*plants a wet one on DS phat*

She's armed and ready. That was the exact reason I went for the original one. Especially after the tiny D-pads on the GBA/GC (though the Lite one is a million percent improvement, I haven't tested it extensively and just prefer the larger pad). It works like a charm on my old NES games.

Sounds great. With the exception of Metal Slug, these type of pick-up-and-play shooter platformers have become a precious rarity.

BTW, wrong thread, but did you get the chance to see the Ninja Gaiden DS demo?

Nah, not yet.... I really don't wanna take off Contra. ;p  I'll likely use my other DS to give it a try, though - along with Cooking Mama 2 and maybe Jam Sessions.

By the way, I'd just discovered a slight kink in the goodness of C4's armor.  It's a minor thing, and something I'll probably get used to - but you can't go straight from a ducking position to a down-pointed stationary stance without letting go of down first.  Contra III and Shattered Soldier had it so you could continue holding down in a ducking position, and then pressing the stationary stance button at the same time would automatically put you in the down-pointed stance.

But on the other hand, I noticed that WayForward took the care of allowing you move all the way to the absolute ends of the left and right screens.  How many times have we accidentally trailed the screen away from a power-up where it appears on the edge, and invisible borders prevented us from getting said weapon?  Now you can acquire that weapon no problem, no matter how off-screen the power-up is.

Gosh, I'm having fun dissecting this game.  ^_^

The original Contra had it too. That sounds odd, but not something I noticed before. Of course, now that it's not there...See if I notice myself dying extra times.

One of those things...It's hard to explain how annoying it is unless you've been there. And Contra is extremely guilty of going there. So that's good to hear. Sometimes, I get the power-up if I lay down (since it lengthens the sprite).

Quick question for you, Angela: Are the weapons manual-fire or auto-fire?  I know the vast majority of Contra games make them all be auto like they should be, but Contra and Super C had you button mashing to shoot and you only got auto if you had the machine gun power-up.  How's it work in C4?

You can actually go at it both ways, but the game feels like it's built more for manual-fire.  Holding down the button does provide auto-fire, but your shots come off less rapidly and in more steady bursts; if you view the IGN videos, you can see that whoever was playing was using auto-fire.   Manual yields a far quicker rate of fire, and you generally have more control over your shots; in other words, yeah, the shooting scheme is molded more after Contra and Super C.

Being that's it's on a portable system, the auto-fire would be a good alternative.  This also leads me to wonder if they're planning on implementing auto for the original Contra and Super C? I really got spoiled on PocketNES.  :p

Well, that seems like a big step backwards to me.  It won't stop me from buying it, but I don't see why I should have to get tendonitis just to enjoy the game.

So the latest little birdie rumor is that, other than Probotector, there's going to be another unlockable character - and it's a female. 

Sheena?  Lucia?  Or maybe even Tasha....

Who are these characters?  I vaguely recall that one of these is from Contra: Shattered Soldier.

But weren't five unlockable characters confirmed already? The number, that is, not their identity. I think Lucia is very likely. Sheena is a possibility as well. However, I don't think Legacy of War characters have any chance at all. As I understand, the Appalous games were retconned from the continuity by Nakazato (whose interview is supposed to be among the bonus materials, too).

*nods* I actually meant that she was going to be part of the five announced.  As for the others' identities, I was thinking that maybe two of them are Mad Dog and Scorpion - but then, they've been revealed characters from the start, and even appear in the game's prologue, so.......

Stephen, Lucia's from Shattered Soldier.  Sheena's from Hard Corps, and Tasha is from Legacy of War.

I want a Belmont as an unlockable.

Trouble is, they're all supposed to be Contra characters. We only have the thing from Contra: Hard Corps, who has "Simon 1994 A.D." as his battle music...

The official site's gone live.  Revel in the kickass new "Jungle" arrangement!

http://www.konami-data.com/officialsites/contra4/

But be careful, there are some fairly descriptive spoilers, including the names and screenshots of all nine stages, and a good number of the featured enemies.

This seems to have changed for the final version; apparently, you can discard each level of weapon individually, and then recollect them again if you so choose.  Very cool. 

