Contra for DOS - James and Mike Mondays

James Rolfe and Mike Matei play Contra and Round 42 for DOS.
Follow Mike Matei on Twitch ✜ / mikemateilive
Twitter James ✜ / cinemassacre

[@vahlok1426]

Round 42 looks like it was one hell of a game for it's time. I can totally see why James loves it so much.

[@EuryBartleby]

I've never played it, and am not a huge fan of arcade games, but seeing this in action...man, that game has so much personality.

[@AndyKusanagi86]

oh totally, i suck at shmups but i feel like i could spend hours playing that one.

[@ComicChronology]

I'm kinda in love with the aesthetic and sound of Round 42. Talk about a hidden gem.

[@azumarill1403]

Sinkaship Same here! I so want to play it too!

[@no_nameyouknow]

It sounds awful to me. Maybe it's these shitty speakers.

[@A_Man_In_His_Van]

LGR would piss himself hearing you say aesthetic.

[@mateoincognito8004]

“Maybe you beat it.....” words of comfort from Mike Matei

[@Stan_man]

Gremlin: Mmm.. Glitches. You like them?

[@ddfamf88]

The “Little Nerd” retro computer video clip was great!

[@rsolsjo]

Oh it's colorful birds. "Nuclear banana peels."

[@JollyRancherGeno]

And THAT is why James has been so entertaining to watch all these years

[@Jim-wb7hl]

Damn...I honestly feel sorry for those that had this instead of the NES version.

[@MCjam97]

Man, they are just bad with emulators and doing the research around how to properly play games, they have it just really slowed down (they did something wrong), try to look on other videos of this PC version.

[@girlsdrinkfeck]

@@MCjam97 was this game onlyl in CGA version ?

[@Jim-wb7hl]

@@names_are_useless Not trying to downplay DOS games or anything as I too also grew up with them. It's just that this version of Contra sucks major ass.

[@names_are_useless]

@@Jim-wb7hl Oh, I completely read your comment wrong. Here I thought you were saying you felt bad for people who grew up with DOS games in general instead of an NES! I agree with your comment ... same with those who had MegaMan DOS.

[@danksquid3265]

Yeah, the NES version of "Round 42" was probably the best game ever.

[@RyonMugen]

When the game crashed , The amount of terror on James face. That can't be faked. Sorry bud! Good luck next time!

[@legomech1946]

I felt so bad for him! His jaw hit the floor!

[@Nyah420]

LMAO! Yeah, poor James, he was probably going to play til he beat it. There was a sign at the beginning saying it was a shareware game. Those used to be not-full games. Could it be that's how the shareware version ends?

[@avabethmcghee3048]

He was channeling the Nerd part of his personality with that frown.

[@gerarddonaghy2720]

That game went full Polybius on you there James, you guys are lucky that didnt transport you right to the heart of the Twilight Zone :D

[@agonleed3841]

Watching you play Round 42 was awesome. Seeing the nostalgia on your face. I play a lot of my older Nintendo and playstation games like this. Great. I never had dos at home so I never even heard of this. Yet watching you play, and the gameplay, I'm definitely about to download this

[@JonKratz]

Well this sure is different. 😋 Never knew this existed.

[@davidrivas2679]

I played the D.O.S version and it hurts my eyes when i was a kid and Jon Kratz your lucky you never heard of it. Playing it in the original computer which i think they aren't is in really bad quality

[@_PuppetMaster86]

Jon Kratz Me neither.

[@marky6934]

I seen it back in elementary but i forgot it existed i never owned nut i still own contra for my nes im surprised it still works good

[@JonKratz]

@@marky6934 Hopefully they don't include this in the upcoming Contra compilation for Switch. 🤣😂

[@JonKratz]

💪😎👍 🥞🥞🥞🥞🥞

[@moosemaimer]

Certain old DOS games that ran in CGA would have a secondary mode that gave 8 colors instead of 4 if you plugged it into a TV through composite instead of a normal monitor. Thank you 8-bit Guy.

[@MabuseXX]

Depends on the graphics card. Your description sounds like the Tandy mode AFAIR.

[@The_Real_DCT]

@@MabuseXX no, alot of early DOS games were set up to display 16 colors when running under a composite video monitor through color smudging but you need to have a actual CGA card and a composite video monitor or Dosbox or a dosbox SVN set to CGA mode.

[@thenamelessavenger]

re: Color palettes Looks like CGA graphics in 320x200 mode. Only four crappy colors at a time due to the whopping 16kb of video RAM lol (four swap-able palettes hence the difference between level 1 and 2).

