[quote name='Chacrana']Oh yeah, how is Contra Advance? I didn't like the overhead levels in Contra 3 (so I'm glad those are gone), but if you were choosing between buying Contra Advance or Contra 3, which would you go with?[/QUOTE]
Contra 3, by far. Most reviewers complained about the changes made to the core mechanics, such as the fact you can no longer carry more than one weapon, and the elimination of the screen clearing "super bombs", which upped the games difficulty from the challenging-yet-doable original to throw-your-gba-across-the-room frustration levels. No one was sad to see the overhead stages go, though, and I agree - they seemed more like a "Mode 7" tech demo than revolutionary gameplay. The same goes for other "change of pace" stages from earlier Contras, such as the base levels in the original, or the Commando-style overhead sections in Super Contra (arcade) and Super C (NES).