Hard Corps: Uprising(successor to Contra HC)- XBLA

[handsome_rakshas]

anybody whining about contra sucking or whatever should play contra 4 for DS. loved that game.

One of my top 5 games to come out in the last few years. Nothing beats screaming your head off at challenge missions at 4 in the morning. How in the hell did I not get evicted?

[Ed Oscuro]

lol @ graphics bitchfest

For once, Konami goes the route of not shoehorning lo-rez, low-rent 2D into a handheld and trying to do 3D backgrounds properly in a sidescroller on a console, and it's a point of contention

Cartoony is okay with sprites.

So there's something magical about sprites and the Genesis color palette that other graphical projections and systems don't have?

[Drum]

Well it *does* look a bit too animu. Needs more muscles and tank tops. I realise it's Arc tho, so ...

[UnscathedFlyingObject]

It's Arc, so lolis, bitches!

But anyways. Contra 4 is hands down the most awesomest Contra game ever. It's like a magic trick and a Contra game sandwiched together. You know, bosses sawed in half, bullets come out of thin air, and you can almost hear "wise fon yo gleiv" and lighting striking down on the graves of all the old Contra bosses. Didn't we kill all that shit before? I can't help but laugh when playing.

[Rob]

One of the rare instances where the Genesis cover was better.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Cartoony is okay with sprites.

So there's something magical about sprites and the Genesis color palette that other graphical projections and systems don't have?

About sprites, yes, but I don't think that much about the Genesis/MD graphical prowess. There is something magical about SNES and Neo Geo, though. With Contra: Hard Corps I'm just not getting the impression that it would look better as a game made for another platform, which is more than I can say about Musha Aleste, Gynoug and Keio Flying Squadron.

lol @ graphics bitchfest

Well, there isn't much else to bitch about at this point. When the game's out, I'm sure the "oh no, it's a memoriser" shift will enjoy their turn.

[GaijinPunch]

The only strange part of that screenshot is that the sky is bright and shiny.

B/c it's not developed by white people that insist every fucking game have a post-apocolyptic gray background.

One of the rare instances where the Genesis cover was better.

W/ the smiling mechanical alien?

[Rob]

It's a demented robot.

[GaijinPunch]

Surely you don't gest.

[saucykobold]

The Genesis cover doesn't really fit the game (imo). Can you picture Browny or Fang in that scene?

The PAL art is pretty classy.

[Ed Oscuro]

@ Saucykobold:

Shiiit, I forgot all about the PAL series. Yes, they did pretty amazing work with what they had to deal with. If it weren't for the framerate issues, some of those ports would be my favorite way to play games in the series. (Super C looks pretty good under the Return of Evil Forces label.)

But anyways. Contra 4 is hands down the most awesomest Contra game ever. It's like a magic trick and a Contra game sandwiched together. You know, bosses sawed in half, bullets come out of thin air, and you can almost hear "wise fon yo gleiv" and lighting striking down on the graves of all the old Contra bosses. Didn't we kill all that shit before? I can't help but laugh when playing.

So, aside from the fact that Altered Beast should not be anybody's barometer for a game that delivers play value - I agree with you on the cheese value, but that's not what Contra really was about, though the developers of Contra 4 seem to have agreed considering how much time they spent fawning over some shit some Japanese guy cooked up after watching Terminator or Predator 20 and getting blazed years ago - I really don't see how it is the "most awesomest" Contra game ever.

I never got around to reviewing Contra 4 mainly because I am lazy about non-Forum things, but in the back of my mind I wanted not to take an unrepentant diarrhetic shit on Wayforward's redemptive effort after Sigma Star Saga (I finally got around to beating SSS yesterday, so that turd is fresh in my mind) but I can't ignore some of what I'm starting to wonder aren't typically WayForwardian lazy takes on good gameplay. I ought to see if I can't ask Mr. Bozon to shed some light on this.

I'll give them a pass on having the most important third of the playfield be represented by the hinge in the game system; it's not their problem Nintendo had to go with a cheap design to make the clamshell work (nor their doing that the original DS Lite's d-pad design is so very bad and unsuited for serious games), and if anything it's cool they used it to pump up the resolution and playable space.