[@MabuseXX]

Hard coded color palettes.....one more awful then the other.

[@The_Real_DCT]

It's actually better if you play it in composite mode either through a computer with a composite video monitor or under dosbox or a dosbox SVN set to CGA mode. It will then turn the 4 colors to 16.

[@herbiehusker1889]

@@MabuseXX you can get a few different color palettes on CGA.

[@MegaTenser]

It's kind of a shame considering Contra ports came out in 1988. There were only a few PC games using 256 color mode by then, but at least EGA should have been supported.

[@m_c_fnp7862]

Cga programmers could actually use 16 colors on a crt tv but i have no idea how. It didnt work on pixelated monitors.

[@Benobot99]

The sound effects in Round 42 are the best I've heard, wow! I wish I could play that.

[@e11aguru]

I loved Round 42 back in the day. It used a weird CGA mode to allow for 16 color graphics.

[@TheWPack911]

Round 42 looks pretty freaking awesome, especially for a DOS game! Great episode!

[@SuperNitroZ64]

0:16-0:20 James's reaction to the music as the camera pans to his face. LOL

[@FyreJams]

Lmao James' face when the game glitches Mike: " maybe you beat it"

[@traviss3913]

LOL I felt bad. Nothing like building a guy up and then breaking him down.

[@morphed2]

I thought that because of so simple graphics Mike wasn't sure what's going on.

[@EmmettXIV]

8:59 Round 42 is James's Polybius. Look at the enjoyment, the happiness, the hypnotic gaze that James has while playing this; it's like he is 6 years old again. It's great to see a game bring such nostalgia to someone. I think everyone has their own Round 42, a game that holds so much nostalgia and happiness to them. For me it's probably Diddy Kong Racing for the Nintendo 64, that would take me back to my 6 year old self.

[@Spriggangirl]

I really like the intro that you guys made. It's AWESOME!!!😀👌

[@pagb666]

Love the sound effects in Round 42, they went all-in with them... *and would have driven my mom completely mad.*

[@samthemultimediaman]

Early graphics were CGA/EGA and then they went to VGA then SVGA.

[@fartooeasy7315]

It's ridiculous how many years I've been watching this, Every single monday.

[@kurturbain984]

FarTooEasy Gaming same here, what is it now, about 7 years?

[@SuperMiramis]

My favorite DOS game was: Hocus pocus... Nice adventure game :-)

[@handsomebrick]

by Apogee

[@herbiehusker1889]

Not an adventure game, more like an action platformer

[@Daelaron]

Oh yeah that was nice!

[@tschrky303]

@@handsomebrick *by Moonlite Software*

[@doslover]

Ah, the days of changing your OS settings, choosing what drivers to load, how much memory to allocate and rebooting in hopes of being able to play a specific game, which in some cases looked like these. I do not miss those days.

[@sleepyjarvis6062]

Would love to see a video put together of all James' childhood video game & other nostalgic memories. That would be an awesome Angry Video Game Nerd series, or do a Cinemassacre series of both James & Mikes childhood videos of them opening up video game & toy gifts, or footage of them playing games & other stuff, it could be a James & Mike Special Series.

[@thejose970]

James, I recommend "The 8-bit guy", he has a video where he explains in a very clear and simple way how CGA graphics work.

[@vikingman4614]

thejose970 8 bit guy is awesome

[@damagecase138]

Dem CGA colors and the most OBNOXIOUS sound effects I’ve ever heard. Perfect combo

[@mathewsoltan8487]

"These ones are hard to hit because they go in a circle." Love it.

[@dneck]

sounds like something young James from the "Genesis vs SNES RESOLUATION" or "Ghosts n Goblins" video would say!

[@martin-pz6ds]

Well it's a simple concept lol

[@The_Real_DCT]

Oh if you guys are doing Dos games give some of the old shareware games a look like Bio menece, Jazz Jackrabbit, Jill of the Jungle, Duke Nukem 1+2, Commander Keen invasion of the votacons and goodbye galaxy, Monster Bash, Cosmo cosmic adventure, Secret Agent, Crystal cave, Epic Pinball, etc.

[@KornFlace]

In the 90s DOS games were awesome . How could they not mention that??

[@VisionThing]

They don’t know. James didn’t even know he had a PC back then.

[@berndlauert1046]

Because Consoltards

[@Nyah420]

PC is master race now; but games like Contra and Mega Man for PC make me wonder if that was the case back then as well.

