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Contra blasts its way onto mobile as a side-scrolling shooter, and so far fans aren't happy
It's called Contra Returns, and we'd all be better off if it hadn't
Contra is a classic run and gun shooter from Konami that has seen many followups since its debut in 1987 as an arcade game. It would seem Konami saw fit to lend the license to Tencent, so TiMi Studio developed a free-to-play interpretation of the classic sidescrolling shooter. It's called Contra Returns, and it's now available on the Play Store. As you can guess, this is a gacha game that's packed with in-app purchases, as well as a VIP system, and worse yet, user reviews are pretty negative thanks to the game's aggressive permissions.
The Konami classic Contra came to Android last year, but despite the healthy dose of nostalgia, Contra: Evolution wasn't an awesome experience. The introductory price was $0.99, but the gameplay was bogged down by in-app purchases. Now the game has gone free, and the IAPs have been tweaked a bit.
I spent a measurable amount of the early 90's playing Contra on NES. Admittedly, I lacked the manual dexterity at the time to beat the game without using the Konami Code, but now I can take another swing at it on Android. Contra: Evolution is the same game it was in the early 90's, but with a few extra elements.
The Android faithful have been eagerly awaiting the release of Contra: Evolution, but there were some irksome issues when the game finally launched last week. You could only install it on phones, and when you did, the list of permissions was a little bonkers. Well, both of those points have been addressed in a new update.
Anyone who played video games in the late 80s and early 90s probably lost at least one frustrating afternoon to the original Contra. This run-and-gun shooter was the archetype for innumerable games that were to follow. Now Contra has been spruced up and deployed in Google Play to taunt you all over again.