Contra Anniversary Collection
The last compilation in Konami’s anniversary series closes things off with a predictable bang, and we couldn’t be happier.
The Contra series became one of Konami’s most popular franchises during the Eighties and Nineties, and the company recently surprised everyone at this year’s E3 by announcing that a brand-new game, Contra: Rogue Corps, is on the way. Until that arrives we’ve got this compilation to enjoy, rife with plenty of satisfying shooting action.
The presentation and overall quality of Contra Anniversary Collection is extremely similar to the recently released Castlevania Anniversary Collection. This makes perfect sense, as it has also been created by emulation masters, M2. You’ve got excellent emulation, plenty of different screen-tweaking options (including the wonderful Dot Matrix effect for the lone Game Boy game) to ensure the games look as authentic as possible, and a lovely digital book full of fantastic art.
Another similarity with the Castlevania Anniversary Collection is that the quality of
included games is very, very high. In fact, we’ll suggest that it’s an even better selection, as not a single poor game has been included. Sure you could argue that this means there’s not a lot of variety to the games, but that’s true of the previous Castlevania compilation as well.
Things kick off with the original arcade version of Contra and simply get better from there. There’s the arcade sequel, Super
Contra, the NES conversion of Contra and the enhanced NES port, Super C, the magnificent Contra III: The Alien Wars, Game Boy blaster Operation C and the superb (and greatly underrated) Contra: Hard Corps.
Seeing that the overall release of Contra games is relatively low, it could be argued that M2 could have included all of them (particularly the excellent Contra Rebirth), but it’s hard to argue with this selection of games and you certainly can’t argue with the low price point. Like the Castlevania Anniversary Collection, this is a fitting tribute to the much-loved series.
Timespinner
System: Switch (tested), PC, Linux, Mac, Vita, PS4 Buy it from: Online Buy it for: £14.99
Developer Lunar Ray Games and publisher Chucklefish have teamed up to turn back time to the Nineties for this 2D adventure game that has more than a whiff of Super
Metroid and Symphony Of The Night about it. It’s not a rip-off, however: it’s more of a homage. You play as Lunais in a time-hopping adventure (that reminded us a little of Chrono Trigger, now that we think about it), where you have to explore and fight enemies across multiple time periods. Instead of your typical weapons Lunais wields up to two orbs for her basic attacks, which you can mix and match to your own play style. It’s a nice evolution on the formula, but it does tend to play it safe with genre trends.
Cadence Of Hyrule
System: Switch Buy it from: Online Buy it for: £22.49
What do you get when you cross a traditional 2D Zelda game with a rhythmaction roguelike? The answer, apparently, is ‘one of the best games in ages’. Cadence Of Hyrule takes the mechanics of Crypt Of The Necrodancer – where you need to move and attack in time with the beat – and fuses it with the structure of something like A Link To The Past, albeit with randomised key item locations, enemy placements, and even elements of map layout. The remixes of classic Zelda tunes are amazing, especially the way they intensify when enemies are around and mellow when a screen is clear. Learning enemy movement patterns is crucial to success, and every combination of foes presents a unique obstacle. Endlessly replayable.
Sega Ages: Wonder Boy In Monster Land
System: Switch » Buy it from: Online
Buy it for: £5.99
M2’s Sega Ages range of Switch titles continues to impress and Wonder Boy In Monster Land is no different. It includes all the usual bells and whistles from an M2 release, so there are replays, online rankings, the usual excellent adjustment offerings and a fantastic arcade port at its core. M2 has also added numerous challenge modes to wring extra life out of it. Sphinx Challenge and Monster Castle Challenge require you to defeat certain bosses as quickly as possible, while the Fire Ball Challenge sees you trying to score as many points as possible. They’re fun additions and round off another essential entry in
Sega’s long-running series.