[@Menkha]

PCs were not made for games, really, but you could do a whole lot with them. I am not a fan of the "PC Master race" thing going on on the internet because to me that's not what PCs are about, it's not about the 144Hz 4K or whatever, but it's the flexibility. You want to do something crazy with electronics or computing, a PC is perfect for that, whatever weird project you have, just stick it in the ISA/PCI slot (and hope you read the diagrams right so you don't burn your house down).

[@Arthur19-v3y]

​@@Nyah420 nah PC isn't the master race. There isn't a master race. It's gaming. My favorite console is the Nintendo 3ds XL. I don't see it as inferior. It's all fun 👍

[@BAIGAMING]

12:57 That's amazing, you thought you didn't know how far you got back then, but you actually said in the video the farthest you got to was level 10.

[@sleepyjarvis6062]

I was thinking that I heard him say that too...I wish I had video of myself as a kid playing my C64 & Atari 2600, & Colecovision, all my neighborhood friends would come over to play & my cousin, we would have tournaments on different games, just great times all around. But I was an outdoors kid growing up in the 70s,80s as a kid we all played outside, video games were after homework evening deals, or when it was bad weather out, or just the itch to play. I miss the good ol days.

[@user-zd2kl9yg4v]

30+ years passed since that recording, he had enough time to pass level 10 before this video.

[@IsmailofeRegime]

@@user-zd2kl9yg4v That's true, but he even points out in the video that he didn't recall getting so far as a kid. So it's possible he never reached level 25 or whatever.

[@LeeBondo]

ja da I know of a place where you never get harmed...A magical place with mystical charms...Indoors, Indoors...Indoooooors!

[@telluwut5674]

@@LeeBondo Where the Cheetos flow like wine!

[@MajinErick]

You guys went WAY BACK BEFORE THE BEGINNING OF THE DAY. lol This is the Hall of Fame episode.

[@SylphidUndine]

in the early 90s we used a VCR to record gameplay footage for NES and SNES games

[@Dazz-252]

I can imagine why Round 42 would be awesome for a kid back then, so much sensory input.

[@handsomebrick]

or a kid right now

[@Dazz-252]

@@handsomebrick Yes, but back then even more with limited technology.

[@markurbanowicz6619]

They play on Dos? Looking forward for James and mike to play Jazz jackrabbit soon.

[@Daelaron]

Oh yeah, I played that for days! Such a great game... I preferred it over Sonic!

[@tschrky303]

The music in the sequel is top-notch ((d[-_-]b))

[@Karanthaneos]

JJ2 is a great game and had a lot of fun with the level editor too

[@markurbanowicz6619]

@@tschrky303 jazz Jackrabbit 1 had amazing songs as well. Ohh jj2 had a fun multiplayer also. I played it with my dad and siblings. Those were the times.

[@JoakimOtamaa]

My mom was addicted to Jazz games back in the game. T'was fun.

[@bkslsh]

I was a hardcore DOS gamer back in the day. This was a massive nostalgia trip for me XD That sweet PC beeper garbage sound (:

[@evilash570]

Double Dragon 2 on dos was pretty awesome back in the day!

[@Timotei75]

It was fuckin' terrible but I still loved it.

[@azumarill1403]

FurryLippedSquid Hahaha XD

[@lxmusic2256]

Best Moment of the Video 14:06 Mike is like "Holy Shit" and then they are like "WTF" 14:17 . The reaction from both of them is priceless :D

[@Argonova]

Really makes you appreciate how well designed the Nintendo actually was for the time, and how powerful it was.

[@xAngoryx]

That ending was by far the greatest ending ever. This was the true joy of experiencing the old school games glitching out like this lmfao amazing

[@Raphael_De_La_Ghetto]

That Contra DOS is pure Jank sauce but the Round 42 is pretty dope👍🏽

[@thephantom496]

0:16=It was by this point I knew that I was gonna laugh my ass off from this episode.

[@Fedekpc]

Please try Catacomb for DOS or Bio Menace. Good old memories, horror memories XD

[@GenyaArikado]

I used to play Bio Menace and Keen on dos! Keen were amazing! hard games

[@Fedekpc]

​@@GenyaArikado DOS had a lot of gems back in the early '90

[@tschrky303]

Don't forget _Monster Bash_ and _Mystic Towers_ ヽ(^。^)ノ

[@gianni_hello]

7:41 Mike pushing up his invisible glasses

[@giantlobsterboy644]

Round 42 reminds me of "Threshold" on the Atari. It has a cool orange cartridge. I highly recommend that game if you play Atari 2600. It is a overlooked gem!

