Could of been much better.
To cover the basics, the graphics are not too bad. The side-scrolling stages are decent, but I the over-head stages aren’t that great. They just seemed plain and boring. The music was adequate, but nothing spectacular. The game play is what you would expect from a Contra game. Contra III did incorporate some new elements, but I felt they did more harm than good, most notably the over-head stages. Instead of added to the overall enjoyment of the game, they seemed more gimmicky. I tried to finish those stages as fast as I could because I would find myself just getting bored playing them. The game seemed a little on the short side, not taking me more than a couple of days to clear it. Now I didn’t spend hours upon hours playing the game. I more or less would play for an hour here and an hour there. I didn’t have to put much effort to clear it.
Being an SNES launch title, I can see why Contra III has some of its inadequacies. Most early games on a new system do. I did enjoy the time I put into this game, but I felt it could have been much better.