Arcade Vs NES - Contra

[@MKF30]

This is one I have to say i could play either but man the NES one I have so many nostalgic memories with, playing with a buddy over the best. Great game.

[@RetroComparisons]

This is such a classic. There's nothing better than trying to beat this game with a friend.

[@MKF30]

@RetroComparisons Oh Yeah for sure dude! Totally agree!😃

[@MKF30]

@RetroComparisons Happy Thanksgiving to you btw!🦃

[@RetroComparisons]

@@MKF30 Thanks my friend! I hope you had a happy Thanksgiving today too:)

[@MKF30]

@@RetroComparisons hey thanks I did I actually watched that horror movie Thanksgiving fun time 😆

[@crashingblow3753]

This is perhaps one of the rarest instances of the home console version being better than its original arcade counterpart. My first problem with the arcade version is the large yet somewhat thin or narrow screen. It limits your view and it makes it tricky to see what is ahead of you. This problem is even more prominent in Super Contra where enemies literally come in huge numbers and can attack you from out of nowhere when you least expect them. This screen size or resolution in the arcade would have been OK for like vertical space shooters, but for a platforming run and gun game? It just doesn't work. The NES version at least has the courtesy to give you a much more bigger screen and much more room to see, and just simply a better field of view, which makes it easier to see ahead and react to enemy fire or attacks on time. I got a feeling that the arcade version did that on purpose to basically make it so that you have to spend more credits on continues. Speaking of continues, this is another gripe I have. Limited continues. Sure, the NES has those too, but at least it's a home console game. It makes sense. For arcade however, it just felt cruel. Plus, if you want to go there, the NES at least gives you the mercy of having the Konami code. It's cheating, yes, but at least it's offered to you (as long as you know it). The arcade has no cheats, so whether you like it or not, you're getting three lives, three continues, and that's it. And even then, I think the NES version is still fair enough to where you can still beat it without the code, just as long as you know how it goes. Meanwhile the arcade version will do whatever it can to make sure you lose and spend that precious credit. Lastly, I just think the NES version has a bit more content. The code, a few added levels, and even added bosses that weren't in the arcade. Like the alien head in level 3. Overall, the NES version is just simply the definitive way to play the original Contra.

[@RetroComparisons]

You nailed it and I couldn't agree more with you. Normally I add my two cents to comments but I think you covered everything perfectly.

[@SomeOrangeCat]

The NES version was one of Konami's finest offerings.

[@RetroComparisons]

IMO it's one of the best games of the era from any company.

[@mikec3260]

@@SomeOrangeCat Agreed x2

[@mtshark7]

I'm going with NES on this one!

[@RetroComparisons]

Me too, that version is just so much better.

[@mikec3260]

I think we all know the winner here..... I had no idea there was an arcade version until about 10 years ago. This game is such a gem on the NES and one of my top 20 games for sure. Winner: The Konami Code Other winner: NES Honestly the arcade is okay, the console conversion is simply one of the best there is of any game. I do kind of wish this was on Master System even tho the NES version is masterful perfection of an arcade game thats best on console.... Good stuff man!!!

[@RetroComparisons]

I don't think that I knew about the arcade port either until about 10 years ago too. When I finally got a chance to try it I was super disappointed. It's not bad or anything but once you've sunk countless hours into the NES version the arcade just pales in comparison. Hmm I've never thought about this existing on any other console but this would be an intriguing game for the homebrew scene to port to the SMS.

[@mikec3260]

@RetroComparisons That makes total sense, I have never seen it in an arcade and I think it wasn't until the Konami Contra Collection as I got this and the Castlevania collection at the same time so maybe it was less than 10 years ago. I played and hated the arcade version, just didn't have the same vibes. A diff console would be intetesting for sure!

[@juststatedtheobvious9633]

@@mikec3260 Check out the Amstrad port (Gryzor); minus the lack of scrolling, the graphics could pass for Master System/Game Gear.

[@mikec3260]

@@RetroComparisons Happy Thanksgiving Buddy!!!!

[@RetroComparisons]

@@mikec3260 Happy Thanksgiving my friend!! I hope you had a great day:)

[@Omzi90]

Arcade nostalgia for me

[@ragintombo]

Playing this without the Konami code?! Impressive.

[@DontKnowDontCare6.9]

Its actually possible to have no deaths until the last stage, and get around 10 lives on points alone.

[@RetroComparisons]

Haha thanks! This is one of those games that I was so excited to finally beat about 5 years ago without the code which I used to think was impossible (for me at least). I'm still envious of your skills in Punch Out. I've gotten to Tyson plenty of times but I end up like Marvis Frazier whereas you're like Buster Douglas.

[@ragintombo]

@@RetroComparisons I'm sure you can beat it one day too!

[@CircusBabyLover-t3l]

NES Rules! 😎

[@RetroComparisons]

It certainly does.

[@DontKnowDontCare6.9]

The Fami Com version had more animations and small moving details than the NES version.

[@RetroComparisons]

That's cool, I never knew that.

[@crashingblow3753]

@@DontKnowDontCare6.9 That too! When it comes to content, the NES just simply had more. The konami code, more levels, more bosses, and if you're playing the Japanese Famicom version, more story and animations too. The NES/Famicom is just simply the way to go.

