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[Red Crayon Aristocrat]

Recently I've been getting into Contra, I've noticed there's two games in the series I never see anyone talk about or at least not for a long time and that's Shattered Soldier for the PS2 and 4 for the DS.

Shattered Soldier is in both ways a return to form from where the series had been at at the time and a surprising departure, there's no spread gun nor weapons pick ups at all, you choose from 3 default modes, the graphics are 3D but in a fixed 2.5D angle and it overall has a grittier feel, with music by the Silent Hill guy and covert art by Ashley Woods.

But it's awesome, strikes a great balance between old and new, it's so good and I don't think I've ever seen anyone really talk about it, why's that?

4 meanwhile I remember getting some talk at the time in 2007 but it seems forgotten today, this one's more of an old school throwback with gorgeous pixel art graphics, the return of weapon pick ups and a mildly goofy tone, Shattered Soldier contains some authentically Japanese weirdness like a giant fish with a creepy porcelain looking human face boss, 4 is Americand evs riffing on late 80s, early 90s games, but it still looks awesome (I do dislike how you're expected to start from the beginning if you run out of continues though, it's 2007, not 1987)

In both cases these seem sorely overlooked, I was also wondering if they ever did any other retro revivals on the DS like this, 4 strikes me as this perfect balance where it has gorgeously detailed pixel art instead of an intentionally crude "retro" style and really feels like the best of both worlds, I wish there was more games like this and wondering if there are.

 

[Generic]

Contra 4 suffered from the DS minuscule screen. Shattered Soldier was just ok.

The best Contra is the fairly recent Rogue Corps but nobody talks about the game because it's isometric rather than a side-scroller.

 

[Red Crayon Aristocrat]

4 does some fun things with the dual screens, the action shift top to bottom, sometimes it does get disorientating though.

Shattered Soldier is more than ok considering it's probably the best 3D one, I also love it's gritty, very early 2000s art direction.

 

[kevboard]

4 never released in Europe, which was weird as fuck considering that it made the Probotectors canon.
and Shattered Soldier released at a time where this kind of game was very out of style.

so 4 was a very weird niche release, and Shattered Soldier released on the wrong platform at the wrong time.
if either of them released as XBLA titles during the summer of arcade events, I feel like they both would have been more popular, both at launch and in the long run.

 

[MayauMiao]

Love Contra 4 but hated the split screen gap as it hinders the ability to see bullets coming from above and below.

Also it was hard to play on the DS tiny buttons.

 

[Dacvak]

I’ve got this app that lets me RNG roll games from complete collections of consoles, and I randomly rolled SpongeBob Creature from the Krusty Krab the other night on GBA.

The game was shockingly good, and I ended up playing through the whole thing.

When I got to the end credits, I saw that it was directed by Matt Bozon, who also directed Contra 4 (and a bunch of other WayForward games) and it all made sense to me.

Great developers, even when it’s phoned in licensed garbage.

 

[Red Crayon Aristocrat]

Contra 4 makes me wish Wayforward had done a Castlevania, as much as I love the one we did get on the DS.

And Shattered Soldiers makes me wish we got a Castlevania on PS2 in that 2.5D style, imagine if Lament of Innocence was instead like that, it woulda cooked! (the closest thing to something like this is the PSP Rondo of Blood remake)

I’ve got this app that lets me RNG roll games from complete collections of consoles, and I randomly rolled SpongeBob Creature from the Krusty Krab the other night on GBA.

The game was shockingly good, and I ended up playing through the whole thing.

When I got to the end credits, I saw that it was directed by Matt Bozon, who also directed Contra 4 (and a bunch of other WayForward games) and it all made sense to me.

Great developers, even when it’s phoned in licensed garbage.

Yeah, a big part of Wayforward's forte is taking licenses that most other devs would have just put out shovelware and actually putting effort into it, what a concept.

Also on the GBA from them was their Scorpion King GBA game and a Godzilla game, both of which were solid.

Almost a decade ago I played another DS game of theirs, Aliens Infestation, which is also way underrated, I also was looking at screens, though I never played it, of their DS Where The Wild things are and was surprised it had that same gorgeous pixel art.

 

[CGNoire]

I’ve got this app that lets me RNG roll games from complete collections of consoles, and I randomly rolled SpongeBob Creature from the Krusty Krab the other night on GBA.

The game was shockingly good, and I ended up playing through the whole thing.

When I got to the end credits, I saw that it was directed by Matt Bozon, who also directed Contra 4 (and a bunch of other WayForward games) and it all made sense to me.

Great developers, even when it’s phoned in licensed garbage.

Whats the apps name?

 

[Dacvak]

Whats the apps name?

Daily decision on iOS. You still have to manually enter in all of the games, but I like this app because you can paste a giant list and it’ll turn each line break into a selection.

