This is the game that turns you into a Man. As you play it the controller pumps testosterone into you. Little Timmy got it for Christmas, now all he does is play this and deadlift the corpses of his bullies.
If you dubbletap the L or R button on stage 2 and 5 it will make your camera rotate faster than normal. This will allow you to cancel out much of the crazy spinning caused by the sand vortexes on level 5 :)
Konami seriously gets a LOT more love than they deserve. There hadn't been a good Silent Hill (non-remake) game since SH3, most of the Contra games after 3 sucked except for Contra 4, the MGS games have the most absurd storylines that make no sense once you stop to think about them (especially 2), and Castlevania is VERY hit and miss (only 4, SotN, and the GBA/DS Metroidvania games are worth playing. And yes, that does include the original) IMO, Nintendo, pre-2005 Capcom, LucasArts (when they were a thing) are better game developers.
To me, the greatest Contra game ever! I was a young kid when I played this and I thought my older cousins were the best at playing SNES. Sometimes we would play co-op with this game and we would get pretty far into it. I reckon we might have finished it once or got up to the last boss battle. That's without any cheats.
17:00 hey Mike you missed one of the best parts to farm extra lives in the game! if memory serves every 4 or 5 of those pink guys on the fly hover bikes you kill nets an extra life and you usually get about 3-5 more lives if you shoot enough down.
In regards to what you said at the start of the video I would actually never say you guys suck at these games. A large part of why I watch you guys play these obscure games is because it's interesting (at least to me) to see the thought process behind progressing through a game for the first time. It's very interesting to see you guy play these games and slowly get through them, figuring out games I have no way of accessing myself.
Goddam dude, Contra! I love this game so much. I was smiling so hard watching you play. Still love Shattered Soldier the best, but a LOT of the best moments from this series came from Contra III. =) =) =)
That's crazy I have this game in my Snes now from playing it a few weeks ago. Never tried to play it on hard mode before, Contra is naturally difficult.
Tried this on Normal a few weeks ago and I was like "fuck this shit" lmao it's too fucking hard. And I've beaten the first two Contras without the code!
I was even more hardcore as a gamer when I was a kid. I beat this on hard without dying once when this was released on the SNES. Unfortunately I never recorded accomplishing this difficult feat when I was 13-14 (?) years old, so you will just have to take my word for it. That is really the only time I wish the internet would have been around back then so I could have captured that like how you are doing here Mike. Anyways, great job!
YES! I've been wanting to see you play Contra III for a long time. Contra III is one of my top 5 favorite SNES games. So much fun. Hard mode is so difficult... you made it look easy... I can tell you've played through it a lot. It took a friend and I several weeks to get it down and beat it on hard. Crazy thing is, even though I've played this a quite a lot of times, there's several things you did I actually didn't know about. I always use fire at the the spider thing at 12:14, because it goes right through its body and takes out the missiles. Easy, but I didn't know you could just stay right at the top and move when it moves to avoid them. The "tentacle thing" at 18:04 I found a specific timing to get underneath - but never, ever knew you could just stay all the way to the right the entire time... damn. Good to know. Last but not least, how did you ever figure out at 32:13 to just lay down and shoot right in front when the stone things are moving... that's insane. It's practically a glitch - they slam down right on top of you. Otherwise that's actually one of the harder brain-modes. Nice trick I know - at 28:09 if you move to the right spot, on the ground below, you can just stand there and shoot, and rack up extra lives because all the aliens will fall into your gun fire. Which in turn gives you points and racks up lives. Nice chance to just set something on the controller's fire button and take a restroom break :) For those who don't know, that last boss - the gray Doc-Oc-Crab thing - is a hard mode exclusive. Every other mode you win when you kill the brain. That's why, when my friend and I finally got that far, and beat the brain on hard for the first time, we were so excited to win... then like WTF IS THIS... it came up and took out our last few lives. Frustrating, but awesome. That means the last level has 6 total bosses on hard (not even including the xenomorph near the beginning). When we finally got past the real final boss it felt like the best victory ever. You have to EARN it.
