The Non-Shmup 1CC Thread - Share Your Triumphs Here!

[BIL]

Cheers BIL. I actually watched one of your replays as part of my learnings. I've nicked that wall-jump gambit you deployed at the start of the Joker fight, hope you don't mind

Not at all, I'm honoured. A rough spot to be in, across the screen from the elephant gun + lightning-wielding big bad! Gotta close that lethal distance somehow before the real fight begins. (my headcanon: the heli that drags poor Jokester to his doom in the movie, but doesn't have to here because Bats flat-out executes him is hovering just above-frame, a Tesla coil gaffer-taped to its runners )

[BEAMLORD]

Certainly, that jump can save you at least one if not 2 hit-points, potentially making all the difference in the grand scheme. I like to gloat over his prone self, but not for too long lest the cunt rise up once more.

[BIL]

A sound approach. Currently enjoying a break from The Hard Gaming via FromSoft's latter-day ARPGs, which espouse a similarly oldschool mindset re: the coup de grace. No "1337 COMBOS" here matey! Put those cunts in the ground before they stab you several Brand New Arseholes!

[BEAMLORD]

Fuck those pontificating clerics, man! The axe is too good for them.
The modern 3D realm is a blind spot of mine. But then, I am a Switch owner, so that primo marauding will have to wait for me

[blazinglazers69]

Currently learning Contra Hard Corps and WHAT A FUCKING BANGER HOLY SHIT IT'S A DOG-MAN WITH AN ASSAULT RIFLE ARM. It's so glorious. It's the most "90s rad" feeling game I have ever played. Just top notch Konami, man. Holy shit.

Now I will say--I am being a disgusting casual and playing the ROMhack the restores the original Japanese 3-hits per life system. I find this wayyyy more enjoyable than the American version. Like, why would they take that away? Seems like a ploy to unnecessarily pad the game length out and increase rentals, I guess. Such a dumb fad and also why I prefer Bare Knuckle 3 to Streets of Rage 3.

But yeah this is my first Contra game. I tried Alien Wars for SNES a bit and idk. It's good, but those top-down levels are a fucking drag and just did not age well at all. Hard Corps just looks and feels better.

[BIL]

The good thing about Hard Corps JP is, aside from the hitpoints, the game is 100% identical to the US version. So if you're going for a no-miss, as Contra fans are wont to do, you'll have an equally tough but far less onerous to learn game.

I grew up with the Genesis version, and distinctly recall the taste of despair when I got my ass handed to me by the third boss and resorted to GamePro's level select cheat... which, unbeknownst to the esteemed journal, had been deleted from the US version, along with the lives and powerup ones.

In hindsight, I'm glad they did that. However, the total lack of rebalancing does make the US version noticeably shoddy at times. There's a certain late boss I won't spoil, whose big centerpiece attack goes from "hey maybe they'll have some hitpoints left!" on JP to "yeah, they're fucked" on US. You're also losing weapons a lot more frequently in US, which just makes things exponentially meaner (and potentially outright annoying, with the DPS gulf between the peashooter and everything else). Finally, the JP one's a lot handier for co-op games with noob friends, who'll be running out of lives every two minutes on US.

TLDR: US version is a quickie hack designed to make the learning curve a bitch. Don't worry about going with JP. 1LC difficulty is identical across versions, and canonically required for Contra rank so therefore are the only clears that matter.

[To Far Away Times]

Oh yeah, Hard Corps is good shit. I love the set piece, boss heavy style of the game. Contra Shattered Controller on PS2 would end up iterating on Hard Corps' style and is my favorite run 'n gun ever.

[Gamer707b]

Just finished Astro Boy Omega Factor GBA. What a banger of a bang!! They packed so much awesome into this little game. I think this is quite possibly the prettiest looking GBA game that I've played. Got the ending, but the game really opens up after. I'll go back and 100% at a later time, but thoroughly enjoyed it. I've been on a Treasure game this year and have completed something like 6 Treasure games just in the last few months. Now where is that new Treasure game I keep hearing about!!??

[BurlyHeart]

Final Vendetta Hard 1cc with the grappler Miller https://youtu.be/nQJAjv8gBm8

I had a lot of fun playing this. It can be cheap for sure, but it was fun learning. Ultra is the next difficulty unlocked and apparently you only get 2 lives total to finish the game :O

[Gamer707b]

Currently learning Contra Hard Corps and WHAT A FUCKING BANGER HOLY SHIT IT'S A DOG-MAN WITH AN ASSAULT RIFLE ARM. It's so glorious. It's the most "90s rad" feeling game I have ever played. Just top notch Konami, man. Holy shit.

