Run ‘n Gun-a-thon — Part 3

Hard Corps is a tribrid of classic run ‘n gun action, Castlevania III branching paths and unique characters, and the boss rush focus of Cuphead. It’s easily the most distinct and replayable Contra. I would call it the best entry…if there was more platforming to vary up the level design like the first game. Each successive entry emphasized platforming less and less, and it’s practically nonexistent here. I suppose not every run ‘n gun needs platforming, but if you’re going to streamline the action into a boss rush, why still have sections where the player can mindlessly hold fire while moving right to reach the next single-screen arena? The levels are very dull outside of the bosses, which, to be fair, it excels at. Neat attack patterns and pitch-perfect pacing outside of a drawn-out autoscroller fight in level 4 and a slight overreliance on the “projectiles raining down from the sky” attack.

I’m glad I checked out the classic Contra games. They could be better, but none of them were bad. This marathon isn’t over yet though. I have two more beloved run ‘n guns on my list, both of them from the same developer and console generation. Stay tuned for my reviews of those!

I love Genesis, but if there's one thing I hate about its library, it's how over-produced and under-designed these can be, and every time I replay Hard Corps I'm convinced it's the epitome of this. Meet an awesome boss, kill it in 15 seconds before it does anything, move to the next one. Rinse and repeat for 6 stages. All these crazy moments and spectacles that obviously took a ton of work to implement, and they play themselves out with barely any input on your behalf. Barely any running or gunning. This is actually also an issue with Contra 3, and it's arguably worse there, but it feels so much louder and overt here because of the difference in scope.

Playing the JP version with health is by F A R the easiest Contra game, not even close. And why health in the game named 'Hard Corps', the cooler, edgier one obviously intended to be a pro-player gauntlet? It's obvious it was a last-moment inclusion when the devteam realized all your deaths were due to memorization-based pitfalls, and they chalked up they'd rather let players see all the cool shit than have them burn 10 hours into the same scripted sections just to see a burping alien foot or the pelican version of Mighty Orbots.

Idk, cool game, rad game, still fun just for merit what's here, I'm gonna come back to it like 6 months from now and notice something new in the backgrounds, but the gameplay is so so so so so not there and I can't help but pine for a version where these bosses kick and scream and go rabid like actual bloated alien menaces should.

Contra is hard, Contra Hard Corps is hard by Contra standards. This game will filter people even if they play the JP version that gives you a health bar. If you are ready for the challenge and a fair bit of trial and error you will find an absolutely fantastic game. Four unique characters and four branching paths makes the game highly repayable. The pace of the game is really good each run will only take you around 20 minutes (deaths not inculcated.) Some of the best boss fights in the series and the best OST in the series. You also have a completely invincible slide to get you out of touch spots. That slide feels really damn good and its a shame its the only Contra with it. The only problems I have with the game has more to due with the Genesis. Its a three button game that should really be a five button game. Having a six button controller helps a little, but it still would have been better if they built the game from the start with a six button controller in mind. Also the graphics can be a little crusty sometimes with the final boss of the rocket path becoming a mess of pixels during its first phase. Rather minor issues that otherwise doesn't bring down this masterpiece.

Really, why hasn't any other Contra done unique weapon load outs for characters and branching paths?

Contra Hard Corps is definitely hard, especially with the limited amount of lives you are given (and the limited continues), and how fast this game can get!

But oddly enough, I didn't find it as frustrating as Contra III: The Alien Wars. Maybe it was because of the route, or maybe it's because how I'm more used to the Contra series at this point, but regardless, I found that the game felt much more "no nonsense" than its previous entries.

Coupled that with the fact that you can hold on to 4 different weapons at the same time (and also bombs), and you can play as 4 different characters and the soundtrack kicks ass... yeah, this is a good Contra game.

A very hard one, but a good one, nonetheless.