‎Daily Decision Wheel

‎Create your question, add answers, spin the wheel and see what comes up! Very entertaining and lots of setup options for any personal preferences! Where to travel? What movie to watch? What to do on the weekend? - answers to these questions and many others you can find in the app Decide in a...

apps.apple.com

 

[IAmRei]

most people at the time, were left to 3D, and thus the 2D games often overlooked and sometimes, underrated.
it's too bad though, they missed some of 2d goodness.

 

[Red Crayon Aristocrat]

most people at the time, were left to 3D, and thus the 2D games often overlooked and sometimes, underrated.
it's too bad though, they missed some of 2d goodness.

The lateish 2000s were a weird time for these old 8 bit/16 ips, this was about the earliest era that 2D throwbacks were seen as viable, like Contra 4 or Megaman 8, while at the same time these ips were still seen as viable for AAA 3D releases like Golden Axe Beast Rider or Bionic Commando 2009.

Which I've noticed has gone away, outside Nintendo or Final Fantasy, have you noticed 8 bit era ips are never used for modern style games anymore? Seems like it's always a retro throwback and anything otherwise died with Castlevania Lords of Shadow 2 (or perhaps MGSV if it counts)

 

[qbxwhi]

Shattered Soldier is great

 

[Icymanipulator]

Every time Contra gets brought up I think of this game :

And always confuse it with the regular hard corps. Would love to see Uprising get a rerelease someday.

 

[SpiceRacz]

Contra 4 is maybe my favorite Contra game and one of the very best on DS. I got my copy off Craigslist like 2 days after it came out for maybe 15 bucks. It looks amazing and plays as well as any game in the series. Wayforward did a really good job utilizing the dual screens too by expanding the verticality of stages and boss fights. I remember there being a decent amount of unlockables too.

Shattered Solider (and Neo Contra) are best played as multiplayer games imo. Both are great though.

 

[IAmRei]

The lateish 2000s were a weird time for these old 8 bit/16 ips, this was about the earliest era that 2D throwbacks were seen as viable, like Contra 4 or Megaman 8, while at the same time these ips were still seen as viable for AAA 3D releases like Golden Axe Beast Rider or Bionic Commando 2009.

Which I've noticed has gone away, outside Nintendo or Final Fantasy, have you noticed 8 bit era ips are never used for modern style games anymore? Seems like it's always a retro throwback and anything otherwise died with Castlevania Lords of Shadow 2 (or perhaps MGSV if it counts)

Young people as weird they are nowadays, still can play 8-16bit styles. people back then in 3D or HD era, is kind of edgy to say "graphic is cartoony, it's ugly suck" . But look at 2010-2020 people started to fonds of the memories. And throwback to 2D arts are booming, especially "retro"

 

[Hudo]

4 never released in Europe, which was weird as fuck considering that it made the Probotectors canon.

Hold the fuck up. Is this for real?

 

[P.Jack]

As a huge Contra fan, I think Shattered Soldier is the best game in the series. It’s not an unusual opinion amongst fans either. So I don’t agree with the premise here OP.

 

[kevboard]

Hold the fuck up. Is this for real?

yes. the story of Probotector was always closer to the Japanese original story for Contra. while the American Contra version set the events of the game in the present (or now past, since it released more than 30 years ago ), both the japanese original story and Probotector were both set in the future (around the year ~2800)

in Contra 4 it is explained that both Japanese Contra and Probotector happened simultaneously, and that Probotectors are used to help in dangerous missions to clear the first path through the battlefield or something along those lines.

and ever since Contra 4 the Probotectors are part of the franchise for good. usually alternative characters you can chose from or unlock.

 

[Hudo]

yes. the story of Probotector was always closer to the Japanese original story for Contra. while the American Contra version set the events of the game in the present (or now past, since it released more than 30 years ago ), both the japanese original story and Probotector were both set in the future (around the year ~2800)

in Contra 4 it is explained that both Japanese Contra and Probotector happened simultaneously, and that Probotectors are used to help in dangerous missions to clear the first path through the battlefield or something along those lines.

and ever since Contra 4 the Probotectors are part of the franchise for good. usually alternative characters you can chose from or unlock.

Now I can stop feeling inferior because we only got "Super Probotector"

 

[touchfuzzy]

I think they were talked about at the time, Contra is just one of those borderline-niche series that just generally doesn't get talked about much at all unless a new game is coming out.

 

[NeptuneCL]

Contra 4 is actually a pretty good an solid entry to the series

 

[Lionel Richie]

I think Contra 4 is a bit derpy, but I can’t quite articulate my feelings so I’ll leave it at that. SS on the other hand is a fucking awesome game that everyone should play.

