The player has the ability to lock their aim, like in Contra: Shattered Soldier.

A password feature is included for players to continue their progress from the start of a level. The starting number of lives depends on the difficulty chosen. The former ends the game on the fourth stage and the ending cannot be seen. Other gameplay modifications include the option of 2 difficulty settings, Novice and Normal. This also makes the game appear crunched in, zoomed into the environment. The screen resolution is stretched horizontally and the sprites are larger, presenting noticeable graphical drawbacks from the original. The controls are also not as smooth and solid as Contra III. Poor collision detection makes many sections of the game unexpectedly problematic to clear. The smart bombs are removed, the player can only hold 1 gun and both overhead stages have been replaced by levels from Contra: Hard Corps (the train stage and the one that immediately follows it from that path), despite the packaging’s claim of new levels.īecause a different game engine is used, the behavior of some enemies, bosses and powerup weapons are modified, usually making the game easier (though sometimes also more difficult). While there are fewer omissions and simplifications than the Game Boy conversion, the ones here impact the play experience much more significantly.ĭrawbacks include omissions and replacements of many gameplay elements. The game engine used is evidently not suited to reproduce Contra III’s gameplay. It attempts to retain as many of the sprites, tiles and other stage content of the original without enough focus on proper gameplay.

Contra Advance: The Alien Wars Ex is a simplified translation of its source material, suffering from inconsistencies and lack of play-testing.

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