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Review

Super C was actually the first Contra game I had ever played. I got it on the first Christmas that I had my NES. I had asked for Final Fantasy and my brother asked for Puss n' Boots (my parents thought it would be educational), but we also got a third game almost out of nowhere: Super C. I wasn't quite sure what to think of it, having only seen one of my friends play the original Contra for a few seconds at his house, but when I popped it in, I almost played it more than Final Fantasy. Though many people prefer the original Contra to this title, I actually like Super C better...not only being the first game in the series I've played, but it also improves on the little nigglings I had with the first game.

The plan to rule the Earth from Red Falcon is a bit larger in scale this time around. Instead of just taking over a small island no one really cares about, the big mother of all aliens decides to take over the world's army bases and brainwash all of the soldiers. Now the Earth is in direct danger of attack, and it's Mad Dog and Scorpian to the rescue.

Gameplay wise, most of the game is very similar. All of the weapons are the same, although the flamethrower is a bit different this time around (instead of little swirly things, it's now a big fireball that explodes on impact, sorta like the Charge weapon in Contra 3 for the SNES.) However, those annoying isometric scenes have been replaced by two overhead areas that I personally prefer. There's an ever bigger variety of bosses, from huge helicopters to big robotic six-legged creations. The game is eight levels long, just like its predecessor.

The graphics themselves are much improved. Everything is just much crisper looking and much more detailed. The sprites are a bit better looking too. The music is of the same vein of the original game, but the actual sound is much better.

The game is somewhat easier than the first Contra, but I don't view that as a bad thing. You still have limited continues, but I never grew too frustrated when playing Super C, as it doesn't seem to have some of the cheap kills of Contra. The thirty man code is now replaced by a ten man code, so even if you're cheating you won't have a no-effort ride through this one.

Super C is my favorite out of the three NES Contras and is still a fun game to play from time to time.

European box scans found here. Japanese book scans from Game Kommander - Contra Legend Japanese manual scans from D&P Haber.

Art

American Cover Character Portraits (from manual)
Japanese Cover Enemies (from manual)
Japanese Back Characters (from Japanese manual)
Japanese Cartridge Enemies 1 (from Japanese manual)
Japanese Guidebook Enemies 2 (from Japanese manual)
European Cover Enemies 3 (from Japanese manual)
European Back Enemies 4 (from Japanese manual)
Advertisement Enemies 5 (from Japanese manual)
Nintendo Power - Howard and Nester Page 1 Nintendo Power Poster
Nintendo Power - Howard and Nester Page 2

Additional Screenshots