Now I will say--I am being a disgusting casual and playing the ROMhack the restores the original Japanese 3-hits per life system. I find this wayyyy more enjoyable than the American version. Like, why would they take that away? Seems like a ploy to unnecessarily pad the game length out and increase rentals, I guess. Such a dumb fad and also why I prefer Bare Knuckle 3 to Streets of Rage 3.

But yeah this is my first Contra game. I tried Alien Wars for SNES a bit and idk. It's good, but those top-down levels are a fucking drag and just did not age well at all. Hard Corps just looks and feels better.

I feel the same way too about Alien Wars. I wanna like it, but those top down levels are a atrocious. I bought Hard Corps a couple months ago, so I am looking forward to that one.

[BIL]

It undeniably helps that I'm a big fan of Namco's Assault (ACA release pls), which Contra III's topdown stages are basically direct lifts of - but regardless, they're a lot more tolerable if you have a decent route down. Neither should take more than a minute or so if you follow those examples. There's undoubtedly even quicker routes, but I find these safe and easily-repeatable.

The bosses are both pretty basic too, as long as you know a couple of semi-hidden mechanics. On Hard mode, don't blow up st2's tail laser while he's still got gunpods intact; his pancake attack will become a random instakiller (with all pods gone, just hold [down] to back out of his dropzone). For the second... double-tapping [L] or [R] normally causes your character to rotate extra-quickly. Here, it'll also neutralise the "spin tiles," which he's sitting in a nest of. Potentially infuriating if you don't know this. Once the carousel phase starts up, just double-tap to neutralise the spin, and duck his flame blasts as needed. (keep the shoulder button held as you stand back up; you'll automatically lock back into place).

Ah jeeze, every time that st5 bastard comes up I end up writing another paragraph on him. (you can tell how nervous I was by my shameful victory non-pose, in the clips above! couldn't follow through on my st2 AtM dominator! meanwhile, Master Hurblat goes ham on FIVE GREAT HOLES like a PGA pro! )

[pegboy]

Contra iii > hard corps.

I must be the only person on earth that likes the top view stages, although admittedly I much prefer the super contra type top view levels than the ones in iii.

[o.pwuaioc]

Contra iii > hard corps.

I must be the only person on earth that likes the top view stages, although admittedly I much prefer the super contra type top view levels than the ones in iii.

I don't love the top down stages, but Contra III is the tits indeed. Hard Corps is great, don't get me wrong, but you can tell the age of someone by how much they love Brad Fang, aka the Contra equivalent to Poochie. (Only half kidding here.) I also strongly prefer well-designed levels over boss rushes.

[BurlyHeart]

Got to vote for Hard Corps here. The style of the game is so good - it completely blew me away the first time I played. It's tons of fun.

III is great too, but playing it doesn't make me smile ear-to-ear like Hard Corps.

[xxx1993]

I’d tolerate Hard Corps if not for the branching paths. Not to mention some of the endings peeve me, such as Bahamut escaping in a helicopter after the Alien Cell is destroyed, or you end up fighting Deadeye Joe after killing Bahamut.

[BIL]

What's wrong with Deadeye Joe fighting on? 3; He gets a shaweeet jetpack suit, and a badass sendoff.

"Stop this! The Colonel is already dead!"
"TO HELL WITH THE COLONEL! I'M GOING FOR BROKE!" Yooo that's fuckin hardcore

I have a sneaking suspicion Joe might be legit fucking insane You know, with how he goes out in various other balls-out fashions throughout the branching story I like how the Hard Corps bros are angered at one of his more tragic downfalls ;-;7 Perhaps they recognise a fellow CONTRA

You know, a Hard Corps prequel about Joe might be interesting. Maybe he really was a Contra, a comrade of Bill and Lance who got BTFO to ensure their success in Contra III, only to be resurrected! But each time these revenant heroes are brought back... more and more of them is missing. Until you end up with just a shell of a man, nothing more than a killing machine!

I ain't talking more run/gun either! Nah. A game with a healthy fuckton of different vehicles for your wired-up renegade cyborg to commandeer. Sort of Metal Slug 3's cornucopia of crazy war machines, more formally arranged. Bring back the OG Contra perspective splits, too. Topdown tank missions, 3rd person bike stages, sidescrolling STG bits, you know. Could be fun. I'd put the default difficulty at comfy, aiming to get the player used to the various machines, with an optional AC difficulty that'd stomp ass and make noobs cry as expected.

Anyhoo, the real problem with Hard Corps' branching system is that the game's single least replayable stage - Jungle - is smacked right into the hub. So to enjoy all that (beautiful) endgame content, you're looking at minimum four go-arounds with That Fucking Jungle Boss. Who'd be fine, if they chopped out all the inter-form clomping about. God bless Nakazato - he gave it his best shot, but IMO backed the wrong horse. True "infinite replayability" in no-nonsense AC format comes from a finely-tuned course with expertly-implemented volatility. See Daimakaimura and Saigo no Nindou for masterclass examples. Short (~15min), tough set courses, whose RNG will legsweep complacent or cocky players in the blink of an eye, no matter how many times they've been cleared.

