With an aesthetic towards ALIENS (1986) and every Arnold Schwarzenegger movie of the same era, Contra NAILS the art-style and follows it up with rock solid gameplay that is always fair, sometimes maddening, but certainly a delight to play. Two-player co-op definitely makes the game tougher, but with the infamous "up up down down" Konami code, even the less-skilled players can get an edge and see all of the various and distinct locations. I was one of those kids who played the game so much with the Konami code I one day realized I no longer needed it and the last time I played (I'm 31) I could beat the game with zero deaths.