[@DontKnowDontCare6.9]

The Japanese versions of each non-arcade Contra games are actually subtly better than the American versions (havent played the Probotector series though): A)Contra had more background animations B)Super C gets more lives with extra lives secret code (10 vs. 30) C)Only Contra III for Super Famicom has 30 lives code. D)Contra Hard Corps for Japanese Megadrive has a 3 hit meter for each life.

[@RetroComparisons]

@@DontKnowDontCare6.9 That's awesome info! Thanks for sharing your knowledge on that.

[@shotgunl]

I don't know if it's the fact that I didn't play the arcade version of Contra until via MAME many years later around '99-'01 or so (I did ge to play a Super Contra cab though, but only on one occasion) while having the NES version of Contra since '90, but I don't like the arcade game as much. It's fun, and looks and sounds better (well, maybe, at least I like how both sound). But, yeah, I just like the NES port a bit more. Just because of Nostalgia? Maybe, but like with some of Konami's other NES (and SNES) ports, it does have a few additions that the arcade missed. Plus...as others have said, and I mentioned with Circus Charlie, vertical aspect ratios are not the best choice games with horizontal scrolling (mind, you at least Contra has sections that make better use of the vertical real-estate than Circus Charlie etc).

[@RetroComparisons]

I didn't play the arcade version until a few years ago and it's pretty disappointing. It feels slower and has cheaper deaths not to mention the vertical screen which does not suite this type of game. I think it's more than nostalgia in this case for the NES port being superior.

[@mikec3260]

@@shotgunl The NES port feels like an arcade game which makes it so loveable. Happy Thanksgiving Shotgunl!

[@shotgunl]

@@mikec3260 Yep, both this and Super C were a lot of fun. Happy Thanksgiving, MikeC, Bill, and everyone else!

[@mikec3260]

@@shotgunl For sure, loved Super C, I didn't play Hard Corps until last year. A visual feast fo sho! Thanks buddy!!!

[@KevGamingXP]

Fantastic classic game 👍👍💯

[@RetroComparisons]

Absolutely. This is peak 8 bit gaming.

[@juststatedtheobvious9633]

Personally, I love the way the arcade version chose all the colors of old toys nobody wants anymore. You can really see all the sun bleaching, lost paint, and neglect, that'll make it impossible to even give them away. If this game was a person, it'd be unable to escape the memories of the bullet it never saw coming, as it begs for quarters and forgets some of the best parts of its own stories. Fortunately, the kid turned out alright. I mean, once you lose the desperate quarter munching and pay $40 for the real shit instead, the Famicom port is the most 80's thing to ever exist, even without a hint of neon pastels, hair metal, and FM synth. It takes us back to a more innocent time, when steroids were a popular breakfast cereal and beefy heroes dropped dead of an instant heart attack the moment anyone even thought about playing Ys style bump combat with their tiny sprite. Remember, real men are fragile as fuck. That's why you will turn your powers of manspreading into a panicked bullet hell if you want to survive longer than 15 seconds in any new stage. And I can't think of any sentence that better sums up the goals of post WW2 American foreign policy than that. Also, the war on terror was our best defense against the xenomorphs. Fuck Ollie North, for most of us, this was the real start of our Contra affair.

[@RetroComparisons]

Lmao! I did some horrible things while playing this game but fortunately Bill Barr was able to cover up my treasonous acts.

[@KevGamingXP]

Gotta agree with everyone, I like NES version because it's classic and the graphics looks awesome to play.

[@RetroComparisons]

The NES port is just so good. If that port didn't exist I'd still enjoy the arcade version but it pales in comparison.

[@oldfan4049]

Pathetic humans! THIS IS CONTRA! (c) It's FINALLY here!)) The all-time classics^^ Ahh... Of course the original arcade has more in it (even though it had less stages) and looked far better wiith it's huge sprites. And of course it was a quarter muncher, hard as nails (god dang it, I remember I've tried to play through it on one coin through MAME emulation but I was demolished by all the enemies after all, and also the fact that you're start not at the place where you previously died after using another quarter is simply...AAAAAAAAAAAARGGGGH!!). Still good game though. And the NES version...of course it's good, of course it's as tough as it's OG counterpart. Love 'em both. We need way more of games like this back at the day and even right now.

[@RetroComparisons]

IMO this is one of the best games of all time. I could play this game any day of the week and not be sick of it. Both are incredibly difficult but I feel like the NES game is at least a little more fair in its difficulty. And thank goodness for MAME, I'd lose all of my money trying to get to the 2nd level on real arcade hardware.

[@oldfan4049]

@@RetroComparisons oh....I've almost forgot... THE MUSIC!!!!!))

[@KrunchyTheClown78]

I think this is a great example showing that graphics don't make a game, gameplay does lol I'll take the NES version anyday.

[@RetroComparisons]

Absolutely! The NES version is so much better.

[@Zachary-l5u]

Nearly everyone prefers the NES version.

[@RetroComparisons]

That's very true, I've never met a person who prefers the arcade version.

[@simon41978]

I don't really enjoy either. Now, Contra on SNES is another matter.

[@RetroComparisons]

Oh yeah Contra 3 is phenomenal