Contra: Operation Galuga

[xxx1993]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kV-8Of14gD0

Announced during the Nintendo Direct. This looks like a return to form for the Contra franchise after the Contra: Rogue Corps fiasco. Though I don't know if this takes place anywhere during the other games or if this is a complete reboot.

[Udderdude]

Wayforward is behind this one, so I have high hopes.

[xxx1993]

Considering how fun Contra 4 was…

[Ghegs]

Looks kinda ugly, and I'm not thrilled about not having one-hit kills, but I still want to give it a go.

[Lander]

I like the way Bill and Lance stare lovingly into one another's eyes while the giant alien is busting its way out of that building.

[Sumez]

Wayforward is behind this one, so I have low hopes.

[xxx1993]

Wayforward is behind this one, so I have low hopes.

I dunno, I liked Contra 4 and Spidersaurs kicked ass…

[cfx]

Wayforward so I'm hopeful, but it's got that plasticy look I don't like, sort of reminds me of what they did with Double Dragon Neon.

I wish it looked like Hard Corps: Uprising instead. Still if it's good I'll put up with the graphics.

[BurlyHeart]

Speaking from playing quite a few of their beat em ups, Wayforward games look great and can sometimes play great too, but they often stray too far from the arcade formula for my tastes.

EDIT: Wow these graphics look straight from a modern mobile game (see Metal Slug Awakening). They also mention an "upgraded weapon system" in the YouTube description

[xxx1993]

Although I hear that this game is supposed to be a "reimagining" of the original, I use that term very loosely because it honestly feels more like a reboot of the series if anything. I don't remember having two female soldiers fighting alongside Bill and Lance, it's like Metal Slug now (its rival series). Now, I wonder if Gava, the main villain of the series, will be the final boss this time?

[To Far Away Times]

Yeah that is fugly. Game got run through the Deathsmiles II downgrade filter.

Gameplay seemed intact from the quick cuts but kinda hard to tell though.

[Sir Ilpalazzo]

They also mention an "upgraded weapon system" in the YouTube description

To be fair this is probably just the AC Super Contra / Operation C / Contra 4 weapon upgrade mechanic; the screenshots on the official site show weapon icons of different colors in a way that indicates something like that is going on. Plus there are weapon-dependent supers / charge shots that seem to require some kind of significant charge time (see the O under the players' health bars). Nothing too offensive, inherently, though depending on how the super's charging works I could see that being problematic.

I'm reasonably optimistic for this. At least it's a sidescroller and doesn't look and sound immediately repellent, even if its visuals are pretty bland.

[Lemnear]

Wayforward is behind this one, so I have low hopes.

Same... and i'm someone that got this for free + 5€ of Coupon by Amazon...

Spoiler

Although I hear that this game is supposed to be a "reimagining" of the original, I use that term very loosely because it honestly feels more like a reboot of the series if anything.

The best way to make a flop, always...
Im not a fan of Contra, but sounds so stupid to "reboot" something that is iconic.
Like if Wayforward is better than the original developers ...pff...
there's this kind of presumption by the teams that do this stuff.

[NYN]

C4 didn't do it for me, so WayForward is not a smooth choice for any revival.

Another thing are the babes for 4 Player mode. In an OTT scenario like Contra the gals look like they're scared to pull the trigger. It's bad that Bill 'n Lance don't look enough like meatheads, instead so much "corrected" from the established flavour, but the babes look just weak. Naaaww, wrong 'tude.

[cfx]

Same... and i'm someone that got this for free + 5€ of Coupon by Amazon...

Spoiler

What's wrong with that? I have it and like it a lot. If I recall, it is the reason I originally bought my PS4.

[Lemnear]

Same... and i'm someone that got this for free + 5€ of Coupon by Amazon...

Spoiler

What's wrong with that? I have it and like it a lot. If I recall, it is the reason I originally bought my PS4.

The game itself, nothing, but the level design is a bit...bland...
Mobile games graphic style doesn't help in the case of this Contra...is the most distant things someone can do to "an old brand reboot"...

[AGermanArtist]

I wasn't crazy about it, but I remember the considerable online hype around Contra 4 and its devs, so it seems like Konami is listening. Which is promising. I hope this is the first of their promised re-boots.

[xxx1993]

Wayforward is behind this one, so I have low hopes.

Same... and i'm someone that got this for free + 5€ of Coupon by Amazon...

Spoiler

Although I hear that this game is supposed to be a "reimagining" of the original, I use that term very loosely because it honestly feels more like a reboot of the series if anything.

The best way to make a flop, always...
Im not a fan of Contra, but sounds so stupid to "reboot" something that is iconic.
Like if Wayforward is better than the original developers ...pff...
there's this kind of presumption by the teams that do this stuff.

To be honest, Contra has been in desperate need of a reboot after Shattered Soldier and Neo, despite being great games and favorites of mine. And here's why.

Spoiler

Shattered Soldier and Neo fucked things up by making Lance Bean into a bad guy and the aliens having been revealed to be guardians of a stolen artifact. And Neo making Lucia and even apparently Bill Rizer himself evil.

[Lander]

Wayforward is behind this one, so I have no strong feelings one way or the other.

[xxx1993]

Hasn't Wayforward made any good games, though?

[bigbadboaz]

They have a strange rep. Some adore C4 and think they're the ideal choice for any modern 2D title, some are the complete opposite - and I mean total revulsion. I really don't get it.

FWIW, this looks promising to me. Not at all as bad visually as some 2.5D games have been; I think some of the reactions reflect people who insist on pixel art or GTFO. It clearly isn't going to get the budget to look as good as an AAA first-person shooter or anything.

