The year is 2636 and some aliens have popped over to earth for a visit. At first it seems they are putting on a fancy light show but then buildings start exploding and the alien wars begin! Contra III: The Alien Wars is a run and gun classic full of action as you "attack aggressively" in an attempt to defeat those pesky invaders. It's not the first time the game has gone portable, having previously been released for the original Game Boy and later the Game Boy Advance, but this is the original version of the game with all levels intact, looking, sounding and playing exactly as it did back in the day. Unless back in the day you got Super Probotector, in which case bye-bye robots, hello muscular action heroes.
The game is - frankly - brilliant, with each main stage playing like an action movie with events steadily getting more intense as you progress. Alien troops and creatures rush to attack (or stand and shoot) as you run, jump and shoot your way towards the end. Plenty of things explode and the game throws a number of exciting set pieces at you as you hop onto a motorbike or shimmy along railings avoiding fire or perilous drops. Other stages have you climbing walls whilst fending off attackers and one section of the game has you high in the sky swinging between missiles as you take on the end-of-level boss.
Providing a change of pace and being a little more relaxed are the two top-down stages. These can still require quick reflexes to get through, but there's quite a bit of open space to use as you weave around enemy fire and sometimes foes will walk into walls, allowing you to wait patiently as they shuffle into your firing line.
Should you be running late for your wedding the standard Virtual Console suspension and restore point functions are available, allowing you to halt the action and then return to it at a later time. As always this is useful, but stages work best when tackled in one sitting, causing a huge thrill when you are successful and allowing a moment to breath before the next stage commences.
Visually there's been a big step up from the proceeding instalments of the series. The extra power of the SNES hardware is used to create stages with a lot of detail and a wide range of alien attackers. There's a variety of stages in the game from streets with ruined buildings to more organic alien locations. Potentially this could cause trouble on the smaller screen of the New Nintendo 3DS, but good use of colour prevents the on-screen elements blending together and any projectiles heading your way are brightly coloured. Switching to the original resolution mode in the Virtual Console options menu makes details sharper, but even left at the default setting the action remains clearly visible; hits occur from slow reflexes rather than an unseen attack.
On the audio side of things this is another SNES game with a fantastic soundtrack and one New 3DS owners should dig out some headphones for if travelling. A series of adventurous, mysterious and intense tracks fit the onscreen carnage wonderfully and the various explosions, weapon noises and other sound effects work well too.
If there's one disappointment with this eShop release it's that a friend cannot join you on your quest. As is standard for these SNES re-releases on New 3DS, simultaneous multiplayer is not possible so you'll just have to go it alone.
There's plenty of excitement to be had in solo play, however, as you try to figure out how best to deal with the alien forces. Even on the easiest difficulty setting the game can be challenging, with attacks coming from multiple directions, and you'll find yourself switching weapons to best deal with a certain attacker – that flamethrower's great for the winged things but it won't reach that trooper on the other side of the screen. Even once cleared the excitement from a playthrough is such that this is a game that's fun to return to.
Conclusion
On New 3DS it's single player only, but there's still lots to like about Contra III: The Alien Wars. With intense action from start to finish, there's a range of things to shoot and jump between and it provides a good challenge whilst never seeming unfair. The action and excitement is backed by a wonderful soundtrack and the game remains fun to replay. Contra III: The Alien Wars is another SNES classic that New 3DS owners will not want to miss out on.
Comments 28
Lack of multiplayer on these re-releases is pretty disappointing.
My mind and wallet keeps telling me how idiotic it is to buy these games all over again considering I even own both the PAL and Japanese version of this... but my heart is already on it's way to the eShop.
Quite frankly - No Multiplayer = No Sale
@Shiryu It's never idiotic to support a franchise you love.
Oh, wait. These are made by Konami.
@Marce2240 And I loved Konami so, so much... better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all.
@Mario-Man-Child is the difficulty really high on this one?? I'd like to pick it up, but don't want to get too frustrated either.
@Mario-Man-Child The Japanese version (called Contra Spirits) has a cheat to start with 30 lives and also has infinite continues so that's how the Japanese finished it!
For some odd reason Konami made pretty much every Contra game harder when they localised it for the US (and we usually got those changes in the PAL version... along with the robots...)
You know, I think I might say this with almost every VC game I see from now on: Imagine if Sega's M2 department had made this as one of the 3D Classics range. . . .
Boy oh boy, that would be lovely in stereoscopic 3D, and all the extras and stuff that come with all the 3D Classics games would be awesome too.
