Forget Castlevania, where’s my Contra?

Flipping through the Guinness Book of World Records: Gamer’s Edition one can stumble onto this bit of trivia: “Most Games in an Action Adventure series: Castlevania.” It’s hardly surprising since Konami dedicated 37 titles to the franchise. What is surprising is that Konami could dedicate 37 titles to that franchise. When you buy an intellectual property you want to squeeze as much out of it as you can, but 37? What about all the other Konami titles that have gone by the wayside? What about Contra?

Castlevania (Akumajou Dracula) centered on the Belmont family and Dracula. Every one-hundred years Dracula resurrects like a generational jack-in-the-box and has to be put down by the Belmont family, whose business is apparently Dracula disposal. With each iteration of the Castlevania series the plot has become increasingly complicated in an attempt to keep the concept fresh. Bloodlines of Belmont Warlord Chromosomes, Whip Alchemy, and, of course, people’s souls being bound to inanimate objects. This will probably culminate in Metal Gear Solid: Dracula Mandate of Emptiness.

Is Castlevania really so deserving all this attention? What was it about the premise “apply whip to Dracula” that Konami found so compelling? The whip is probably the least effective tool for Dracula elimination, which really makes Simon Belmont something of an imbecile. It also explains why Dracula keeps coming back. Konami may have seen this inevitable revelation because they tacked on a backstory that identifies the whip as a Vampire Killer bound to the Belmont bloodline in the fires of alchemy. In other words, we’re committed to this whip thing and we’re not letting it go.

So what about Contra? It was a game with an equally simple concept: Apply guns to aliens. Lot’s of aliens. Approximately one ‘furiously thrown controller’ worth of frustrating aliens. Still, it didn’t stop us from playing. Contra was a game that you could beat your head against for hours and not have the good sense to chuck the cartridge out the window. At least until someone told you the infamous Konami Code. Cheating? Yes, but it felt more like revenge.

The plot, for what its worth, is simple. Bill and Lance are two muscle-bound commandos who share a common love for bandannas and tank tops. They’re sent to stop a threat known as Red Falcon that is secretly attempting to take over the earth. Details get a bit sketchy from that point depending on your location. In Japan they are sent to a fictional oceanic island archipelago in the year 2633 to stop terrorists. In America, they’re just sent to some South American island to stop aliens, which says more about 1980s American policy than I’d like to admit.

Beyond the basic gameplay and straightforward alien weirdness, Contra established an idea that we’re only now beginning to return to: Cooperative Play. Twice the bullets equal twice the fun. Contra was the Army of Two of its day. Demand for co-op gameplay is on the rise and now is the time to capitalize on it.

So what happened to Contra? It was doing fine during the 8- and 16-bit eras, but fell prey to the early CD systems. Contra: Legacy of War (Playstation and Saturn) and C: The Contra Adventure (Playstation) were so abysmally received as to be shunned from Contra canon. Contra: Shattered Soldier (PS2) marked a high point in the series, but the followup, Neo Contra (PS2) dragged the series back into mediocrity.

When Contra 4 released on the Nintendo DS, critics and fans fell hard and hailed it as nothing short of Contra’s rebirth. That was pretty much it, at least until the official Contra ReBirth on WiiWare, but the title oversold what was actually offered. Where are the good, modern Contra games?

It’s not like it can’t be done. Have you seen Serious Sam, or how about Alien Swarm on Steam? Both games nail the ‘big-guns vs.E.T.’ formula. All they lack is platforming and bare chests. So Konami, how about putting the whip down for a while and delivering a modern Contra?