[BrianC]

I'll wait and see. Not sure why WayForward is using 3D this time around. Speaking of WayForward, how did Advance Wars 1+2 turn out?

[cfx]

They have a strange rep. Some adore C4 and think they're the ideal choice for any modern 2D title, some are the complete opposite - and I mean total revulsion. I really don't get it.

FWIW, this looks promising to me. Not at all as bad visually as some 2.5D games have been; I think some of the reactions reflect people who insist on pixel art or GTFO. It clearly isn't going to get the budget to look as good as an AAA first-person shooter or anything.

I like Wayforward. Not everything they do, like any developer, but the Shantae games and River City Girls I think are great. Never played C4 since I can't stand playing on portables, though I'd have played if if it was somewhere else.

I don't insist on pixel art and I'm ok with 2.5D. My issue with this particular 2.5D is the player characters and some of the enemies like the big boss shown, that have that weird plasticy look. The player characters in particular--something about the lighting they stand out a weird way at least in some of the images where they don't look like they're actually in the world.

While it's obviously not the same style, it reminds me of what Wayforward did with Double Dragon Neon, which I also did not think looked very good. I think both of them look like the characters are like plastic action figures rather than "real" in the sense of fitting some appropriate aesthetics of the game.

It's not awful but that's my gripe with it. I much prefer the 2.5D of the Arc System Works-developed Hard Corps: Uprising. Part of that is the sprite characters, but it's also just the overall aesthetics.

A game with a somewhat similar style to this one that I think did it far better and that I like the look of is Bionic Commando: Rearmed that was on PS3 and some other platforms. The first game only; the second one went with a somewhat more cartoony style that didn't work well in my opinion.

[XoPachi]

Looks kinda ugly, and I'm not thrilled about not having one-hit kills, but I still want to give it a go.

The visuals and what I'm assuming is the music for the game are horrible. I'm not even on a head in the sand "pixel art beddur" type of energy. But you compare this to what they did for Contra 4, the difference is night and asteroid impact. I've never liked the look of any WF game since they stopped doing pixel art. They just really do not making appealing 3D (or Flash) visuals. Their best was Shantae 4 and even then it wasn't that great. Then 5 absolutely went downhill. But part of me thinks Konami wants them to use a style similar to the Tencent garbage as that's what this and Rogue Corps immediately remind me of. SS and Neo were the only ones I liked in 3D.

But on a second look, the game does look like fun. The air dashing is always something I'm a sucker for. I'll take the ugly aliens and 80's machismo over whatever the Hell Uprising was supposed to be at least. Even with the poor visuals.

[cfx]

Yeah we're 180 from each other as seems to be usual. I love the look of Shantae 4 and 5 and vastly prefer them to the low-res pixel art of the other Shantae games, and I already wrote what I think of Hard Corps: Uprising. Shattered Soldier looked ok but I thought Neo Contra was really ugly.

I didn't even notice the air dashing here but I see it now. That's another negative for me.

I agree that the music in the video is largely forgettable renditions of previous Contra tunes. I don't particularly remember the music in the other games being all that special either though.

[Ghegs]

I hadn't noticed the air dash before either. And there's a double jump too, now that I look more closely. Those are pretty un-Contra-like things, but I don't want to condemn those right away, I have to get my hands on the game first and see how they feel and work with the stage designs. Could be good, could be meh.

I quite liked how Shattered Soldier looked, though I seem to recall some people complaining back then it was too dark and gritty. I think the problem's more with Galuga's art style, it's so...mobile-y.

I couldn't get into Contra 4 either due to it being stuck on the DS. Makes me sad, I still have the game on my shelf. I ended up playing more Contra Advance simply because I could slap it into the Game Boy Player and use a proper controller.

[sunnshiner]

Spidersaurs looks like pretty good fun but then so did Hard Corps: Uprising until I got into it. Is it as grindy as that?

[AGermanArtist]

I'm kinda tired of the cartoony, daft cod-macho self-awareness that seemingly started with Alien Wars.
I'd love to dial it back to something like AC Super Contra. Shattered Soldier came close.

[cfx]

Spidersaurs looks like pretty good fun but then so did Hard Corps: Uprising until I got into it. Is it as grindy as that?

I don't remember anything grindy about Hard Corps: Uprising? Unless you are playing Rising Mode or whatever it's called? I only ever play the arcade mode as the whole idea of having levels and such seemed antithetical to what I want out of an arcade game.

I haven't played Spidersaurs though, but the reviews I've seen claim it was too easy.

For reference, Hard Corps: Uprising was Arc System Works, not Wayforward so maybe not directly comparable anyway.

[copy-paster]

I quite liked how Shattered Soldier looked, though I seem to recall some people complaining back then it was too dark and gritty.

This is a common complaint and I agree, using in-game brightness makes some backgrounds barely visible at all I had to mess with PCSX2's brightness and contrast slider until it looks better with backgrounds are looking clear.

Honestly SS is just damn near perfect with some tweaks here and there: More run and gun segments, brightness and music/SFX slider. I like the fixed 6-weapon mode makes it more tactical ala Irem shmups (certain sections best suited with correct weapon). One of the best feature in any run and gun that's really important: Direction lock will make you aim in one angle while moving freely, very good for boss battles! And sadly many modern run and gun lacks this feature for whatever reason. Games like Cuphead would've been greatly benefited with it IMO, even I don't think this feature would be present in Operation Galuga either (it did appear in Hard Corps Uprising btw).