[@rayh4675]

Holy crap! I remember playing the hell out of “Round 42” back in the day. Never knew the name and totally forgot until I watched. Thanks!!

[@GregsGameRoom]

Mike: "You like these graphics?" James: "Uh, no."

[@TotallyRadical]

Imagine living in the alternate universe in which this is the only version of Contra that exists. *Shudders

[@DeconvertedMan]

I LOVE ROUND 42! Striker as well! :D

[@yadabub]

Did you get very far in Striker? I don't know if I ever made it past level 2. I also enjoyed ROUND 42, and then there was Moon Bugs.

[@untangled_rose]

I remember Round 42, damn that brings back some memories. I had this for my Tandy 1000 as a kid.

[@muhanc.a.9299]

James, you need to finish that game, so please do another video with you playing again to see how far can you get!

[@ItsEpicWesley]

The pure look of anguish on Jame's face as he suffers through Contra says it all, lol

[@witheredmedia]

yay more DOS games! i just beat Prince of Persia 1 on dosbox last night, BEST GAME OF THE 80s FIGHT ME

[@azumarill1403]

adramelk44 Every version of that game is great though

[@thejackal007]

SO glad to see Round 42. I've never even heard of it until now and it looks amazing!

[@Movie_Games]

We got a Round 42 Kill Screen coming up.

[@blueblue7851]

Holy shit. I was in that moment. I played this game. I had totally forgotten about it. I just got hit by a huge flood of memories. Thank you James and Mike.

[@mx32bs10]

Contra for DOS? WHAT WERE THEY THINKING!!!?

[@Cowclops]

Remember how it was so ground breaking when John Carmack figured out how to do smooth scrolling on an EGA adapter w/ Commander Keen? This port 1. came out before that and 2. uses CGA graphics. And thus you see why the scrolling is garbage.

[@didaibr1]

>Pause at 14:08 >Open another youtube page >Search for Sad Piano(or a really sad instrumental song) >Watch and try not to cry!

[@wild360]

Good lord, Round 42?! That was a blast from the past. Thanks for this.

[@Skydescendants]

You should play Elvira on the DOS. The death scenes were so badass.

[@bombjack1984]

Round 42 looks fun, lots of variety for an arcade game from that time. Quite similar to Astro Blaster in the arcade. Polybius style ending too!

[@Stu8025]

You should play some Sierra games! I loved the Kings Quest and Space Quest series.

[@clintbrew]

police quest and lesuire suit larry games too they were awesome games to play

[@iamradical]

I had so much fun playing all the kings quest and police quest games back in the day.

[@TheEloheim]

OMG Round 42 is super special to me too. I remember playing it in the way-before time like some kind of acid flashback. It was so sweet to hear James say this might be the most nostalgic game they've played on J&MM yet. P.S. Also those sound effects=amazing!

[@emilomnic316]

More DOS/PC games please.

[@tschrky303]

Too many games, too many games, too many games...

[@RadioactiveBlueberry]

1:30 "This is the... FUCK!" That so caught me 🤣

[@jay_kay_jay]

That new intro is pretty sweet! Also, that cringey look you guys made at the start of the video as the shitty dos speaker music played was priceless :D

[@dirtyswayze6017]

James I swear we lived the same childhood! Winter games I remember getting off my nes and playing winter games. My mom was a huge space invaders player and ms. Pacman so games were huge in my house. It's why we got a Sega and super Nintendo the year they dropped. I had a Sega master system and an NES. Stay retro buddy :)

[@8thLife]

"You like these colours?" "Uhhh,nah" 😂

[@azumarill1403]

YamaAgni graphics* 😁

[@fernandosepulveda8748]

The sound of you clicking the keyboard sounds like the fallout terminal

[@PercyPumpkinheart]

I agree with Mike about Round 42. There is something really appealing about ultra-minimalist games.

[@jokerzwild00]

Change the HUD elements a bit and I'd totally believe it if someone told me it was a hot new hipster indie game.

[@ericksanchez2496]

I had Round 42 as a kid!!!!! Omg!! I forgot about this game until now!!! Thank you guys so much !!!!

[@yaosio]

Play a good DOS game, Commander Keen. Everybody that worked on Commander Keen also worked on Doom.

[@rootbeer331]

I second this!

[@SchkuenteQoostewin]

Way to repersent

[@skylinefever]

If DOS was able to have a mascot, Commander Keen would probably have been that mascot.

