So it begins....
The ECTS Dissolved series of articles continues with this look into forthcoing titles from respected industry veterans Konami
Konami
Konami have been in the business since the days of the NES, when they sowed the seeds of a number of popular franchises (including the original Metal Gear). Their current lineup is a treat mostly to PS2 and GBA owners, but there are a few other titles in there.
Contra
There are actually two Contra games being released, one on PS2 and one on GBA. First up, Contra Advance: The Alien Wars EX is a remake of possibly the best in the series, Contra III from the SNES. Whilst remakes of old games I played to death 8 years ago are starting to wear thin, Contra is absolutely fantastic to play repeatedly - an old-school kind of hard that nobody bothers with these days. The game is a side-scrolling platformer with guns; a number of titles have attemped to recreate the formula (such as Duke Nukem Manhattan Project), but only the Metal Slug games from SNK have come close. So, how does the remake compare to the SNES original?
SNES screenshot
GBA screenshot
Quite obviously, the two are almost identical. The bosses are still just as big, the enemies swamp the screen and flood it with fire. Essentially, it's a quick remake. Even the 2-player survives, via the GBA link cable.
The PS2 title is another matter altogether. A (mostly) new title which maintains the original 2D formula, and also retains a few of the better sequences from both Contra III and Contra IV (form the Sega Megadrive). What has changed is the graphics - without complicated physics, the full grunt of the PS2 chucks out some incredible visuals. Here's (approximately) the same screen as the two above:
PS2 screenshot
A tasty-looking game with the same fun gameplay as old. If this pulls it off, it could be one of the highlights of the 2003 release schedule.
GBA Screenshots: Screen screen screen screen screen screen screen screen screen screen screen screen screen screen screen
PS2 Screenshots: Screen screen screen screen screen screen screen screen screen screen screen screen screen screen screen
