In June, Konami revealed Contra: Rogue Corps – a new entry in the beloved run and gun shmup series that offers a top-down isometric view of the action and even a panda bear.
If you're still not sure about whether this latest entry in the series is right for you, the Japanese publisher and developer has now released a demo on all-platforms, including the Switch:
The demo includes a local co-op mode and also a unique online player-versus-player mode. Here's the full rundown (thanks, Gematsu):
The demo will showcase the single-player campaign of the twin-stick, third-person action game, including a playable preview of one of the many large-scale boss battles that will be a part of the final version of the game. Players will complete missions, gathering resources to upgrade their guns and body parts to stay alive in the Damned City. If all else fails, players can bring in a friend online to the campaign and mow-down enemies together. Players will also have access to a local couch co-op mode and unique online player-versus-player mode called “Carnage League.”
Featured within the demo is a new gameplay trailer, which will show never-before-seen footage from Contra: Rogue Corps. The demo level is standalone, and progress will not be carried over to the main game on release.
Contra: Rogue Corps arrives on the Switch on 26th September. Will you be downloading this demo ahead of the full game's release? Leave a comment below.
[source twitter.com]
Comments 56
Great that it's getting a demo! More games should get demos!
I’ll try it out tonight. It doesn’t look like the worst thing in the world as others are saying. It looks a bit generic in some parts but it looks like it could be fun.
I’ll play a contra when I see one
Plays like a crap early PSOne game. Looks like a early PSOne game running through an emulator where you choose high res. No good, the price put me off originally but the demo has told me to avoid this like the plague.
We can do with a competant publisher buying Konami, firing the in control and take these previously fantastic IPs and give them to developers who know what they're doing.
@PBandSmelly
And it isn't even 1080p most of the time on PS4 (or 60fps for that matter). All for a game that looks below average.
Metal Gear= ZOMBIES!!!!111
Contra= Early XBLA era twin stick shooter
So what will Castlevania get turned into? Probably one of those mobile games where you tap on houses but as a 30$ console game with microtransactions.
I feel like it's trying hard to be Left 4 Dead, but it isn't nearly as cool. They figured if they throw in the word "" a lot, that would make up for it. Nope.
I played the demo level. There is cool moments, but no innovation.
Also. The gfx is so pixelated that it looks blurry.
And Switch version costs 40% more than PC version...For no reason.
As a long-time Contra fan, I’ll be avoiding the heck out of this!
I love a good demo so I’ll probably try it out. Can’t say this was ever on my radar to buy but maybe I will be so blown away that I will needs it immediately.
Wow, this is one ugly game. I think it plays okay but really doesn't feel like a Contra game at all. I couldn't find the online mode they mention.
I don't see any option for co-op or PvP, thought it was in the demo but I guess it's in the full version, press release made it seem like it was going to be included in the demo.
As for the demo, it's alright, however the graphics really do look like something out of the PS2 era, and your weapons can overheat.
Tried it and cancelled my preorder. Maybe I’ll dive at it when it’s ten bucks.
Downloading the demo, but in all honesty, the game looked like crap from the very beginning. It's sad though, because they're finally doing something with Contra, but it won't sell, because it's bad and they'll stop doing things with Contra, blaming it on us for not buying Rogue Corps. An old-school approach would've been better. Heck, a port of "Hard Corps Uprising" would've been better!!
@SheldonRandoms
Thanks for the info, I was planning to grab the demo thinking that the coop would be included in it. But, I guess not then...
kinda disappointed with this, it's like where is the energy and aggression? It lacks that Contra feel.
This isnt Contra, and it doesnt feel worth $40. Stiff feel to movement, and aiming is a bit janky. Definitely lacks any feel of previous titles. That said, I feel theres fun to be had. Feels like a decent $20 and under, budget title, with weird/horror-ish creature designs. Hey, it has the spread shot though! Ffs Konami, way to drag another great franchise down.
Already played the demo from the Japanese eshop and my god this game is ugly, it really does look like a PS2 game and is very blurry. As for it being Contra, it really doesn't feel like it at all and seems to just be a generic twin stick shooter with slightly awkward controls. If you want to play a new Contra game just but Blazing Chrome, it's far more faithful to the series than this
Yeah, played it and got a whole lot less excited. Framerate feels well below 30fps and the textures are horrible. On screen text (weapon overheating in particular) is hard to see in hand held mode. And it doesn't feel like Contra.
Friday the 13th came a day early!
Just finished the demo. Ah man, that was painful...
It's not Contra, that's for sure. Not how I remember, anyway. But even judging it on its own merits, it's just not a very fun game. The graphics look poor and the frame rate is shocking. Not very promising at all. I'd have just given Wayforward another shot, let them create Contra 5. Oh well...
@SalvorHardin
You're not wrong about the Castlevania mobile game:
https://gematsu.com/2019/09/castlevania-grimoire-of-souls-tgs-2019-trailer
That was absolute garbage. Abysmal graphics, awful level design, it was slow as hell ...i ...what??!!
