After witnessing Commonwealth imperials execute innocent people he decided to betray the empire and join the resistance. This group is lead by Bahamut, a soldier who was once part of the Commonwealth army. A group of elite soldiers band together and develop a plan to stop the Commonwealth once and for all.

An empire known as the Commonwealth is ruling the world and resistance fighters have risen up only to fall at the hands of the enemy. It’s 2613, twenty years before the original Contra. For this review, I played the Xbox Live Arcade version on Xbox 360. Developed by Arc System Works, published by Konami, and released for Xbox Live Arcade and PlayStation Network in 2011, Hard Corps: Uprising retains the classic side-scrolling action and brutal difficulty the series is known for. Hard Corps: Uprising is the latest entry for consoles and is a prequel to Contra: Hard Corps and even the original Contra. Beating a Contra game provides you with an extreme sense of satisfaction that only dedicated players can hope to achieve.

There’s no denying both games require skill and memorization to beat and I suck at both. Contra III’s overhead stages weren’t exactly popular and Contra: Hard Corps’ intense difficulty and boss rush style wasn’t for everybody. Console owners had plenty of side-scrolling action to enjoy and I’ve seen arguments for both games in terms of which Contra title is the best. Contra III was released for the Super Nintendo in 1992 and Contra: Hard Corps released for the Sega Genesis in 1994. I think Contra games were at their peak during the the 16-bit era of consoles.

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