Contra: Hard Corps

Contra: Hard Corps
North American cover art
Developer(s)	Konami
Publisher(s)	Konami
Designer(s)	Nobuya Nakazato
Platform(s)	Mega Drive/Genesis
Release	NA September 14 1994 JP September 15 1994 EU October 14 1994
Genre(s)	Run and gun
Mode(s)	Single player, Cooperative

Contra: Hard Corps (魂斗羅ザ・ハードコア, kontora za hādokoa) (lit.: "Contra: The Hard Corps") is the fifth installment in the Contra series of games by Konami, and was released for the Sega Mega Drive/Sega Genesis in 1994. It was released in Europe and Australia as Probotector. The game's title is a pun on the word hardcore.

The game retained the fast-paced run and gun gameplay from previous titles but slightly shifted focus from fighting onslaughts of enemy troops and vehicles to mainly boss encounters. Some enhancements were established in this title such as multiple paths, endings and selectable characters.

Storyline

The storyline occurs five years after the events of Contra III: The Alien Wars, in 2641 A.D. The alien threat is gone and civilization is re-building. In order to enforce law and order in the rebuilding world, the Hard Corps is assembled.

The game opens when a security system has been breached and causes robots to break loose and wreak havoc on Neo City. The robot insurrection is but a diversion to catch the Hard Corps' attention while an unknown task force infiltrates the city’s defense computer complex. Further investigation leads to Colonel Bahamut, a hero from the Alien Wars, who aspires world domination with the aid of an alien cell which had been stored in the defense complex. It is up to the members of the Hard Corps task force to investigate and vanquish this threat.

Characters

The Hard Corps team is composed of Ray Poward, Sheena Etranzi, Brad Fang, and Browny (all of whom are selectable at the start).

• Ray Poward: Born and raised in the slums of Neo City, Ray was once leader of a group of delinquent youths. He was later recruited by the Hard Corps for his unsurpassed skills in combat and has since become a central figure in the Hard Corps. He is later seen in the two decanonized PlayStation Contra games, Contra: Legacy of War and C: The Contra Adventure.
• Sheena Etranzi: Female soldier and an expert in guerrilla warfare.
• Brad Fang: A wolf-human hybrid who specializes in close range, hand-to-hand combat, although he also possesses a "gun-arm" that permanently replaced his left hand.
• Browny: Officially known as Model CX-1-DA300 Combat Robot. He was given the nickname "Browny" due to his warm personality.
• Colonel Bahamut: A hero of the Alien Wars. He attempted to overthrow the government in a coup d'état in 2639 and has been in hiding since.
• Noiman Cascade: An exceptional hacker who aids Colonel Bahamut in his quest for world domination.
• Deadeye Joe: A fierce mercenary who has had most of his body replaced with cyborg parts.
• Dr. Geo Mandrake: Leading scientist of the military's genetics engineering branch. He was allegedly involved in development of biological warfare strategies during the Alien Wars.

Gameplay

Ray and Sheena meet an enormous mid-boss in stage 1

This game's stages are a departure from previous Contra games. Unlike the previous titles where most of the game is spent fighting through stages, this game is almost entirely composed of fighting bosses. This is the level style that is adopted for all later Contra games. The game has been characterized, even by veteran run and gun players, as being extremely difficult. In the same vein as the first Contra game (the arcade version), the original Japanese version has three hit points per life, whereas the American and European versions are one-hit kills. In addition, the Japanese version features cheat codes that enables he player to get "infinite" lives (actually 98 lives), and all weapons. All those codes were disabled in western releases.

Since there were not enough buttons on the Sega Genesis controller to incorporate all the functions from Contra III: The Alien Wars, the three face buttons were used to Shoot, Jump, and Switch weapons. Pressing the Switch button alone simply cycles through the player's current weapons. Holding the Shoot button and pressing Switch allows the player to switch between aim mode (cannot shoot while moving, but can aim in all eight directions without having to move), and free mode (can shoot while moving, but will move while aiming diagonally). However, the game is compatible with Sega's six-button controller. With that controller, the X, Y, and Z buttons are used to toggle the aiming modes. The smart bombs from Contra III can be found, but they must be selected manually to use. Each character is also able to slide, by pressing Down and Jump. This ability allows the player to pass through enemies and their shots unscathed, as long as the character is not still touching them when the animation stops.

Each character has different weapons:

Character	Weapon A	Weapon B	Weapon C	Weapon D
Ray	Vulcan Laser	Crash Bombs	Spread	Homing Missiles
Sheena	Genocide Vulcan	Shower Crash Grenades	Break Laser	Ax Laser
Fang	Ion disperse	Power Punch	Flamethrower	Psychic Blaster
Browny	Victory Laser	Gemini Scatter Grenades	Electromagnetic Yo-yo	Shield Chaser

File:Contra Hard Corps screenshot.png

Brad Fang fighting in a pseudo 3-D stage

There are multiple routes through the game leading to several different endings:

STAGE 1	STAGE 2	STAGE 4 / STAGE 13	STAGE 5	STAGE 6	STAGE 7	STAGE 11	ROUTE A
					STAGE 8	STAGE 9	ROUTE B
	STAGE 3				STAGE 10		ROUTE C
					STAGE 12		ROUTE D

Probotector changes

Not only was this the last Probotector game for the European market, this has the most changes in the game. While previous game have just changed the main character and/or enemies into robots, there were more extensive changes to the game due to the heavier emphasis on the storyline:

• The four main characters' names are changed to "CX-(1-4)". In addition, the sprites of Ray, Sheena, and Fang were redesigned into robots, with Sheena's redesign being a mere palette swap of Ray's.
• Additionally, Colonel Bahamut and Deadeye Joe have been redesigned into aliens. Only Noiman Cascade and Dr. Geo Mandrake remain relatively unchanged, although Dr. Mandrake's role has been downplayed so that he is no longer a traitor.
• The alien cell has been changed into the X Drive, described in the game as "a newly developed energy system with unimaginable power".
• In Stage 9, the villain no longer offers the player to join him.
• Occurrences of "Damn!" have been replaced with "Blast!" or "Oh no!"

Trivia

• One of the songs in the game is a remixed version of a song from another fellow Konami game, Castlevania. It is called "Simon 1994 AD" and it is a remix of the song "Vampire Killer". In fact, the track is used during a secret boss battle against an enemy named "Simon Jr.", who fights the player with a whip, as well as a fish thrown like a boomerang, an homage to Castlevania protagonist Simon Belmont.

• Although Ray is supposed to be saying "Lock and loading" it sounds rather hilariously like "Lock and roni".

External links

• Contra: Hard Corps @ The Contra HQ
• Contra: Hard Corps at MobyGames