 

[bender]

The best Contra is the fairly recent Rogue Corps

 

[Seider]

Metal Slug games were the real spiritual successors of Contra Games.

 

[Ecotic]

I wish Contra 4 could get reworked and re-released to play like any vertical screen arcade shooter. There was a great game there but I really didn't like that non-contiguous dual-screen setup.

 

[Space Runaway]

Shattered Solider was good but it had a fatal flow of being too memorization based which made it rather rigid. Due to being equipped with all weapons at all times the design pushed way too far into "best weapon" and "stay in these spots" based encounters, so you had to play them all the specific way or the game would punish you. Then you had a higher than normal difficulty and start-back based continues on top of that.

Contra 4 kinda got lost within the avalanche of DS software and a lot of it was old levels and such remade, which maybe made it feel a bit too standard fare. Was a really solid "package" though.

 

[Dacvak]

Every time Contra gets brought up I think of this game :

And always confuse it with the regular hard corps. Would love to see Uprising get a rerelease someday.

I’ve been wanting to play that for the past few years but I’m pretty sure I literally can’t at this point, right?

 

[Beechos]

I think it's because all the contras after the 16bit ones have been trash. All konami has to do is add a contra skin to returnal to make a 10/10 3d contra game.

 

[bender]

I’ve been wanting to play that for the past few years but I’m pretty sure I literally can’t at this point, right?

Playable on Xbox Series. Not sure if you can still buy it.

 

[Dacvak]

Playable on Xbox Series. Not sure if you can still buy it.

Well shit my ass, looks like you can! Based Microsoft. https://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/store/hard-corps-uprising/C30Z07T9Q9CT

 

[Icymanipulator]

I’ve been wanting to play that for the past few years but I’m pretty sure I literally can’t at this point, right?

Ya I have no idea how you’d even get it beyond getting a PS3 and a copy of the game physically

 

[calistan]

Well shit my ass, looks like you can! Based Microsoft. https://www.xbox.com/en-US/games/store/hard-corps-uprising/C30Z07T9Q9CT

I fire up that game on the Xbox every couple of years but I've never managed to get anything except the token achievement for killing 10 enemies. Wish there was an infinite live cheat, it's brutally difficult.

 

[Dacvak]

I fire up that game on the Xbox every couple of years but I've never managed to get anything except the token achievement for killing 10 enemies. Wish there was an infinite live cheat, it's brutally difficult.

Aren’t there unlocks or something that make the game easier? Or am I thinking of something else

 

[Red Crayon Aristocrat]

As a huge Contra fan, I think Shattered Soldier is the best game in the series. It’s not an unusual opinion amongst fans either. So I don’t agree with the premise here OP.

Just speaking from my own personal experience obviously, but I have almost never seen anyone talk about Shattered Soldier.

I think Contra 4 is a bit derpy, but I can’t quite articulate my feelings so I’ll leave it at that. SS on the other hand is a fucking awesome game that everyone should play.

If by derpy, do you mean the game has a subtlety spoofy tone? The manual has some snarky humor.

I think it's fine as a loving homage, it takes me back to the zeitgeist of 2007 and earlier days of retro game fandom ala AVGN, but there's some to be said for Shattered Soldier's edgier vibe.

I wish Contra 4 could get reworked and re-released to play like any vertical screen arcade shooter. There was a great game there but I really didn't like that non-contiguous dual-screen setup.

While I haven't managed to beat the whole thing, I find rarely do the dual screens cause much trouble and it does add some interesting dynamics.

Shattered Solider was good but it had a fatal flow of being too memorization based which made it rather rigid. Due to being equipped with all weapons at all times the design pushed way too far into "best weapon" and "stay in these spots" based encounters, so you had to play them all the specific way or the game would punish you. Then you had a higher than normal difficulty and start-back based continues on top of that.

I know exactly what you mean how it plays, but I almost prefer that because once you learn the tricks, it's easier for a guy like to get farther.

Contra 4 kinda got lost within the avalanche of DS software and a lot of it was old levels and such remade, which maybe made it feel a bit too standard fare. Was a really solid "package" though.

Again I have to ask, did the DS have any other retro revivals like this? Or what's some really good pixel art games? DS devs usually shunned pixelart in favor of it's awful 3D, which is really too bad.

 

[DKPOWPOW]

Shattered Soldier kicked ass. Real gem of a game. Never got to play Contra 4 on DS though.

 

[Knightime_X]

I wanted to really like 4 but the split screen really fucked me with how enemies attack, ultimately making me want to put the game down.

 

[calistan]

Aren’t there unlocks or something that make the game easier? Or am I thinking of something else

You can earn coins to buy upgrades in Rising mode, but it takes a long time and it mostly means your weapons start at a higher level. If you're as bad at the game as I am, it doesn't make a huge difference.