Contra: Rogue Corps

Did You Know?

• The development was overseen by veteran Contra series director and senior producer Nobuya Nakazato, who also directed Contra III: The Alien Wars and Contra: Hard Corps.
• Nakazato wanted to capture the traditional spirit of the Contra series while modernizing it for a new audience.
• Contra: Rogue Corps was announced at E3 2019.

Gameplay

Contra: Rogue Corps blends side-scrolling, third-person, isometric, and top-down shooting, much like Neo Contra. It offers a single-player story, online co-op, and four-player local co-op on separate Switch consoles. Combat is player versus environment using dual analog sticks. You equip a main and sub-weapon on the fly, both with unlimited ammo but a heat meter to manage. Between missions, weapons can be upgraded and customized. As a final option, you can detonate a huge bomb or activate a character's special ability.

Plot

The story takes place in Damned City years after Contra III: The Alien Wars. The city has become a post-apocalyptic environment filled with strange artifacts and technology, where psychic damage drives humans insane. A mysterious gate unleashes hideous Fiends that attack all life. Players control four mercenaries called the Jaegers: Kaiser, a rebuilt cyborg; Ms. Harakiri, an assassin with a parasitic alien; The Gentleman, an intelligent alien bug; and Hungry Beast, a cyborg giant panda. Naturally immune to the city's mind-destroying effects, they are humanity's hope.

Reception

Contra: Rogue Corps received mixed or average reviews on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and generally unfavorable reviews on Nintendo Switch according to Metacritic. OpenCritic reported weak approval, recommended by only 9% of critics. IGN's Mitchell Saltzman, after an E3 2019 preview, noted initial whiplash from the series' departure but found a solid foundation with good gunplay and potential for four-player co-op, praising the dynamic of juggling main and sub-weapons. Destructoid criticized the season pass but noted nothing of substance was gated off, and observed incredibly mixed reception among E3 attendees. Nintendo Life criticized controls, graphics, and bland mission structure while praising the upgrade system. PlayStation LifeStyles was more positive, stating the game understands 90s cheese appeal while filtering out outdated tropes, with creative humor giving it a distinct personality.