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

[Ed Oscuro]

I actually don't mind the stuff in the all-new stage of Super C (bubble ceiling, elevator ride) but we've also gone a ways since then. Beats simply running across the screen at least.

[UnscathedFlyingObject]

- Animations and explosions are so-so. Weapons look weak ass.
- What's running for? Running into bullets and enemies? Make it a double tap forward to start it for extra annoyance.
- I'm not entirely sure about the dash and double jump.
- *YAWN* Wall boss. Whatever. Wasn't a particularly nice looking wall either.

[JoshF]

Less bullets than Neo Contra, lol. Judging by the life (immortality) bar this is footage from easy mode, so hopefully there will be more bullets on Hard. Also, I hope they don't love bosses too much. I'm tired of Simon Says Move Here, Simon Says Shoot Up, Simon Says Jump. It was cool for 1-2 games but shouldn't be the norm. Bring back popcorn.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Dash is clearly for those who want to speed things up. I'd rather have it than not in this kind of game, where I'm supposed to replay short levels over and over again (and in metroidvanias with all the backtracking to do).
Graphically Panzer Bandit it is not (Metal Slug redrawn in HD seems even less likely to ever appear now), but sprite-based Contra never was about great character animations, was it?
Now, where are people who claimed that sprite-based (be it pre-rendered) graphics aren't any more trouble to make in high resolutions than they were in low resolutions? Not that developers wouldn't like to make pretty 2D anymore; rather they just don't have what it takes to make it look as good as it used to in lo-res.

[Klatrymadon]

Visually, it's a bit bland, but the rest is pretty encouraging. The moveset looks like it could be a lot of fun. Air dashes, sprinting, a wee hop over crates and things... I just hope the bullet-deflection doesn't make non-boss enemies a non-issue. The spread shot fired in three directions in the video, but in seven in the screenshots, probably implying weapon upgrading. Cool!

[Ghegs]

The battle of who said what and what they actually meant has been split to its own thread. For future reference, when a moderator says to take it to PM, you STFU and take it to PM.

Back to Hard Corps: Uprising.

[Kaiser]

Well there was an Arcade Mode mentioned in the preview. Which plays classic contra style. 1-life, 1-hit, instant death. Simple as that. I'm excited for that one, hopefully it has many bosses haha.

[Acid King]

I think it looks pretty great. It could be really interesting to see if/how they implement all the moves into the stages. I think it looks good but I've gotten to the point where I just don't care about art in 2d games, I just want to see more 2d gameplay. I think this project, depending on how it is received, may be a good sign for original 2d and arcade style games on XBLA and PSN. It'd be great for this kind of stuff to really find a market in the upcoming generations, even they're just $15 downloads. If Konami can make money having Arc develop a 2d run and gun, perhaps hi def incarnations of Castlevania, Gradius or other 2d franchises isn't such a stretch.

[Obiwanshinobi]

I'll say it again: Shattered Soldier on Easy plays practically like Contra with a lifebar. Think Gunstar Heroes without the randomisation. That said, no one in their right mind calls Shattered Soldier "too easy". A visible lifebar in this one and calling the easy difficulty level "Uprising Mode" or whatever looks more like a cosmetical treatment than betrayal of the old ways.

[Ed Oscuro]

I think it looks good but I've gotten to the point where I just don't care about art in 2d games, I just want to see more 2d gameplay.

That's an interesting take. After all the good the last decade of "the Konami search for the ultimate in 2D art!" did us, it more than makes sense.

For future reference, when a moderator says to take it to PM, you STFU and take it to PM.

Also for future reference, I would've been blocking any of that coming into my inbox. I was keen to start ignoring updates on that topic before the note / split.

[Skykid]

Weirdest thing about this thread is people knocking Contra Rebirth. From that Uprising vid I'm not convinced it's actually going to be better than Rebirth unless they can seriously up the pace.

Rebirth wasn't perfect, but it was still a terrific homage to 2D Contra with nifty bosses and stage antics - and it was sufficiently full-on.

[evil_ash_xero]

It looks OK. Really short and straight forward. Will have to see what the other stages are like.

The thing that I hope for, is more platforming, as done in Contra 4. That game was awesome. Total Contra. Yeah, it was like a remix of the old games, but at least they pulled from the good stuff. And then they had their moments too, like that rocket that launches, and then you have to fight some weird monster that jumps on it...and then you have to platform your way to the engines. Just AWESOME. And I think with some stages, they topped the originals. The last stage for instance, is the coolest depiction of that "Aliens" last stage I have ever seen in Contra. I can't beat it...but it's awesome.

Sorry Skykid, but I have to disagree with ya on the Rebirth. I think I was the first person on here who said "this isn't very good". And I still feel that way. The graphics were way too underdone, and some just looked amateurish as hell(take the beginning of stage two, for instance). It had some cool boss fights here and there, but it just didn't cut it. Although the last boss was neat.

I hope for the best on this one. We'll see. But for me, we already got a kick ass Contra game recently. But I wouldn't mind another one!

[Square King]

Lots of bitching in here for what seems to be a decent 2D run and gun from a reputable developer. Give it some breathing room and don't let nostalgia hold such a tight grip on your yarbles. I didn't think Shadow Complex was too hot at first but I quickly fell in love once I realized it wasn't Metroid.

[Acid King]

That's an interesting take. After all the good the last decade of "the Konami search for the ultimate in 2D art!" did us, it more than makes sense.