PoisonMushroom's interview with Konami producers Hulett and Lai reveals a few interesting tidbits about the game, including their justification for manual-fire, their decision to make Mad Dog and Scorpion canon to the series, and how much of a "gross" factor they chose to go with for the graphics:

http://poisonmushroom.megamanempire.net/?page_id=1403

Is Shattered Soldier canon?  Because something happens to one of the original Contra heroes in that game.

CONTRA FOUR.

Two more weeks! This is going to be awesome.

Shattered Soldier is definitely canon, made by Nobuya Nakazato. Not only that, Shattered Soldier re-established Contra canon after all the mangled translations and Appalous PSX games.

Ten more days, to be precise -- the wait is killing me.  The game's already threatening to become my Game of the Year through hype and the demo alone.  I've gone through the stage one demo heaven knows how many times at this point; I know where every enemy placement is, every weapon drop, and even the precise point where you can earn an extra life.  This game is truly digital crack..... but on steroids. 

Right, and this new Contra "movie trailer" by Team Awesome! has been making the rounds:

"Your code is USELESS!!"
http://youtube.com/watch?v=SKBCcA9LJzk

You know, I actually like getting excited about upcoming releases...It's just rare they look this good enough to get excited about. Classic Contra...No BS, on the DS.

That jungle theme remix was awesome...That hit the sweet spot the new Rondo music completely missed. Probably won't be a soundtrack release, but I'm frothing for a decent gamerip. Hopefully they'll do the snowfield theme as well....

Official site is up:

http://www.konami-data.com/officialsites/contra4/

Aye.  So cool, it was worth mentioning twice. 

Since we're talking about the website, does anyone notice how much it smacks of the 80s video game instruction manuals of old?  You don't get campy names like Dirk McShooter, Nicky Napalm and Filet 'o Death anymore.

Whoops. Apparently I am not even paying attention. >_>

Pre-ordered the game.

Good man!  It's completely unanimous at the local Gamestop where I shop; we're all looking forward to the game with extreme passion.  The staff's gearing up for their own copies as well.

It's just too bad they're not offering anything as a preorder bonus.  Castlevania did up its 20th Anniversary real nice with Portrait of Ruin last year..... But I suppose one could argue that Contra 4 in itself, with its massive amounts of extras, is sufficient enough.

To clarify, I suck at every Contra except the first NES one.  To me, that was a balanced game.  I eventually was able to do it without the 30-man code.  However, I have had trouble with every Contra since then.  I downloaded Super C (NES) on the VC, and it's not as well balanced.  I got stuck at the boss with the 10 laser cannons pointing down.  I also downloaded Contra III and I keep getting stuck at the boss that tries to skewer you with its drill while you are stuck on a ladder.

They should offer a power-up symbol as a shirt pin or something. heh

That's scary...Those are the two spots I normally get stuck at. The 10-laser thing is hard if you don't get to it with a decent weapon (and those damn bubbles on the way up normally kill me unless I spam the spreader...I can never get to him with the boss-raping fire shot). I definitely use emulator rewinding there if I mess up. And that part in Contra III is kind of a "learn by doing" thing...I lost three times at him before I figured out what to do. I always die at the boss of that level.

I think Contra 1 is definitely the best, though it also happens to be the easiest. It's good to hear that was the developer's favorite game in the series in that interview.

I don't have a lot of problems with Super C, save for the two top-down stages - largely due to the fact that you can't stay in a stationary diagonal position in those levels.  Unless you have the Spread Shot, it can be a tad tricky.  The area 4 bubbles are easy so long as you pick up and keep that Machine Gun at the beginning, but I always seem to have a tough time with the area 3 boss, with those damned quadruple turrets.

I'm really hoping the games emulate well on the DS.  Yeah, and add an auto-fire option.  ^_^

Use the fire for a free win...Normally, I kill him with it before or just after the little turrets fan out after their first rotation and only have to dodge one round of bullets (maybe two) before it dies. Also, you can stand slightly to the right of the target (so you shoot out the first turrent, then the target right after) and that first bullet wave should miss (most will go straight down, one will be an angle that doesn't hit you...I think when they fan out and shoot, you'll actually have to move a bit).

I admit...I play Super C just for the rapid/fire combo. It's a thing of beauty. I'd have loved for it to have been the same in Contra 1...Talk about a major improvement.

