Being a fan of pretty much everything retro, I could not be happier with this batch of first screens from the upcoming Contra 4 (not IV?) for the Nintendo DS.
In my humble opinon, the graphics could not be more perfect, triggering memories of when Contra games were nothing but super rad 2D sprites. Oh, hello, Mr. Fancy Polygonal Backgrounds. Yeah, sorry, we already made a decision. Have you met the ridiculously hot Ms. Parallax Scrolling? Thanks for coming down, though.
It’s crazy to think that just a week ago this game was unexpectedly announced and now has already become my most anticipated game of the year. Seriously, how much does this remind you of the awesomeness that was Contra III: Alien Wars? If I can ride on some missiles while fighting a massive boss in this game as well my head might very well explode with joy.
My only small, miniscule, teeny-tiny, almost unmentionable concern: hopefully the dual screen level set-up won’t run into any Yoshi’s Island DS “blocking” issues (mainly that the actual piece of plastic between the two DS screens obscures the vital in-game action).
Other than that, bring on the spread gun! I can envision killing my friend on a vertical scrolling level by jumping too far ahead already …
[Editor’s note/update: more screenshots and a slew of information on the game can be found over at 1UP – Nick]