What it was
A year after the first Contra, Bill and Lance go back in. Aliens have taken over an allied military base and possessed most of its troops, so the soldiers shooting at you used to be on your side. You run, jump and shoot your way to the alien's lair, grabbing new guns from flying capsules.
It started as Super Contra, a 1988 arcade game. The NES version keeps the feel of the NES Contra and the same power-ups, but adds three stages of its own, all scrolling upwards: a high-tech base, a mountain and an alien nest. The order of stages and bosses changes and there is a new final boss. The fire gun is new too: it now lobs a large shot that bursts into flame, and you can hold the button to charge it into a bigger one.
Where it sits in history
Konami released it on the Famicom in Japan on 2 February 1990 as Super Contra, and in North America in April 1990 as Super C, shortened to avoid any link to the Iran-Contra affair. Europe got it in 1992 as Probotector II: Return of the Evil Forces, with the heroes and some enemies turned into robots.
The Konami Code from Contra is gone; a different code gives ten lives on the NES and 30 on the Famicom. Hidenori Maezawa rearranged the arcade music. Super C sold more than 500,000 copies. Famitsu gave the Famicom version 25 out of 40, and Allgame's Aaron Kosydar called it an excellent game many players would never forget.
It has been re-released often: in a 2002 Windows collection with Contra and three Castlevanias, as an unlockable in Contra 4 on the DS, on Virtual Console for Wii, 3DS and Wii U, on the NES Classic Edition in 2016, and in the 2019 Contra Anniversary Collection.
How it plays today
It is Contra with the volume up. The upward-scrolling stages break up the run and gun nicely, and the charged fire gun is a joy to land on a big target.
Ten lives from the code make it a good place for newer players to learn the series. It is short, loud and over in an evening, which is exactly right.
Compared with
Why it matters
Csikszentmihalyi described flow as the absorption that comes when the challenge matches your skill, the goals are clear and the feedback is instant. Super C is close to a pure machine for it. The goal is to keep moving. The feedback is a shot landing or a life lost. There is nothing else to think about, and for half an hour the rest of the day goes quiet.
You can borrow that on purpose. Shrink the goal to one line, make the feedback quick, and pitch the job just past what you can already do. It works on a gym session or a pile of paperwork too.
Read: The zone: why good games make time disappear →
- Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1990). Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience.
What you're levelling up
You have been training these without noticing. Here is how to do it on purpose, and where it pays off away from the couch. All the skills games teach →
Teamwork
In the game. Two players go in at once as Bill and Lance, on one screen, grabbing from the same weapon capsules. Nick the spread gun your mate needed and you will hear about it.
Do it on purpose. Play with a mate and agree who leads each stage. Swap leaders every level.
Off the couch. Sharing the lead, in a group project or planning a trip, keeps everyone keen. Nobody likes being dragged along.
Hand-eye coordination
In the game. Run, jump and shoot while the screen scrolls up, and charge the new fire gun into a big burst for a big target.
Do it on purpose. Do a stage only with the fire gun and charge every shot. Count how many land.
Off the couch. Quick, accurate hands pay off in sport, driving and anything with tools. Being handy is a good look.
Bouncing back
In the game. Ten lives from the code make it a good place to learn the series, and you'll use them.
Do it on purpose. Each time you die, say what killed you out loud before you respawn. Avoid that one thing next go.
Off the couch. Naming exactly what went wrong, instead of sulking, is how you get better at work, sport or asking someone out.
Verdict · 8/10
A confident sequel that adds new stages and a better fire gun without losing what made Contra work. A great evening.