Before I write my junk, I do have to mirror reviews and suggest that if you were to play this that it would be better off playing the Japanese version (or a patched U/E ROM file). Purists may say it's the intended experience to be playing with one-hit-deaths but that puritanism is an effect of elitism that often permeates around older titles on legacy consoles. Completing the game using an English release IS an achievement... but one that requires a lot of investment and practice that many of us simply don't have.

Hard Corps isn't existentially brutal when you can survive a single hit from any of the grunts, creatures or robots. Most of your challenge is in learning boss patterns on your 2nd or 3rd go around. Most of them are straightforward enough, move to a different side of the screen or jump at a certain time. A few last a little longer than expected and the words "how much health does this guy have?" left our mouths more than once.

The branching paths is a fun idea, another mechanic that is a little more forgiving if death isn't a 16x16 tile away. There are about 4 choices available and all of them seemingly have some form of consequence in stage selection and bosses fought. Regardless of that, most runs will only have 6 stages. It was a shock to us that we beat the game. That's it? We need to play again then!

If there were any major criticisms to be had on a personal level, the game is perhaps too visually cluttered. It looks wonderful when you watch someone else play it or when you get a chance to appreciate the environmental art and enemy design. More often than not, you are locking your focus on projectiles wandering across screen praying that you don't get hit by some random object you seemed to miss. Exaggerate that issue of focus when you're playing co-op, both of you spraying bullets everywhere.

I am looking forward to play this again, clear another path and hopefully convince some people on retroachievements to add support for the Japanese release.

Nunca tinha jogado esse contra hard cops porem de todos que eu ja joguei esse certamente ja virou meu favorito, ele e muito divertido mesmo sendo extremamente dificil como ja e de se esperar dos jogos da franquia porem esse tem um diferencial porque mesmo sendo muito dificil voce não chega a ficar com raiva por estar morrendo varias e varias vezes (pelo menos não foi o meu caso), agora vamos entrar em alguns topicos como personagens, chefes, fases, graficos e trilha sonora. Primeiramente vamos falar dos personagens que são 4 ao todo e eles são o Ray o soldado bolado, a Sheena a guerreira, Wolf o lobão e Browny o robo, todos eles tem 4 armas diferentes e as 4 mudam dependendo do personagem que você escolheu, eu escolhi o wolf então irei falar um pouco sobre ele e bem ele e um lobão que usa oculos e tem braços roboticos mais badass que isso não tem, as armas que ele usa são uma metralhadora que você pode upar ela pra ter um tiro ainda mais forte, a segunda arma você da um super soco que da dano ventical de curto alcance, a quarta arma e um fucking lança chamas e a ultima arma e um tiro carregado que da muito dano, agora vamos falar das fases que são em sua grande maioria maravilhosas e visualmente bonitas com temas apocalipticos, minha fase favorita certamente e a do trem que você acessa escolhendo a opção de se render e lutar depois e falando nisso existe muitas fases nas qual eu nem cheguei a ver pois tem varias rotas que você pode seguir e isso e um ponto bem positivo na minha opnião, agora a trilha sonora desse jogo e incrivel, as musicas são empolgantes e te deixam bem agitados conforme vai jogando e isso e algo muito bom ja que o jogo e extremamente frenetico, agora pra finalizarmos com chave de outro vamos falar dos chefes que para mim e o ponto alto do jogo todo, cada chefe e unico exigindo precisão para desviar dos tiros e golpes e é claro que tem chefes diferentes para rotas diferentes e isso e muito foda, os chefões que eu mais gostei foram o hacker que usa o mundo virtual como arena de batalha e tem varias formas sendo elas em signos cada uma, outro chefe que eu amei demais foi o robo do trem que nele nao irei falar muito para nao dar spoilers e isso e tudo oque eu tinha para falar sobre contra hard cops um belissimo jogo da era 16 bits do mega drive

