Contra 4 No-Death Hard Difficulty Playthrough (Direct DS Capture)

This is a capture of me playing the single-player arcade mode in Contra 4 for the DS. This is not an emulator. This footage was captured directly from my New 3DS XL using the aftermarket capture kit manufactured by Katsukity and installed/sold by Merki. I’m playing on hard difficulty.

Despite me being on Youtube for 12 years and owning various Contra games that entire time, this video marks my very first Contra upload. I first played the Contra games on the NES around the late 90s, and then Contra 3 on a friend’s SNES, but I think Contra 4 was actually the first Contra game I ever owned.

For Christmas of 2007 someone gave me a Sears gift card, and so after the holiday, I went shopping there and happened to see Contra 4 in the video game section. I don’t remember if I really knew anything about the game before I purchased it, but I was at least familiar with the Contra series and the new title seemed like a good way to spend my gift card.

When I got home and tried the game I was blown away, not only by the excellent design, but also by the difficulty. Contra 4 was damn hard, and the dual screen setup really tested my spatial awareness. Even though I had received The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass around the same time, I kept finding myself going back to Contra 4 and trying to learn the stages and progress further each time.

It took quite a while, but eventually I managed to beat the game on normal difficulty through sheer trial and error. After that I would return to the game every once in a while to see if I could still beat it. My go-to weapon combination during that time always the machine gun and spread shot. However, I stayed away from hard difficulty.

About a month ago the power went out at my house and I decided to play some Contra 4 to keep myself entertained. However, I didn’t do too well because I had forgotten much of the game over the years. But Contra 4 was still fun, so I kept playing it each day until I could beat it again. After that I decided to finally try the game on hard, and I was really shocked at the increased difficulty.

I probably spent three solid weeks playing hard difficulty each day, but eventually, I managed to achieve a no-death run with this specific recording. Also, instead of the spread shot, I switched to the heatseakers for this difficulty level because they’re hilariously awesome in the tunnel sections and quite useful for all-around crowd control.

One of the things I love about this game is how you can upgrade your weapons by collecting two of the same type (a feature inherited the Super Contra arcade game). This feature inherently rewards you for staying alive, but also severely punishes you for dying. Luckily though, you can carry two weapons. Personally, I like to have one high-damage weapon (typically for bosses) and one crowd control weapon (generally for the rest of the level).

Anyway, this is probably the most difficult playthrough I have ever done (but not the most frustrating – Yoshi’s Island DS wins that title), so enjoy.

Since the gameplay spans both screens, I included the spacing that naturally exists between the top and bottom screens, otherwise the screens wouldn't line up properly. Dual screen games like this assume that the gap between the two screens actually exists and that objects in game have to take the time to travel through that blank gap.

Recorded with OBS Studio at 60 frames per second. I'm using a New 3DS XL.