Fun to watch you run through this one! My dad and uncles always played these games when I was a kid and dad and I play through the NES ones, especially Super C, every once in a while. I got a copy of Sunset Riders since dad likes westerns to play too. Rock on Mike and Co.!
Jesus mike calm down. I've never even beaten the first level to this game. amazing job, love these videos of you destroying games of this caliber, keep em comin!!!
Excellent work Mike!! I remember beating the final brain I was so proud of myself when I put my controller down, but THEN the stupid brain armors up, and it killed me, took me by surprise with my last life, I was pissed for a while, tried again in the afternoon and beat it for real this time. And of course my favorite part of the ending (besides the copter ride) that a couple of girls in skintight leather pants come to greet you! Because when you save the world from an alien invasion, you damn better get some leather clad groupies.
Great game, great playthrough Mike. Brought back a lot of memories. When I was younger I used the Flame weapon almost exclusively, this video made me realize just how weak Flame actually is. You took out those bosses a lot quicker than I remember doing. Ill have to use C a lot more the next time I play through.
at 13:30 you can just stand on the far left and keep shooting to the right. You can't be hit as long as you stand there and the enemy ship will constantly drop enemies into your gunfire which die immediatly. That way you can farm as many lives as you want.
Thank you for the techniques, Mike. This game's preface into hard mode (after clearing normal) wasn't joking around. You really do need to put in all your knowledge and all your reflexes to beat hard mode.
And don't worry Mike, in my playthrough I made the last year for the hard mode, I didn't cut the moment I was killing the stage 5 boss' tentacles to get 1ups so I will have to make sure to cut that for the next time I record the game (In case I do that thing) a very nice way to start the year with a hardcore game success.
Mike is an absolute savage. He beat one of the hardest games on the SNES like nothing. I can't believe I never thought about bomb farming on that boss. I've always beaten him after spinning forever.
First of all, thanks to you and James on these videos. I am definitely glad I found out about you guys. I am a big fan. Awesome video, congrats on beating the game. Which do you think was the most difficult level, #4 seemed brutal to me...
When you start rotating on the later overhead levels, you can hold one of the triggers to stop yourself from rotating. Makes it actually possible to hit things!
Great run Mike, just a point to make runs easier in the future, on the top view stages you can double tap LR to turn at double the speed, this helps to totally negate the spining of whirpools on stage 5.
My SNES classic brought me here. I saw the contra demo and decided to give it a go....looked fun. I'm young enough where I had never really heard of contra. Holy shit is this game fkn difficult! Props to you for beating this on hard. Very impressed.
The music in this game, and the general feel and oompf is amazing. Many SNES games had this. It makes for the most impressive Contra game for me until this day. Genesis might have had more content, but the music and graphics are lacklustre in comparison.
First game I owned when I got my Super Nintendo WAAAAAY back in the day. Back when Kay-Bee Toys sold the SNES with 2 controllers, Super Mario World and 1 free game. Easily the best early adopter combo ever!
![Contra III: The Alien Wars speedrun [14:42] hard difficulty no deaths](/img/1.gif)
This is the game that turns you into a Man. As you play it the controller pumps testosterone into you. Little Timmy got it for Christmas, now all he does is play this and deadlift the corpses of his bullies.
15:44 - "The brown guy's the dangerous one." ~ Mike Matei 2017
One of the BEST SNES titles .... wait... NO, one of the BEST GAMES EVER!! Period!
I love this game so much, despite it being bullfuck hard.
Geekdom101 geekdom yooooooooooooo
i like it 2 along with robocop vs the terminator on genesis
i am trying a challeng on it hard difficulty machine gun only on hard dificulty you can trick the gy out with the bomb i figured out
*laughs in G-Darius
If you dubbletap the L or R button on stage 2 and 5 it will make your camera rotate faster than normal. This will allow you to cancel out much of the crazy spinning caused by the sand vortexes on level 5 :)
Wow, that's a tough one. Especially in Hard. Kudos, Mike.
