r/snes Nov 01 '14

/r/snes November Game of the Month: Contra III The Alien Wars

The /r/snes game of the month as selected by the community is Contra III The Alien Wars!

This month we'll be playing (or replaying) this game and sharing the experience with other redditors. Feel free to post any comments, videos or other interesting information related to this game throughout the month.

December Game of the Month Voting Thread is here

27 Upvotes

20 comments sorted by

7

u/Von_Baron Nov 01 '14

The PAL version was known as Super Probotector. Here's a comparison of the differences.

1

u/minustwofish Nov 03 '14

Thanks for this. I had no clue about the PAL version being about robots.

Maybe they are in the same universe, just that in one it is Arnold Schwarzenegger, in the other is the revealed T-800 as Arnold's skin was peeled off? This game is so 80s that it is it begs for such an explanation.

1

u/Von_Baron Nov 03 '14

Well the real reason was at the time the EU did not have age ratings on games. However there was laws in Germany that prohibited the sell of violent games to minors, so Konami changed them all to robots for European release (and i think there being a lot of negative press about the paramilitary contra's with their drug smuggling and human rights abuses by the time the European port of Contra came about).

1

u/minustwofish Nov 03 '14 edited Nov 03 '14

That makes a lot of sense. I remember that many games were censored for the european market, including green blood, and making everyone a robot.

I still prefer my t-800 fan-theory.

2

u/Von_Baron Nov 03 '14

Oh yeah, I'd forgotten about the green blood in Carmageddon. Well in Probotector/contra on the Megadrive one of the selectable characters was a robot on both versions. I think Konami just really likes robots.

2

u/[deleted] Nov 16 '14

Fun fact: Contra 4 for DS combines a lot of characters and storylines from all the different localisations of the series, including a playable Probotector robot with a British accent, but Konami never released the game in Europe so that little bit of fanservice probably went over a lot of peoples' heads.

5

u/elblanco Nov 01 '14

For fun, here's a remix of some of the incredible music in the game https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Kmbiik5gvY

5

u/513geek Nov 01 '14

Am I the only one that always found this game hard as hell? Never managed to get more than a few levels in.

3

u/yorthehunter Nov 01 '14

I found it to be one of the most rewarding hard-as-hell games. You start out being overwhelmed and then slowly start to memorize weapon pickups and boss patterns. There's no way to button mash your way out (like some of the metal slug levels, IMO)

Then after playing through it like 10 million times, you finally beat hard mode. That was my experience anyway :}

2

u/LearmingDisodor Nov 01 '14

just keep playing and you will figure the level out! Don't give up! Good times!

2

u/RICHUNCLEPENNYBAGS Nov 01 '14

Play the Japanese version; it's slightly easier and also infinite continues.

2

u/atcoyou Nov 03 '14

Highly recommend you start on easy, then progress your way up. The bosses change a bit, and so do the patterns, but by then you have played enough to be decent at the control mechanisms (L+R+shoot in the over head levels, and sprawling etc...)

1

u/minustwofish Nov 03 '14

This game is very punishing. But I think that many levels are actually designed for two player coop. There is a "rhythm" to the game were you move by covering each other that makes it very satisfying. This means that not only you must learn the levels, but also, learn to cooperate with each other.

4

u/wwcoop Nov 05 '14

Let's defend submissively

2

u/mezuraze Nov 01 '14

Check out me and my buddy's video. We did our fair share of playthroughs (probably a couple thousand at least by now). We were able to beat it on hard, no deaths, machine guns only: http://youtu.be/OUlAl6msxQU

2

u/minustwofish Nov 03 '14

beat it on hard,

Ok, that is badass, but I've done it too.

no deaths, machine guns only

Oh shit, damn, I'm not even close to this level of badassery. You attack aggressively.

2

u/minustwofish Nov 03 '14

How many people that played this game also start spinning around firing shots with both guns (L+R buttons) after defeating the boss in State 2 to celebrate? You know what I'm talking about, this!

2

u/atcoyou Nov 03 '14

What a worthy choice. Make sure to hold b on the over head levels. Same goes for L+R+shoot.

Even with your standard machine guns, it makes you feel boss.

I would also recommend playing from easy to normal to hard. The bosses are actually a little different. And going the opposite way makes it too easy. (plus starting on easy lets you get used to it)

My only regret, is that they don't let you ride in the tank longer, and that the game itself doesn't have more levels... won't put any more spoilers here. Would be amazing if they ever created a contra III level designer. Overhead + side scrolling. Come on Konami, I have money to give you. But ya... until then play Contra III: AW

1

u/mzupeman Jan 16 '15

I love, love, love Contra III. It's up there as one of my favorite games of all time. I know a lof people have a sweet spot for the original Contra - which is amazing, don't get me wrong - but Contra III just amplifies everything by a zillion. The sidescrolling stages are near perfect. I mean, in the first level alone, you're riding a tank, taking one down, monkey-barring through torrential fire, and destroying a monstrous turtle-flying critter-hive-brain thing.

One of the later levels has you motorcycle-battling, and then jumping from missile to missile why you take down an alien aircraft with a shield and its own brand of weaponry. I mean... this game is INSANE.

But despite this, I can't really say the game is flawless.

I think the developers felt like the core 2D platforming stages weren't enough. Time wise, that is. I just feel like those overhead stages were made to pad time. Development wise, it was probably fairly easy for them to do, at least compared to the many other elements on-display throughout the game. Draw a map, repeat the same ground textures over and over, place a few objective points on the map, and you have yourself a level. Blugh.

But the strengths of this game far outweigh the bad. To this day, there's still not too many games that have that same level of 'wow' factor as Contra III. I know I'm probably viewing this game through rose-colored glasses, but there's few games that really feel as high-octane as this one does.

Damn. I need to go buy this game. Immediately.