while enemies are firing at you/swarming around you, and it is very irritating alot of the time.

There is no sliding (removes a lot of the challenge/skill from the boss fights).

The huge bosses don't feel the same either, they are kind of boring and not as crazy and exciting as they were in Contra III or Hard Corps.

The gap between the screens leads to some very irritating deaths, and you cant shoot things in between the two screens either. Therefor it makes getting powerups on the waterfall level irritating along with other levels as well where you climb.

The unlockable classics (Super C, Contra (NES)) are not the best ones from the series. I would have LOVED to see Contra Hard Corps or Contra III unlockable from challenges. Other than that though, the game is very fun and I like it. These are just minor gripes with the game, otherwise I enjoy it altogether. Recommended to fans of the classic games. This game has a fairly high skill level, and if you aren't patient or you get aggravated easily, you will HATE this game.

AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: January 21, 2008
Author: Amazon User

This game was awesome. I am a huge fan of the contra titles on the nes and the snes. When I heard this game was going to be released for the DS I made a reservation and I bought a DS just so I could play this game and be ready. This game brought back so many memories as I played it. The game has so many refrences from its predacessors which gives you the awesome contra feeling a lot of classic gamers know. I hear too many poeple complaining that this game is too hard, I actually found it suitable because it was difficult like all the others. My best streak on this game was not losing a single life until the last level on the normal difficulty, things start to get a little crazy in the last level. The last boss(Black Viper) at the end of the harvest yard was awesome, especially the music! I recomend this game for people who love challenging games that require lots of quick actions. Once you start getting the hang of this game you will get that Contra feeling I'm talking about. I am going for hard mode right now, so far I made it to the 5th level, its a great challenge, and you get to play with the classic contra soundtrack. Its a great buy also because you can unlock Contra and Super C for the nes, I finally get to play those great classics on the bus to school. I hope that Konami thinks about making another contra game like this one for the DS because I am very satisfied=D Oh, one more thing, you can unlock the PROBOTECTOR from the European version of contra and play as him!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Konami creates another classic

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: February 01, 2008
Author: Amazon User

Just like everyone else has said, this game IS hard, but NOT impossible. I have completed the game on Hard difficulty setting and nearly all of the challenges. In my opinion, the level of difficulty is the best part of the game. It is very challenging, but rest assured that with persistence and some skill, you can beat this game and the challenges. However, I would not recommend this game for the novice gamer.

The game has 3 difficulty settings, easy/normal/hard. The first of which leaves out the last 2 levels. Playing on easy is still difficult but you get the advantage of fully upgraded weapons with just one weapon pickup. It requires 2 pickups on normal and hard. Beating the game on any difficulty setting unlocks the challenges. Beating the challenges unlocks additional content which includes the first 2 contra games (Contra on NES and Super C) as well as different characters to play as and misc. other things such as a contra museum and comics.

Pros:
- The level design is very good with full utilization of the 2 screens.
- Bosses are quite impressive and span both screens.
- Good graffics (for the DS, we aren't talkin HD here)
- Excellent gameplay.
- Very challenging.
- The grappling hook adds alot to the game play.
- Cool weapons and upgrades.

Cons:
- Lags slightly in multiplayer which can lead to deaths
- Very hard, not for the novice gamer

I put the difficulty as both a pro and con since it could be either depending on what you seek in a game. All things considered, I enjoy this game more than Contra and Super C. But since both those games are unlockable, you get to enjoy them all in one package!

Real challenge, just the way i like it.

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: April 26, 2008
Author: Amazon User

its a short game, if u can beat it :) but really it has alo to offer on the challeng side, the graphics are nice and the music is great, if u never played contra, u shoold play this one, its true to the series, and ppl who say its too diffucult, im sorry but it cant be helped, the best games are a challenge i.e ninga gaiden, although i didnt find that challenging as much as contra 4.

The true successor to Contra III: The Alien Wars

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 0 / 0
Date: May 16, 2008
Author: Amazon User

For the past 15 years my favorite Contra game has been Contra III: The Alien Wars for Super Nintendo. In all that time it seemed that Konami couldn't make a Contra game to equal the great Contra III. Well, it's finally happened. Contra 4 equals and at times even surpasses its predecessor in every way. Contra 4 is set in 2638, two years after the events of Contra III because, it turns out, the alien invasion of Contra III was merely the first wave. Bill Rizer and Lance Bean make their return as earth's last hope, and the DS lets you play with a friend if they also own the Contra 4 game card. I wouldn't say it's necessary to have a friend to enjoy Contra 4, as I played through the entire game by myself and had a blast. Unlike Contra III which had a couple of missions played from the top-down viewpoint, Contra 4 returns to the 3D corridor missions with the behind-the-player viewpoint from the original NES games. These missions are a LOT of fun and I enjoy them more than Contra III's overhead missions. Contra 4 features the same kind of 80's action movie music and enormous bosses, only this time the bosses stretch to twice the normal size into the second screen. New to the Contra series is the grappling hook which carries you into the top screen, and the addition of a second screen means there are twice as many aliens shooting at you but there's also twice as much room for you to move around in. It's a great next step for the series, but this game is not for everyone. I recommend Contra 4 to those hardcore gamers who are willing to play the same grueling missions over and over until they get it right. It's tremendously satisfying when you win, but if you're a fan of the Contra series you already knew that.

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