Without 90 lives, I'm worthless.

So, I played Contra over the weekend at a friend's BBQ. The game was emulated on a Dreamcast, which meant there was no use of the infamous code to obtain 90 men to finish one's game. So-3 men per play and a handful of continues to get through the whole damn thing. Replaying it with a friend in tow, we both rediscovered how fucking HARD the game was without the little perks of (seemingly) infinite lives. One tiny stray bullet, and that insanely annoying death noise! Within a few tries we were both screaming made up curse words (note-the invention of 2 part curse words like shitfinger and fuckknots clearly originate from the existance of the NES) and hurling controllers. Ah, true annoyance over a game-how long has it been since I've had the joy of such irritation?
Not to mention over 24 hours later I'm still THINKING about the goddamn game. Could I try again? How long would it take me to finish that first level without losing any lives?

I'm putting my faith in Nintendo to bring back this kind of goodnesswith the advent of the Wii. Sure , it has been a while since we've seen this kind of games. There are a few here and there that echo that classic vibe (Alien Hominid comes to mind), but overall we're seeing a lot of over produced games lacking the essential element that made them fun when the graphics looked like the rear end of a horse-play, play,play. If anyone can do it, it's the crafty fuckers that did it in the first place. Torture me again, Nintendo-I want you to.