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Super Contra headed to the XBLA
After doing some ESRB searching we've unearthed what looks to be Konami's second foray into the XBLA. Super Contra shows up on ESRB's website with a rating of E10+ for its fantasy violence and oh yeah, it'll be released on the Xbox 360 platform. Now, we highly doubt anyone will be purchasing Super Contra for $60 so it's a pretty safe bet that it'll be coming to the XBLA instead. Hopefully Super Contra includes online co-op, but ends up being a little more smooth than what Contra had to offer. Any fanboys out there huge Contra fans and salivating at the mention of Super Contra coming to the Arcade?[Thanks, un1qu3 n3wy0rk]
Metareview: Konami Classics Series: Arcade Hits
In the mood for a little retro on the go? Konami Classics: Arcade Hits may be just what you need. The compilation is receiving solid reviews from most of the major outlets, and the word is that the set is lovingly constructed and filled with extras. IGN (80/100) feels this collection sets the standards for future retro compilations on the DS: "Like any classic compilation, the actual library can be its victory or its downfall, but there are plenty of strong Konami titles in this batch to keep interest high...even if there are the occasional (and expected) duds in the pack."Nintendo Power (75/100) found this title to be among an excellent example of a retro compilation: "The highlights ... are Contra, Track & Field, Time Pilot, and Gradius, all of which hold up remarkably well considering their age."1UP (69/100), found the game well done, but essentially flawed: But Arcade Hits suffers from a shortcoming, and a pretty serious one at that: The games in the collection aren't really worthy of the beautiful presentation ... Even worse: Most games collected here were originally manufactured with vertically oriented screens. "No worries," you say. "The DS has two stacked screens! I can deal with a gap in the graphics if it means high-fidelity presentation." Well, better worry after all: All games are restricted to the upper screen only, meaning everything is squished uncomfortably. But you didn't really want to see those little space bullets in Gradius, though. Did you?
Konami Arcade Classics previewed
As admitted Konami fanboys, when we heard about the Konami Arcade Classics collection for the DS, we started seeing the classic cross logo in our minds and humming the Contra soundtrack incessantly. Five months later, we're almost to the point where we can actually play it.Siliconera has decided to tease us with a preview of the game, showing off some of the emulated classics and how they look on the DS. Of special interest are the vertically-oriented titles Twinbee and Contra, which have an optional tate mode (seen above) which is extremely, extremely bizarre. We appreciate the effort taken to preserve the original games' aspect ratio and give players the option of playing without letterboxing, but why isn't the second screen rotated to match? And how are you supposed to play with all the buttons and the D-pad on the right side?
I am information about I am 8-bit 2.007 [update 1]
Game Informer has posted a nice preview of the 2007 I am 8-bit art show, along with some of the art that will be featured. I am 8-bit is an annual art exhibition that celebrates classic videogame culture and iconography, with an emphasis on Nintendo and their NES-era third parties. It's also the source of some amazing game-related art, like the Donkey Kong-inspired painting shown above, "Mario's Lament" by Reuben Rude. We'd be proud to display any of these paintings, sculptures, or crafts in our own Fancaves.Just like every year, we'll be gazing wistfully at these previews and cursing our luck for not being Californian or California-adjacent. If you happen to be in the LA area between April 17 and May 12, we urge you to go to Gallery Nineteen Eighty Eight and support the very best kind of fanboyism: the kind that manifests in honest creative expression (fanfic excluded).[Update 1: changed the preview picture to something friendlier.][Via 4cr]
Stuttering start for Microsoft Rewards program
The Xbox Rewards program remains deadlocked today, following yesterday's launch, which apparently drew more prospective registrants than anticipated. If you've yet to register -- perhaps planning to leisurely earn your 'rewards' during the allotted month -- you've likely already missed out. 'Cause guess what? All those rewards are limited to finite numbers; paltry numbers when compared to Xbox Live's user base.This isn't an 'Old Spice Challenge,' it's a Competition -- and no doubt there are enough registered players teens already racing to gobble up those prizes. If you're lucky, you might score (possibly another) copy of Contra, since 70,000 download codes will be handed out. But even the '100 Microsoft Points' prize (limited to 6,000 winners) could be gone by week's end. Bah, who wanted Fusion Frenzy 2 anyway?Hint: Try this link.
