Contra 4 - Nintendo DS

4 Different Characters, with bonus contents such as covers and screenshot infos etc. Nice.

Pumping music, super parallax scrolling and real weapons, not just some dodgy spray all over the place piece of rubbish in the original, and a grappling hook.

Nice use of two screens. Something that Apple iPhone users forget when they're talking about touch screen gameplay. This just makes the boss fight scenes look absolutely insane.

Talking about insane. Holy cr*p! I thought going through Gradius 3 was hard. This was insanely difficult.

Contra - Can't Try!

That's it. It's confirmed. Current generation games have all but k*lled my nostalgic taste for classics. It's the mindless gore, violence and online multiplayer you see.

Nice power ups, even a 3d-ish level tucked in there. What's not to like?

Constant shooting with little or no plot to spur you on. Not enough eye candy, in fact the game is practically bland. The cover looks nice, though.

My attention span lasted all but a few minutes. Without a 2nd player, the classic that I was gagging for back then has now become a chore.

Can't believe this has happened. I can't believe I now need more eye candy.

What's this? Contra 4?

Gradius 4 - So Pretty.

Hi-Res, textures, lighting, all the things we take for granted, but for a shooter with difficulty bordering m*rder, there must be something to preserve for.

Gradius 4 is darn difficult. Even if you try to pattern read the bosses, you still need a fair bit of latent reflex to get through them.

Still, the difficulty is helped by the slow down, which I still think is a deliberate attempt.

Yet, I persevered through the series. After playing Gradius 4, I just cannot go back to the original Gradius. I wouldn't touch Gradius 3. Gradius 2 does have some warm, play me more music though. Nope. No more.

In fact, back to Chuckie Egg for me.

Gradius 3 - Just 8 Bit of Punishment

Unforgiving! Relentless! Punishing! Misery! What the devil! Should games like this be this difficult? Thank goodness for the slow downs. I wonder if that was a deliberate attempt by the programmers to say 'hey, we found it &$&%&$ hard too.'

That's it. I'm done with the Gradius series.

What the..? There's a forth one? Talk about pasteurization!

I'm certainly not going to punish myself with Gradius 4.

Gradius 2 - Simply Outstanding Improvement

From the flaming first level to the flaming end of level boss and the gorgeous feel good music! With a proper shield and gorgeous level designs, this obliterates the original.

But what the bacon?!

My Gears of War skills honed to a tee were not enough to reach further than a few levels of this game. Kept dying, and dying and dying. Of course I kept trying and trying, but there are limits that a person can take before it becomes punishment.

But hang on... another Gradius?

Gradius - Ports better than Original?

Difficult? Cumbersome? Lethargic controls? Speed ups that should not be an option but a requisite? Yes! For crying out loud! Even the graphics didn't boggle the imagination and the end of level boss variation was blasphemy!

Still, the music was all goodness and that's probably what's going to keep me persevering at the infuriating difficulty. Well, that is until I've learned the pattern of dodging impossible bullets without the help of options.

But wait.....what's this?