Super C (Virtual Console / NES) Review

Super C

The alien Red Falcon is back, and planning on taking over the planet Earth. Now it's up to Scorpion and Mad Dog to battle through five levels and save the planet. Based on the arcade game, Super C is the sequel to Contra. Gameplay is a combination of side scrolling/platform and top down view.

There is a wide variety of enemies to defeat, starting with earthly locations, and progressing to more alien. To help out, weapon upgrades can be found as the game progresses. Two players can play simultaneously, or one player can attempt to take on Red Falcon himself.

Review by Marcel Van Duyn

After Konami's maddeningly hard Contra/Probotector proved immensely popular, obviously they weren't going to sit around and not make a sequel. Super C/Probotector II puts you in the role of the same heroes once again as you try to take out aliens once again. This time they're possessing humans to attack you.

The game's got practically the same gameplay as the original - Just run right while fighting off hordes of enemies and dodging a lot of bullets. The game does seem to be slightly easier than the original though - Perhaps Konami thought it was a bit too hard. Along the way you can shoot down pods that fly overhead to obtain powerups in order to change your weapon to a different one, like Shotgun (Spread shots) or Missile (Strong but slow).

As usual in the series, there are some non-2D sidescroller sections as well. This game introduced overhead sections (Which would return in Contra III/Super Probotector for SNES, also on VC) which are (In my honest opinion) slightly easier than the sidescrolling sections.

The bosses are, as usual, enormous machines and creatures which have their own specific weak points. They're not as frustratingly hard as some of the bosses in other games in the series, but can still provide a good challenge.

As an added bonus, the NES port has three extra stages not present in the arcade game. There is also a new final boss.

The music is nothing too special (Except for the level 1 theme), but it is upbeat and lively, and gets the point across well.

All in all, Super C is a great sequel to the original Contra. What most gamers found appealing about the original - challenge - is sadly lacking slightly here though. This does make the game a good entry point into the series for more inexperienced players, but veterans of the series might find it a bit easy.

4/5

Average reader rating: 4.15 (53 ratings)

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Mega Man 3 (NES)
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1. deggs 16 Jul 2007, 18:13 GMT

I used to love this game. this, the first contra and contra 3 were all absolutely amazing games...

this one is probably the most challenging of the three.

(i never really got much of a chance to play through contra hardcorps for the genesis but it's supposedly amazing as well)

some stages can be extremely frustrating but like the other contra games, the music is amazing. the music for the fourth stage (it's mostly in 7/8) and fifth stages rock so hard...

konami really was one of the greatest developers for the nes, snes and gameboy. this game is definitely proof of that...

2. Mip 19 Jul 2007, 09:41 GMT

Why the heck are they relasing sequels before the original??
I want Contra dammit!!

3. peda 12 Aug 2007, 22:46 GMT

i only played "contra 3 - the alien wars" for the SNES! do you think that game may be interesting for me too?

4. Mii be you 19 Aug 2007, 20:17 GMT

Good game.
But personally, I'd rather have Contra come out than this.

5. Wolf 27 Aug 2007, 18:43 GMT

I was a fan of the lush jungle settings of contra 1 when i was a kid. My dad never bought Super C so there's no nostalgia factor. He probably didn't know a sequel existed or he would have gotten it hah!

I've played this recently and if you have a buddy to play with this is an awesome game. but I agree with 'Mii be you', I'd rather have the first one... ahem first

6. Shrapnel09 28 Aug 2007, 23:59 GMT

awesome game! i have never played Super C till i downloaded it and its a very nice contra addition, i played and beat the original contra about 500 times and if im lucky i can beat the game without getting hit. i consider myself a fairly seasoned contra 1 vet, so when you, drake, said the game was easier i wasnt sure what to think.

but i think that all depends on how much you memorized the game, like the first one i can beat endless times in a row without the 30 live cheat, however i need the ten live cheat code for this one simply cause i dont have the game pattern down yet. but i can tell this one seems easier, boss fights especially.

oh and if your curious the 10 live cheat for the game is: left, right, down, up, a, b at the start screen.

7. Mii be you 03 Sep 2007, 05:09 GMT

THIS is contra 2? I thought contra force was the sequel.

8. Mii be you 06 Sep 2007, 03:47 GMT

This is to anybody who doesn't know about Contra Force.
I gotta tell you, it's not as good as Contra 1, 2, or 3.
http://www.nesguide.com/games/contraforce/

9. dualj 25 Sep 2007, 19:14 GMT

"This is to anybody who doesn't know about Contra Force.
I gotta tell you, it's not as good as Contra 1, 2, or 3.
http://www.nesguide.com/games/contraforce/" -mii be you

I have never heard of Contra Force until I read the article you from the website you provided. I am now convinced that Contra Hard Corps is either inspired by Contra Force or is a direct sequal.

10. The Holg 12 Oct 2007, 13:07 GMT

This is the slowest 50Hz version of any game, ever! I strongly suggest to boykot this until Nintendo realises that they can't go on like this.

11. Bazoon 12 Oct 2007, 15:44 GMT

Wow, this game is MUCH MUCH easier than the Xbox Live Arcade Version! I thought it will be harder!

I don't know if it's because it has more levels, or because the game runs realllllllly slow in 50Hz(well, not that slow, because I can't tell, never played the original Super C on the NES.) .

Still, a great game!

12. RoninDennis 13 Oct 2007, 16:18 GMT

I said it before elsewhere but I'll say it again. Don't waste your points on this one if you own a DS. On the forthcoming Contra 4 game both Contra 1 and Super C are unlockable bonuses. If you desire those games euro style, apparently the Probotector robot is also an unlockable character.

13. usmc2003 26 Oct 2007, 03:29 GMT

Awsome game, I just wish I had someone to play it with me. Wife does not like these kinds of games.

14. Donrichy 09 Dec 2007, 22:21 GMT

I cant download this game in Mexico now... and we have the same american wii shop :/

weird

15. Jonny2x4 30 Dec 2007, 23:42 GMT

To Ronindennis - While Contra 4 for the Nintendo DS does feature both Contra games for the NES, they lack true multiplayer support. Instead, you control both characters at the same time. Its not a big deal to those who usually play Contra alone, but there are many like myself who like to play with friends. Just thought to point that out.

16. Slionr 04 Jan 2008, 15:09 GMT

Love this game, buuuut.......why change the name from Super C to Probotector 2 and change the carhacters and enemys??? And just WHO says probotector instead of Contra??? I WANT CONTRA!!!!!. But this game kicks ass anyway:P

17. learn japanese ds 15 Jan 2008, 05:38 GMT

There must be some legal holdup stopping the release of the original Contra, maybe a licensing issue that has something to do with Contra 4 on DS having exclusive rights for an amount of time. Just a guess.

18. Adamant 25 Jan 2008, 16:56 GMT

Slion: Europeans have fond memories of "Probotector", not "Contra". Same reason why they didn't retranslate the SNES Mystical Ninja to get rid of those silly "Kid Ying and Dr. Yang" names. These are the games as they were originally released, and they were originally eleased as Probotector in Europe.

Why do you want "Contra" anyway? Did you not grow up in Europe or something, but moved there later?

19. Bass X0 27 Jan 2008, 12:35 GMT

I would never have been introduced to this series had it been Contra and not Probotector. Probotector 1 was my very first NES game, my parents bought it for me because it had robots on the packaging artwork. So since then I have fond memories of Probotector, not Contra. Still waiting for Probotector/Contra... *sigh*