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Hard Corps: Uprising videos show the value of friendship
GameVideos recently got its hands on a pair of video demonstrations of Arc System Works and Konami's spiritual Contra successor, Hard Corps: Uprising. One features a single-player run-through of the game's opening level, while the other fills us with the capacity to love again.
Hard Corps: Uprising is new Contra for XBLA and PSN
It's Contra in all but name. That's what IGN asserts about Hard Corps: Uprising, a new PSN and XBLA run-and-gun expected for release this year. Despite the fact that the side-scrolling shooting gameplay we expect from a traditional Contra is present, and despite the fact that this is actually a sequel to the Genesis Contra: Hard Corps (starring the villain!), Konami has chosen to excise the series name from this digital release. That's not the strangest thing about this game. Development is being handled by Arc System Works, the developer and publisher of the Guilty Gear games and BlazBlue. We'll withhold judgment; after all, it turned out okay when Konami handed the license to the Ping Pals developer. At least with Arc (like with WayForward), we know we're in for great 2D art.
Super Mario Crossover would have killed us in 1989
Sometimes, we wonder what it would be like if versions of ourselves from the past could be magically transported to today and have their minds blown by all the technological advances in video gaming technology. We have a feeling that they'd be disinterested in our "movement controllers" and "big definition graphicals," and would instead become entranced by a new Flash game by Exploding Rabbit that's sweeping the nation at terrifying velocities: Super Mario Crossover. The premise of the game is simple: It is the original Super Mario Bros., only your choice of playable characters isn't just limited to squat, Italian plumbers. You can also wreck Goombas while playing as Link, Mega Man, Samus, Simon Belmont or Bill (you know, from Contra). You could also just be Mario, but why would you do that, when you could be Bill from Contra? Stop being so silly. [Thanks, Eric]
Dual booting Mac OS X on iPad... April Fool's!
Some can't wait to get their hands on the device, while others could care less. The device, the Apple iPad, is set to launch on Saturday, April 3, 2010. Earlier today, TUAW unearthed a hidden feature on the iPad (via an envelope slipped under the door of our headquarters in Roswell, NM) that may even force many iPad naysayers to consider purchasing it. We've discovered a way to dual-boot into Mac OS X and the iPad's operating system (which is a modified iPhone OS). And here, we'll show you how to execute this unpublished hack. First, reset your iPad. You can do this by holding down the iPad's power and home button at the same time. Like the iPhone, the iPad boots up to an Apple logo. Pay attention here, because it's the most important part. Right when you see the logo appear, switch on the "screen rotation lock" button. This button, situated just above the volume button, deactivates the iPad's accelerometer. Now, the following should appear on your iPad's screen. That's right, it's Konami's Contra. Konami has recently announced that it will be bringing over some of its classics to the iPad. And the first of these classics is Contra. At the Contra start screen, press this sequence of buttons on the on-screen controller: up, up, down, down, left, right, left, right, b, a, select, start. If successful, you'll hear the Mac OS X startup chime, and the iPad's screen will then go into diagnostic boot and display the following binary values before booting into Mac OS X. 01000001 01110000 01110010 01101001 01101100 00100000 01000110 01101111 01101111 01101100 01110011
Japanese Nintendo downloads: Excitebike, Reversal Shooting
Japanese gamers get to experience the joy of Excitebike with a different camera angle and online play today, with the release of Excitebike World Rally (as "Excitebike World Race"). It's a pretty faithful adaptation of the original, something that can't be said for Tecmo's Are? DS ga Sakasa Desu Kedo: Gyaku Shooting, a shooter with elements of its own Star Force, but played from the other side -- and with the DS upside down. Using the DS's touch screen, players control the enemies firing downward at what is usually the player ship. DS ga Sakasa Desu Kedo: Sakasa Drops takes the same approach and applies it to a falling-block puzzle game. Check out a trailer for Shooting after the break. Quarth (MSX, 1-2 players, 800 Wii Points) Contra (MSX, 1-2 players, 800 Wii Points) Excitebike World Race (WiiWare, 1-4 players, 1,000 Wii Points) Are? DS ga Sakasa Desu Kedo: Gyaku Shooting (DSiWare, 1 player, 200 DSi Points) Are? DS ga Sakasa Desu Kedo: Sakasa Drops (DSiWare, 1 player, 200 DSi Points) Artist ni Narou! Minna no Nurikai Museum Hen (DSiWare, 1-2 players, 500 DSi Points) Hobonichi Rosenzu 2010 (DSiWare, 1 player, 500 DSi Points) Renjuku Kanji: Shougaku Sannensei (DSiWare, 1 player, 500 DSi Points)