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed the playthrough - Mike
Cinemassacre Try Darkwing Duck for NES Mike.
Chimp Man I wonder if anyone said that to him in person.
+1 for Darkwing Duck
How about Axelay?
Easily the best Contra game ever made.
Without a doubtn
Hard Corps is way way better
Classic SNES game.
If Konami didn't sell out, we would've got more Contra games.
Contra, Castlevania, Bomberman (Hudson Soft is owned by Konami now), Silent Hill..
+Martin Skjøtt Jesus, Konami is sitting on fucking goldmines of game franchises, and we will never get to see any of them again.
It wouldn't matter. If contra were around still, It'd be just another shitty FPS game.
It's remind me EA...
Konami seriously gets a LOT more love than they deserve. There hadn't been a good Silent Hill (non-remake) game since SH3, most of the Contra games after 3 sucked except for Contra 4, the MGS games have the most absurd storylines that make no sense once you stop to think about them (especially 2), and Castlevania is VERY hit and miss (only 4, SotN, and the GBA/DS Metroidvania games are worth playing. And yes, that does include the original) IMO, Nintendo, pre-2005 Capcom, LucasArts (when they were a thing) are better game developers.
To me, the greatest Contra game ever!
I was a young kid when I played this and I thought my older cousins were the best at playing SNES. Sometimes we would play co-op with this game and we would get pretty far into it. I reckon we might have finished it once or got up to the last boss battle. That's without any cheats.
This is good to fall asleep to. (I dont mean that in a bad way)
Will Camick ASMR Mike when?
I agree, I usually fall asleep to a Cinemassacre video. Their videos are usually really chill.
LMAO AVGN ASMR?
Didn't hold L and R while the flame parabola in stage 1 went over you. Disliked. JK, great playthrough, Mike!
I was thinking the same thing! I thought that was just something I did, haha.
"flame parabola".. way to math
Haha this is what I do every time as well. :D
Classic, rá rá rá
Ha Ha, yeah I did this too
1 30am. have to work early. but need my dose of cinemassacre
The final boss at 31:24 is called, "Jagger Froid" or "Red Falcon".
Isn't the name of the army was called the red falcon?
mike if u hold R u can aim at any direction while standing still.
Not sure how he didn't know this or employ it...
Great game. In Europe it was called Probotector with two robots instead of humans.
Yep, Super Probotector the Alien rebels
Nyx Those Germans lol
To protect our fragile young minds :P
yeah but boobs are allright here :D
@nyx is it just me or is in super probotector the OST a bit altered ?
Nope.
17:00 hey Mike you missed one of the best parts to farm extra lives in the game! if memory serves every 4 or 5 of those pink guys on the fly hover bikes you kill nets an extra life and you usually get about 3-5 more lives if you shoot enough down.
Oh good tip, I didn't think of that. Thanks! -Mike
That was fucking impressive!
Thanks! -Mike
Stage 3 is a masterpiece in gaming. Probably the most action packed 2D sidescrolling level from the 8 bit/16 bit era.
Awesome play through, Mike. I totally forgot about this game, can't recall if I ever beat it. It's Mode 7 graphics overload!
"The Brown guy is the dangerous one" (15:44)
No surprise there
LOL!
In the 20 or so years I've played this game I never knew you could hold 2 weapons until this video.
Thanks for reminding me of this game Mike. Level 3 is one of the best examples of action level design I've ever seen, matched perfectly by the music.
Good gameplay, dude. Sat through the whole vid and I don't even like retro games.
how do you feel about the laser? is it strong?
The laser is very strong. Great on the overhead stages -Mike
Don't worry, I got the joke.
dabrooklynbomb8
Teh laizer iz tew stronge.
