Super C Review (Nintendo, 1990)

Sometimes developers get everything right with a sequel except for its name. That’s the case with Super C. Besides the singular letter there’s very little indication that this is the sequel to Contra. When I was a kid I had no idea one even existed. All thanks to a stupid naming convention. I assume I’m not the only one. Regardless, Super C hit the scene in 1990 and made a pretty big name for itself. It offered the same brand of run and gun gameplay that made the first one so popular. Despite looking and playing largely the same there were some changes made to the basic formula. That’s why most purists prefer the original experience. Today we’re going to take a fresh look at Super C to see how it holds up. Let’s shoot right into it.

Fortunately there’s very little story exposition. I say that like it’s a good thing because, well, it’s Contra. Who cares? We’re here to shoot down some guys not to follow an epic plot. You’re thrown right into the action as the stars of the previous game, Bill and Lance, are dropped from a helicopter directly into hostile territory. Super C, like its predecessor, is a two dimensional run and gun action title with an emphasis on platforming. Each player (or just one, if you’re going solo) starts out with a simple rifle to blast enemies with. Most of these guys go down with one hit. Unfortunately our protagonists also do. Your goal is to reach the end of each stage and defeat a boss. You’ll be dealing with an onslaught of incoming enemies however. These guys approach from both sides of the screen, and sometimes even from the background.

Not all of the stages are side scrolling however. You’ll have some where the action is viewed from an overhead perspective. These replace the hallway sequences from the original game. In my opinion it’s a disappointing trade off. Gameplay felt markedly different from the main adventure while exploring the narrow corridors in the original. The overhead sequences just feel like the side scrolling sequences but without the ability to jump. At the same time it’s nice that there’s at least some diversity here. It’s not even that the overhead stages are boring. They’re not. These just aren’t as different from the main game as the hallway sequences. They feel somehow easier, but in a game renowned for its difficulty I suppose this lets gamers relax a bit. They’re also slower paced, and generally feature less enemies to contend with at a time.

All of the same weapons from Contra make their return in Super C. The basic firearm allows you to fire three slow moving shots at a time, the machine gun does the same but with a better rate of fire, and the spread shot fires three bullets (one straight forward, and two diagonal) which allows you to take out more enemies at once. The laser is one of the strongest weapons in the game. Unfortunately it’s limited. It’s not capable of rapid fire. Instead you have to wait for the beam to travel across the screen. Shooting another causes the first to disappear. What I do like is that if you shoot one of these projectiles upwards, and move left or right so does your shot. Next up is the flamethrower. It’s much more useful here because upon impact with an enemy it bursts into four short range blasts.

The weapons are okay. I can’t help but wish they introduced some new ones. This is a sequel, after all. Generally these power-ups fly across the sky and must be shot down in order to be picked up. My big problem is that even after playing Contra for all these years I still struggle to figure out which is which. It also doesn’t help that picking up the same weapon type increases its strength. This means I couldn’t simply find the weapon I wanted and ignore all of the other pick ups. The icons are designated with letters but in the heat of battle I struggled to pay attention to them. Each stage is generally super busy and power-ups just pollute it more. Contra isn’t so much a game you play with precision, rather, you’ll be constantly shooting and watching your character to avoid hazards.

Level designs are great here. Unfortunately I find them to be a step down from the original Contra. There aren’t really any multi-tiered levels. Everything feels more straight forward. There are a few deviations, but these generally feel based on ideas introduced in the last game. For example, there’s a pretty good copy of the waterfall area here. Without the water, of course. They didn’t want to be too obvious. On top of lacking the flowing water it’s also just not quite as fun. After you get past this area there’s also very little in the way of platforming. Super C has plenty, but relies less on hopping and bopping. The focus is even more on bang bang shoot everything that moves. While Contra has never been renowned for its precision platforming this is one area that I think the original did better.

On the flip side I think the boss encounters are significantly improved in Super C. There are more moving parts than before, and they require more diverse strategies. A lot of them are also significantly bigger as well. I particularly liked the laser chandelier in stage 4. This guy moves across the top of the screen firing down on the player. Another highlight is level 5’s skull ship. Generally each of the boss characters are really challenging, but not unfair. You have to memorize their movement and attack patterns. Even as an adult several of them took me multiple tries to get past. It certainly doesn’t help that they’re bullet sponges, and our characters are basically made of glass and can only take one hit before perishing. At least the game is rewarding in that if you die you are immediately thrown back into the action.

Single player is plenty fun. I imagine some (especially those of us that have sensory overloads) will prefer it. The game’s stages were clearly designed with this in mind and there’s never a point that is too hard going solo. Super C however is at its best when you’re playing with a friend. The action is absolutely fun and frantic when a buddy joins in. This is especially true when you’re fighting over power-ups. With that said this adds more screen flickering problems and can make it more difficult to tell what’s going on. The added fire power afforded in multiplayer also makes things significantly easier. It’s also worth noting that Super C, while challenging, is noticeably easier than its predecessor. It’s not anywhere close to being a cakewalk, but those coming over straight from Contra might be disappointed.

If there’s one aspect of the game that’s a disappointment it’s the graphics. Super C barely looks better than the original. It’s not even a half step up. If you were looking at the two side by side and didn’t recognize them it would be impossible to tell which is which. The character models are the same, and many of the enemies and obstacles recycled. Super C does have some new faces, but honestly, they’d look right at home in the original release. The only clear upgrade I can see is the boss characters which generally have more moving parts and are typically larger as well. Besides that Super C looks like, well, Contra. Unfortunately the soundtrack feels like a major downgrade. The music is less interesting here. Not that it matters much; the sound of gunfire often drowns out the other audio during gameplay.