The best game on the series was somehow on the Mega Drive all this time. I legit wasn't expecting to like Hard Corps this much.
For starters, four different characters, each with their own weapon loadout - that's sixteen mostly distinct guns. My favorite ended up being FANG, a humanoid wolf with a gun for an arm, that also wears sunglasses. Video games, man.
Half of his guns don't shoot in multiple directions, but they are all absurdly powerful, making for an incredibly satisfying character.
The game also features some branching paths, with a few unique levels between those paths.
There is also a slide with some very generous i-frames, and it's immensely satisfying to use that.
But really, maybe what puts this above other games in the series is that this is a healthy challenge. Something like Contra 4, for example, is absolutely brutal, and the NES games are stuck in that memorization arcade mentality.
The auto-scroller boss is a bit of a pacing killer though, and fairly brainless. So brainless that you can actually fast-forward through a good chunk of the fight on an emulator, since the screen just auto-scrolls and you can't damage him at all in these sections. Lame.
Play the Japanese version though, or the American version with the proper romhack. It features a 3-hit life bar and infinite continues, while the western release has you die in one-hit and features limited continues, get out of here.
For starters, four different characters, each with their own weapon loadout - that's sixteen mostly distinct guns. My favorite ended up being FANG, a humanoid wolf with a gun for an arm, that also wears sunglasses. Video games, man.
Half of his guns don't shoot in multiple directions, but they are all absurdly powerful, making for an incredibly satisfying character.
The game also features some branching paths, with a few unique levels between those paths.
There is also a slide with some very generous i-frames, and it's immensely satisfying to use that.
But really, maybe what puts this above other games in the series is that this is a healthy challenge. Something like Contra 4, for example, is absolutely brutal, and the NES games are stuck in that memorization arcade mentality.
The auto-scroller boss is a bit of a pacing killer though, and fairly brainless. So brainless that you can actually fast-forward through a good chunk of the fight on an emulator, since the screen just auto-scrolls and you can't damage him at all in these sections. Lame.
Play the Japanese version though, or the American version with the proper romhack. It features a 3-hit life bar and infinite continues, while the western release has you die in one-hit and features limited continues, get out of here.