...is that the joke?
In regards to what you said at the start of the video I would actually never say you guys suck at these games. A large part of why I watch you guys play these obscure games is because it's interesting (at least to me) to see the thought process behind progressing through a game for the first time. It's very interesting to see you guy play these games and slowly get through them, figuring out games I have no way of accessing myself.
I feel this is the best Contra game ever.
Does Mike know he can lie prone to avoid the manhole guys' bullets in level 2?
Toshiro Slimane what.
Real Man don't use the ducking thing. 😄
Goddam dude, Contra! I love this game so much. I was smiling so hard watching you play. Still love Shattered Soldier the best, but a LOT of the best moments from this series came from Contra III. =) =) =)
Finally! Been waiting for years for you guys to play this! I loved it as a kid :)
Contra III was a really good game, but the best Contra in my opinion, and hardest, was Contra: Hard Corps for Sega Genesis.
VandalHeart383 Ever tried Shattered Soldier ? that one was tough as nails!
Harcorps is easier than Contra 3 on hard.
That's crazy I have this game in my Snes now from playing it a few weeks ago. Never tried to play it on hard mode before, Contra is naturally difficult.
I really enjoyed this playthrough, more of these please!
Sure, have any suggestions for what games you might like to see me do? Thanks for watching -Mike
SNES Punch out or Mega Man 1 on the NES, greetings from Bosnia !
Cinemassacre Mike, I would love to see you play Contra Hard Corps! My personal favorite Contra game!
harley's humongous adventure please :)
second that
Only by grasping Mike Matei's 13-inch kidney-scraper, you too can defeat Contra hard mode.
Thanks, Mike! This was a real treat. Contra 3 is one of the my favorite games of all time, it was fun watching you play it!
Tried this on Normal a few weeks ago and I was like "fuck this shit" lmao it's too fucking hard. And I've beaten the first two Contras without the code!
I'm digging the whole "I just got up at 4 in the morning and I feel like shit but let's play difficult games" look, Mike!
I was even more hardcore as a gamer when I was a kid. I beat this on hard without dying once when this was released on the SNES. Unfortunately I never recorded accomplishing this difficult feat when I was 13-14 (?) years old, so you will just have to take my word for it. That is really the only time I wish the internet would have been around back then so I could have captured that like how you are doing here Mike. Anyways, great job!
This my fave run and gun game ever, will never be bettered! Still play it regularly with friends, along with SNES Mario Kart and SF2!
YES! I've been wanting to see you play Contra III for a long time.
Contra III is one of my top 5 favorite SNES games. So much fun. Hard mode is so difficult... you made it look easy... I can tell you've played through it a lot. It took a friend and I several weeks to get it down and beat it on hard.
Crazy thing is, even though I've played this a quite a lot of times, there's several things you did I actually didn't know about. I always use fire at the the spider thing at 12:14, because it goes right through its body and takes out the missiles. Easy, but I didn't know you could just stay right at the top and move when it moves to avoid them. The "tentacle thing" at 18:04 I found a specific timing to get underneath - but never, ever knew you could just stay all the way to the right the entire time... damn. Good to know. Last but not least, how did you ever figure out at 32:13 to just lay down and shoot right in front when the stone things are moving... that's insane. It's practically a glitch - they slam down right on top of you. Otherwise that's actually one of the harder brain-modes.
Nice trick I know - at 28:09 if you move to the right spot, on the ground below, you can just stand there and shoot, and rack up extra lives because all the aliens will fall into your gun fire. Which in turn gives you points and racks up lives. Nice chance to just set something on the controller's fire button and take a restroom break :)
For those who don't know, that last boss - the gray Doc-Oc-Crab thing - is a hard mode exclusive. Every other mode you win when you kill the brain. That's why, when my friend and I finally got that far, and beat the brain on hard for the first time, we were so excited to win... then like WTF IS THIS... it came up and took out our last few lives. Frustrating, but awesome. That means the last level has 6 total bosses on hard (not even including the xenomorph near the beginning). When we finally got past the real final boss it felt like the best victory ever. You have to EARN it.
