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Wing Commander, Super Contra storm XBLA

By Brendan Sinclair, GameSpotPosted Jul 23, 2007 11:32 am PT

Electronic Arts' revamped sci-fi dogfighter joins Konami arcade sequel as this week's downloadable 360 titles.

This week's new Xbox Live Arcade offerings showcase two different ways a publisher can go about returning revered franchises to relevance. Microsoft today confirmed that Electronic Arts' Wing Commander Arena and Konami's Super Contra will debut on Xbox Live Arcade this Wednesday at 2 a.m. Pacific.

While it bears the name of Origin's classic sci-fi series of dogfighting flight sims, Wing Commander Arena bears little resemblance to the old series on the surface. While Arena keeps the same setting and vicious Kilrathi adversaries of the original Wing Commander series, it swaps out the free-roaming, in-the-cockpit view of previous installments for an overhead perspective. The game boasts four modes of play, nine maps, 18 customizable ships, and multiplayer online action for up to 16 players. Wing Commander Arena will sell for 800 Microsoft points ($10) and is rated E for Everyone.

While the latest from Electronic Arts overhauls the core gameplay of the series, Konami's Super Contra will be a more traditional conversion of the series' vintage mix of side-scrolling and overhead action levels. Konami has added online cooperative play and enhanced graphics to the game, but nostalgic players can still choose to play with the original arcade visuals. Super Contra will sell for 400 Microsoft points ($5) and is rated E10+ for Everyone 10 and Older.

80 Comments

  • paladin75

    Posted Jul 24, 2007 11:07 am PT

    that is the arcade version, there was a NES version called super c

  • lobobizarro

    Posted Jul 24, 2007 10:19 am PT

    Bah, never mind, I was thinking about Contra III

  • lobobizarro

    Posted Jul 24, 2007 10:15 am PT

    Hmm, is it me or is this a new Super Contra? I dont recall any of those pics, well, maybe the "Alien Lair" from the Super Contra I played on SNES... Is there anotehr Super Contra or did they just remake it for XBLA?

  • lowenergycycle

    Posted Jul 24, 2007 8:26 am PT

    @Sonovius

    So you work for M£ do you?..... See.... It doesn't really work...

  • Sonovius

    Posted Jul 24, 2007 8:14 am PT

    if you are european shouldnt the M$ netspeak be M[pound symbol] or something? if you are using dollar symbols like the rest of us you can take what table scraps we give you and be happy about it.

  • lowenergycycle

    Posted Jul 24, 2007 8:06 am PT

    @StonyShred420

    I think your comments are actually supposed to be aimed at a guy a little further down. How embarassing.

    Anyway, its great that XBL has some extra classics - just dont bum out Europe like you are so oddly fond of doing, M$... People buy your console over here too you know...

  • km1498

    Posted Jul 24, 2007 7:17 am PT

    hhmmm, these dont sound that bad. gonna have to download a demo of each and see for myself.

  • StonyShred420

    Posted Jul 24, 2007 7:02 am PT

    SaBy_69, You know, thats pretty ungrateful sounding. You could own a PS3 or Wii and be getting games made for the system that are rated lower than the average 360 game. Oh and all 3 are releasing 8-bit, 16-bit, ect on thier systems as well. So be glad that your best option on a 360 is GoW, R6:3, ect, and not another FPS that is nothin special (Resistance: Fall of Man) or Game of Mini-Games (Wario Ware).

  • SaBy_69

    Posted Jul 24, 2007 6:36 am PT

    "screw these damn XBL games!! bring on some more actual 360 games! with 2 new release getting less than 6.0 editor scores on GamesSpot recently i think that Microsoft needs to be more stringent on what games they let get pushed out onto the 360. enough of the games we have all played a million times before. dont get me wrong...i love XBL, but i didnt buy a next-gen system to play 8-bit games. if i wanted that i would still have my freakin NES. c'mon Microsoft...youre gonna lose this race soon if you dont pick up the pace. im not a fanboy, but i do own a 360 and i want more 360 games. im gonna get a PS3 soon, and i would get a Wii now but i cant find one to save my life. just setting the facts straight on where im coming from."

