LittleBigPlanet plus Contra plus hardcore gamers with too much time on their hands plus a desire to make the impossible possible equals LittleBigContra. Almost 100,000 users have hearted the project within LittleBigPlanet itself, while over 220,000 have viewed its promotional trailer on YouTube.

LittleBigContra, a mash up of the NES version of Contra and Media Molecule's PlayStation 3 platformer, is the result of a collaboration between seven contributors to the NeoGAF message boards. Vincent "MisterAnderson" DiDaniele proposed the idea of gamers using the level tools in LittleBigPlanet to recreate one of gaming's staple hardcore games, the original Contra.

To check out LittleBigContra, load up LittleBigPlanet and search for the user "Leonidas123" (that's DiDaniele). His hearted levels will guide you to the entire project. As it stands, there isn't an easier way to access the levels, nor has developer Media Molecule provided a way to package levels together.


"I thought a good idea to get myself accustomed to how things work would be to recreate another level," explained DiDaniele to 1UP. "By having to recreate aspects of another stage, it would be like a training exercise and force me to learn how to do certain things that I would otherwise probably not have tried to learn if I was making my own stage, so that was the philosophy behind that choice."

DiDaniele chose a game that shouldn't have worked in LittleBigPlanet. The platforming in Contra comes from a different school of thought -- another era altogether. Contra is tight, calculated and brutally hardcore; LittleBigPlanet is the opposite. Not to mention Contra is not just a platformer, but an action-based one. LittleBigPlanet has action -- even some shooting -- but that's not what the game's about.

Yet the level of detail is impressive. The team even found a way to implement the famous Konami code into the game's opening sequence: Pasting the "Konami Code" sticker nets Sack Boy the extra lives he deserves (and will almost certainly need). Despite the team's best efforts, however, some features (such as power-ups) couldn't be included in LittleBigContra. There just isn't a toolset for them in LittleBigPlanet.

Each member of the team was assigned a single level to develop. Perhaps the most impressive of the bunch is Mike "Orz" White's recreation of Contra's Base 1. On paper, it shouldn't have worked -- it's a completely different playstyle from the rest of Contra and LittleBigPlanet, and it takes place from a 3rd-person perspective. "I was actually already working on attempting to create a 'third person shooter' out of LittleBigPlanet for an original project, and I figured it might be adaptable to the Base levels of the original Contra," said White. "I'd toyed with the gimmick of a hidden player controlling some sort of avatar before, but I never made a complete level with it. I was quickly drawing up supremely complex schematics on half a dozen sheets of paper -- and yes, they were insane. Half of the ideas I came up with worked terribly."

It's difficult to say if LittleBitContra is actually fun, though. While it's certainly a miraculously-faithful recreation of Contra, it's that very reason that can make it difficult to enjoy. Contra requires precision movements; something LittleBigPlanet doesn't concern itself with. This makes navigating the Contra recreations both impressive and frustrating. I wasn't able to get very far in any of the levels, let alone actually finish one of them. Or maybe I just suck.


Either way, you can't help but respect what LittleBigContra accomplished. It's a project that managed to flourish in spite of itself. Konami has yet to file a copyright complaint with Sony about LittleBigContra. There's a reason for that: they respect it.

"When I first saw it I was watching the YouTube link," said Konami associate producer and Contra 4 producer Tomm Hulett to us. "I thought: 'This is awesome!' then went into the normal fan reaction of spotting all the little things they threw in there and pulled off. I have yet to delve all the way into Little Big Planet's editor so I wasn't sure what was or wasn't possible. But, I knew it was possible for like-minded gamers to pull off some amazing things. When I tried to download it at home I couldn't figure out how to find it. Simon Lai, the other Producer on Contra 4, tried it and said it was really, really hard. I'll have to see about that soon - when we play NES Contra, Simon's always the one holding me back."

Media Molecule's also gone on the record in support of the project.

"I was really amazed by the scope of the project," Media Molecule artist Rex Crowle told us. "It's exciting seeing teams collaborating together to create larger projects in the same way that we all jam together at Media Molecule. The attention to detail was superb, I loved the little touches like the emitted explosion stickers, to give it that proper 8-bit action game feel. It also reminded me how insanely hard the games we used to play were -- I need to get back into training!"

"What also really stood out for me was the professional approach with making a great trailer to 'sell' the levels," he continued. "Without the trailer I might not have come across the project, but as soon as I started watching I couldn't resist tweeting it, and then whole team watched it through in our weekly Friday 'Show & Tell' while drinking beer and cheering!"


You might think a requirement for coming onto the project, or at least having the dedication to see it through, would involve being a big Contra fan, but that's not true.

"Time for a confession," admitted Energy Stage designer Brian "El Beefo" Wyler. "I've never actually played the original Contra. I didn't even own an NES until a few years ago. I have played a few levels of Shattered Soldier [on PlayStation 2], but outside of that, all my platform shooter experience has been from playing Metal Slug."

Though the early days of LittleBigPlanet suggested there could be some difficult back-and-forth between Sony's legal departments over copyright issues, LittleBigContra's presence is encouraging for all. So long as users are mindful -- LittleBigContra features very little artwork from the original game and what's there has been recreated, not copy-and-pasted using the PlayStation Eye -- it seems gamers' can go ahead and (try to!) recreate their favorite gaming moments in LittleBigPlanet. What's next? LittleBigCastlevania? If we dare this team, they just might do it.