This was one of those games that I wanted to enjoy when I first got it from the local rental store. I just could not get into it, even though I had plowed through the previous games, because of the high difficulty. Playing with a second player was not an option because my siblings had outgrown video games by the time Contra III was released. They also preferred RPG's and puzzle games respectively over action games.
I did like the use of Mode 7 though - using the shoulder buttons to rotate the overhead levels was quite interesting.
I still give this game a try every so often just to remind myself how bad I am at this one. Lol.