Gleylancer

[mikehaggar]

Contra Spirits schools Hard Corps on its fundamentals

You seriously like Contra 3 better than Hard Corps? Please explain....I think Hard Corps is my second favorite Contra game after Shattered Soldier. It really is perfect.

[Squire Grooktook]

Contra Spirits schools Hard Corps on its fundamentals

You seriously like Contra 3 better than Hard Corps? Please explain....I think Hard Corps is my second favorite Contra game after Shattered Soldier. It really is perfect.

Hardcorps has
-more safe spots

-more static boss patterns that become easy/boring once fully memorized (3 has a lot of twitchy rng sections on both stages and bosses, in comparison)

-a more unbalanced weapon roster (sheena's railgun and ray's homing/spread completely remove any challenge from the run and gun sections, and that's not even getting into browny and fang's instant kills on bosses)

-more pacing issues (wait 10 years for the jungle boss to climb up those corridors, the robo cyclops cut scene on the first stage, etc)

-and more difficulty balance issues (Alien Cell on the missile route being easier than the first stage boss, Doctor being a push over when you choose to fight, etc.)

Some people might not like the top down sections in 3 (they aren't as good as the side scrolling fun, but they make a decent diversion once you get used to them. I find them a lot more fun than either base stages in previous games) or the 2 autoscrollers (short enough, and both are capped off by excellently twitchy battles), but overall Contra 3 has stronger level and boss design IMO. The run and gun sections have all the blazing speed of Hard Corps, but are far more consistently challenging, and the bosses are a lot more twitchy, random, and reflex demanding.

If Shattered Soldier is your favorite though, I can see liking Hardcorps over Spirits. Both of those games emphasize the "first everything kills you, then nothing kills you" intense pattern memorization playstyle, along with a much more "boss rush" focused structure. It's not to my taste, I prefer a more twitchy experience (hence why I personally put Hardcorps over Shattered Soldier, since there's a few more random dodging sections in it, among other things) and more balance between platforming and combat. Personal taste.

Don't get me wrong, I do love Hardcorps though. It's a game I love replaying any time, but I agree that 3/Spirits has superior fundamentals.

[BIL]

You seriously like Contra 3 better than Hard Corps? Please explain....I think Hard Corps is my second favorite Contra game after Shattered Soldier. It really is perfect.

If Hard Corps were rearranged so that its best bits were deployed in perfect sequence, with the weaker stuff either tightened up or deleted, it would probably surpass Spirits and become my favourite Contra ever.

Unfortunately, as high as its peaks are, there's a fair bit of flawed stuff in between (detailed by Squire above). Shin Contra is similar - needed tightening up. I consider Spirits the most consistently and fundamentally excellent of the Nakazato trilogy. I still love all three though. These are all games I consider absolute essentials, as with Kiki Kaikai/Twinkle Tale and Hagane/the Super Shinobis.

[Strider77]

Those top down stages really didn't stand the test of time for me. I HATE the sand one in particular.... boring. However it's still a must own.

[Skykid]

Minus the stage 2 boss fight, which is well engineered around the perspective, I agree the top-down sections become a tiring formality in Contra 3. But the rest is so fucking sublimely executed it's like pure gold in your face, the absolute action gaming perfection on a hard drug cocktail of Schwarzenegger, Aliens, Konami and Predator music, sewn up with riotous nonstop set pieces and daring contiguous stage layouts.

Frankly I think stage 3 was made by God.

[Squire Grooktook]

^^^ Amen

Also the music: I've been hearing it since childhood, but I have to remember how perfectly fitting the music is for the game. I don't think there's any other game soundtrack that captures the "sci-fi military action flick" feel as well as 3/Spirits soundtrack does.

[MintyTheCat]

Seems to have become a Contra Thread:

What I found as a kid is that Contra was just plain hard going and it felt like a big deal as you made progress. Each section would play in your mind as you died and then I'd work out how to get past it.

Contra 3 felt more serious to me and it had some great graphics. Hard Corps is one of my favourite MD titles and was so well done with lots of replay. But it dared to have fun and not take itself too seriously. It is a great game and one of the rare Games where by I prefer the European release to the Japanese for the Robots instead of the human and wolf characters. A great game but play them both as Contra is great.

[scrilla4rella]

I pretty much agree 95% with AC, though to me I would probably be willing to spend $35 on a cart, but the Virtual Console works fine. You could just go for *ahem*, a repro...