Dungeon Explorer leads trio of VC Monday releases
Apparently the "funky things" holding up the Wii virtual console release of TurboGrafx-16 classic Dungeon Explorer have been fixed. The game will be available for download today at 9 a.m. Pacific, along with the space shooters Gradius (NES -- 500 points) and Soldier Blade (TG-16 -- 600 points). In other virtual console news, the ESRB web site shows a listing for a Wii version of the SNES' Contra: The Alien Wars (E10+), adding to a sizable list of other ESRB-rated but yet-to-be-released throwbacks. While we're happy to consider these NES and TurboGrafx games, we can't help but wonder why there haven't been more Nintendo 64 releases on the virtual console thus far. True, there aren't many real classics for the 64-bit system, but let's face it, Urban Champion isn't anything to write home about either. Mario Tennis anyone?
Readers pick best webcomic: Contraband
User-submitted lifemeter's Contraband comic (get it? Because it's Contra and contraband ... yeah, ignore me) earned top honors as the best webcomic of the week for the final days of 2006. Know thy code.Second place went to Ctrl+Alt+Del and third was a virtual tie between Extra Life and VG Cats.Thanks to everyone who voted; we've already got a few submissions for next week's wrapup, but we always yearn for more. Please let us know of any game-related webcomics you stumble upon this week!
ContraVania: a gaming mashup
We're no strangers to the work of Jim Welch who, through his website, maintains a strict regimen of drawing daily. His end products are, often, amazing and instill in us feelings of envy and jealousy. We wish we could produce such lovely pieces of art. Instead, our destiny seems to be on the business end of a laptop, captured in a cage and left to blog until our fingers are tiny nubs and the last sliver of light has disappeared on the dungeon wall.Video has been, as always, embedded into the post past the jump.Past illustrations: Metroid + Mario = Metrio? Yoshi gets reimagined
ContraVania: a gaming mashup [update 1]
We're no strangers to the work of Jim Welch who, through his website, maintains a strict regimen of drawing daily. His end products are, often, amazing and instill in us feelings of envy and jealousy. We wish we could produce such lovely pieces of art. Instead, our destiny seems to be on the business end of a laptop, captured in a cage and left to blog until our fingers are tiny nubs and the last sliver of light has disappeared on the dungeon wall.Video has been, as always, embedded into the post past the jump. Update: now with working video!Past illustrations: Metroid + Mario = Metrio? Yoshi gets reimagined
Contra co-op is fixed (sort of)
An update is now available for Contra, Konami's recent Xbox Live Arcade title. Many will recall that Contra initially suffered from serious syncing issues during Xbox Live co-op play. This typically resulted in each player seeing completely different things, as in the image above where one player is fighting a level boss and the other hasn't even made it that far. Naturally, when we heard there was an update, we jumped at the chance to test out co-op. We hit up a Joystiq blogger (our Live Arcade testing guru, Ludwig Kietzmann) and proceeded to kill some alien scum. Despite the usual lag, the syncing issue seems to have been eliminated (especially considering the fact that our two testers live an ocean away from each other). It looks like Konami's solution may have been less than elegant though, because the option to continue during a co-op game has been removed altogether. To compensate, players are given more lives. Contra had continue screen issues before, so this may be unrelated to the co-op fix, but we find its removal a little puzzling. Still, for the moment at least, co-op seems to be in working order. Those of you hammering away at the co-op achievement may want to give it another go.[Thanks, modeps]
Contra's craptacular co-op
Game|Life and IGN report that Contra's co-op mode is broken (see evidence above). The screenshots were taken at the same moment during an online co-op match, showing how the two players' games were completely out of sync (on the left, Player Two is already dead).Both reports indicate that the co-op mode glitches during the Waterfall stage. Can anyone corroborate?[Via Xbox 360 Fanboy]
Contra co-op is totally out of sync
The image above contains two screenshots from an online co-op game of Contra. The picture on the left was taken by one player, and the picture on the right was taken by the other ... at the same time. In the words of Wired Game|Life, "XBLA Contra Co-Op Play Is F**ked Up" They're not the only ones who noticed either: IGN seems to be having the same problem. We haven't replicated the problem here at Fanboy Towers, simply because we've been too busy playing Gears to pay for Contra. Has anyone else out there experienced this problem? If you wanted Contra for the online co-op, you may want to wait for Konami to fix this problem before you pay for the full version.
