Super C is the 1990 NES follow-up to Contra, ported from the arcade sequel and played immediately after its predecessor. Its most obvious improvement is visible at once: the bullets are far larger and easier to track than the first game’s tiny pills.
The machine gun remains the dependable weapon of choice, while the laser is still weak even compared with the original. The biggest new wrinkle is the overhead top-down stages, which remove jumping entirely and strain the NES’s rendering.
Screen-popping is the technical weak point, with enemies hiding in newly revealed sections of the screen. It is possible to watch half an enemy spawn before the rest appears, and those enemies regularly catch the hero off guard.
Difficulty is at least as brutal as the original, and the top-down stages make it worse by removing the jump. The boss designs are gloriously nonsensical, from a plate that shoots lasers to a final scorpion-spider-lady alien.
The ending is abrupt, offering nothing beyond a bare “you win” message before booting straight back into the game. It is genuinely fun regardless, and the improved bullet visibility fixes the first game’s biggest problem.
Aliens play a larger role here, though not dramatically more than in the original. The campaign stays short, matching the original’s length while the varied stages and boss fights keep it thoroughly fun.
Overall, the improved bullet visibility and the larger stage variety make Super C a fun, brutal run-and-gun. The top-down stages and the abrupt ending are the main caveats.