Mega Man 4, SNES Advance Wars on Virtual Console in February
February's Japanese Virtual Console lineup is exceptionally small -- four games in all -- but all four games are high-quality. In advance of Mega Man 10, Capcom offers Mega Man 4, which, while one of the weaker games in the series, is still a real Mega Man game and thus pretty good. A never-localized (and probably still not to be localized) SNES Advance Wars game will be available sometime in the month, and MSX versions of the familiar Contra and the delightful scrolling puzzle game Quarth. Of course, we've seen zero of these MSX games outside of Japan. Oh, we just made ourselves sad. Famicom: Rockman 4 Super Famicom: Super Famicom Wars MSX: Quarth (Feb. 2) Contra (Feb. 2)
Konami coin-op cameo in Silent Hill: Shattered Memories
While playing through Silent Hill: Shattered Memories for review, our very own Richard Mitchell stumbled upon a pretty neat thing: classic Konami coin-op arcade cabinets. Sadly, you can't play the cabinets in-game, but it's a nice Easter egg for fans, if we may say so. There's Contra, Rush'N Attack and -- our personal favorite -- Gradius. Check 'em out in the video above.
'Half-Contra' explores NES Contra as done by Half-Life 2
Machinima user M0rtanius has created another video that mashes up a classic Konami title with Half-Life 2. His original piece placed Half-Life's protagonist into the world of Castlevania, whereas this latest one features Contra. The attention to the level design is pretty neat in both, and the music is lifted straight from the NES games, but it's just not the same without the Contra arsenal and Simon's whip. Also, we're not seeing any Konami code being entered, which means a quick end could not be far behind. Check out both clips after the break.
Contra vs. Duck Hunt takes fowl play to a whole new level
When Contra 4 came out, we had the distinct displeasure of realizing not enough things in life had Contra in it. Thankfully, through the magic of internet technology, we can now check one thing off that list: Duck Hunt. YouTube user daneboe managed to combine the shoot-em-all gameplay of Contra with the duck genocide that is Duck Hunt, creating an entirely new experience. We do think that snickering dog should've gotten a taste of Bill Rizer's brand of justice, but hey, something's gotta be left for the sequel, right?Head past the break to check out the video.[Via Infendo]
NintendoWare Weekly: Contra ReBirth, Super Return of the Jedi
Happy Labor Day! To celebrate the occasion, Nintendo offers a WiiWare game that is guaranteed to be hard work. That's what Labor Day is about, right? Doing as much labor as possible? Nintendo certainly isn't taking the day off, bringing us a decent number of downloads (relative to our lowered expectations). The list is available after the break. %Gallery-70507%
Contra ReBirth spreads to North America on Monday
Were you feeling a bit left out by the release of Contra ReBirth everywhere but North America? We were too, which is why we're delighted to tell you that North American Wii owners will be able to get their fill of dangerously shirt-free side-scrolling combat this Monday. We'd like to take the opportunity to thank Konami for telling us what's going to be available before it's available. Konami included the short trailer above, which includes one frame of ridiculous cut scene: "All fighting men are 'Contra,' whether they be human or robot!" There are also new screens of the adventures of Bill Rizer and samurai Genbei Yagyu (what?) to enjoy in our gallery. %Gallery-70507%
Contra Rebirth also headed to Europe
We just told you that Konami's faux-retro Gradius Rebirth was added to the PAL WiiWare shop. If you've been playing for the past hour or so and have already moved on to dreaming about Konami's other WiiWare retro reinterpretation, you'll be happy to hear that Konami has announced a European release for Contra Rebirth as well, to be expected this August. This also gives North American readers cause for some measure of optimism. In addition, Konami will release its top-down racer, Driift, later this month as DRiiFT MANIA. "DRiiFT MANIA" is also a condition in which someone is compelled to spell things with two lower-case i's.