Contra shoots XBLA with spread gun
What did we ever do to deserve this? Halo 3 info is everywhere, Call of Duty 3 on the cheap, movies and TV on Marketplace, Gears of War, and now Contra all in the same week. There's so much stuff that it's actually hard to take it all in. Like staring into the sun, its radiant beauty is simply overwhelming.Anyway, the point is that Contra is now available. I powered up my 360 this morning just to grab it from XBLA. Lo and behold, it said I'd already downloaded it. It was then that I realized the new Arcade auto-download feature was doing its job. Huzzah! If you thought you died a lot in Gears of War, just see how long you last in Contra. Home to one of the greatest game weapons of all time, the spread gun, Contra is a shooter for the ages. It also helped make co-op gaming one of the greatest experiences in life. If you're old enough to remember the good old days, download this puppy and blast through it with a buddy. It won't take very long, but it's not like you ever would have gotten through the original for under five bucks, so 400 points is a pretty good deal. And even if you don't remember the good old days, you might as well give it a try, right? Contra -- like other retro titles -- has some control issues. It doesn't seem nearly as responsive as it should. The core gameplay is still there though, and that's what counts. The remixed graphics and music aren't that much of an improvement, but welcome nonetheless. Still, as we said above, the amount of gaming you get for five dollars seems adequate. Has anyone stopped playing Gears (or COD3 or Project 8 or Viva Piñata or ....) long enough to try Contra?
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Contra storms XBLA, original titles to follow this holiday, Atari classics in '07
As Gears of War begins to arrive at retailers across North America this week, Microsoft and Konami will give Xbox Livies a chance to check out one of its forebears. This Wednesday, for 400 points ($5), Contra will be yours, again. The Xbox Live Arcade version includes both original (arcade; not NES) and enhanced modes, featuring Live co-op. And yes, "the code" works (though technically it wasn't part of the arcade original).With the exception of Defender, the rest of XBLA's holiday lineup will be bolstered by a quartet of original titles: Assault Heroes (Wanako/Vivendi Games) - top-down shooter with 2-player co-op Heavy Weapon (PopCap Games) - side-scroller with 4-player support Novadrome (Buena Vista Games) - futuristic racer Small Arms (Gastronaut Studios) - indie Smash Bros. clone (4-player brawler) focusing on ranged attacks Microsoft has also announced a partnership with Atari to bring Asteroids/Asteroids Deluxe, Battlezone, Centipede/Millipede, Missile Command, Tempest, and Warlords to Xbox Live in 2007. As customary, Atari's classics will feature both original and "evolved" modes.[Via Press Release]
Contra codified for XBLA this Wednesday
It looks like someone over at Microsoft realized that a new UNO deck doesn't exactly inspire excitement on Xbox Live Arcade Wednesdays, because this week they're getting the word out bright and early. Releasing this Wednesday for 400 points is everyone's favorite old school, alien-blasting shooter, Contra. A side scrolling shooter of the highest order, Contra is one of those games that people have been pining for ever since the Xbox Live Arcade service was announced. Like Frogger, another Konami XBLA release, Contra will feature both original and enhanced graphics and sound. We have to wonder if the enhancements will be an actual improvement or if they will feel as strange as they did in Frogger. The game will also feature Xbox Live and local co-op play, leaderboards, and 12 achievements. What we don't know is whether or not the game will incorporate the Konami code. We realize that the code wasn't actually in the arcade version of Contra but it's the principle of the thing.So, what do you think fanboys? Is Contra so magnificent that it even overshadows that other game that comes out tomorrow, or is it just another retro title clogging the Arcade?
XBLA, Contra and Gyruss coming "soon"
There's a small section devoted to Xbox Live Arcade in the latest issue of Konami's newsletter -- creatively titled, "Konami News". In the newsletter, Konami announces that both Contra and Gyruss are coming "soon." How soon is soon? We don't know, but there are ten more Xbox Live Arcade Wednesdays this year, and we can only hope that these games are destined for two of them. (Small Arms first, please.)The article contains some previously unreleased info on both games. Contra will feature updated graphics and sounds, online multiplayer (!), and leaderboards. But does it have "the code?!" That's all we want to know. Gyruss will feature updated graphics, new versus and co-op modes, and leaderboards. We have to hand it to Konami for actually upgrading its old arcade games for XBLA. That's the kind of thing more developers should do -- unlike Namco, who actually removed multiplayer from games like Pac-Man and Galaga. So, are you excited for Contra? Any other Konami games you'd like to see resurrected?[Thanks, J.Goodwin]
Contra spearheads Konami DS WiFi compilation
Konami is doing a good thing. Sure, we could write off this "new" DS-bound collection, Konami Classics Series: Arcade Hits, as a cheap way to make an easy buck -- these nostalgia-driven releases scream impulse buy. But, this one's packing Contra, and Konami's promising Nintendo WiFi Connection support. Say, word?Twelve titles in all will be along for the ride, including Circus Charlie, Gradius, Roc'N Rope, Rush'N Attack, Time Pilot, Track and Field, and Yie-Ar Kung Fu. Aside from a traditional port, each game will be playable in a dual screen-tailored "remix" mode. In addition to wireless multiplayer, Arcade Hits will support online high scores and a replay feature allowing players to send highlight clips to friends.Arcade Hits is scheduled for release in March 2007.
