@Wvaeboy: The reason TMNT II and Turtles in time for SNES havent come out for the VC is cause Konmai doesnt own the TMNT license for the videogames anymore Ubisoft does. To make matters even worst is Mirage studios (the company that owned the rights to the old TMNT cartoons that the arcade games are based off of) doesnt even own the rights to the cartoons anymore. Nickelodeon now owns the TMNT cartoon rights. I think its because of these factors that they wont be bring out the TMNT arcade games to the VC.

Anyways now here is my list

Contra -- NES
Super C -- NES
Contra III -- SNES
Some contra I dont know the name of it but it was on NES. It had 4 commandos that you can choose from and you fought terrorists instead of aliens.

I beat the first Contra on my first try (using the Konami Code, of course ), and the best weapon was the Machine Gun. Spread gun fires everywhere, but the Machine Gun fires about 10 rounds per second. Can't beat that.

I seconded that I also liked the Machine Gun better. When I use to play this game with my bother when we were younger I would always take the machine gun and he would take either the Fire weapon which we would call the Flame thrower or the Spreader.

I've always hated using the Lazer gun.
But my favorite has always been the machine gun, which for me feels the most satisfying to use out of the bunch.

Anyways, that sucks to here about Ubisoft and Nickelodeon owning the rights, I guess we might as well kiss those releases goodbye then. But there's still no excuse for Castlevania Bloodlines and the original Contra being a no-show.

A friend and I tore the **** out of Contra 3 on SNES. Took us many hours but we did it. The scatter shot rifle grew to be our favorite gun along with the flame thrower. The top-down levels where you use the L&R shoulder buttons to shift the camera where ironically fun. Oh and the bosses were TOO!! much fun/epic.

YES Buy ReBirth NOW!

Contra Force is the game you're talking about.

Ok thanks I wasnt sure what the title was cause I didnt like it so I didnt bother remembering it. In fact the only time I played it was way back in the day of NES I rented it from a video store and the only reason I rented it was because of the Contra in the title.

The only thing that I found the lazer gun good against was the sensors in the base levels that had the covering over them and the Tanks in the snow stage other than that the lazer sucked IMO.

And yeah I know what you mean WaveBoy abut the TMNT games I would love to have them too. I have the First arcade game on XBLA and the Remake of Turtles in Time for the XBLA but its just not the same. Guess I will just have to hunt down a SNES and NES for those games.

Didn't go much into my rankings earlier.

Contra III is far and away my favorite. I loved the gritty, post-apocalyptic backgrounds, fast gameplay, big bosses and some AMAZING music (some of my favorite tunes on SNES).

Original Contra. What can I say? Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, B, A, Start. My first Contra and maybe the most addictive. Will ALWAYS remember renting it the first time. Was, well, less skilled then and only made it past Waterfall. Then, I think the first Nintendo Power issue, I got the 30 man Konami Code and finished it. Got good enough to finish it with fewer than 3 lives every time through!

Super C, more of the same goodness of the original. Just felt shorter. Still, great action, bosses and music!

Contra ReBirth, loved the return to SNES graphics, game play and music of Contra. Points off for the crossdressing. That was wrong on so many levels! Game seemed too short also.

Contra 4 being so low is it being a victim of bad timing. Got it at a time when I didn't have much free time, and I've just never picked it back up. And having to keep such a close eye on both screens is uber distracting/annoying. Still a great game that I'm sure I'll enjoy more when I finally return to it.

On a side note, I hope sometime in my life someone asks me for a code. I long to give them the Konami Code and get a return look of puzzlement! I think they did something like that in one of the Scott Pilgrim books. Like when Knives asks Young Neil what he plays. "Zelda. Tetris. That's a big question". ROTFLMAO!

You're welcome. Feel weird telling you, since you've played it and I haven't LOL! I've only seen video of it on YouTube. It's on my list to get at Amazon when I have the money and find a copy in good shape, with box and instructions. Need to get PS2 Contras also. And, I pray, Hard Corps one day.

I've got the TMNT I, II and III cartridges for the Nes. All I need is TMNT IV and TMNT III for the GameBoy and my radtastic TMNT videogame collection is complete. But yep, the TMNT Arcade game on Xbox Live just seems like a bad combination since the Xbox controller is too modern and horribly suited for such a game. A Classic controller or the Wii Remote side ways would be perfect.

Also who wouldn't love to see the Actual TMNT Arcade game available on the Wii's VC Arcade? The same goes for The Simpsons! Along with X-Men. Those 3 arcade games were a huge part of my Chuck E cheese child hood back in the early 90's! Those were the days.

@Waveboy: I would love to see the Arcade games come out for VC. I know that they just released the Xmen Arcade game on XBLA a few weeks ago which I still have to get . I dont know why they released the Arcade version of TMNT and Xmen on XBLA but not the Wii VC oh well maybe Microsoft was willing to pay the money for the licensing or whatever and I would love to see the Simpsons arcade come out too. Once again though I think it all has to do with who has the license.