That inexhaustible tension (and excitement!) comes not from seeing new stages - it's from revisiting old ones whose fiendishly-arrayed dangers remain unknowable. HC itself has flashes of this, in its best bosses Claw Bahamut, Spheroid Joe and especially that crazy motherfucker PROFESSOR DR. CRAB - riveting duels ERREH TYME.

All this said, the endgame content (and most of the pre-Jungle content) is fuckin ace, and with the JP stage select, it's a snap to What If it all in one marathon go for SHIN S-RANK performance. Use all four characters even! (swap between 'em if playing 2P) I'll always pine for better arrangement, but it's supremely lovable work overall.

[copy-paster]

Speaking of Hard Corps I found a hack that combines all stages into one single run, was really nice it ends around an hour and 15-minute ish. It was prepatched sadly so can't share here but could share in PMs.

Contra III still owns me after all the years, one day I'll put this down. And yes I straight playing on Hard.

Shattered Soldier brings nice combination of III's controls and Hard Corps stage design, my only downside is there isn't much run and gun section it would've been benefited with the new aim lock mechanic (very best feature in run and guns!). Varied weapons right from get-go and permanent makes for methodical strategic use, so no more "save best weapon and carry it as long as I can".

Be warned though that stage select only available if you completed a stage first, this has been a plague for terrible stage select requirements in late 90s-early 2000s arcade ports (Gradius III and IV, Neo Contra, Gradius V, Raiden III etc. have this too). So if you wanna unlock stage 5, 6 and final stage you have to complete them first and get an A rank minimum and it's harder than it sounds, very old-school shit.

[BurlyHeart]

Speaking of Hard Corps I found a hack that combines all stages into one single run, was really nice it ends around an hour and 15-minute ish. It was prepatched sadly so can't share here but could share in PMs.

That sounds mad interesting and hella lot of fun

[xxx1993]

What's wrong with Deadeye Joe fighting on? 3; He gets a shaweeet jetpack suit, and a badass sendoff.

"Stop this! The Colonel is already dead!"
"TO HELL WITH THE COLONEL! I'M GOING FOR BROKE!" Yooo that's fuckin hardcore

I have a sneaking suspicion Joe might be legit fucking insane You know, with how he goes out in various other balls-out fashions throughout the branching story I like how the Hard Corps bros are angered at one of his more tragic downfalls ;-;7 Perhaps they recognise a fellow CONTRA

You know, a Hard Corps prequel about Joe might be interesting. Maybe he really was a Contra, a comrade of Bill and Lance who got BTFO to ensure their success in Contra III, only to be resurrected! But each time these revenant heroes are brought back... more and more of them is missing. Until you end up with just a shell of a man, nothing more than a killing machine!

I ain't talking more run/gun either! Nah. A game with a healthy fuckton of different vehicles for your wired-up renegade cyborg to commandeer. Sort of Metal Slug 3's cornucopia of crazy war machines, more formally arranged. Bring back the OG Contra perspective splits, too. Topdown tank missions, 3rd person bike stages, sidescrolling STG bits, you know. Could be fun. I'd put the default difficulty at comfy, aiming to get the player used to the various machines, with an optional AC difficulty that'd stomp ass and make noobs cry as expected.

Anyhoo, the real problem with Hard Corps' branching system is that the game's single least replayable stage - Jungle - is smacked right into the hub. So to enjoy all that (beautiful) endgame content, you're looking at minimum four go-arounds with That Fucking Jungle Boss. Who'd be fine, if they chopped out all the inter-form clomping about. God bless Nakazato - he gave it his best shot, but IMO backed the wrong horse. True "infinite replayability" in no-nonsense AC format comes from a finely-tuned course with expertly-implemented volatility. See Daimakaimura and Saigo no Nindou for masterclass examples. Short (~15min), tough set courses, whose RNG will legsweep complacent or cocky players in the blink of an eye, no matter how many times they've been cleared.

That inexhaustible tension (and excitement!) comes not from seeing new stages - it's from revisiting old ones whose fiendishly-arrayed dangers remain unknowable. HC itself has flashes of this, in its best bosses Claw Bahamut, Spheroid Joe and especially that crazy motherfucker PROFESSOR DR. CRAB - riveting duels ERREH TYME.

All this said, the endgame content (and most of the pre-Jungle content) is fuckin ace, and with the JP stage select, it's a snap to What If it all in one marathon go for SHIN S-RANK performance. Use all four characters even! (swap between 'em if playing 2P) I'll always pine for better arrangement, but it's supremely lovable work overall.