"look at this endscreen, it's awesome" *switches to only Mike* god damn it
Irritating every single time he cut to that.
About time you play this!!
Fun to watch you run through this one! My dad and uncles always played these games when I was a kid and dad and I play through the NES ones, especially Super C, every once in a while. I got a copy of Sunset Riders since dad likes westerns to play too. Rock on Mike and Co.!
Huge fan of these kinds of vids, thanks Mike!
Glad you're enjoying my playthroughs! If you have any games you'd like to see me try, let me know! -Mike
He is honest about his performance
Contra 4 on the DS was so fucking good, I really wish they would port that game and make it playable on console
EDIT: Anyone play Contra 4?
OneButton Dash Contra 4 is crazy underrated
OneButton Dash I haven't played contra 4
OneButton Dash yeah great game!!
Contra 4's amazing, I'm kinda surprised they limited it *only* to DS.
Contra Rebirth's another one to check out if you liked Contra 4.
+millieman76 It's not underrated, just overlooked. Most people who played it, love it, and that includes me.
I loved the flamethrower in this game. :)
And the music in this game... perfect.
This game is just SO memorable... especially for those of us old enough to remember when it was "new". Fun game with a cool soundtrack.
The sound design of this game is Konami at its peak.
Jesus mike calm down. I've never even beaten the first level to this game. amazing job, love these videos of you destroying games of this caliber, keep em comin!!!
I played this 25 years ago with a buddy..thanks 4 a blast from the past.
Nice mike : ) im loving these playthrough/walkthrough videos. Keep on going.
Glad you're enjoying them. If you have any suggestions for playthroughs you'd like to see done - let me know! -Mike
Cinemassacre
i would like to see mega man x or the pocky & rocky games on super nintendo 😀
Excellent work Mike!! I remember beating the final brain I was so proud of myself when I put my controller down, but THEN the stupid brain armors up, and it killed me, took me by surprise with my last life, I was pissed for a while, tried again in the afternoon and beat it for real this time. And of course my favorite part of the ending (besides the copter ride) that a couple of girls in skintight leather pants come to greet you! Because when you save the world from an alien invasion, you damn better get some leather clad groupies.
These full game retro letsplays are great
That's like the super hard version of Gunstar Heroes.
Well done Mike!
Getting ready for the mini SNES watching Mike playing one of the games included (and taking notes about the great tips! Thanks Mike!) :D
i just love how much stage 4 is exciting, especially when the anti contra ship dodriguez flies up to you and you've gotta fight him from the bottom.
I love these videos. Please keep doing more!
Great game, great playthrough Mike. Brought back a lot of memories. When I was younger I used the Flame weapon almost exclusively, this video made me realize just how weak Flame actually is. You took out those bosses a lot quicker than I remember doing. Ill have to use C a lot more the next time I play through.
36:35
I like how Jimbo just casually holds on to the missile on the chopper like that.
That's how real men ride air vehicles.
at 13:30 you can just stand on the far left and keep shooting to the right. You can't be hit as long as you stand there and the enemy ship will constantly drop enemies into your gunfire which die immediatly. That way you can farm as many lives as you want.
Love this Contra just as much as the first. That music is so good!
"the laser is strong" - most used quote in this vid ;)
Nicely done! Keep up the good work!
That Megaman X2 poster's been catching my eye throughout the whole video. Can you do a playthrough on that with no armor?
Awesome playthrough! That was fun to watch as it is to play! :D
That brought back a lot of memories. Thanks, Mike.
Thank you for the techniques, Mike. This game's preface into hard mode (after clearing normal) wasn't joking around. You really do need to put in all your knowledge and all your reflexes to beat hard mode.