Anyways back to Contra so what is the farthest you can get with the original lives and continues? I have made it all the way to the Hanger before I had no more lives or continues.

Hopefully Contra Force will show up on VC since it's one of the more expensive games to get an original copy of (perhaps because it was a somewhat late release and a NA exclusive).

I could care less about Contra Force, as it's an abomination to the franchise and shouldn't even bare the Contra Name.
Give me the original Contra and Hard Corps and I'll be happy, and maybe even the upcoming Hard Corps: Uprising for WiiWare....If it could even be done on the Wii that is. Either way I'll just get it on the PSN, because based on the videos it actually does look pretty fun. And I can deal with the whole Anime-fied look and gameplay of the game but the one hit kills are history and instead your character has a health bar which I think is pretty damn weak...It's as if they're trying to make it easier for the kiddies. Hopefully there's an option that can change this because for me that alone just doesn't quite make it feel like contra.

One hit kills are mandatory!
Also, here's a clip of the first stage in Uprising. Those explosions in the beginning are pretty cheap and lowsy.lol But what I like especially about this Contra is that you can dash in the air, and the the fact that you can do a dash run. But what annoys me are the bullets SFX coming from your machine gun, it just doesn't sound right and I'm not sure if adding in the ability to deflect enemy projectiles like bullets and so on was a great idea, because that's just going to downplay and make you not dodge as much, and the lifebar doesn't help either. Looks like a far less intense of an experience because of those 2 things. I think if you had a 'deflect Bar' where you could only do it so many times until getting a power up would be ok, AND ditching the health bar in favor for the traditional Contra one hit kill would probably makes this all the more better.

Have any of you guys played Operation C for the GameBoy? Because aside from waiting for Hard Corps and the orgiinal Contra to hit the VC, along with Hard Corps: Uprising releasing next month on the PSN, I wan't to look into getting Shattered Soldier and maybe Operation C if it's even worth getting.

And as for those 3D contra games(all 3 of them)that landed on the PS1 and PS2, I think I'll pass....A wise decision indeedy, because they look awful and they've all gotten terrible reviews aside from Neo Contra on the PS2, but apperantly it's just mediocre to decent at best.

The Japanese version of the original Hard Corps had a life bar (and unlimited continues, I think). I guess there's a lot of wussy Contra players like me that would rather play with that... and that unlike me are willing to pay some serious bucks for the cart.

How much does the cart usually go for? And for me, a health bar 'and' unlimited continues would hinder the experience big time. Contra ReBirth was a nice little example of that because that game in fact had unlimited continues and it made the game far less intense and easier, i beat that game in around 2 hours....Yet it would of took me MUCH longer if there were actual game overs and they made you resart from the beginning. I think if that were the case, I'd see ReBirth as a better game, but as it stands it's the wussiest contra available. But to each their own.

Anyways, I'm playing Contra II: Super C on the Virtual Console and I'm having a blast so far with it.
But it doesn't stack up the original, in terms of....well almost everything.lol The music definitly comes to mind as it's almost forgettable in Super C aside from maybe a couple of decent tracks, the Boss battles don't quite seem as grand, memorable or as awesome either, and the over the head gameplay while fun isn't 'as' fun as the 3D Base areas in the original. It's still an awesome and fun sequal, but the original it tis' not.

And I can't beat Stage 8! And no I'm not using any Konami code to have extra continues or lives, I'm playing this like the way it's supposed to be played hehe. And is it me, or was the original Contra much more challenging? It's been a while since I've played it. Still, Super C has some rock hard challenge here and there, and Level 8 is the perfect example. I've put 2 hours into and there's that one area in Stage 8 where the ceiling keeps smashing down and these group of red alien orbs keep swooping down and killing me. Spread Shot is a must!

EDIT Just finished Super C muhaha. Overall it was an enjoyable, intense and pretty solid sequal but it's weaker in practically every department when stacked up against the original which was so amazing, magical and memorable. And the final Boss left me wanting more...I always get bummed out whenever there's only one form for a final Boss....It makes everything far less epic, unsatisfying and anti-climactic. All of that hard earned time spent blasting your way to the final battle...Only to get, well...that. I'd nail it with an 8/10 at the most.

1. Contra - 10/10
2. Contra 4 - 8.5/10
3. Contra III: The Alien Wars 8/10
4. Conra II: Super C - 7.5/10
5. Contra ReBirth - 6.5/10

That was definitly the game's downside without a doubt. It's hard enough dodging bullets as it is, but when you're too busy looking at the bottom screen and some random projectile or bullet comes from the top it can getting pretty frustrating. If only that gap wasn't there. But ya, I haven't played Contra 4 in a while, but based on what I rememeber it wasn't exactly a true sequal, just a mash up of the original and Contra III i think. But it was still a great ride nonetheless and the most punishing and brutaly difficult Contra around.

And I have the case here, but the actual cart along with my other White DS Lite is stuck at my friends place which is out of the way in storage, ugh!

This series is just too hard for me. With that said, I did enjoy Contra 1 and Contra 4, despite sucking at them. I'll probably get Hard Corps someday, too.