Contra: Hard Corps (Genesis) Playthrough - NintendoComplete
680A playthrough of Konami's 1994 run-and-gun shooter for the Sega Genesis, Contra: Hard Corps.
I play through the longest path of the game as Ray, showing what (in my opinion) is the best ending, though granted, it's not as epically weird as the secret monkey ending.
I love this game. It is right up there with Contra III: The Alien Wars in its general quality, but its much harder than that game played on its hard mode. The graphics are fantastic for a Genesis game - everything moves blazingly fast, and the enemy design really highlights Konami's creativity at its peak. The controls probably could have benefitted from supporting the 6-button controller (it can be super-easy sometimes to get killed trying to change your weapons when you accidentally shift the shot mode), but I can't complain at all at how responsive and smooth they are otherwise. The music is also amazing, but seriously, Konami needed to get a grip on the digital stuff. For as excellent as their games were usually a showcase of technical mastery on just about any system, but their voice samples always sounded absolutely terrible, and this game is no different. Am I the only one that always heard "Burger eyes" instead of "Overdrive"? It's not quite as terrible as the NES game Ikari Warriors 2 for its unintelligibility, but it's not THAT far off.
But like I said, this game is amazingly hard. The Japanese one is MUCH easier, putting the US version in the same stable as Streets of Rage 3 or Konami's older The Adventures of Bayou Billy on the NES. It is completely beatable, but it really requires knowing the patterns and timings of every boss and mini-boss to stand a reasonable chance at. I loved the stiff challenge, but many I doubt would have the patience to chip away at the game, facing hundreds of game over screens along the way.
I was pretty pleased at how I played for this video - usually I have to use a continue to get to the end. I seriously don't know how people can get through it without dying. They have far more patience that I've been blessed with. But then, I'd never try to claim to be the best player at it. Merely good. Getting to "good" took far more effort in Hard Corps. than it would take to be god-like in most games, including ANY other Contra.
Well, maybe besides Hard Corps Uprising. ;)
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No cheats were used during the recording of this video.
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