Contra III: The Alien Wars
a game by KonamiAction / 
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Neo City is under attack! And if you're a fan of Konami's Contra series, it'll come as no surprise to you that the Red Falcon is the slime ball behind the SNES mayhem.
As a descendent of commando legends, Scorpion and Mad Dog, it's your task to take out the Red Falcon, (I don't mean to dinner and a movie!). If Jimbo and Sully, the special forces agents you control, can survive six grueling stages of furious action, the Red Falcon's threat might be stopped forever, or at least until the next Contra adventure!
A View to a Kill
Contra III: The Alien Wars features both side view and top view stages. The sideview stages are the traditional Contra fare -- nonstop horizontal scrolling action where you blast away with your machine gun or launch an M-80000 Helio Bomb.
The topview stages offer some unique gameplay for an action-adventure game. Unlike the side view levels, these stages allow you to pick your starting point. Your goal is to wipe out a certain number of targets before tackling the boss. The Left and Right buttons, only in the second and 4th levels, control the direction you face. By hitting both of them simultaneously, plus holding down the Y button, you become an awesome, spinning, shooting machine. If you really want to see something wild, check out a top-view level in two-player mode. It gives you split screen action with no slow down whatsoever!
Warm-up your trigger fingers. This game is one tough muther! Luckily by snagging a weapon Wing Ding, which falls from certain enemies when you blast them, you can upgrade your machine gun to a Spread Gun, a Crush Gun, a Homing Gun, a Fire Gun, or a Laser Gun. You'll start with three, five, or seven men. You'll also get bonus players at 20,000 points and then again every 60,000 points. Trust me! You'll need every free guy you can grab!
Beauty and the Beasts
Contra 3 begins on the rubble-filled streets of Neo City. No longer is this a bustling metropolis. Shoppers have been replaced by gun-toting terrorists, and Man-Faced Mutts have taken the place of pigeons.
ProTips:
- The Man-Faced Mutts, in the first stage, leave you alone if you're in Easy mode. Otherwise, you'd better jump when you pass them. If you're dressed like a tire hydrant, you better run for your life!
- A huge aircraft will give you a major hotfoot if you don't leap up on a platform when it shows up.
But the Man-Mutts and Terrorists are small potatoes compared to some of the giant beasties this game sends your way. I'm talkin' B-I-G!
You go toe-to-toe with the largest monsters ever to infest a video game, such as the Beast Kimkoh, the Metallican, the Robo-Corpse Twins, and the Vicious Slave Hawk. Once again, there's no slow down and no flicker!
- Blast the Beast Kimkoh in his glowing red heart to damage him. Four or five Helio Bombs, plus some additional blasting, will finish him off.
- The Stage Two boss, Metallican, your head. Even though he's tough looking, he's a wimp! Two Helio Bombs and some additional blasting is enough to destroy him. The Homing Gun is the best weapon for wasting him.
- You can't damage the wall-walker until you reach the top of the wall. Just concentrate on climbing and avoiding the missiles.
- The Flame Gun is the ideal weapon for the first half of Stage Three.
- Challenge the Robo-Corpse Twins from the sky. Once you destroy their legs, they can't reach you if you hang from the ceiling.
- You can damage the Megasquito when his red eye shows. When the eye is closed, move to the far left to avoid the bombs.
- When this spiked creature starts to flame -- better jump for the nearest girder. He's about to go down in smoke.
War Is Hell!
With dark, detailed backgrounds, sky-illuminating explosions, and humongous boss monsters, when you get through with this game, you'll feel like you've been through a major military skirmish. War may be hell, but in Contra III it's a blast!
Other games by Konami
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Tiny Toons - Buster's Hidden Treasure Tiny Toons: Buster's Hidden Treasure is a side scrolling game in the reins of Mario but it has some innovations to it as well. -
International Superstar Soccer Deluxe The most playable soccer game of them all has now arrived for your Megadrive. Realistic sprites with 36 teams featuring recognisable celebrity players. Increased CPU intelligence to challenge beginners and experts alike. Choose from 16 formations, 8 strategies, 20 players and 9 adjustable player skills. Eight way play possible with an adaptor. -
Contra - Hard Corps Hard Corps plays fast and furiously and is just as beautiful as any other Genesis game ever created. -
Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles - Tournament Fighters The turtles (Leonardo, Donatello, Raphael and Michelangelo) have been challenged by Shredder, but in order to confront him, they decided to have a tournament between themselves in order to see who is fit for the encounter.
Game Reviews
The year is 2636. After suffering several defeats on the Nintendo Entertainment System and the Game Boy, the evil Aliens have regrouped and launched a large-scale invasion of Earth via the SNES. Here's a preview of Contra IV -- The Alien Wars, Konami's newest blast-em-up!
Aliens Go Home!
Unlike in previous invasions, this time the Aliens gain the upperhand. Earth is at their mercy -- and trust us... mercy isn't one of their stronger personality traits!
After our planet has suffered months of Alien domination, two high tech warriors, members of Earth's best Contra team, appear in a devastated, Alien-controlled metropolis. Their mission is clear: wipe out all Alien scum -- take no prisoners! Victory will only come with the complete destruction of the Alien's main base.
Contra IV -- is a six level video gaming masterpiece. The game mixes side-scrolling and top-view one or two-player gaming. And check out the bosses! Not only are they super cool, the action NEVER slows down.
The Best Contra Ever
Overall, the graphic detail and the intense action in this preliminary game are mindboggling -- this game definitely looks destined to land at or near the top of the "SNES Best" chart. WHAT will Konami do for an encore?
Contra III: The Alien Wars is a run and gun game and is the third in the series, bringing a series of improvements along with it.
Story-wise, the game is set in the very distant future, in the year 2636, when a race of aliens called the “Red Falcon” invade the Earth. The two heroes Jimbo and Sully, descendants of the heroes from the previous game, take the fight to the aliens, as they say in their memorable quote, “aggressively”. Truth be told, there never was much to the story of the Contra series. It instead focuses on the action and gameplay.
The gameplay is simple and straight to the point: shoot the aliens that come towards you. Taking advantage of the latest technology, the characters can now jump, grab onto ledges, swing from poles and even destroy elements of the scenery. Contra III also features two top-view levels, which is a nice change of pace. There are various weapons and power ups available, like the previously all-mighty spread shot or a flamethrower with a continuous jet.
Graphically, the stages and enemies are nice and varied; you’ll never fight the same enemies in different places. Contra III has received praise for using the full capabilities of the current technology, sometimes being compared to later, more advanced games. The backgrounds shift quite a few times and leave no room for monotony. The player characters are also much larger and more detailed compared to previous installments of the series.
Still, the game has received criticism for its more difficult than usual gameplay. Some of the complaints were regarding the limited number of lives and the ease with which you can be overwhelmed by hordes of aliens. Some even considered it ridiculous to be able to jump and grab onto shooting missiles, but they probably didn’t take into account the fact that it was never meant to be realistic.
To conclude, Contra III does not put much emphasis on its storyline and instead opts for fast-paced, sometimes chaotic (maybe difficult) but ultimately fun gameplay. With so many distractions and eye-candy available in-game, you almost forget why you were firing your weapons in the first place.
Contra III: The Alien Wars features:
- Fast paced action at three different difficulty settings.
- Great level and weapon variety.
- Many bosses and mini-bosses spread throughout the game, each with different tactics.
