Review for Contra Anniversary Collection. Game for Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the video game was released on 11/06/2019
Contra Anniversary Collection, as well as the recent one Castlevania Anniversary Collection, lands on our consoles of the latest (still for a short time) generation just to worthily celebrate the 50th anniversary of the manufacturer, or the historic, albeit with ups and downs, Konami.
From a collection of vintage games, not to say "old games", above all we expect a certain completeness of content, combined with an almost total fidelity of rendering and gameplay, compared to the original titles proposed. Contra Anniversary Collection, in its small size, fulfills the purpose perfectly.
For those who have no idea of the game we are talking about, Contra is a video game series that can be considered the progenitor of the Run'n Gun genre. In practice we are talking about the first titles of a trend that then saw the birth of real legends such as the series Metal Slug, and which has recently been revisited and revisited in that absolute masterpiece that it is Cuphead.
The series Contra it is therefore the primordial origin of Run'n Gun, as we have said, since it sees us, since its very first incarnation in the arcade, in the role of one of the "Action Heroes" of the 80s. Heavily stereotyped heroes along the lines of the eternal Arnold Schwarzenegger and Sylvester Stallone: armed with machine guns, pumped muscles and unshakable loyalty in the (Japanese) American dream, grappling with enemy soldiers of various kinds who then, in the second or third bar, prove to be only of the mere executors of a subtle plan of alien conquest of our planet.
Doesn't that sound new to you? Obviously not! The same plot, without too many frills, has also been taken up in more than one title of the equally mythical and already mentioned Metal Slug series, which clearly owes much more than a few quotes to the various Contra.
The titles in the collection are about ten, among the various original arcades, the home versions for Famicom and Nes (true supporters of the success of the saga), and the 16-bit sequels for Snes and Megadrive, in addition to the excellent Operation C chapter for Gameboy, plus the original Japanese versions Contra, Super Contra, Super C, Contra III: The Alien Wars, to the aforementioned Operation C and Contra: Hard Corps, added with the free update released a few days ago for all Konami commemorative collections.
Each title is reproduced in an extremely faithful way, so much so that a particular joypad button is dedicated to the "insert coins" function in the various arcade arcade versions of the titles.
As in the other collections of the same series, with the simple press of a button it will be possible to call up a specific menu for each title we will be playing, from which it will be possible to change the aspect ratio of the screen, add or remove video effects designed to simulate to the maximum the performance on old screens - home or cabinet - cathode ray tube, set different decorative frames on the sides of the game screen and, option not exactly in line with the gameplay of the past, save our game and then resume it comfortably at a later time. Finally, we point out that it is also possible to record a complete replay of your game.
With the free update of a few days ago, the possibility of remapping the commands assigned to the various buttons on the joypad at will was added, but only for some specific titles, so as to create a gaming experience as comfortable as possible for each player.
Plus all these customization options è it is possible, for some titles in the collection, to choose to play at 50 hz or 60 hz, so as to create a feeling as faithful as possible with the Pal or Japanese / North American versions of the proposed games.
To complete the equipment, in addition to games, Contra Anniversary Collection also offers an interesting and very detailed ebook, unfortunately available only in game, with images and details on the history of the series.
On a technical level, if it is legitimate to express an opinion, Contra Anniversary Collection behaves in a truly excellent way, providing a very faithful version of the vintage titles it offers. The only defect that can be attributed to the collection is that often the control with the analog sticks of the joypads is not exactly the maximum precision, making it preferable to control your characters via directional keys.
Contra Anniversary Collection is a collection that, if taken for what it is, fulfills its duty in a grandiose way, re-proposing in a widely usable way to all the great classics of this historic Konami series. The poor accuracy of the analog sticks is its biggest flaw, largely negligible for those who, mindful of the old days, are used to playing only with the directional cross on certain titles.
► Contra Anniversary Collection is a Platform-Shooter game developed and published by Konami for Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, the video game was released on 11/06/2019
