Contra is all about memorization. Learn where the blimps are, what they have, and where the death traps are, or you'll never beat the game. And they're fun as hell games. So you three can get the [tornado fang] off my internet.
Memorization
assists in any game; what I'm talking about is when it's the sole focus due to lack of any possible reaction time. IE: You lack the ability to learn without death. That's not the same thing as just being hard, and Contra is certainly not such an example. Just because you're dead in one hit doesn't mean you don't have time to react and respond to what's happening around you. Contra happens to kick ass.
The closest I've seen Contra come to that was in 4 on the DS, when enemies spawn directly next to you, but I think that was most likely a development oversight.
That game blows because the memorization thing is all it has in terms of gameplay. If it weren't for the mishmosh of game references, not nearly as many people would give a damn. MM9, in contrast, has old fashioned Mega Man gameplay to back it up. And the noobtraps are so few and far in between.
All agreed, I meant that comparison in relation to a few specific traps, certainly not to MM9 as a whole (though, really, putting one such trap in Endless Attack was freaking evil; I'd rather take on Rock3's 4-phase Yellow Devil any day).
It's not my only issue with 9, BTW, but that's another discussion. Again, memorization helps in pretty much any game, and MegaMan was certainly no exception. But almost never in the NES was it was outright required with no opportunity save extra lives to learn, in the same manner as some of 9's lesser moments (I say "almost" because of how strict Quick Man's beams can be, but even those give you an "introduction" in a fairly-difficult-to-fail screen so that you know what you're getting into).
Take the "blind spike drop" phenomenon. Look at how the NES does this, such as Wily Stage 3 in MM2, or in MM3, the Doc Robot stages for either Spark Man or Shadow Man. First of all, you're clearly presented with spikes in the stage before the drop, so you know to be alert. Second, whatever death trap you're falling on is only a block or two wide, giving you a realistic chance to dodge in on the fly if you're quick. Now look at Splash Woman's drop. There is absolutely no presence of spikes in the stage, you drop down a pit, still nothing as the screen scrolls, then at the VERY BOTTOM OF THE SCREEN, a 4-block-wide trap. You can't possibly see it until the screen is finished scrolling and you're already falling, by then it's too late.
There aren't many such instances, true, but there are more in 9 than there are in 1-3, if not the entire NES library (4-6 are a blur in my head), put together. It's something that happens when people try to reproduce "oldschool difficulty" when they don't really "get" it. And I certainly did not expect that to come from Inticreates, given the much better job they did with the style both before (MegaMan a) and after (MegaMan 10).