Nota: 8

Like with Castlevania, the Contra franchise, at this point in time, was on a seemingly perfect streak, releasing some of, if not THE best run ‘n gun games of the 8-bit and 16-bit eras, giving the player plenty of fast-paced, action packed gameplay with some fantastic visuals that only a few others were able to replicate. They were all some of the best third-party games that you could get from a Nintendo console, right alongside other heavy hitters on those systems, but in terms of any games from this series from Sega’s systems, they were left high and dry of any of that sweet Contra goodness. It didn’t really matter too much, cause they had Gunstar Heroes, which was already just as great as Contra, but thankfully, like with Castlevania: Bloodlines, Konami would give the Sega Genesis a taste of what Contra could really do, and they would release Contra: Hard Corps.

Honestly, I didn’t expect too much when it came to this particular entry in the series. I thought it was gonna be great, of course, but I didn’t think it was really gonna do anything that ground-breaking for the series, and would just serve as another entry, not being able to top The Alien Wars in terms of sheer quality. However, after playing it, I realize now that I was wrong. Dead wrong. Even after one playthrough of the game, I knew that this game was absolutely fantastic, but after seeing all that this game has to offer, I can say with confidence that it is PHENOMENAL, and without a doubt the best entry in the series so far. Sure, I guess I could find some nitpicks in it if I looked hard enough, but even then, none of that would stand in the way from the gargantuan amount of fun that I was having with it, and I am so glad I finally checked it out after so long.

The story is mostly what you expect from a Contra game, where in the year 2641, crime has run rampant as a result of the events of The Alien Wars, which results in the formation of the Contra Hard Corps to fight back against it, and one day, when a mysterious hacker reprograms a bunch of robots to cause even more destruction around the world, it is up to the Hard Corps to destroy them all and find out what is going on, which is as simplistic as one of these game’s plots can get, but at the same time, I am having too much fun to care. The graphics are fantastic, being one of the best looking games I have seen on the system, while delivering plenty of great effects, wonderful designs of characters and bosses, and environments for you to blast your way through, the music is, of course, incredible, since it is a Konami game from the 90’s, although a lot of the tracks do sound very similar to each other, but I didn’t mind that all too much, the control is just as tight and responsive as ever, although it did take a bit to get used to the new mechanics the game offered, but it wasn’t a deal breaker at all, and the gameplay was mostly the same run ‘n gun action we know and love, but expanded on even further to make it near perfect in my eyes.

The game is a run ‘n gun game, where you take control of one of the Contra Hard Corps, including Ray Poward, Sheena Etranzi, Brad Fang, and Browny (ok, not gonna lie, those names are pretty bad, even for a 90’s game), go through many different stages through plenty of different environments, even if they aren’t too creative or different from other titles in the series, run, jump, and shoot through many different foes as you do your best to survive the onslaught that is laid out before you, gather plenty of different weapons and bombs along the way to give yourself a fighting edge over your foes, and take on some truly unforgettable bosses, which will test your skill and reflexes in the best ways possible. Those who are well versed with Contra games will be able to jump right in and have a great time, which definitely was the case for me, while also being able to enjoy the new elements implemented to make the game much more enjoyable.

The game plays pretty similarly to any other Contra game, where you run through linear stages, shoot every single thing that moves, and gather plenty of badass weapons to use to help you out throughout your journey, but there are new features here that make the game much more fun to play, even when it was already great to begin with. First of all, in terms of controls, you now have a brand new sliding maneuver that you can use, which becomes very helpful in certain scenarios, and there is also an option now to choose what type of shooting style you want to work with throughout the game… and by that, I mean it makes it so that you either stay still while shooting or move around. This change may not sound like a big deal to most, but for me, it is what I have been waiting for ever since I first played the original game. While it was never that big of an issue, one of my biggest pet peeves with this game, or any other run ‘n gun game, was how whenever you would be aiming diagonally towards an enemy, most of the time, you would run in the direction you are holding, and thus, make shooting in said direction more stressful than it needed to be. Now, you can switch between moving and not moving at any time, which cements this as being perfection in video game form, and you cannot tell me otherwise.