This game is still awesome as is but I kinda want to see all these amazing retro 2D games really take advantage of the fact that they're on the 3DS, and after seeing the amazing work of M2 on the Sega 3D Classics range I can't help but want even more from rereleases of these classic titles. And, you'd certainly get the 2 player mode included too, as well as a bunch of great new features and stuff.
Still, this a brilliant game that I would recommend to anyone—although, I might just encourage you all to play it on a good SNES ******** if I'm being honest.
@Mario-Man-Child cool, I'm gonna give it a shot. Didn't know there were difficulty options. Thanks!
@Kirk Agree 101%. M2 and Sega made some amazing 16bit ports with 3D, extra features, unlockables, mulitplayer etc. Hopefully they are selling well, but I have little faith in gamers that they are.
Nintendo just throws them out there as is. Would love to see Super Mario World, Fzero, EarthBound and Contra in 3D. Maybe even for side scrollers open up the sides of the screen more.
I've bought all these games on the SNES, Wii and WiiU and will not be buying them again on the 3DS without any kind of enhancements. Nintendo should show these games and its consumers a little well deserved respect and love.
@Kirk Agreed. Those lovely M2 Remasters are really making Nintendo look lazy.
I still bought it, of course. It's Contra III, one of the best games on the SNES. No multiplayer is VERY disappointing, though.
@Shiryu You and me both. Nintendo-Capcom-Konami is my Holy Triumvirate when it comes to the NES-SNES era.
@Marce2240 Add Square and Enix for the Pentagram of quality.
@KoopaTrooper I really do hope the 3D Classics range is selling well; it absolutely deserves to.
And, yeah, Nintendo has been pretty dang lazy with its own VC games (not even managing to get NES game colours displaying properly for example), and I really hope it does a much better job going forward on NX. Also, I really hope that anyone who's already paid for any of these VC titles at least once can just download them again on NX at no extra cost. It's getting absurd at this point with how many times Nintendo has asked you to pay for the same games, and sometimes slightly gimped or lower quality versions compared to the originals at that.
Just imagine the kind of respect Nintendo would have garnered this gen, and the sales it would have achieved (i.e. the amount of money it would have made), if it had made all the VC versions of its games up to the same standards as Sega's 3D Classics range. . . .
That's the kind of level I actually expect from Nintendo all the frikin' time, and it's why I'm so harsh on it all the frikin' time these days, because it rarely goes that extra mile anymore, except on a handful of its biggest franchises.
Just imagine if it actually went those extra few yards with everything it put out on NX (including VC games and whatever else). . . .
I would love to have this game but Nintendo's stupid decision not to put SNES VC on older 3ds is s no from me. True emulation may be "easier" on the new but modders have had success and it stands to reason given the resources at Nintendo's disposal it shouldn't be too hard.
@GameOtaku The results of unofficial Snes on 3DS have been mixed, many games don't run full speed at all. Could Nintendo do it? Sure. Will they? No because reasons. Part of the problem has to do with scanline-based rendering vs PPU rendering and games like Donkey Kong render the BG layers in a very weird manner, o3DS struggles big time with it, unless you don't care about missing backgrounds.
@mikegamer
Before Nintendo said the older models were too weak we asked about SNES VC for years and no one said it couldn't handle it. Given the price of SNES VC is equal to the 3D sega classics tgey should have had Arika or M2 work their magic.
I would have downloaded this Day 1 IF it had local play/download play
@Moon This game doesn´t need multiplayer to be one of the games of all time
@Espectro2410 I grew up playing this game multiplayer, and that's what I want/expect from the game. It's still a good game, yeah. But I personally don't want it without 2 player.
If Super C can have Download Play, then so should this!
@Shiryu never wrong to have it again to blast on the go, retaining its pixel perfection.
@Shiryu by the way, what are your impressions on Star Fox ZeroG(uard)? In my opinion, it turned out brilliant. The way you now interact with the story and the action account for nothing less than genious craftsmanship.
@elreins You can read my three part guide right here at Nintendo Life. Loved it! Such a breath of fresh air.
@Shiryu Where exactly is it mate? can't sem to find it. I saw a guide, three part, but I thought Alex had written it. Am I refering to the right material?
Cheers!
I would really love to see secret of mana on VC.
The fact it retains the top down levels that weren't feasible with Contra Advance makes this the best portable Contra, period.
I'd love to see a Contra Sagas, with a totally overhauled rendering of Shattered Soldier, showcasing dozens of levels across all entries.
Along with a brand new Contra (Exodus, The Revenge, and Desolation all fit with the theme), kind of how the next CoD is releasing alongside MW Remastered.
Since revisiting some old PS3 games, I'm 100% convinced the launch title Resistance was the product of more than a few Contra sessions.
@NodesforNoids Contra 4 on DS was also great.
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