Like the title says, this thread is about everything Contra! Your Contra childhood memories, your favorites, the ones you hate, the ones you cherrish, you get the drill 
. And I might as well throw down my TOP 5 while I'm at it.
~Top 5
1. Contra
2. Contra 4
3. Contra III: The Alien Wars
4. Contra II: Super C
5. Contra ReBirth
And I still have yet to play Contra II: Super C which to me looks incredibly bland and playing it safe compared to the original, not to mention the music sounds pretty weak as well...I'm still 50/50 on getting it on the Virtual Console. As for the original, one of the greatest and most amazing Nes titles period. I'll never forget that day when my mom came back from her vacation in Hawaii and she suprised me with a gift. It was freakin' CONTRA! 
. At the young age of 6, I remember holding the Contra Nes box in my hands staring down at it in amazement. That awesome bad Box art and silver/grey background had permanently been burnt into my mind. The music, the graphics, that first epic 3D-like enemy base stage, the frantic and epic boss battles, the weapons, the challenge and the unforgettable Konami code. Contra was and is legendary hehe.
As for Contra III, I've always hated the colorless mechanical industrial atmosphere, and the slightly darker and more serious tone it had going on. I wanted to go back to the jungle, but instead what we got were City's, streets and factories ect ect. Aside from that, it was a bit more arcadey than the original and faster paced. Where as the original and 4 are more in tune with each other and they're all about enemy placement and getting in that sweet spot to take down your enemy which felt a bit more strategic which I prefered. Contra III, while still a great game was just unapealing to me based on the reasons I mentioned above and I was just never crazy over it as a kid. Those overhead area's were pretty cool though back in the day.
Hardcorps was fun, But I hated the end of the world-like apocolyptic dark muddy visuals and the sound track was pretty damn forgettable and ear grating, but based on what I remeber it was even more fast paced than Contra III, the bosses were quirked out-crazy and the experience was tough as nails. Hell, visual wise it even made Contra III seem cheary and colorful in comparison.lol I wish it would make it's way to the VC, because it's been a long time since I've played it and I've never actually finished it.
And finally, there's Contra ReBirth....Which was too short, too easy and too uncreative. But it's still pretty fun and that first boss battle with that flying Caterpillar-like creature was a surreal feast to the eyes, but the rest of the bosses were just uncreative, lame and felt like Contra Boss rejects or crappier rehashes. And the unlimitied continues destroyed the chance at mastering the game, which made the experience far less satisfying, much easier and even shorter. The final Boss was also a pretty big letdown....I mean, THAT was it!? 
Ah well, at least that part where you're hopping from robo camel to robo camel was pretty great! 
Also, you can't forget about Shattered Soldier for the PS2, and there's even a new Contra game coming out for the PSN/XBOX Live called Contra Hard Corps: Uprising which is either a prequal or a sequal to the original Hard Corps. Either way it's looking pretty damn shnazzy if you dig the revamped flashy anime look it has going on. But I'm not exactly digging the fact that you have a health bar in it....Contra's all about the one hit kills which makes it all the more intense.