    Have patience my friend.....have patience. All these games will be coming out very soon and this year. The only problem you will have is getting enough money to enjoy all these much hyped games. -Call of Duty 4
    -Halo 3
    -GTA IV
    -Bioshock
    -Mass Effect
    -Assassin's Creed

  • jknight5422

    Posted Jul 24, 2007 6:00 am PT

    "I find it kind of disgraceful to see a Super Nintendo game on the 360's XBLA... I guess now I know what Sony fans probably felt like when Symphony of the Night headed to the XBLA. Anyway, Wing Commander looks interesting, but probably not enough for me to be convinced into buying it."--REVOLUTIONfreak

    I think it's great. I never owned those consoles since Genesis or Super Nintendo in the late 80's & early 90's (& before that an Atari 2600). So having these games available from all platforms: PC, board games, other old consoles, is an excellent opportunity to try them at fairly cheap prices. I hope that eventually that entire back-game catalog will be filled for the XBL. Variety is the spice of life.

  • jknight5422

    Posted Jul 24, 2007 5:52 am PT

    "If you can find any more decent Next-Gen games on PS3 or Wii can you let us all know about it please? Otherwise, quit whining.

    It's the annual Summer Games Drought - this has never been a good time of the year for games, each and every year since the begining of the industry." --lowenergycycle

    Actually what I do is go back & buy the games in the previous season, like Armored Core 4, Earth Defense Force 2017, & C&C: Tiberium Wars. The prices come down a lot. I'll get the summer games in late Fall after the price drop (used or like new).

  • -HCMF-

    Posted Jul 24, 2007 4:16 am PT

    good stuff.... but worth $10???

  • lowenergycycle

    Posted Jul 24, 2007 3:43 am PT

    @FiddleStick

    If you can find any more decent Next-Gen games on PS3 or Wii can you let us all know about it please? Otherwise, quit whining.

    It's the annual Summer Games Drought - this has never been a good time of the year for games, each and every year since the begining of the industry.

    However, I wouldn't consider The Darkness (8.5) to be such a tragedy, and then you've got Forza 2 (9.2) which you could technically play forever, DiRT (8.1) if you get bored of that, Overlord (7.5) which isn't nearly as bad as people would have you think, The Bigs (8.0) I hear is very good if you like that sort of thing...

    I don't think I need to go on. Add that to BioShock, Blue Dragon, Dynasty Warriors, Stunman Ignition and Medal of Honour: Airborne all of which will be available by the end of August - ONE MONTH AWAY - and really your complaint is unfounded.

    Plus, some of these "damn XBL games" are actually really good, you ungrateful little boy.

  • gagan21

    Posted Jul 24, 2007 3:15 am PT

    cant wait 4 super contra

  • amorphis

    Posted Jul 23, 2007 9:19 pm PT

    HERE I COME KILRATHI SCUM!!

  • Pete5506

    Posted Jul 23, 2007 9:02 pm PT

    cool

  • FiddleStick

    Posted Jul 23, 2007 9:00 pm PT

    screw these damn XBL games!! bring on some more actual 360 games! with 2 new release getting less than 6.0 editor scores on GamesSpot recently i think that Microsoft needs to be more stringent on what games they let get pushed out onto the 360. enough of the games we have all played a million times before. dont get me wrong...i love XBL, but i didnt buy a next-gen system to play 8-bit games. if i wanted that i would still have my freakin NES. c'mon Microsoft...youre gonna lose this race soon if you dont pick up the pace. im not a fanboy, but i do own a 360 and i want more 360 games. im gonna get a PS3 soon, and i would get a Wii now but i cant find one to save my life. just setting the facts straight on where im coming from.

  • finaleve

    Posted Jul 23, 2007 7:34 pm PT

    I'd prefer the Super C (NES Contra). I grew up with that game, but Wing Commander might be good. Might have to demo it.

  • Circuts

    Posted Jul 23, 2007 7:33 pm PT

    CONTRA!!!!!!!!!!!

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