Once I started to get excited about games involving gender switching fairies, I realized that it matters fuck all what the games look like so long as they played well.

[Gozer]

Some E3 footage:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E80_ITvc ... re=related

[Ed Oscuro]

"A Contra-inspired game"

Well, at least they're being honest.

The guy being knocked aside by the walker was a nice touch you'd expect to see in a classic arcade game, like Fire Shark. Contra 4 had a scene like that but it was rather unnecessary and overdone. Here it's almost a blink-and-miss-it thing to show how much the bad guys want to get you, which I always felt more in line with what the series is about. Just a random musing on my part.

The warning signs seem unnecessary but they seem to ditch them soon enough; it's probably just a gesture to modernism (handholding). The walker / drilling boss fight has some classic move telegraphing that seems well done.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Some E3 footage:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E80_ITvc ... re=related

It's begging for the charged flamethrower candy. Or maybe super powerful point blank meele attack.

[Ghegs]

Looking mighty fine there. Seems to have a nice popcorn/bosses -ratio. Now bring it home with a good use for those extra abilities.

[Ed Oscuro]

Some E3 footage:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E80_ITvc ... re=related

It's begging for the charged flamethrower candy. Or maybe super powerful point blank meele attack.

Why try to make perfect simplicity complicated?

Now bring it home with a good use for those extra abilities.

Yeah, that's the only thing I can see that could really break the game. But I see no reason to suspect they'll screw it up. On the other hand, this isn't Metroid, so some of the things like the dash and the block really strike me as pure convenience - I'm not sure how you would force those to be used without making it a chore.

[evil_ash_xero]

Oooh...

I'm glad to see that first video we saw wasn't the entire stage. This looks really promising.

I can barely understand a word the Asian fella is saying though. Is he one of the guys that made it or what?

EDIT: oh, he's the producer.

[Ghegs]

Now bring it home with a good use for those extra abilities.

Yeah, that's the only thing I can see that could really break the game. But I see no reason to suspect they'll screw it up. On the other hand, this isn't Metroid, so some of the things like the dash and the block really strike me as pure convenience - I'm not sure how you would force those to be used without making it a chore.

I can certainly think of stage designs and boss attacks that would require the use of running, (air)dashing and reflecting. I wouldn't consider those a chore. Maybe they'll link the abilities to a scoring/ranking system so that faster playthrough of a stage gets you extra points or finishing under a par time is required to get that S-rank. That'd force the player to run and dash nicely.

I can barely understand a word the Asian fella is saying though. Is he one of the guys that made it or what?

He's Kenji Yamamoto, the producer.

[evil_ash_xero]

Yeah, I hadn't gotten to the end when I first posted that.

I don't like to get my hopes up, but this looks DAMN good.

[Ed Oscuro]

extra points or finishing under a par time is required to get that S-rank. That'd force the player to run and dash nicely.

I hope you'll see how I consider repeatedly pressing a button or direction to dash in short bursts is the definition of a chore. People want to play Contra, not be human metronomes. I do see that it's a possibility. I haven't played SS yet (garr) but this seems to be the first Contra ever where there will not be a "minimum" time achieved by simply running right the whole time and finishing off bosses as quickly as possible - as you say the dash appears to allow you to scroll faster than usual. (Unless they've balanced it so that there's a recovery time - I didn't notice.)

On the other accounts, I hope and suspect you may be right.

[Obiwanshinobi]

By the way, kudos to Japanese pro developers for bringing their butts over there and chatting with westerners over their own playable demos. Not PR people, but people actually making games, those Japanese who are supposedly out of touch with English speaking internet etc. Seems like days of not giving a flying fuck about overseas markets on the development level are finally over.

Some E3 footage:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E80_ITvc ... re=related

It's begging for the charged flamethrower candy. Or maybe super powerful point blank meele attack.

Why try to make perfect simplicity complicated?

Because Shattered Soldier got it right. You can ignore charged shots in that game, but the implementation is so neat it'd be a waste. Long story short, you can destroy sturdy objects and tough bosses much faster with the charged flamethower medicine magic. Shattered Soldier utilises more buttons than your average side scroller too, but it's alright, it's still Contra to the bone. I'm all for this kind of refinements.
P.S. If you want to get the most out of Shattered Soldier, don't listen to people's bitching about Dual Shock. Get used to it as a controller for 2D platformers where you have to press many buttons (such as Super Metroid). I have big hands and no complaints in this regard.

[Gozer]

Anyone know if this will have online co-op?

Normally I wouldn't care but, since Arc is developing this I'd imagine that they could implement some decent net code for it.

[Dale]

Color me impressed. That mini-boss was absolutely what I was hoping for. They should have patterns like the main bosses missile attack to make the boost effective. I also loved the amount of mid-sized normal enemies.

[evil_ash_xero]

Here's some new screenshots and an interview with the producer.

http://www.siliconera.com/2010/08/19/ha ... he-jungle/

http://www.siliconera.com/2010/08/26/ha ... onnection/

[Ghegs]

A few new screenshots, still no release date other than "this winter".

[Ghegs]

Finally, we have a release date. Hard Corps: Uprising will be the first game released in Microsoft's House Party 2 -event on February 16th as mentioned by IGN, Kotaku and several other sites.

[GaijinPunch]

Finally a reason to boot up my systems.
One more month.