Contra: Hard Corps 2 announced... sort of @ Gaming Target

Written by John Scalzo on June 04, 2010

News: It doesn't have the Contra name, but it's most definitely a Contra game.

It took Konami 15 years to release Contra 4, a direct sequel to the Super NES classic Contra III: The Alien Wars. With E3 right around the corner, the company has revealed to IGN that Contra: Hard Corps will also be receiving the direct sequel treatment (16 years later), but without the Contra name.

Titled Hard Corps: Uprising, the game is in development at Arc System Works for a Winter 2010 release on the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade. When asked why the game won't carry the Contra name, Konami said it was designed as an "homage to legacy Konami run-and-gun platformers" and not just Contra is particular.

However, the game picks up right where Hard Corps left off with Colonel Bahamut seeing the error of his ways and joining the good guys in their battle against the aliens. As with all Contra games, Bahamut will be able to be joined by a second player, a female soldier, for double the shooting action.

Even without the proper title, Uprising will be Contra to the core. It'll include "eight alien-infested stages," "familiar power-ups" such as the Spread Gun and vehicle levels. The first level will even by guarded by the infamous Base Wall. Switching things up a bit will be a new anime-inspired art style and a Rising Mode (inspired by easiness of the Japanese version of Contra: Hard Corps) that allows players to take three hits before they die.

We'll have more soon.