Contra Anniversary Collection Switch NSP Free Download Romslab

Contra Anniversary Collection Switch NSP Free Download And so we come to the end (for now) of Konami’s triple helping of retro compilations. After giving us an arcade collection that was heavy on the shooters and a Castlevania collection that celebrated the spooky series’ early days, the same treatment has now been given to the Contra series, which offers some of the finest run ‘n’ gun action in gaming history. There are fewer games in Contra Anniversary Collection than in the others, despite Konami’s best efforts to disguise this on the menu by listing some games twice (as their different regional variations). ROMSLAB.COM BEST SWITCH GAMES

Contra Anniversary Collection Switch NSP Free Download Romslab

What initially looks like 10 games, then, is actually only seven: still nothing to be sniffed at, but it’s one fewer than the other collections. It’s also technically only five when you consider that two of the games – Contra and Super Contra – are here in both arcade and NES form. It’s also worth bearing in mind, though, that the Contra collection doesn’t have a single bad game in it, which we couldn’t say for the Castlevania collection (bow your heads in shame, Simon’s Quest and the first Game Boy adventure).

Bullet Heaven

For anyone unfamiliar with the series, the Contra games are old-school fast paced run and gun shooters. In most of the games you play as a topless, bandana’d up soldier, fighting against the hordes of the Red Falcon. The enemies initially seem to be just another human military force before transforming into a range of Giger-esque abominations, not unlike those found in the Alien series of movies. The Alien references also extend to the names of the main protagonists, Bill Rizer and Lance Bean.Legrand Legacy: Tale of the Fatebounds Switch

Contra Anniversary Collection Switch NSP Free Download Romslab

Sly and Arnie must have been looking for their royalties! The series charts the course of the ongoing battles between the Contra and the Red Falcon, from the original Arcade release through the 8-bit era and finishes in the 16-bit era with the SNES and Mega Drive incarnations. The collection is made up of 12 games in total, but there are multiple versions of some games, so the actual total isn’t quite as generous as it initially looks.

Hard Corps Indeed

The 16-bit entries also have some interesting differences, with the Western versions of Contra: Hard Corps and Contra 3 rebranded as Probotector and Super Probotector. Interestingly also changes depending on which regional variation you play, with the Japanese versions of some games offering unlimited continues and in the case of Hard Corps (and Probotector) offering a health bar which is completely removed for the Western releases.Lethal League Blaze Switch NSP

Contra Anniversary Collection Switch NSP Free Download Romslab

Apparently this was a result of the huge trend of stores in the 90s offering game rentals in the West. The games were modified for these regions to make them more difficult to stop people renting the game once, completing it and then returning it. When you are inevitably getting smashed whilst playing the Probotector games you can thank Global Video! These particular changes present an interesting question as to what the “real” vision for these games was.

The full package

The collection has a lot to offer, despite the multiple versions of the different games. I actually really enjoyed seeing the differences between versions and found the 16-bit games a good way to see the different strengths that Nintendo and Sega’s consoles offered at the time. Contra 3 offers a wide range of gameplay styles, with top down sections and lots of rotating and rescaling of sprites, taking advantage of Mode 7. Hard Corps on the other hand runs ridiculously fast, owing the the higher processing speed of Sega’s console. Let’s play duema! Switch NSP

Contra Anniversary Collection Switch NSP Free Download Romslab

Hard Corps however lacks the different gameplay styles as seen in Contra 3, as Nintendo was able to take advantage of Mode 7. The inclusion of the Game Boy game Operation C is interesting and shows how the team were able to work wonders in delivering a full-fat Contra experience on Nintendo’s diminutive machine.

Add-ons (DLC): Contra Anniversary Collection Switch NSP