What Is The Best Contra Game?

The Best Contra Game?

To accompany our choice of the original Contra for our game of the month for the Together Retro Game Club, I thought it would be great to get the community’s opinion on how all the rest of the games in the Contra series rank.

I know it will be hard for some of you to choose just one, so I’ll let everyone choose two games out of the series.

[poll id=”18″]


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29 Comments

Laser says:

Nothing beats the thrill of plowing through faceless enemies deep in the jungles of South America (the original Contra, I guess).

SmartOne says:

Hard Corps (J) is as good as it gets.

Covarr says:

Everybody seems to prefer Contra and Contra 3, and I’ve never understood that. I always thought Super C was the best.

I certainly liked the overhead levels better than the psuedo-3D in Contra.

J T says:

This is a tough choice. I love Contra, Super C, and Contra III a lot, but I had to go with Shattered Soldier. I liked the amped up 2.5D graphics, the chuggitychug metal music, and the over-the-top-everything nature of the game. It’s difficult in a way that few modern games dare to be difficult. It took me months to learn the game well enough to beat it. I can almost get an S rank on every level though. I felt like this game never got enough respect, but I greatly appreciated the fact that it was unabashedly hard and that it stuck true to it’s old school gameplay roots, while still updating the game for modern consoles.

Alex says:

First choice is Hard Corps, nodoubtaboutit. I accidentally picked Operation instead of Super C as my second.

Klink says:

contra 3 was one of those games that every house seemed to have a copy of

Contra 3 is the best in my opinion. The bombs, the interchangeable weapons, the vehicle sections, the graphics and music, all and all a great game!.

cowgod says:

contra 4 is a fantastic throwback to the original on the nes. with the added mini-games and unlockables, it’s the best one.

Patrick says:

Neo Contra….

Edge says:

1st. Contra III – because it was as good as the original and then some. 2nd Contra I – you know a game is great when the cheat code is an anthem

randombullseye says:

Hands down, Hard Corps. Nothing is as intense as that game. Four characters to choose from with multiple unique weapons and several endings to get, there’s a lot there. I love it.

Who doesn’t love Werewolf cyborgs and robots? I know I sure do. Plus I can never, ever forget the advertising from the comics I read. The meat grinder? I’ll try to locate it on google.

Outside of that, the best Contra is Shattered Soldier. Letting you tackle levels in any order is great. The bosses are exactly what I wanted in a game. I love how shiny the graphics are. This is what I hoped 3D games were going to do. Sadly they did not live up to this. This was the last PS2 game I bought new, whatever year it came out. Disc Read Errors stopped my playstatiion 2 buying until last year.

harlequ1n says:

Nothing can surpass the original Contra, however Shattered Soldier and Alien Wars come pretty close in 2nd place.

Alejandro Moreno says:

I should really play other Contras before voting.

Hard Corps, Shattered Soldier, Contra 4, Super C. I’ve heard great things about all of them, but I just haven’t played them yet.

xzeronature says:

I’m a bit of an odd ball but my favorites are easily shattered soldier and hard corps.

allex Bel says:

Contra 4 is an absolute masterpiece!
Everyone should play at least once…

Ryan Tamm says:

Hard Corps is the best in my honest opinion. The first one would follow, that first level is so memorable.

Chocobito says:

I still playind the original Contra, its really a killing spree fun, the contra hard cops are good too.

Franco says:

Contra: Hardcorps is BY FAR better then Contra III: Alien Wars.

Feydark says:

I have to go with Shattered Soldier. It was the perfect next-gen evolution of the series as well as a great homage to the Contras that came before it.

Omnicrono says:

Contra Hard Corps is absolutely the best to play in the series. The original Contra NES is held in the highest regard, and rightfully so, but if you can only go back and play one, it should be Hard Corps. Oh, and anyone who says Contra III is better probably hasn’t given Hard Corps a fair shot.

Many say Hard Corps is just too hard, but to that I say – WHAT!!??!!?

Contra III is more difficult in my view! Sure there are a lot more boss battles in HC, but that doesn’t equate to it being tougher overall.

AngrySquirrel says:

Another poll on this site dominated by nostalgia over actual game quality. There is no way on earth NES contra is the best in this series. Contra III did everything the NES game did except bigger and better.

Seeing this poll reminds me that I still need to play hard corps and 4. Anybody here have thoughts on neo contra? I heard it wasn’t as good as shattered soldier, so I’ve held off on buying it (for now).

breakwind says:

Contra 3 is the crim dela crim of this classic shooter series-least by the 8/16-bit era standards.Whereas,Shatter Soldier became the standard barrier for which all newer installments are judged by.

Matt Taylor says:

At the time Contra III was the definitive weapon of choice to silence any Mega Drive owner, sceptical of the Super NES’s power. Literally bursting with action set piece after set piece and still stands up after all these years. Contra Rebirth is a welcome slice of nostalgia that will evoke the fondest memories of Contra III while adding a few nice ideas of its own to the classic Contra canon.

Probotector says:

There is not such thing as Contra. Only PROBOTECTOR.

Bill and Lance says:

We disagree.

For the record it has to be Contra III SNES.

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