Shadow Complex: Metroid meets Contra and HAS A BABY
When Epic's Cliff Bleszinski hit the stage sans Lancer at Microsoft's E3 keynote, many at both the Microsoft keynote and here at the Joystiq mobile HQ wondered what Epic was up to. Then, we noticed he was accompanied by Chair Entertainment's Donald Mustard, and we caught our first glimpse of Shadow Complex, a game with heavy amounts of influence from 2D titles such as Metroid and Contra, with a splash of its own unique 3D action, making this a project all its own. For an XBLA title, it has an incredible amount of polish, and we're sure the price will reflect that when it releases this summer. %Gallery-64709%
Contra ReBirth footage surfaces, US release still up in the air
Earlier this week, Contra ReBirth arrived on the Japanese WiiWare channel, and wouldn't you know it, tons of footage has been loosed into the wild (opening intro/first level after the break). While we'd love to get our hands on the title, we're not quite sure when it's landing on US shores. Last year, however, Konami set a precedent with Gradius ReBirth (released this year in the US) that we're likely to see repeated with Contra. So we asked Nintendo of America what it had to say about the title and a representative told us, "A US release date has not been confirmed." He did, however, remind us that "A US release hasn't been confirmed either." While we'd be shocked if it never showed up over here, if anything, it's going to take quite a while. After all, it took nearly six months for Gradius ReBirth to hit the US WiiWare channel. Unfortunately, as of publishing, a Konami rep has yet to return our call.
VC/WiiWare Tuesday: Contra and more
Today's Virtual Console and WiiWare offerings in Japan are shockingly good. So good that if a release week like this happened outside of Japan even once every six months or so, nobody would complain about Nintendo's downloads. Even if we ignore the three WiiWare games that are already out in North America, it's wall-to-wall quality. Well, we're kind of assuming that Contra Rebirth is quality. Even if it's terrible, we know we're in for a $10 download of an original Contra game when it shows up here. We know that the WiiWare Art Style games are fantastic, because we've been playing them since last year. On Virtual Console, the PC Engine CD-ROM version of SimEarth and the arcade release of the brutal Tower of Druaga pale before Downtown Special, a Japan-only sequel to River City Ransom starring Kunio and friends as samurai. Virtual Console: Downtown Special: Kunio-kun no Jidaigeki Dayo Zenin Shuugo (Famicom, 1-2 players, 500 Wii Points) SimEarth (PC Engine, 1 player, 800 Wii Points) The Tower of Druaga (Arcade, 1-2 players, 800 Wii Points) WiiWare: Art Style: CUBELEO (1 player, 600 Wii Points) Art Style: DIALHEX (1-2 players, 600 Wii Points) Art Style: ORBITAL (1 player, 600 Wii Points) Contra Rebirth (1-2 players, 1,000 Wii Points)
Konami kind of announces Contra ReBirth for WiiWare
We'd love to be excited about the newly announced WiiWare release, Contra ReBirth, but it's a little tough when considering how Konami revealed its existence. The game recently appeared with little (read: no) fanfare on a Konami product page. Heck, we're not even sure if the thing is all original or a remix of an old game! It's like having your first-born child and letting your friends and family know by mentioning it under your breath as you drive past the hospital. What are you hiding, Konami? Is it ... a ginger?
