This game is pretty old, but few people talk about it, and it's one of my favorite WiiWare games, so I wanted to give it a little more attention.
The story is ... well, don't know. I skipped it. Who cares? But the game itself is one you surely wouldn't want to skip. This is classic Contra. You've got around five or six levels, all with awesome music, graphics and the challenge you expect from the series. The game looks like a 16-bit game, but with slightly higher res textures to make it look a little more modern, and prettier. There's also some very slight 3D going on. It's one very pretty game - it goes for the Retro look, but you know it couldn't have been done on an SNES. Music is great too, and the first level features an awesome remixed version of the Jungle level from the first Contra game to get you in the mood. There's slight voice acting, too, which is nice.
The game is pretty short, but it's meant for multiple play-throughs. There's no saving feature, and it can be easily beat in one sitting. The idea is to try and go for the high score. You can also mess around with the difficulty settings; you can choose between Easy, Normal, Hard, and you can unlock a Nightmare difficulty. You can also give yourself 3, 5 or 7 lives. This helps the replay value, and also it lets less-skilled players beat and enjoy the game. I truly believe anyone can beat this in Easy with 7 lives - it's pretty easy. But good luck beating it in Hard with 3 lives. You'll spend a while trying to do that. There's also a new character to unlock, but I don't care - Bill is where it's at.
This is how you make a traditional game on WiiWare. If you're not going for a quirky, unique design like World of Goo for instance, you can't do much better than Contra Rebirth. It's short, but good fun every time, and great for quick bursts of play. Pick it up, kill some aliens, put it down. You could do much worse than this.
Contra ReBirth is awesome I wish there was an option to turn off infinite continues, but aside from that I think the game is great.
One thing I really like about the game is its story. While I do wish Contra would try to be more serious again (Contra III and Shattered Soldier are awesome, and they're probably the most serious games in the series), I enjoy the totally off-the-wall story scenes in the game. They're completely nonsensical and just make a huge mess of the series' story, but it's still cool
I think the ReBirth series are all 1000 Points each. (about $10.00) I've bought both Castlevania and Contra from the ReBirth series (series?) but the only one I've actually played is Castlevania. I need to get around to playing Contra, I hear it's pretty good.
I totally recommend not skipping the story. It's really, really nonsensical on purpose, it's hilarious. I don't want to spoil anything but... yeah, I won't.
Don't skip the cutscenes on your next playthrough!
Seeing as the first boss battle is fought atop debris from an exploded spacestation while entering the Earth's atmosphere, I knew I'd love it. Great fucking game. Love how ridiculous it is in every sense. Especially what happens after you beat the last boss haha holy shit, good stuff.
A friend and I are still trying to beat Contra 4 on normal in co-op. Whenever that happens, this will be next.
My advice: Beat all the Challenges first. Once you're able to beat all of those, you'll be a Contra 4 god. Not only did beating those let me me make it through the game on Normal, I actually managed to get to the first 3D level on Hard without dying. Then I lost all my lives in there because the enemy bullets fly FAAAAAAAAAAST in the 3D stages on Hard.
I didn't like Castlevania. Maybe the originals were like this too, but the controls are too stiff and it moves too slow.
The originals are all like that, too. The 8-bit games (and the 16-bit ones, for that matter) were slower-paced action games than the ones you see today. It has a different pace, and it really is different from pretty much every other game out there. It's... almost more realistic, if you can believe it. While most action games let you hook left or right in mid-air, Castlevania doesn't allow that. When you jump, you're committed to the jump as soon as your feet leave the ground. No take-backs.
There's a control option to make the controls more "loose" but it's still more stiff than say, Contra.
But who plays on easy!? The reason I haven't beaten those games is I have too much pride to go down to the easiest difficulty levels. And I don't think you can beat IV on the easier difficulty anyway, it won't let you go to the true end.
Yeah, beat those other games. You can do III in like 30 minutes. Legit.
I didn't like Contra ReBirth as much as everyone else, apparently. It felt really hollow, for some reason. I really like Contra and Super C, and even III to a degree, but this game..I don't know. Theres plenty of replay value, sure..but I haven't been back.
@Feierabend Contra III doesn't have dialogue (beyond the intro), but I enjoy the progression from stage to stage, how you go from the ruined city, to an abandoned facility, then you fly over to the hidden alien cavern. Plus the gameplay itself has a very cinematic feel to it. Despite it being one of the oldest Super NES titles, there are some amazing effects going on there. I also love the darker-sounding soundtrack for the most part. Some songs are still kind of light-hearted like the level 4 music, but the songs that play during the final level are downright epic
@Orbital74 I think I might prefer ReBirth over 4 as well. While 4 has more extras and such, I think the main game might be more fun in ReBirth.
@Zero I highly recommend beating Contra 4 on Easy mode first. It won't take you to the last two stages, so you won't have that part of the game ruined, and as long as you beat the game on any difficulty (Easy mode is easiest to do, of course), you unlock the Challenge mode, which is one of my favorite parts of the game. Some of the challenges really test your gameplay prowess, and they also help a great deal with beating the game on harder difficulty levels.
@Pandareus Honestly didn't feel the need to come back. It's a fine retro throwback but....I dunno. It did seem uninspired to me to be honest. If I'm not mistaken you are just pushed forward nonstop with a ton of shit coming at you the whole time. I don't remember Contra or Contra 3 being like this. You had breaks and weren't pushed forward like you were on rails. Maybe I'm wrong on both counts but if memory serves me right.... Plus did Rebirth have any unique stages or platforming? Like climing, going up stages vertically, hanging on ledges etc? I'm gonna be honest, I don't even remember, but that in itself is a problem. All I remember is running forward nonstop, doing the odd necessary jump, and enemies everywhere. That's not exactly Contra to me.
Oh and any Art Style used after 3 has sucked. What happened to the dark/grittyness? I don't like my Contras looking bright and vibrant. I think Konami's getting the idea wrong. They're designing their Rebirth series to look, sound, and play like Genesis games. This is the Nintendo Wii, not the Sega Wii. If they wanna make old school throwbacks (especially on a NINTENDO system) then they should give them NINTENDO GAME QUALITIES. Not that I don't love the Genesis sound but let's be honest here, SNES sound was much better.
@carlosrox Actually, the ReBirth series is arcade-styled. The synths used in Contra ReBirth are arcade-style, like in Super Contra, not like Genesis synth (although they sound somewhat similar). So considering the series' arcade roots I think it makes sense.
ReBirth did have some significant platforming in it. The first couple stages are mainly straightforward runs (like in Super Contra/Super C), but levels 4 and 5 have some tough platforming. And while Level 3 is kind of a "railed" level, there's platforming involved with trying to dodge missiles throughout, and especially towards the end of the stage, when the robot ostriches come.
I wish the series would look a little more gritty, but I dig the style ReBirth has. If you want an especially gritty Contra game, I highly recommend checking out Shattered Soldier on the PS2 if you haven't done so already.
@Zero So you've unlocked the Challenge mode then? That's good; I can't imagine forcing my way through the game on Normal or (ugh) Hard without having done that first.
I wish there was an option to turn off infinite continues, but aside from that I think the game is great.