But I will call them out on some of the poor design choices in the game:

No full-rate rapid fire for many weapons (spread etc). Hello, this is a handheld, tapping the buttons is gonna cause that shit to wiggle all over the place. Operation C got this right back when we were all kids.

Uninspired enemy design (LOL THAT ONE ANIME WE TOOK THE DUDES WITH HELMETS...were they called Helghast maybe?) and even worse boss design (as Edge Magazine's 60% review rightfully put it - enemies seem scary at first but turn out to be sad and uneventful. Kind of like the final boss in Clive Barker's Undying, actually. Now that was a good game. So is Contra 4, but I don't hold either game out there for great gameplay. My takeaway is that there was too much emphasis on aping Jin-Roh one more time (lousy movie cliche borrowings: a time-tried-and-true Contra series copout in place of original designs; I don't think the best games in the series relied on this, though), and not enough on actually making them actually interesting as computer opponents.

Randomly spawning enemies instead of doing their jobs as level and AI designers. This is still a step up from the exploration (boots to ground mode) corridor battles in Sigma Star Saga, where they couldn't make guys with throwing knives or grenades throw them any way but straight down (ironically that simplistic routine forced them to try to strategically place some of the guys, so...what did they learn for Contra 4?). This is my chief beef with the game. Yes, I beat all the Challenges (back in May '08). Hopefully Arc Systems gets this right. I'm not looking for full-on shmup mode scoring system shenanigans, but some decently arranged battles would be nice.

One of the rare instances where the Genesis cover was better.

So the Japanese Contra III box is better than the US one?

I think that the Japanese covers of those games perhaps were done by the game artists - a good enough practice usually - but the covers for Super CV 4, Contra III (same person) are amazing, and Contra HC (dunno if that was the same person) is pretty good too. To be fair I like all the covers, even the MD one (I guess I'm biased, though, since the coverscan from the Contra 4 gallery is mine).

About sprites, yes, but I don't think that much about the Genesis/MD graphical prowess. There is something magical about SNES and Neo Geo, though. With Contra: Hard Corps I'm just not getting the impression that it would look better as a game made for another platform, which is more than I can say about Musha Aleste, Gynoug and Keio Flying Squadron.

I talk a lot about art fitting the constraints of the system it's on, and recently a lot of the Forum (myself included) were in agreement that the old lo-rez, low-color style for La Mulana beats the shit cooked up for WiiWare. Japanese games have done the Hokusai style waves pretty convincingly in low rez but there's no theoretical reason it can't be done in higher resolutions too - practical considerations are the limiting factor, however.

More to the point, I think that developing for new systems while keeping their capabilities in mind is the way to make better games. Unreal Tournament 3 is pretty good looking most over, and it simply wouldn't have been possible on the same accelerators Unreal was designed for in 1998. That holds doubly true for 2D games which up until recently have been constrained (in good cases) to archaic 640i/640p and handheld formats. 2D being as it is, it's quite expensive to create that many more pixels for higher resolutions, and it doesn't make sense in many places to have 2D attempting to do the job of 3D - ease of viewpoint changes is only the most obvious of them (zomg hardware parallax). Give me the option of an appropriately modeled 3D cloud of smoke or a pixel rendered smoke cloud; I may give the 2D cloud the gold award on technical merits and being the most carefully designed to appeal to human nature, but seeing that same cloud repeatedly gets old. Nothing wrong with 2D per se, but I don't see anybody being able, even on the budget of a top-flight 3D actionshooter extravaganza, to create enough 2D to flesh out a modern game. 3D not only is more flexible but more suited to the development schedule, overall. There is nothing magical about the SNES / Neo Geo, just a fortuitous confluence of factors - a range of colors well suited to many games, and hard work by pixel artists (about those Imperial Guards in Samurai Shodown II...the blatant Full Metal Jacket framegrab traces in NAM 1975...)

I'm missing the point of your not getting the impression that HC would look better as a game for another platform. This is not Hard Corps. This is another game set in the same "universe," more or less (goofy post-Sega reconciliation Konami c.1994, see also Rocket Knight Adventures which perhaps by coincidence also has a game coming one, one which I note we've all spat upon for having rather odd looking graphics). I don't think the mere existence of this game spits upon the memory of HC.

