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.