Do you know why the Konami Code was invented?

Try playing the original Contra without the benefit of the Code and then know why. That game is darn hard to finish without 30 lives! (Actually, the Code was first used in Gradius, but was made famous by Contra.)

Contra celebrates its 20th anniversary this year. Arguably, this game series is one tough game, from the NES versions to the current PS2 incarnations. What made this game so popular? Was it the innate difficulty? Was it due to the satisfaction it brings, shooting down enemies?

For me, it is due to sheer fun of playing Rambo.

Though I must limit the raves on the Nintendo versions. The PS2 versions, Neo-Contra and Contra: Shattered Soldier, are different animals. I have both of these games, and I enjoy seeing them in their cases. No one among my siblings enjoyed playing these games. In fact, a high school friend who has a knack of finishing games in the first sitting gave up on these games.

The Contra series left a large legacy. I mean the word “large” literally. Contra pioneered the large boss concept. Those Metal Slug bosses, those insane machines, they were not the first. The big boss in the first Contra is hideous! It looked like a scrotum when I first saw it!

Some Contra games are available in Collections for Nintendo DS. The original is available at Xbox Live Arcade. For everyone else, there’s an emulator and several ROMs over the internets. All you have to do is search.

(images snipped from The Contra HQ)