{"id":223,"date":"2011-09-30T13:43:09","date_gmt":"2011-09-30T13:43:09","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/?p=223"},"modified":"2011-09-30T13:43:09","modified_gmt":"2011-09-30T13:43:09","slug":"contra-nes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.controlpadblues.com\/?p=223","title":{"rendered":"Contra (NES)"},"content":{"rendered":"

A handful of franchises come to mind when talking about early NES standouts, and this is most definitely one of them.<\/p>\n

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1988 - NES (Konami)<\/p><\/div>\n

Contra<\/em> was one of those games that had actually been ported from the Arcades, but the NES version actually stands out on its own as a vastly superior game…\u00a0 well, at least I think so, anyway.\u00a0 In any case, I have vivid memories of playing both versions.<\/p>\n

Remember the days when you’d find Arcade cabinets in random stores, mall hallways or entryways?\u00a0 I really miss those days…\u00a0 in fact, I miss having full-blown Arcades around town.\u00a0 Fredericton used to have 3 all at one time, but they all shut down in the late ’90’s.\u00a0 Before them, however, came the ol’ “Random Game of the Month next to your local grocery store!”<\/p>\n

I was only about five or six years old, and barely tall enough to see the buttons, but I could see the screens.\u00a0 As my mom wandered the aisles of the grocery store (called “The Village”), I would escape just outside to the mall and see if there were any new games.\u00a0 One of them was Contra<\/em>.<\/p>\n

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Rambo-lady not included.<\/p><\/div>\n

I know<\/strong> every kid who has ever played video games has done it at least once…\u00a0 you know, let the game get to the demo portion, then pretend to play the game?\u00a0 Yeah, I’d have it memorized to the point where it actually looked like I was playing the game.\u00a0 I mean, there was no music, or sound effects when I was pretending…\u00a0 and my ruse was uncovered every time the demo looped back around to showing the title screen again, right in the middle of my “game playing”…\u00a0 but damn, those were fun, and much simpler times in life.<\/p>\n

There were also the rare occasions that I would stash a few quarters in my pocket to sneak in a game or two while mom did the shopping.\u00a0 They were always short-lived, because I’d always find a way to die pretty quickly, but it was much, MUCH better than just pretending to play the game.<\/p>\n

As for the NES game, it was while I was playing it that I learned one of those essential “kid lessons”.<\/p>\n

Back in Baie Sainte-Anne (I sound like a broken record talking about that place, but hey, it’s my<\/em> blog!), we would often visit a family we have been friends with forever.\u00a0 The parents were godfather and godmother to one of my sisters, and they had a son who was a good 4-5 years older than I was.\u00a0 He just so happened to love video games, too;\u00a0 he owned a Commodore 64, which I thought was awesome, but he also owned an NES…\u00a0 with Contra<\/em>.<\/p>\n

As we played through the game once, we took turns beating the levels.\u00a0 We made it to the Energy Zone level, and it was my turn…\u00a0 I had never beaten it before, but I was determined to show off my skills!\u00a0 Of course, I get to the level’s boss…\u00a0 who I can only describe as an alien football player…<\/p>\n

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That's what I always thought, anyway... in retrospect, maybe not so much...<\/p><\/div>\n

Anyhow, I miraculously avoided his erratic jumping patterns and defeated him.\u00a0 I was overjoyed!\u00a0 It was great!\u00a0 Final level, here we come!\u00a0 Oh man, I am SO GOOD AT THIS GAME!!!<\/em><\/p>\n

Then, the guy said to me, in good ol’ Acadian French; “Brag pas!”<\/p>\n

“Brag”??\u00a0 What did that mean?\u00a0 I really had no idea.\u00a0 As he told me what it meant, it actually did sink in that it was somewhat rude to do.\u00a0 Evidently, about 20-some-odd years later, it has stuck with me.<\/p>\n

For the record, I am not awesome at Contra<\/em>, or games in general.\u00a0 I’ve beaten it and several other games, but can’t breeze through them like other people seem to be able to.\u00a0 Genuine speedruns make me wonder just how long people have perfected their skills, because I sure wouldn’t be able to pull something off that quickly.\u00a0 I’m a “take your time, eliminate everything” kind of gamer, and I enjoy it that way.<\/p>\n