A blast from the past given a very pleasing facelift
I felt compelled to write this short review and give praise to this game and its creators. Although, initially very challenging, memorisation and time spent playing will turn into a very rewarding experience. The controls for this type of game are perfect as they give you complete freedom of movement/shooting in any combination and for any situation. One of the games i come back to most, Shin Contra draws you in with its perfectly designed levels and superbly executed boss battles where the desire to get that perfect 'S' score for each level becomes an obsession. I'm aware that some gamers may well be put off by its challenge and old school gameplay, but the ones that try it will be experiencing hand-eye co-ordination training at its absolute finest. Shin Contra is nothing short of spectacular. Try it! It will be your reward!

incredibly bad controlls layout
ok , so i love contra and i was looking for a modern 3d game in arcade style.
When i was in arcades last time, it struck me that all side scrolling beatemups dont look any nicer then the ones i played 10 years ago.
Shin does it: it looks great and even has almost too old school gameplay (enemies appearing non-stop while player character stays put).
Unfortunately it has the most fumbled controlls i ever seen. Even hours of gameplay doesnt help much in getting used to it.
The solution would be very easy - and it was already implemented in tons of other games. While holding FIRE , the character "locks" and keeps shooting in same direction. in Shin there is extra button for this and extra button for other functions. Instead being fast and furious like the original contra, the controls ruin it all. i really wished it was more thought over. Considering Shin to be late title in evolution of this genre, its even more unclear WTF somebody approved this. I give 3 stars just to encourage you to give it a try.