[Obiwanshinobi]

There is nothing magical about the SNES / Neo Geo, just a fortuitous confluence of factors - a range of colors well suited to many games, and hard work by pixel artists (about those Imperial Guards in Samurai Shodown II...the blatant Full Metal Jacket framegrab traces in NAM 1975...)

I tend to make a fetish of SNES and Neo Geo because so many games on these platforms look and sound so goddamned good to me. "Looks like a SNES (or Neo Geo) game" is a compliment in my book, whereas "looks like a Genesis/MD game" isn't (as much as I respect the latter's library of games). SNES' audio chip is a potent piece of hardware too.

I'm missing the point of your not getting the impression that HC would look better as a game for another platform.

The thing is, Genesis/MD graphics usually don't turn me on as much as certain other 16-bit platforms do with their visuals. Even undeniably stylish games tend to look somewhat plain. For instance, Sparkster on the SNES is prettier than its parent games if you ask me. There is, however, a handful of MD/Genesis games I've yet to see graphically topped on 16-bit machines. To me Contra: Hard Corps looks better than Contra III. Quite analogically, I prefer the looks of the original Steel Empire, although its GBA remake sports more detailed grapics.

[UnscathedFlyingObject]

But anyways. Contra 4 is hands down the most awesomest Contra game ever. It's like a magic trick and a Contra game sandwiched together. You know, bosses sawed in half, bullets come out of thin air, and you can almost hear "wise fon yo gleiv" and lighting striking down on the graves of all the old Contra bosses. Didn't we kill all that shit before? I can't help but laugh when playing.

So, aside from the fact that Altered Beast should not be anybody's barometer for a game that delivers play value - I agree with you on the cheese value, but that's not what Contra really was about, though the developers of Contra 4 seem to have agreed considering how much time they spent fawning over some shit some Japanese guy cooked up after watching Terminator or Predator 20 and getting blazed years ago - I really don't see how it is the "most awesomest" Contra game ever.

I never got around to reviewing Contra 4 mainly because I am lazy about non-Forum things, but in the back of my mind I wanted not to take an unrepentant diarrhetic shit on Wayforward's redemptive effort after Sigma Star Saga (I finally got around to beating SSS yesterday, so that turd is fresh in my mind) but I can't ignore some of what I'm starting to wonder aren't typically WayForwardian lazy takes on good gameplay. I ought to see if I can't ask Mr. Bozon to shed some light on this.

I'll give them a pass on having the most important third of the playfield be represented by the hinge in the game system; it's not their problem Nintendo had to go with a cheap design to make the clamshell work (nor their doing that the original DS Lite's d-pad design is so very bad and unsuited for serious games), and if anything it's cool they used it to pump up the resolution and playable space.

But I will call them out on some of the poor design choices in the game:

No full-rate rapid fire for many weapons (spread etc). Hello, this is a handheld, tapping the buttons is gonna cause that shit to wiggle all over the place. Operation C got this right back when we were all kids.

Uninspired enemy design (LOL THAT ONE ANIME WE TOOK THE DUDES WITH HELMETS...were they called Helghast maybe?) and even worse boss design (as Edge Magazine's 60% review rightfully put it - enemies seem scary at first but turn out to be sad and uneventful. Kind of like the final boss in Clive Barker's Undying, actually. Now that was a good game. So is Contra 4, but I don't hold either game out there for great gameplay. My takeaway is that there was too much emphasis on aping Jin-Roh one more time (lousy movie cliche borrowings: a time-tried-and-true Contra series copout in place of original designs; I don't think the best games in the series relied on this, though), and not enough on actually making them actually interesting as computer opponents.

Randomly spawning enemies instead of doing their jobs as level and AI designers. This is still a step up from the exploration (boots to ground mode) corridor battles in Sigma Star Saga, where they couldn't make guys with throwing knives or grenades throw them any way but straight down (ironically that simplistic routine forced them to try to strategically place some of the guys, so...what did they learn for Contra 4?). This is my chief beef with the game. Yes, I beat all the Challenges (back in May '08). Hopefully Arc Systems gets this right. I'm not looking for full-on shmup mode scoring system shenanigans, but some decently arranged battles would be nice.