Not only that, but there are also the ACTUAL new features that the game has, such as the case with the weapons. In every previous game in this series, whenever you got a new weapon from a capsule, it would automatically replace the weapon you currently had, which can be useful most of the time, but it can also be a detriment when you have a really good weapon that you don’t want to lose. Here, however, you can carry multiple weapons all at once, being able to switch between them at any time, and whenever you die, you lose the weapon you are currently holding rather than all of them. Again, that kind of shit may not matter so much to some, but this is EVERYTHING to me, as it allows the player to have a fighting chance in many cases, even after death, and makes the game that much more fun and exciting.

And finally, for the last, and definitely the best change that the game makes to the series, is the branching paths. At certain points throughout the game, you will be given the choice to go to one of two different routes, which not only determines what happens in the story, but it also determines what stage you will go to next. There aren’t that many of these choices throughout the game, but there are many different combinations you can make with choosing specific options. For example, in one part, you can choose to chase after this guy named Deadeye Joe, and later down the road, you can choose to fight to the end when faced against a seemingly unwinnable situation. That all leads down one path already, full of plenty of stages that you can have fun with, but then, in another playthrough, you can choose to still chase after Deadeye Joe, but you can also choose to surrender to said unwinnable situation, which leads to an entirely new path full of unique stages, bosses, and story elements. All of this leads to the possibility of getting six different endings, from the best ending to the worst ending, which creates plenty of replay value for those that loved the game already, while also providing a lot of content to experience.

I genuinely can’t think of any actual issues that I have with this game, I had that much of a great time with it. If I had to say anything, I could say that, like with most other Contra games, this game is (no pun intended) pretty goddamn hard, I’d argue even more so than the other games in the series, since there is no option to change the difficulty around, and there isn’t any Konami code to save you this time (unless you are playing the Japanese version). But thankfully, from what I experienced, not much of that difficulty is really all that bad, and there is also the possibility that you could… you know… get good. That’s what I had to do, and it was all the more satisfying because of it.

Overall, despite how the difficulty of the game will still make sure to give you a good ol’ kick in the teeth, this is, in my opinion, the best Contra game so far, and one of the best run ‘n gun games I have ever played, being a non-stop wave of energy, action, and entertainment from start to finish, while offering plenty of desired changes and content to where I didn’t want to stop playing even when it was all said and done. I would absolutely recommend it for those who are big fans of the Contra series, as well as those who love run ‘n gun games in general, because, in my opinion, this game gives you practically everything you could ever want from one of these games, especially from this era. Although, now that all of that is said and done, I can’t help but feel a little upset, because since this game is pretty much perfect, none of the other Contra games after this will be able to reach the same quality as this. But hey, I am willing to see how they will try… and fail horribly.

Game #514

Simplesmente do caralho. Não tenho o que dizer, esse é o jogo mais épico e virado no CARALHO que essa franquia teve até agora.

E de novo, a versão japa salvou a gente, esse jogo é tão maluco que na versão original além do continue infinito, ele tinha FUCKING BARRA DE VIDA, sim faz sentido toda a maluquice que é Hard Corps.

Dito isso, incrível, fiz o final D (outra coisa foda esse lance de rotas, da um valor replay bonzão) e foi tudo muito irado, bosses mais épicos e fumados da franquia, a ação mais desenfreada que vi em um run and gun na vida, é o suco do IRADO mais IRADO de todos os tempos.

(This is the 97th game in my challenge to go through many known games in chronological order starting in 1990. The spreadsheet/blog is in my bio.)

It surprised me to see the very positive reviews about this game online. Usually, I find that my thoughts on these older games align for the most part with consensus, or are even more positive. With Contra: Hard Corps, the follow up to 1992's excellent Contra III: The Alien Wars, I stumbled upon a game where I found my time to be significantly less fun than it seems to have been for many others.

