Run-And-Gun Classic Contra Has Been Ported To SNES

I find things like this kind of pointless tbh. Why do you need to run a Famicom rom on a Super Famicom if the game is the same? I can understand it better if they wanted to make a All-Starslike version with all new 16-bit visuals and sound, but just literally getting a Famicom rom running on a Super Famicom with no changes doesn't seem to actually accomplish anything...? Am I missing something

@EarthboundBenjy Most NES games are prone to heavy lag and low sprite limits that cause that noticeable tearing and line flashing. Porting these games to the SNES makes it run without any graphical issues, improving the overall gameplay. In addition, this version of the game can be modded easier by others to add graphics and music through the MSU-1 chip. There’s a lot of use to this, especially for Famicom games that have lackluster North American ports, like Metroid which has an extra channel of sound and a save menu in Japan.

P.S. I love the Rakuga Kids pfp, rock on Benji!

@MetaCrystal @EarthboundBenjy

basically you are giving the game some headroom 👍

@MetaCrystal Thanks for the explanation! I was wondering the same thing.

Well, we all guessed it was Contra.

@EarthboundBenjy Now that these specific NES games are running natively on SNES, it becomes trivial for talented ROM hackers to go in and give them the "All-Stars" treatment visually and even add CD quality MSU1 audio too, as well as a bunch of other stuff, like the FMV intro infidelity already added to his port of DuckTales for example.

What this does is turn the SNES into basically a SNES plus NES in one system---some might argue that should have been the case all along--and with the ability to make any of these NES ports look and sound like SNES games too, without any of the negatives that might arise if someone were trying to create and program them entirely from scratch for SNES or just emulate them or whatever.

So it really a best of all worlds imo.

I think the differences between the Famicom and NES versions might be just a little overhyped.
Yeah, it has more visual presentation but as said "the gameplay is the same".
Yeah, it has cutscenes, but who plays Contra to watch the cutscenes more than once or twice?
Yes, some stages have animated backgrounds but unless you're a certain Australian streamer I know, you're not going to think the crazy prices the Famicom cart goes for now would justify the difference of "now the alien guts are PULSATING!".

There's games with more significant regional differences than visuals. But maybe not as popular.

Why is a copyrighted title that this developer doesn't own being locked behind a Patreon subscription?

@madgears He will eventually release it for everyone, but the Patreon backers get to try it early.

@KingMike Still, when you add all these things together, it's clearly the Japanese version is the way to go.

Dragon's Lair is more significant in its regional differences. I can at least respect what the game wanted to be in its European version. The USA version deserves the zero-star bombs it gets from people who probably only played that version without even knowing there is a difference. Having any idea of the technical reason why makes me more upset than most kusoge.

Kickle Cubicle is another NES game I remember being fairly different between the USA and Japanese versions.