Cleared on March 4th, 2023 (SEGA Genesis Challenge: 2/160)
Contra Hard Corps is a 2D side scroller shoot em up where you run through dangerous battlefields and enemy territories to stop them of their devious plan to use the Alien cell for world domination, and it is radical. It's really hard as you lose a life in one hit (oddly some versions have it where you take three hits before losing a life), but it's a game that you can get really good at because it doesn't go over-the-top with its difficulty through spikes although still hard enough that it may warrant using save states if you don't have patience.
They save the over-the-top aspect for the visuals and the action because good god it's wild. It's a sci-fi military world in chaos with machines and aliens running rampant and it looks incredible in its pixelated form. Also, I just love the music of this game. GTR attack is a hype-infusing song that boosts adrenaline and the bosses that this song accompanies tend to be the most fast-paced. The Last Springsteen invokes terror and suspense as you are about to square off against whatever monster you end up having to face last.
One of more interesting features of this game is that it has multiple routes which lets them add so much to the overall game while confining the general length and encouraging replay value to see what set of bosses you will get to face next. There are four routes that change based on the simple decision that only serves to move you along one of those routes. Of course, some bosses are mandatory to fight in all routes.
If this somehow sounds tedious, there are four playable characters and you could do what I did and assign those characters to a specific route. I'll go over them one by one.
Ray is about what you'd expect a Contra character to be. All of them share the same core mechanics as you jump, you shoot, you run, duck, and even powerslide (which from my understanding is new for this game and you are going to need it). However, Ray has weapons that are familiar enough to a classic Contra game like the Spread Shot from all Contra games and the Homing Shot from Contra III. However, from what I hear, the Spread Shot is argued as the best weapon in most of those games, but here, it feels kinda underwhelming and really, he's just the most underwhelming of all the characters to me.
Sheena is a favorite of mine as all of her weapons feel useful in some way. Her weapons deal impressive damage and if she needs some spread damage, then her Ax Laser should help her.
Fang is a cool character in visual style, a cyborg anthro wolf with sunglasses? That's awesome! But when playing as him, be extremely careful during the opening level because early on he picks up a charged shot in the middle of an enemy barrage that will put a delay on your attacks which will make you very suspectible to getting taken down. This is an issue exclusive to Fang and unlike the others, he doesn't really have a "Spread" shot, but his weapons do supposedly the most damage.
But then we get to Browny who is quite frankly the most busted character in the game. He's small which gives him an advantage when it comes to having a smaller hitbox than all the others. He doesn't jump as high, but why worry about that when he could double jump? He has many weapons for different situations be it single-target damage or pulverizing mobs. But what really stands out is his Yo-Yo which just shreds bosses and it locks on too. So if you ever find yourself struggling with this game, bring these guy out.
The routes themselves also linked with difficulty. Route A and B are kinda easy (at least for this game's standards), but Route C and D are pretty hard. My advice is to just start with Route A and then go from there, and you'll have a much better time with the game.
But regardless of how you do it, it's a fun game and among my favorites from the Sega Genesis catalog.
January 7th, 2024 Update: I went back to replay the game as the Japanese version intended with 3 hit points, and I was shocked at how easy the game was in comparison. Not only does 3 hits give you a better chance to not get smoked almost instantly at the first level, but because of how the game's mechanics work where you lose the weapon you have equipped upon losing a life, you can actually hold on to your weapon much longer which allows you to deal significantly more damage throughout the game, making it much faster to clear. If Contra Hard Corps is giving you a hard time, finding the means to buff your health points be it through a patch or the Japanese version may be your best shot.
Contra Hard Corps is a 2D side scroller shoot em up where you run through dangerous battlefields and enemy territories to stop them of their devious plan to use the Alien cell for world domination, and it is radical. It's really hard as you lose a life in one hit (oddly some versions have it where you take three hits before losing a life), but it's a game that you can get really good at because it doesn't go over-the-top with its difficulty through spikes although still hard enough that it may warrant using save states if you don't have patience.
They save the over-the-top aspect for the visuals and the action because good god it's wild. It's a sci-fi military world in chaos with machines and aliens running rampant and it looks incredible in its pixelated form. Also, I just love the music of this game. GTR attack is a hype-infusing song that boosts adrenaline and the bosses that this song accompanies tend to be the most fast-paced. The Last Springsteen invokes terror and suspense as you are about to square off against whatever monster you end up having to face last.
One of more interesting features of this game is that it has multiple routes which lets them add so much to the overall game while confining the general length and encouraging replay value to see what set of bosses you will get to face next. There are four routes that change based on the simple decision that only serves to move you along one of those routes. Of course, some bosses are mandatory to fight in all routes.
If this somehow sounds tedious, there are four playable characters and you could do what I did and assign those characters to a specific route. I'll go over them one by one.
Ray is about what you'd expect a Contra character to be. All of them share the same core mechanics as you jump, you shoot, you run, duck, and even powerslide (which from my understanding is new for this game and you are going to need it). However, Ray has weapons that are familiar enough to a classic Contra game like the Spread Shot from all Contra games and the Homing Shot from Contra III. However, from what I hear, the Spread Shot is argued as the best weapon in most of those games, but here, it feels kinda underwhelming and really, he's just the most underwhelming of all the characters to me.
Sheena is a favorite of mine as all of her weapons feel useful in some way. Her weapons deal impressive damage and if she needs some spread damage, then her Ax Laser should help her.
Fang is a cool character in visual style, a cyborg anthro wolf with sunglasses? That's awesome! But when playing as him, be extremely careful during the opening level because early on he picks up a charged shot in the middle of an enemy barrage that will put a delay on your attacks which will make you very suspectible to getting taken down. This is an issue exclusive to Fang and unlike the others, he doesn't really have a "Spread" shot, but his weapons do supposedly the most damage.
But then we get to Browny who is quite frankly the most busted character in the game. He's small which gives him an advantage when it comes to having a smaller hitbox than all the others. He doesn't jump as high, but why worry about that when he could double jump? He has many weapons for different situations be it single-target damage or pulverizing mobs. But what really stands out is his Yo-Yo which just shreds bosses and it locks on too. So if you ever find yourself struggling with this game, bring these guy out.
The routes themselves also linked with difficulty. Route A and B are kinda easy (at least for this game's standards), but Route C and D are pretty hard. My advice is to just start with Route A and then go from there, and you'll have a much better time with the game.
But regardless of how you do it, it's a fun game and among my favorites from the Sega Genesis catalog.
January 7th, 2024 Update: I went back to replay the game as the Japanese version intended with 3 hit points, and I was shocked at how easy the game was in comparison. Not only does 3 hits give you a better chance to not get smoked almost instantly at the first level, but because of how the game's mechanics work where you lose the weapon you have equipped upon losing a life, you can actually hold on to your weapon much longer which allows you to deal significantly more damage throughout the game, making it much faster to clear. If Contra Hard Corps is giving you a hard time, finding the means to buff your health points be it through a patch or the Japanese version may be your best shot.