LittleBigContra collaboration is remarkable
Various members from the popular video game forum NeoGAF have teamed up in an outstanding collaboration to recreate the classic NES game Contra within LittleBigPlanet. The iconic 2D shooter is revived in LBP thanks to the addition of the "Paintinator" in the Metal Gear Solid level pack. The massive project spans eight different levels, each painstakingly recreated in the LBP engine. Impressive, yes -- but we're wondering how long it will stay on the servers before the moderation team shuts it down for its obvious copyright infringement.Update: There are 8 stages in total and 7 authors on the LittleBigContra team. You can find them on the PlayStation Network as follows: Jungle: MisterAnderson - PSN: Leonidas2123 Base 1: Orz- PSN: SaitoHalifax Waterfall: PSN - RyanardoDavinci Base 2: Orz- PSN: SaitoHalifax Snowfield: PSN: NinjaMicWZ Energy Zone: El_Beefo - PSN: El_Beefo Hangar: Jaeyden - PSN: Jaeyden Alien's Lair: Donkey Show - PSN: gevurah22 See a trailer, after the cut.
Konami announces four big titles for iPhone
Unfortunately, not one of them is Contra. But the iPhone is going to get some pretty big name titles from Konami -- the company announced yesterday that Metal Gear Solid, Silent Hill, Dance Dance Revolution, and Frogger were all coming to our favorite mobile gaming platform from the company's vaults.Frogger you know, and Dance Dance Revolution and Silent Hill look like fairly faithful (if a little tweaked) recreations of the dancing and horror games that both series are known for. Metal Gear Solid Touch seems the most interesting title -- that series seems to reinvent itself almost every time it reaches a new platform. There have been strategy versions, card-based versions, squad-based versions, and even the old 2D games, so though all we know is that MGS Touch has eight levels and will use the touchscreen, from there Konami could do anything they can think of.Great to see that a historic publisher is investing heavily in the App Store, though. If these games turn out to do well, we could see some other big-time developers follow suit.
Born for Wii: Contra
As gaming moves forward, the perpetual improvement of technology naturally leads to the Gears of War 2 creed: "Bigger, Better, and More Badass." Unfortunately, the trend of increasingly film-like 3D games leads to fewer and fewer 2D titles finding their way to home consoles. Many series, such as Zelda and Mario, have successfully transitioned to 3D. But others never quite recovered after the jump, and were always in their prime in the 2D era. Take Contra, for example. This weekend, upon curling up with my DS -- a handy shield against things such as responsibility and obligation -- and spending a few hours being brutalized by Contra 4, I realized two things. The first was that I suck at Contra. But the second was that, in spite of suffering several emasculating deaths every minute 10 seconds, I was still having a blast. The game perfectly captures the feel of the series and is a worthy successor to the incredible Contra III, which is now 16 years old (so I guess it's about time, eh?). But the experience isn't quite perfect -- the DS's tiny screens only makes a difficult game harder, and the divide between them compounds the problem. It's been six years since the last sidescrolling Contra made an appearance on a console, and if Capcom's Mega Man 9 is any indication, a classic series like Contra has a home on the Wii. This week Born for Wii attacks aggressively with Bill and Lance. #ninbutton { border-style: solid; border-color: #000; border-width: 2px; background-color: #BBB; color: #000; text-decoration: none; width: 100px; text-align: center; padding: 2px 2px 2px 2px; margin: 2px 2px 2px 2px; } .buttontext { color: #000; text-decoration: none; font: bold 14pt Helvetica; } #ninbutton:hover { text-decoration: none; color: #BBB; background-color: #000; } NEXT >> Gallery: Contra 4 DS Every week, Born for Wii digs into gaming's sordid past to unearth a new treasure fit for revival on the Nintendo Wii. Be sure to check out last week's entry in the series, Grim Fandango, and for more great titles that deserve your attention, take a look at Virtually Overlooked.
E308: DS Fanboy enters the Retro Game Challenge
Holy crap is this the most awesome DS game! Seriously, when JC was talking up the title, I trusted the man's judgment, but he couldn't possibly prepare me for how utterly great the DS game is. And when I met up with the folks at Marvelous here at E3 to try out their titles, I had no idea that they were going to have to physically pull me away from Retro Game Challenge.Lucky for me, I have a good grip. So I get plenty of play time with what is sure to be one of my favorite DS games this year.%Gallery-27519%
