Contra:Rebirth (WiiWare)

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Robotrek
Posts: 639
Joined: June 6th, 2016, 9:24 pm

Contra:Rebirth (WiiWare)

Postby Robotrek » February 28th, 2017, 3:11 pm

Ah, yes. I remember seeing this games' gameplay video on the Nintendo Channel (remember that?) and being blown away. I loved how the game maintained an oldschool look, while also looking very fun, and modern. But for some reason, I never got around to getting it.......until last night. And ho-ly-[Expletive]. After selecting Bill Rizer, or Genbei Yagyu, you're off. The game starts off on a ship. Instantly thrown into the action, this is DEFINITELY the Contra you remember. The controls are absolutely fantastic. They are quick, responsive, and easy to get the hang of. I played the game with the Gamecube controller, and I recommend everyone play with it. By holding down the R trigger, you can stand in place and shoot in any direction, a very welcome feature. The game also features the dual-weapons system of Contra III (SNES, 1992). Disappointingly, however, there are only 3 upgrades. The spread gun (which ROCKS) the homing missiles (which help on certain bosses) and the laser gun (which won't hit [EXPLETIVE]). The graphics are FANTASTIC, the animation for the characters is incredibly fluid, and the color choices couldn't be any better. The game also implements an old school scaling effect that looks like it came straight out of the Sega Saturn era. The stages are all very good looking. While some areas are inspired from Contra games of old, they have their own unique flavor, and never feel recycled. The explosions are AWESOME. When you shoot something, it feels so damned GOOD. Especially bosses. Speaking of bosses, they are so damn TOUGH. It might take even the most seasoned Contra players a few tries to get past them, but it's all in good fun, and reminiscent of past games in the franchise. The music is fantastic. Rather than emulating the SNES sound, they opted for a more Genesis/Arcade sound, and it's awesome. While a lot of the music is recycled, it doesn't matter, as it sounds fantastic. The difficulty is tough as hell, but it IS Contra, so what were you expecting? Additionally, if you complete the game on easy, you unlock Brownie. She isn't the best character, and her only advantage is that she is way smaller than the others. You can also unlock Pliskin, who will NOT lose his weapon upon death! The game also features a great 2 player mode, just the way you remember. It's not very long however, clocking in at 40 minutes. But hey, the difficulty subsides that by quite a margin!

Overall, this game is pretty damned good. While there could have been MORE, I don't mind that too much, as it was only 10 bucks. I figure if this had been a PS1 release, it would go for a fortune nowadays (like all shooters/RPG's do). But thankfully, you can get it here! Might want to hurry however, we don't know how much longer WiiWare will be up, though in the future, you could always just extract the WAD to your Wii. Anyways, go buy this, it's very enjoyable, and isn't very expensive. Happy killings!

Grade: B

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Atariboy
Posts: 956
Joined: April 7th, 2015, 11:07 pm

Re: Contra:Rebirth (WiiWare)

Postby Atariboy » February 28th, 2017, 10:03 pm

This was the only one of the three Rebirth releases that I bought. Was a very solid Contra game I thought.

I'm sure M2 did an equally excellent job with their Castlevania and Gradius releases, but I've never gotten into those franchises like most have and these were on the high end for digital Wii pricing ($15 each, as I recall?), so I passed them by.

Still sad after 10 years or so that the 4th project they were working on, Jackal Rebirth, was cancelled before release. Probably was the only chance that franchise had at getting a sequel.


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