Many people rejected this as a Contra game right off the bat--including blowhard Youtube assholes that pretend Contra III is this flawless masterpiece despite having the exact same game design for two entire stages--but Neo Contra was absolutely a fantastic Contra game! Fast-paced action, great controls with new options, amazingly grotesque enemy designs, and awesome music!

My only real complaint is the game is just a bit too easy. They probably wanted to ease up on the players after making a top-rank finish in Shattered Soldier nearly impossible! Even so, it's interesting that they went with the name Neo Contra, seeing as how the previous game was "Shin Contra." It was like after making the most true-blue Contra game they could muster, they wanted to take the franchise down a new direction with this isometric gameplay. I would've loved if this caught on, but sadly it's diminishing returns after this incredible title . . .