Nintendo Life: It’s been over 16 years since WayForward’s last stab at the Contra franchise with Contra 4 on the Nintendo DS. Can you walk us through how this latest project came to fruition?
Tomm Hulett (Director, WayForward): Konami Digital Entertainment (KONAMI) and WayForward had a good relationship working on Contra 4, and over the years we'd pitch some ideas or ask if KONAMI had any projects in mind for us. Fortunately, the stars aligned a few years ago, and KONAMI approached us about creating a new side-scrolling Contra title. We responded quite positively!
Konami describes Operation Galuga as a “thorough reimagining” of the original Contra. What was it that drew the team to revisit this classic?
Since Contra is such a long-running series, KONAMI was sensitive to the fact some newer players might think it was too late to jump in. Additionally, the early story for Contra is a bit muddled (based on territorial differences) so there's an advantage to rebooting that aspect and starting over with everyone on the same page. An important detail though — this is not an HD remaster or enhanced port. As far as the game is concerned — the stage designs, your abilities, challenges you'll face — this is a brand-new Contra. Hopefully, a great foundation for future entries to build on.
This is not an HD remaster or enhanced port. As far as the game is concerned — the stage designs, your abilities, challenges you'll face — this is a brand-new Contra.
To this day, the original Contra still ranks as one of the most beloved entries in the franchise. How has the team ensured that the game will appeal to both Contra veterans and newcomers?
As I briefly mentioned above, this being a new game should hopefully entice veterans. Additionally, we have three difficulty modes and some surprises for folks who like their games extra spicy. But we aren't forgetting Contra-curious newcomers. KONAMI's marching orders were to make sure the game was accessible to all skill levels, so nobody felt turned away. The way I adapted this to the game design was to provide a lot of options for players to manage the difficulty and weigh the game toward their strengths. The biggest "must" for me personally was that, even on the easier settings, there are tons of enemies to shoot and boss patterns to learn. Anyone who completes Operation Galuga can be satisfied they overcame a Contra challenge.
Image: Konami Can you talk about how multiplayer will work? For example, is there local and online play, and will the difficulty scale as you add more players?
I believe we'll be revealing full multiplayer details later. For now, our Story Mode supports 1 or 2 players, and Arcade Mode up to 4. The more players join a game, the enemy spawns and positions are updated to account for this increase — and this happens across all the difficulty levels. On top of that, boss HP increases a bit to compensate.
Fans will be familiar with Bill Rizer and Lance Bean from earlier Contra games - can you talk about the newcomers?
The two you mentioned are obviously the famous heroes of the Contra Unit. Playing in Arcade Mode, they can bring along some automated Contra robots called Probotectors. There are several staff back at Contra HQ watching Bill and Lance's progress and chiming in via radio - one of which is Lucia, who at one point joins the battle herself. On Galuga Island, the group also encounters an indigenous fighter named Ariana, as well as Stanley Ironside, who is the leader of the GX Special Forces Unit, and kind of a rival of Bill's.
Operation Galuga also sees the return of Probotector after his appearance in Contra 4. What prompted his inclusion in this latest game?
Honestly? We put him in Contra 4 as a nod to the European audience and then the game was not released in that territory. So I was eager to keep him included. However, once we were working with KONAMI on the story and world, I thought it helped flesh out the game world that the Earth Marine Corps had these robot soldiers. They are only playable in Arcade Mode, but if you keep your eyes open in Story Mode you'll see how the Contra Unit employs them.
I expected people to be excited to see Probotector in trailers, and so far it's paid off!
Contra has experimented with various graphical styles over the years but is perhaps best known for its sprite-based pixel art. What drove the visual approach for Operation Galuga?
Visual style is something chosen at the start of a project, and there are a variety of factors that play into that decision. 3D assets were determined to be the best way to deliver on the vision KONAMI and WayForward had for the project.
You’ve demonstrated an exceptional grasp of the side-scrolling run ‘n’ gun mechanics with titles like The Mummy Demastered and Spidersaurs . What has the studio learned from these projects that you want to implement into Contra: Operation Galuga?
During Contra 4, we (both WayFoward and myself during my time at KONAMI with my co-producer Simon Lai) put in a ton of time playing all the Contra titles, and various non-Contra titles, to decide on what exactly a Contra was, and how it felt, and what made it unique compared to its peers.
Then with The Mummy Demastered, that's a whole different genre (Metroidvania) but with run 'n' gun mechanics. With Spidersaurs we swung back toward Contra but without any requirements to fit into that "Contra box." Additionally, both at WayForward and KONAMI I've worked on other non-Contra titles that allowed me to digest and understand the classic KONAMI style.
With Operation Galuga, KONAMI gave us a lot of room to determine what a traditional Contra in 2024 should feel like.
With Operation Galuga, KONAMI gave us a lot of room to determine what a traditional Contra in 2024 should feel like. They had specific parameters, especially for the story, but as far as game mechanics go, WayForward was allowed a lot of freedom. They wanted us to think outside that Contra 4 box we'd created, and my various experiences helped guide the team into how far we could push it while still feeling true — but not beholden — to classic Contra. And maintaining that "classic KONAMI style" became the bigger umbrella for me.
The tl;dr answer: Bosses. The Mummy Demastered and Spidersaurs let us come up with a lot of fresh boss ideas for the genre, and I wanted to keep evolving those boss encounters with the official Contra stamp. Operation Galuga has a lot of them, and I didn't want any to feel repetitive.
Besides the original, are there any specific Contra games from which you’ve taken inspiration?
We definitely reference games beyond the original, but I don't want to get into too much detail. I'll leave that to the "10 Things You Missed In Operation Galuga" articles post-launch! But as far as overall inspiration, I want Operation Galuga to fully encapsulate the Contra "canon" to this point. Meaning all the side-scrolling Contras. Every game has its fans, and those fans have waited many, many years for a return to form — OG needs to deliver on that. As an entry point for newcomers, as well, I want to showcase why Contra has been a beloved action franchise for 35 years.
Without venturing into potential spoiler territory, will the classic Konami code feature in Operation Galuga?
You'll need to brush up on those button presses and check for yourself!
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.
