Konami's Contra Advance: The Alien Wars EX has been rated by the Australian Classification Board and should arrive on the Wii U in the near future as a Virtual Console download.
This is a loose port of the SNES classic Contra III: The Alien Wars and originally hit the Game Boy Advance in 2002. In Japan, it was known as Contra: Hard Spirits.
It's far from a straight conversion of the 16-bit classic, however; the screen-clearing Mega Bombs have been removed, as has the dual-wield ability which was so handy on the SNES. These omissions are balanced somewhat by the fact that the player can now lock their character's aim while moving, and is also given a opportunity to revert to their previous weapon after picking up a fresh one. Also, the SNES' iconic Mode 7 stages are nowhere to be seen, and have been substituted with two levels from the Sega Genesis / Mega Drive title Contra: Hard Corps.
It's not quite as essential as the SNES version then, but still a nice little extra for fans of the series — and this Virtual Console release should go down well with Game Boy Advance owners who played it back in 2002. Are you one of them? Let us know with a comment.
[source nintendoeverything.com]
Comments 21
I think i will stick with the SNES version.
I havn't played this on GBA. But it is nice to have the choice to play this with levels i havn't seen before.
It's not a very good mishmash of SNES and Megadrive Contra because neither holds up to the originals. I advise everyone to stay away form this one sadly.
No chance of Contra Famicom/NES coming to VC? We already have Contra 2 aka Super C.
Hmm, got rid of the mode 7 levels, possibly the weaker part of the original
Just make Hard Corps be on virtual console already. I want to fight the Belmonts
I'm a huge Contra fan, but would prefer another new entry. This one, sadly, is one of the weakest Contra games as the levels from Hard Corps being shoehorned in simply do not work well. Contra: Hard Corps is notorious as the single hardest game in the franchise, but not the worst--those fall to the first games on the Playstation by Apogee. Boy, are those things some turds.
It was not a good port, and not a good mish-mash. They'd have done better to put Operation C on the 3DS. That one is still pretty good.
Weird.
I wish Hard Corps would get a VC release...
I always want to play Contra, but then I do and I remember how unforgiving and difficult this series is and how much I suck at them. Up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, b, a, start. I could only get past the end of the third level in Hard Corps, but I do love Contra games.
I have this game on GBA. Its NOT easy at all.
would rather Golden Sun 2
I love contra but i guess ill stay away from this one
I already have the SNES version. Not sure why they're bothering with this.
Instead of releaseing the vc version why not revamp the whole series in hd and release that. A modern version of the majority of vc games would be excellent and im sure wouldn't take long to complete
I agree with many of these comments.
Bring me Probotector instead.
Is this worth it if I already have Contra 3?
This is a pretty bad port. The field of view is much smaller than on the SNES, so you have much less time to react to incoming bullets and enemies. Also, you can only play up to stage 4 unless you play on hard... what were they thinking?!?
I never knew the mode 7 Levels had been taken out and subbed with Hard Corps levels. I may have to check this out.
@DefHalan Not at all.
Konami: Contra NES, please.
@Dreamcaster-X
A word of caution: The Hard Corps levels they shoehorned in to replace them don't quite fit and feel unbalanced compared to he rest of the game.
@DefHalan
No, it is not. Normal Contra III is superior to this.
Wait, where IS Operation C? Why didn't we get that yet?
Ugh, Konami.
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