It was sarcasm. SARCASM!

[Specineff]

You must retrain in the ways of sarcasm, little grasshopper.

[Rob]

So the Japanese Contra III box is better than the US one?

I was speaking of Genesis/MD games.

[Specineff]

The Japanese Contra III features Ah-nuld and Macaulay Culkin on the cover.

Coincidence, or disgruntled Konami employee slipping a subliminal F-you to his superiors? (BTW, most american Konami SNES covers were kick-ass.)

[UnscathedFlyingObject]

You must retrain in the ways of sarcasm, little grasshopper.

"Sensei, onegai shimasu!"

[BrianC]

I hope this will turn out good, but I'm a bit skeptical about Arc Systems doing a run and gun, especially since I heard many of there non-fighting games are flawed.

[Ed Oscuro]

So the Japanese Contra III box is better than the US one?

I was speaking of Genesis/MD games.

Oh, I see. John Morris's constipation face is certainly better than the JPN box with girly Eric LeCarde.

It was sarcasm. SARCASM!

I was wondering about that. Yay then.

I realize that a lot of Contra games have semi-random enemy spawns, but usually just runners. It seems especially egregious in Contra 4 though with all sorts of guys just appearing randomly. I suppose that it's more the point that the Challenges highlight the limitations of the design: can't repeat runs for shit.

[Ghegs]

Preview with video footage.

It certainly looks like it'll play differently than any Contra. The guys can run, dash, airdash, doublejump, reflect bullets...

Also:

Konami and Arc System Works know exactly what Contra fans are looking for most from this one: awesome bosses. "WE LOVE BOSSES," exclaims Yamamoto.

Awesome.

[Kaiser]

Well the video is not reachable according to 1up. What a load of epic fail their vidya player is. Either way, i'm excited for this game, FORK the haters oh and yeah. I disliked Contra 4 too so I agree with Ed, it was just flawed much. Has nothing on previous contra games.

[BIL]

Worked ok for me, not sure what's up there.

Looking quite cool... the dashing and reflecting bring Strider 2 via GGX and Alien Soldier influences to mind.

[Rob]

A Contra 1 wall boss is not love.

[GaijinPunch]

That works for me. I'll be buying that.

[Elixir]

Man, it's too easy. Give me that 打開 to get through. Impossibly long life bar. You can DEFLECT BULLETS. I don't know how I should feel about this...

[Ghegs]

Man, it's too easy. Give me that 打開 to get through. Impossibly long life bar. You can DEFLECT BULLETS. I don't know how I should feel about this...

Well, you have a life bar if you choose to use it -- the game's Arcade mode allows hardcore Contra fans to test their skills in a manner that retains the classic difficulty. The new Rising mode, which you see in our videos, offers the life bar and includes character progression.

It's fair to assume Arcade mode stands for one-hit deaths. Maybe even an increase in difficulty otherwise.

And I'm really hoping they make all the dashing and doublejumping and deflecting an integral part of the stage/boss design so you really need to master the mechanics. If they're just there to act as a crutch for inexperienced players I'll be disappointed.

Really looking forward to playing this.

[Ed Oscuro]

A Contra 1 wall boss is not love.

Premier quote of our time!

Man, it's too easy.

Your expert opinion based on how many minutes of playtime?

[gct]

This looks really cool, and I'm happy the guy still spins around when he jumps! Also hoping here the new mechanics can be well put to use in the levels and boss fights.

[Ganelon]

Pretty odd we didn't see any slide ability, the integral evasive tactic for Hard Corps. So far, it looks good but there's not enough to judge on.

[Dale]

A Contra 1 wall boss is not love.

Premier quote of our time!

Yes this rubbed me completely the wrong way. I'm sick of this NES nostalgia shit trend, this better be the only reference to anything before Alein War.

It looked good otherwise the popcorns brought pressure and loved the air dashing and reflecting. It appeared that you could hold multiple weapons which would be great. I'm a big Accent Core fan hopefully they'll put similar quality into this.