Just curious: Has anyone ever just walked up to the building at the end of level 1 in Contra with the spreader and just killed it, without taking out the cannons? Was playing a speedrun the other day and figured I'd try it...Got him on the second try. Surprised how easy the timing was.

I'll have to try that next time, thanks!  I never was gutsy enough to try the run-up method in level 1 Contra, though; it doesn't seem possible to dodge those shots.

I'm generally not a fan of the Fire gun, especially in the original Contra; the fire-rate is just too slow for me.  But you'll be happy to hear that the Super C variation is featured in Contra 4..... as a stacked weapon.  It seems to work pretty well, too. :)

I am notoriously terrible at Contra games (especially the first one, which I could only get halfway through with the extra lives code). Still, I find myself looking forward to this one.

I've done some testing with it and it's totally random and depends on the cannons. If you get in fast enough, the only thing you have to worry about is the near cannon firing a short blast onto your head (the other one will shoot over your head, but will kill you if you don't rush in...sometimes, you'll have to delay to avoid the short cannon and might take a hit, but if you get in, it's open season). And even then, if you torch the target and are about to take a hit, you're saved if it dies first. I just got it 7/10 times.

I always thought it was kind of cheap you could just sit back and snipe the whole building at your leisure...I like giving it a fair chance. I'm going to start trying it with the regular blaster and not killing the cannons now...

The original Contra, that thing was created by the Red Falcon to take away your spreadgun at the most inappropriate times. That's the only explanation I can think of (though rapid makes it semi-useful, but rapid makes EVERYTHING better!). Might be worth trying a fire-only run sometime...That'll be ugly.

And I did not know the "good" fire shot was coming back. That all but assures this game is going to be awesome. Thanks!

I just tried it out a number of times with a save state, and I had an equal rate of success and failure.  Yeah, it's really about getting past that random first cannon; once you're in, you can dodge the second cannon's shots, and take out the target with the regular blaster with ease.

Actually, I should correct myself here that it's not impossible to stay diagonal stationary..... it's just very hard.  You have to press the d-pad's angles just so, and remove your thumb just as well.

TechVat's got their review up.  It's more factual-based than opinion, but we do learn a few new things: 

http://www.techvat.com/contra-4-kickn-a … names.html

We learn that Challenge Mode is unlocked after beating the game once, and that each new "challenge" must be unlocked by beating the one preceding it. (Either individually or by sets, they don't say.)  Some of the challenges are apparently based on ammo-limitation; I can see them limiting your ammo to a certain number, but none at all?! 

In Easy Mode, they disable your ability to discard weapons.  They claim that in multiplayer mode, you cannot share weapons with one another, which doesn't quite sound right to me..... that was one of the key features for the game, after all.  And yes, you can still "borrow" reserve lives from one another.

IGN's review is up: 8.0

It was already confirmed in the Nintendo Power review, but there's no Save or Suspend feature of any kind.  Sleep Mode will definitely come into appreciation here.

And at last, we have details on the original Contra and Super C.  In their own words:

"It's no secret that the original NES versions of Contra and Super C are in the game (for arcade Contra buy Konami Arcade Hits for DS), but you'll need to complete a set number of challenges in Challenge Mode to unlock them. The emulation of the two games is pretty spot-on, except for a biggie: no two player support. You can certainly select Two Players in these games, but the two characters are controlled by one player at the same time…their movement's shared via D-pad, but the player has very "Mario & Luigi" control over their actions via individual jump and shoot buttons. Single player, the two games are perfect, but wireless multiplayer for the NES games would have been killer. Instead it just feels a little broken."

A shame that there's no co-op support.  I wonder if it was a technical complication that caused the omission of multiplay?  Would it have been difficult because they're emulated games?

Contra Eve.  Visions of spread shot bullets will be dancing in my head tonight.

I think that is B.S.  If you look at Xbox Live Arcade, there are a number of retro titles that have been converted for use for online play.  It looks like they just took the easy way out, rather than write programming to accept 2P input from another DS.

There really is no excuse for that.

Considering Contra and Super C are unlockable extras, I don't see what the big deal is.  If Konami was going to give you WiFi co-op play, they'd release the games separately and charge you full price.