That was insane, good job mike
This game blew my mind when I was a kid. I especially liked the explosions.
And don't worry Mike, in my playthrough I made the last year for the hard mode, I didn't cut the moment I was killing the stage 5 boss' tentacles to get 1ups so I will have to make sure to cut that for the next time I record the game (In case I do that thing) a very nice way to start the year with a hardcore game success.
This game was the bomb. Good stuff Mike!
If you quickly press L or R twice in stage 5 (keep holding second press) you can stand still on the spinning tiles. Cool video, Mike!
Outstanding play through. It was such a trip down memory lane. Thank you.
Mike is an absolute savage. He beat one of the hardest games on the SNES like nothing.
I can't believe I never thought about bomb farming on that boss. I've always beaten him after spinning forever.
love this game. just picked up the genesis contra the other day.
Awesome playthrough. Thanks for sharing with us!
Amazing job. I don't think I've ever gotten through any entire Contra game.
These video's are the way to go. Practice makes perfect.
Glad you're enjoying my playthroughs! If there's any games you want to see me try, let me know! -Mike
+Cinemassacre I'll leave that to you mike, your doing a great job. Bucky o hare, castlevania 3 or sunset riders on the snes if I had to name a few.
Shot in the dark but seeing a one-handed Mario 64 challenge could be funny/interesting
Would love to see an Axelay playthrough. That soundtrack is the best
That music was epic. Such a leap forward for sound at the time.
First of all, thanks to you and James on these videos. I am definitely glad I found out about you guys. I am a big fan. Awesome video, congrats on beating the game. Which do you think was the most difficult level, #4 seemed brutal to me...
had this on gameboy when i was like 5 years old, couldn't beat the first stage. great job mike, you killed it
lol 35:45
"Look at this end screen, it's awesome"
**Cuts to Mike**
Nice work Mike. Although am I the only one reminded of Mother Brain by the end boss?
The first 30 seconds of gameplay already have me amazed. The skill is impressive.
More of those videos! Really cool!
:D WOW insane gameplay. Well done.
Congrats Mike! Very nice run :)
Wow! Awesome job Mike!
The last bosses were always so hard for me to beat. thanks for the tips! Ill try again and see if i fair better.
HOW. How can anyone beat Contra 3 on hard. I see you doing it, but I still can't fathom it.
Johan Öberg
It takes time, coffee, and LOTS of controllers thrown at the wall.
Practice and memorization. Thanks for watching! -Mike
When you start rotating on the later overhead levels, you can hold one of the triggers to stop yourself from rotating. Makes it actually possible to hit things!
Cinemassacre will you play the gameboy advance version?
Cinemassacre AVGN REPLIED!!!!
i love these games. grew up on old games like this :)
Great run Mike, just a point to make runs easier in the future, on the top view stages you can double tap LR to turn at double the speed, this helps to totally negate the spining of whirpools on stage 5.
Hardest diff only! Way to work Mr. Matei
the soundtrack of this game is killer. also, i LOVE how youre riding fucking missiles on the fourth stage xD
My SNES classic brought me here. I saw the contra demo and decided to give it a go....looked fun. I'm young enough where I had never really heard of contra. Holy shit is this game fkn difficult!
Props to you for beating this on hard. Very impressed.
The music in this game, and the general feel and oompf is amazing. Many SNES games had this. It makes for the most impressive Contra game for me until this day. Genesis might have had more content, but the music and graphics are lacklustre in comparison.
That was impressive! Congratulations, Mike.
I remenber beat this game back in the 90's ! Guess I can't do it now. Thnks for the video!
Now play Shattered Soldier
I used to rent this game quite often as a kid along with Contra Hardcore. I was never able to beat either of them but man were they awesome.
First game I owned when I got my Super Nintendo WAAAAAY back in the day. Back when Kay-Bee Toys sold the SNES with 2 controllers, Super Mario World and 1 free game. Easily the best early adopter combo ever!