Previous Contras presented players with a gauntlet of linear platforming stages, each of which featured a hoard of cannon fodder bad guys throughout and a big boss fight at the end. Unless you count the wretched Contra Force from 1993, that is, which many don’t, as it was an unrelated project that had the Contra name slapped on it in a desperate bid to help sales. More significantly, it was also the first to make any substantial changes to the design template established by the 1987 original. It’s noteworthy for being the first installment to make its way to a non-Nintendo console. My selection today is the sixth entry in the series, 1994’s Contra: Hard Corps for the Sega Genesis. Konami doesn’t make ’em like this anymore, after all. Addictive as it is, I’ve found that diving into an unfamiliar Contra title is best treated like bringing a bottle of exceptionally fine wine up from the cellars. Practically synonymous with the side-scrolling run-and-gun genre for the past 32 years and counting, Contra is renowned for its tight controls, breakneck pacing, and blink-and-you’re-dead challenge, all wrapped-up in a bombastic “commandos versus space aliens” scenario stitched together from the greatest action movies 1980s Hollywood had to offer. There are a select few gaming franchises I have to make a serious effort to not binge my way clear through in one insane, thumb blistering marathon.

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