[@williambryant5038]

It's very possible that the "glitching" at the end was their archaic version of copy protection. The loading screen did show that it was the "shareware version", so that could explain it.

[@SlayerOfCunts]

8:02 "Flight of the bumblebee 8-Bit Edition"

[@GregsGameRoom]

We’ve all been in that spot before Mike. Something glitches and your friend gets frustrated... Not much you can do or say except maybe “Sorry man that sucks.” (Uncomfortable silence.)

[@MisterRandomEncounter]

Round 42 REMATCH needs to happen James made it to 27 i think he can beat it.

[@treyshh9439]

Rename the video, I almost clicked away until you guys started to play round 42. Definitely the best part of the video! When you mentioned Contra at the end I forgot it was the same video.

[@BdR76]

"12 MacroByte capacity"? That doesn't look like any floppy disk I've ever used..

[@aryanpatel2924]

What could you even fit on 12 macrobytes? I seriously want to know that one

[@BdR76]

@@aryanpatel2924 Just 12 lines of macro instructions?

[@aryanpatel2924]

BdR76 - Ok, well, I knew that one

[@Nyah420]

Round 42 looks like a fun arcade game. I never knew it, so thanks James & Mike for showing it to us! As for Contra for DOS, guys, this is criminal. What an abomination! And I don't think I'd have that much of a problem with it if it weren't for how slow the game seems to run.

[@TylerSmithPunksOnPizza]

How you gonna rock the DOS and not even bring up Leisure Suit Larry?

[@deathcallscall3438]

Oh wow! I completely forgot I had actually played this when young! Though the version I remember was in full color and a bit more fluid... but damn, those memories.

[@carlosquiroz6653]

Hey guys, you should play POSTAL 2! It's really a funny game, it won't disappoint you. Love your videos. Greetings from Mexico!

[@nick6var]

At 9:16 it's essentially Robotron, right down to the explosions. The 80s computer scene was mostly game clones. Good times.

[@pj8201]

I thought Mike was really good as the crazy fan in the Texas chainsaw massacre review 👍🏼

[@Blutroid8542]

Round 42 looks like Space Invaders mixed with Demon Attack from the 2600.

[@shootrmgavin]

That 2nd game reminded me a bit of Megamania on the Atari 2600 which I loved as a child and still think is the 2600's best game.

[@Pikachu132]

Holy shit Round 42, I had completely forgotten that. A friend had it when I was a kid, and you're damn right it was awesome.

[@GregAtlas]

Time to play the PC version of the TMNT game. PC Ghostbusters II was also pretty good, but took getting used to (also benefits from a joystick if I remember right)

[@odinatra]

I've played Round 42 as a kid, but forgot the name. Thanks for reminding me about this game!

[@GodNoodle_]

0:15 64 bits... 32 bits... 16 bits... 8 bits... 4 bits... 2 bits... 1 bit Half bit Quarter bit Coooooontra!

[@MixMasterLar]

CONTRA. ON. DOOOOOOSSSSS

[@lutello3012]

literally 2 bit color

[@tetsuokenpachi]

Those sound effects... Absolutely amazing

[@schwarzerritter5724]

You already played the Mega Man and Contra DOS games. What is next? Turtles?

[@Cl04d]

I actually own it on ms-dos. :-)

[@The_Real_DCT]

Oh god now, that game is broken. There's one section where they made the gap too wide.

[@DookNookim]

@@The_Real_DCT They fixed the gap in the European version.

[@DookNookim]

Castlevania

[@DigiPen92]

Schwarzer Ritter What about Castlevania on DOS?

[@rondeux]

Thanks guys for keeping up James and Mike Mondays! Always look forward to it and never played Round 42 so it was fun to see a new old game. I definitely would have liked this one as a kid. Another really fun DOS game was Agent USA. You guys might try it sometime.

[@sebadcabre]

When you think the optimization is bad enough, Mike picks up spread and the framerate literally goes negative value.

[@TheDannylarson]

This reminds me of playing DOS games with command prompts in computer class back in elementary school, awesome video guys!

[@CybershamanX]

(14:08) Damn it, James! You broke the game! This is why we can't have nice things. ;) :P

[@grimTales1]

It was great to see James enjoying Round 42 so much

[@galbaum33]

James and Mike don't understand the concept of the CGA screen.

[@SuperNobody64]

I'm sure they do but it sucks

[@azumarill1403]

galbaum33 Me neither...😌

[@araknair9605]

This really does seem like an early version of Space Invaders Extreme for DS, time to mess around with DOS emulation. Great find and video.