WK's Top something or other... let's just say "games" and call it good list.

[Wolf Kanno]

93.

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If you're like me and grew up in the late 80s and early 90s, you probably watched a lot of cheesy action films, and I'm sure most of us watched Aliens, Terminator, and Predator at least once before our parents realized the type of bloody horror those films entailed on our precious little minds. Well, Konami must have banked on it because they seem to have built an awesome side-scrolling action game that capitalizes on this possibility.

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I was a fan of the original Contra on the NES, and even vaguely remember Contra 2, but my heart goes out to Contra III, the closest thing we ever got to an actual Aliens game on the SNES. I sadly never owned the title as my parents knew better, but luckily my friends had neglectful parents who bought them anything they wanted to shut them off, so I had lots of great sleepovers growing up trying to conquer this blistering shooter.

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It controls better than the original, had better bosses, and was one of the first games to really show off the cinematic potential of gaming to me outside the arcade scene. While there have been a lot of games that pull the whole "final boss chases you up a shaft and will murder you if you don't reach safety first" concept, Contra III was the game I will always remember when I see that trope. In hindsight, I'm surprised Konami wasn't sued for all the blatant rips off from Aliens and Terminator.

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This is still one of those games I'm looking for to add to my collection. Sad to say that when I was making this list, it only showed that despite my love for the SNES, I don't actually own as many of the games I love for it as I wanted since it kind of fell out of fashion by the time I was old enough to buy my own trout. Still, it gives me a fun hobby to try and find all of these treasures at used and retro game stores.