Tiger Woods content is cheating
We swear, we don't just come to work wondering how we can hate on EA. Honestly, we don't, but we couldn't help pointing something out. There's a new batch of downloadable content for Tiger Woods 07. Sure, everyone loves downloadable content, but this new "content" stinks.Unlock Golfer:-200 pointsPro Shop – 300 pointsMaxed out Player – 200 pointsUnlock Courses – 200 pointsAs a quick explanation, all of these downloads unlock content in the game. The thing is, it unlocks content in the game that you can unlock just by playing it. What it comes down to is that EA is basically charging us for cheat codes. You want every single golfer in the game, but you don't want to unlock them yourself? That'll be $2.50. Maybe you'd like to have every item in the Pro Shop. No problem: $3.75. Can't be bothered to raise your golfer's stats? Easy, we'll max him out for $2.50. And of course, what good is a maxed out golfer if he can't play on those pesky locked courses. We'll just unlock those for another $2.50.Now, we're not going to completely condemn this. Many people have complained that they don't have time to unlock things in their games. All they want is to be able to play with their friends, using all the same content. That's all well and good, but we can't help feeling that things like this are chipping away at the soul of gaming. Seriously, why play the game at all if you're just going to strip it of all accomplishment? Put simply, it's bullsh*t. And probably a goldmine for EA. God help us all if Konami charges us for "the code" when Contra hits XBLA.
TGS: XBLA hits Tokyo with Contra and friends
Tucked in Microsoft's TGS press release announcing 1080p support and Japanese HD-DVD info, was a short bit on Xbox Live Arcade's presence at TGS. They revealed the following list of Konami and Namco Bandai titles: Contra Gyruss (previously unannounced) Dig Dug Track & Field New Rally-X (previously unannounced) Rush'n Attack (previously unannounced) Ms. Pac-Man Yie Ar Kung Fu: a "Japan-exclusive Xbox Live Arcade game" and "one of the very first fighting games" will be released in 2007 Some of these we've known about, others we've seen before (Contra was at Microsoft's E3 event, and, oh yeah, it's also ingrained in our consciousness), but there are some interesting additions, including a Japan-exclusive title. Our question is, why is Konami wasting their time with some of these games when all we want are those classic Konami beat 'em ups? You're sitting on a gold mine Konami! Seriously, you're sitting on it. Get up and let us at it. Microsoft's TGS press briefing:Xbox 360 to add 1080p support, PS3 to lose bullet pointHD-DVD add-on hits Japan Nov. 17th for ¥19,800Blue Dragon hits Japan this holiday
Couch co-op gives way to internet teamplay
Co-op mode in video games is often a very popular feature, probably because of the added intensity of competing with A.I. in partnership with a friend. Games like Halo and Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory become entirely different (and better) games when played in co-operative mode. Of course, the early innovator was Contra, which, without a co-op mode, would have been just another side scrolling shooter. With the greats of the co-op gaming genre in mind, Vic over at Bits & bytes & pixels & sprites has written up a feature calling for a next-generation renaissance in co-operative games. Couch co-op has never been an assured feature with games, especially recently. Since 2000, developers on the PC platform have clearly ignored the co-op mode in favor of dedicated multiplayer modes with big name first person shooters like Half-Life 2, Doom 3 and Quake 4 skipping on the mode. Games with teamplay orientated multiplayer modes like Counter-Strike and Call of Duty have picked up the fundamentals of co-op based games and thanks to their easy accessibility over the internet, have become wildly popular as a result (especially in comparison to the limit of 2-4 players in a usual co-op game). There will always be developers that include couch co-op modes in their games (Bungie, Blizzard and Ubisoft come to mind), but there's unlikely to be a massive resurgence in the number of couch co-op games mainly due to an internet based takeover of team based gameplay. [Thanks, Daniel Zuccarelli]
