Contra III: The Alien Wars
Just like Mega Man, Contra has been a hugely defining series for the 2D run-and-gun games. You can’t go wrong with most games in the series, but Contra III: The Alien Wars is easily one of the best. This is also the Contra that was recently featured in the SNES Classic, but can also be found on Nintendo’s Virtual Console for Wii, Wii U, and New 3DS. Contra III pits you against an all-out alien invasion, by the same alien race that was defeated in the first two games. The similarities with Cuphead are fairly obvious, as the game is entirely based in run-and-gun action, and there’s three difficulties of Easy, Normal, and Hard.
Instead of just upping the challenge though, upping the difficulty can actual change aspects of the game. For example playing on Hard can give bosses brand new attacks they might use against you. While there’s plenty of shooting, Contra III also introduced some variation, giving you more varied level design that allowed you to grab onto poles or ceiling, and climb on them like monkey bars. There’s also some variation in gameplay with motorcycle chases, riding on missile, and a few others. Contra is another series that contributes to the roots that Cuphead comes from.