Yeah, it's true that Deadeye Joe didn't give a damn about his boss, he only wants to fight for the sake of fighting. Deadeye Joe goes down very easily, though. But isn't there already a Hard Corps prequel that focused on Bahamut?

[To Far Away Times]

Contra iii > hard corps.

I must be the only person on earth that likes the top view stages, although admittedly I much prefer the super contra type top view levels than the ones in iii.

I am team Hard Corps over III, though younger me would have scoffed at the idea. My problem with III is that I can compare it directly to the NES Contra and I feel it comes up short. Hard Corps is such a different beast, with a different design, it almost feels like a game Treasure would have made; and I love it for how far the team tried to push the envelope.

[xxx1993]

Another ending I didn’t like in Hard Corps is when you sacrifice yourself to defeat the final boss… I feel like the endings that occur if you chase after Deadeye Joe over securing the research center are the worst ones.

[Stevens]

aka the Contra equivalent to Poochie.

I was one of the people who hated that episode when it first aired. Grew on me over time. It's actually really funny.

[Sengoku Strider]

I am team Hard Corps over III, though younger me would have scoffed at the idea. My problem with III is that I can compare it directly to the NES Contra and I feel it comes up short. Hard Corps is such a different beast, with a different design, it almost feels like a game Treasure would have made; and I love it for how far the team tried to push the envelope.

Aside from worrying about the NES version, this echoes my feelings as well. Time was it would have been knives out if someone had tried to tell me Hard Corps was better, but the years (and actually owning both) have softened me on that one. Little but good things to say about either, though.

The Treasure comparison is spot on. I 100% thought Treasure were the Hard Corps team for years, until I clued into the minor detail that Hard Corps came out a year after Gunstar did (almost to the day). And I know I'm not alone on that one. With Hard Corps & Bloodlines I kind of get the impression that some at Konami took the Treasure devs leaving and the subsequent public statements about it sucking to work there personally. Hard Corps really does come across as a 'See? We don't need you anyway' shot across the bow, and Bloodlines with its more arcadey style and segmented bosses feels like it picked up the same gauntlet.

[Sir Ilpalazzo]

I definitely lean towards putting 3 over Hard Corps, but they're incredibly close in my mind anyway. 3's single course - particularly on hard mode - is more interesting than any individual part of Hard Corps; its enemy swarms and bosses are more volatile and more fun to take down, while Hard Corps falls a little more easily to straightforward memorization. Even with its middling jungle boss, HC is still extremely fun to throw on for a few back-to-back casual replays because of its branching paths and distinct characters - both things that do add a lot of value to it on the whole - but 3 just barely edges it out with its stronger single playthough.

I don't have an issue with Contra 3's top-down levels. They're definitely initially awkward but they still maintain a decent level of intensity and are easy to control. Ideally they would have been linear courses like NES Super Contra's, though, which certainly has the best nonstandard stages of the series. Having said all of that, I would agree that Contra 3 isn't quite as fun as either of the NES games if played on normal mode; it lacks venom in comparison and is a little more focused on spectacle. It doesn't truly shine until you reach hard mode, but hard mode is initially unfriendly and a bit memorization-heavy.

[BrainΦΠΦTemple]

Geostorm/GunForce II [Japan Version] (Arcade) - Hard - Cleared - NoMiss

nOthing too fancy. this is a pretty eAsy game, but it's a blAst

[Air Master Burst]

Just finished the Shredder's Revenge Gnarly 1CC solo with April. Admittedly a lot of stages but currently my GOTY. Been on a modern belt-scroller kick and I'm pretty close to the SOR4 Mania 1CC with Max or Cherry. Took a first crack at Fight'N Rage and it seems meaty enough to sink some hours into. Incredibly interested in Dawn of the Monsters and Jitsu Squad, too.

I adore Contra III and spent a decent chunk of one of the best summers of my life playing it, but if I'm being honest with myself Hard Corps destroys it in every meaningful measure. Hard agree on Brad Wolf having big Poochie vibes, though.

[xxx1993]

Finally cleared Revolution X and found all Aerosmith members in the game!

[Gamer707b]

I'll chime in on the Contra debate. I'll agree with To Far Away Times in that Hard Corps feels like it could of totally been made by Treasure. Love the branching paths. I like the level design and the fast paced nature of it all. How were they able to cram everything they did into this game is beyond me. The bosses are all very unique and again, have that "Treasure boss feel". It also has a darker aesthetic to III. III is still a great game, but the overhead levels kill some of the enjoyment for me. I'm clearly team Hard Corps.

[xxx1993]

What’s so good about branching? That’s one of the worst aspects of Hard Corps! It’s one of the reasons why I couldn’t get into the game so much!

[Air Master Burst]

Branching paths are great at adding variety without padding runtime. Arcade style games shouldn't take 3 hours for a single clear, but if you separate it into managable chunks then get more replay value with less time investment.