Yeah, Contra was never more than a B-list game, but it was still cool, but not for the reason the “hardcore” gamers think. Their mental retcon seems to be treating it as the most “badass” game of the era. But it didn’t take itself that seriously, and it actually fails a lot of the standards the “hardcore” thinks makes a good game.
- The players are jumping too high, and somersaulting repeatedly! That’s completely unrealistic!
- You should be picking up new guns, not just stepping on symbols to make your gun magically change ammo! That breaks the immersion (aka, reminds them that they are playing a video game, which is an actual complaint I frequently see)!
- You can’t have a gun that rapid fires three bullets in different directions! Everyone knows that shotguns are used for spread blasts!
- Why are they identical except for the color of their clothes? They should have identical uniforms, and we need to tell them apart by spending loads more time and money rendering distinctive facial features!
- The monsters are ripped off from Aliens! How dare this game be unoriginal!
- Where’s the story?
- The game is too short! An expert can beat it in less than a couple hours!
- It’s too hard (for those that think gamers have a right to complete the game)!
- It’s too easy (for those that think difficulty is by being cheap or requiring constant precision timing in dodging and attacks)!
- Where are the set piece battles? We can’t expect gamers to be impressed by just fighting bosses and waves of enemies!
- Where are the special puzzlesto break up the action? No, it’s not a way to try to sneak in adventure game design years after the market showed they didn’t care about those! It’s how games should be!
Well said!
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