I'm not gonna dive too deeply into it because I "only" played the game for 3 hours, but as someone who thought that Contra III definitely was among the 3 best games to release in 1992, the amount by which I disliked Contra Hard Corps was very surprising and easily my biggest disappointment out of the 1994 playlist. Why? Level design would probably be my number one answer to that. For a game that is as fast-paced and action-packed as Contra games tend to be, there were a LOT more moments in this game where you couldn't skip dialogue or certain scenes. For a game made to be replayed constantly, this had me bored out of my mind after the 10+ failed attempts each area took me. Then there is the bosses and mini bosses in each level, which felt unfairly designed here more than anything. Where Contra III's bosses usually made me feel like I mastered them after a while and could reliably get past them, bosses in Contra Hard Corps just seem to constantly corner you or have attacks that are just barely avoidable by a frame and overall feel way less reliable to beat. Weapons seem to do less damage here than in Contra III as well, which means for a lot of fights with basic enemies, you can't just "run and gun" your way past them, but instead have to stop, aim and shoot, which for a game like this really isn't something I should ever be forced to do.

There is no stand and shoot diagonally button for starters. Controls are not tight either. If one projectile comes at you, they are reliably dodgable, but two or more and I found myself praying to the Contra gods that my input would allow me to dodge them. Even if you do, hitboxes seem too large and you get hit anyway.

It's things like that that just made this incredibly frustrating to play. I can't say I enjoyed any of this. It felt like a less clever, more unfairly punishing Contra III with worse visuals.

Clearly, I'm in the minority with that opinion, but unfortunately this was my experience for a game I was looking forward to.

There comes a point where in your goal to push a franchise's spectacle as far as possible, you'll eventually hit an absolute limit on what you can do. Hard Corps is that limit. No other Contra game after this one managed to reach this level of insanity and creativity. They might still be fun, but they will all be aping what Hard Corps and Contra 3 already did, and did so perfectly. But, probably the most insane thing about it is that not many people talk about Hard Corps, even though this may very well be the best Contra game out there, more than the NES one, more than Contra 3.

I feel like I'm a broken machine everytime I talk about the impressiveness of a 90's Konami game made for the Genesis, but come on, you've played one or two of them, you know that you're in for some good shit with the next one. So, perhaps I could instead talk about Hard Corps introducing the choice of four playable characters, each with their own unique arsenal of weaponry? (although i'll obviously still use the guy with the spread shot, i mean, come on)

Or, how about the fact that there are now multiple routes, that lead to multiple different stages, that lead to multiple different endings? In Hard Corps, the replayability no longer just stems from practicing and mastering the same set of 6 stages. Now, there's choice, and that choice impacts the events that play out, and the obstacles you'll face. Perhaps you'll have a preferred route, or perhaps you'll want to master each individual one. The game leaves that up to you.

Still, it is Contra, and if you were ever looking for a point where Contra becomes more accessible, this ain't it. Everything's still a motherfucker to overcome, alongside your limited lifes and weakness to toe-stubs. Interestingly, I've learned that this is another one of those examples where the game was made harder over in the west. You've got three hits that you can take in the Japanese version, but you've only got one everywhere else, the classic Contra standard. Depending on what kind of player are you, seeking out a romhack that incorporates the 3-hit system may be recommended. Alternatively, a cheat code for more lifes.

And if you can't beat the game the way the western version intends, then trust me, you really do want to go out of your way to set up some cheats for yourself. Because whether you're good at Hard Corps or not, it's worth playing just so you can go "oh wow" or "oh shit!" every 10 seconds. Contra Hard Corps goes hard on every aspect. The soundtrack, the feel of the weapons, the graphics, the visual effects, the replayability... it's just so damn good that it's worth seeing no matter your skill ceiling. This, right here, is where Contra peaked, and more people need to be aware of that.