Having fought off the vile Red falcon once before, Mad Dog and Scorpion are
forced to cut their vacation short when the miraculously revived demon-alien-thing decides
to give Earth another shot. Not that many people actually care about the plot, since once
the action begins, there's no time to think about who or what you're shooting.
The sequel stays as true to the original as possible with the only exceptions being a few new weapons and the two overhead stages, replacing the behind-the-back stages from the first game in the series. While these stages break up the monotony of running to the right, they simply seem stale after pounding through the heart of enemy bases from behind your soldier. Non-stop firing is still the main area of the game and taking your finger off the B-button for the slightest second could result in a quick death.
The graphics engine has hardly been touched give or take some minor detail on the main character. Flicker is still abundant, but most of the bosses seem to have lost their luster. None of them are anywhere near the original designs from the first game (with the exception of stage 7's skull head....creepy.) Hell, most of them aren't even aliens! Otherwise, the backgrounds are all still filled with color and explosions and still has that "Contra" feel to it.
As far as improvements go, there isn't a NES game you can find
that pumps out bass like this one. No one will ever likely understand how this games
soundtrack was made on the hardware other than the programmers. Rest assured, the music in
this game is simply outstanding. Maybe not as memorable as the first games, but
nonetheless awesome on their own. The rest of the sounds are all from Contra and
easily recognizable.
As an overall package, the game could easily stand out on it's own, even if the first Contra never existed. While not a major improvement in any single area, the game is more of the same stuff we've known and loved for over 12 years. You can't go wrong with either game, but the feeling of nostalgia sits better with Konami's original classic.
