Blazing Chrome

Lore & Background

Blazing Chrome was developed by Brazilian studio JoyMasher. After the first trailer was released in March 2018, a demo was featured at PAX East 2018 in April. The Arcade Crew released a gameplay preview on June 28, 2019, showing two players riding hoverbikes and fighting enemies on a train. The game was released on July 11, 2019, and later for Amazon Luna on November 19, 2020. JoyMasher primarily took inspiration from the Metal Slug and Contra games. Developer Danilo Dias wanted to combine the mechanical bosses of Metal Slug with the speed and frenetic style of Contra. The backgrounds were influenced by Irem games such as GunForce II, designed to look ruined and extremely detailed. In 2021, an enhanced arcade version titled Blazing Chrome AC was released on exA-Arcadia, adding the playable character Zaku from Oniken and a new soundtrack by Motoaki Furukawa, composer of Super Contra.

Reader's Guide

Blazing Chrome is a side-scrolling run and gun with gameplay similar to Contra and Metal Slug. It can be played single-player or in two-player local cooperative mode. There are six levels total; four are unlocked from the start, and two must be unlocked. Players can run, jump, and dodge. Four weapons are available: a machine gun, grenade launcher, energy whip, and particle cannon. Players start each level with a machine gun and can pick up more weapons. Melee attacks occur if the player shoots an enemy at close range. Players can only be hit once, losing a life if shot or touched by an enemy; the number of lives depends on the difficulty selected. Three assist robots can be collected per level, with only one equipped at a time: attack bots increase damage output, defense bots allow two extra hits before breaking, and speed bots increase movement speed and fire rate while granting a double jump. Equipped bots and weapons (except the machine gun) are dropped upon death. The game received generally favorable reviews on Metacritic. Critics praised the challenge, presentation, visuals, boss battles, art, and level variety, but noted the unforgiving difficulty, steep difficulty curve, short campaign length, lack of online co-op, and occasional slowdown. Some reviewers described it as one of the best in its genre and a loving tribute to Contra and Metal Slug.

Did You Know?

• The game features six levels, with two that must be unlocked.
• Three assist robots can be collected: attack, defense, and speed bots.
• An enhanced arcade version, Blazing Chrome AC, was released in 2021 on exA-Arcadia.