@Olliemar28 exactly, being a Contra game aside, this is not fun even on its own merit
Wow, this demo is actually causing Konami to lose sales, instead of secure them. Seeing people cancel their pre-orders is shocking.
Played the demo and was kind of shocked how bad it looked. Butt ugly...
Here´s a screen from my demo run: https://imgur.com/a/9tLDmXw
Is it possible that Konami used the wrong build of the demo by mistake? The resolution is so low and the textures so bad I’m having a hard time believing this is really the game they plan on releasing.
What is the story with the panda bear?
Luckily we got Contra Collection and Blazing Chrome this year so if this sucks it's not a big loss. I'll definitely give the demo a try but it seems Konami need to have their Sonic Mania moment with Contra and recognise the game works best as a 2D side scrolling action game; all these forays in 3D are just futile.
The demo was garbage, deleted it as soon as I finished it, glad I did not pre-order.
Main gripes for me were, graphics are blurry and really dull, sounds are okay at best for a shooter and the controls are not the tightest either.
@BulkSlash The creator of Contra 3 as we know is involved with the development of this game, did they tie him up and place him in a cupboard from 9 a.m to 5pm??? He must of got some serious cash for assisting and also having seemingly zero input. I want to love this sooooooooo much.
This is so disappointing! Demo is hot trash! Dispite me playing my GC a lot recently I don’t really want new games to look like they’re from that era, and with sh/t level design and boring gameplay to boot. Urrrgghhhh
no. i won't. i will not play this game.
This game turns me all the way off. And I loved Contra back in the day, but this is not Contra. I don't know what this is.
@SalvorHardin
You missed the announcement didn't you?
New Castlevania, IOS/Android.. hahahaha.
This is definitely not Contra. The artwork decision here is puzzling. Also doesn't this have transactions in it?
An absolute turd. Looks like poop and the gunplay is terrible.
I actually liked it . . . The over-the-top nature was fun. Sure, it's not 2D, but I can live with that. The nods to the older games were nice. But yes, it is very blurry. This game was obviously built for PS4 / X1.
I am a hardcore Contra fan, so I will probably pick this up on sale out of blind loyalty.
@YANDMAN 😂 Yeah, it seems so far away from previous Contra games it's hard to see how someone previously involved in the series could come up with this.
o.k well after seeing the initial e3 trailer none of us thought it was the prettiest game or the best possible style choice. That aside i was very happy to see the franchise return. If it played tight and was really fun the aesthetics would make no difference to me. After excitedly downloading the demo i made some glaring observations. Firstly the actual pace of the game is completely ruined every 60-120 seconds by area interludes. Im assuming that the different characters will possibly have different movement speeds? but the one we have access to is the one i would use and it's very sluggish. The aiming is not anywhere near as tight as it needs to be. The gun has a cool down system that adds no tactic to the game whatsoever, it shouldn't even be about that it's about constant blasting fun. I encountered many situations where i was literally getting swarmed by enemies whilst waiting for the gun to come back online. The graphics are far worse in motion than the trailer could of ever shown, it looks like a budget PS2 game. If you look at the textures on vehicles in the distance they literally shimmer like an N64 game and have the same muddy pallete depth. When moving and with no enemies on-screen i witnessed multiple assets popping in and out and could literally find the fram where one step forward and they are there, one step back and they are gone. The music is utterly uninspiring and i actually forgot it was even there. Put on contra 3 right now and here that third level music, it makes you feel like John Rambo still to this very day. This game feels like it's at least six months off of being finished and i noticed whilst it does say that this game is still in development it is actually out in a few weeks so is already printed and in shipping boxes all over the world. take out the cool down function, take out the constant start-stop, fix the graphics just to where they are at least not glitching and it could be somewhat fun. As it is this is an utter mess and i honestly cannot believe that they are prepared to put this out to release, the backlash is going to be huuuuuuge. Whilst not relevant to the game itself something else that was weird is that when the demo ends and it runs a trailer the trailer itself actually glitches down to about 10fps at times and the character name overlays look like they were drawn on MS paint by somebody awaiting eye surgery. Utter utter disappointment. Perhaps a day 112 gig patch might help?
Oh SNAP! I've just realised that the picture at the top of this article is the flipside artwork by Dubois.
@Savino
Yeah, it's not quite up there with Blizzard's "NEW" diablo only being IOS/Droid, but still dumb.
They should just remaster the rebirth series instead of making new games if they couldn't make a decent new one.
This looks nothing like the Contra I know and love. If they changed the title, nobody would notice.
I love Contra, but I'm not impressed to see a 3rd person twin stick shooter. To be fair, I will give it a go on the demo, which I was PRAYING for to begin with-- Maybe it'll change my mind, but I never asked for a 3D Contra, just 2D, but we'll see...
So no one here played contra neo huh. I loved the demo. Its awesome to me and im glad we are even getting a new contra. Can't wait to play online with some friends and try to so a perfect run through like I used to do on contra 3. Got my preorder ready. New game but yall are the same people who are going to pay 60 for a game boy remake with a new coat of paint. Get outta here lol
They should have given a collection with the rebirth, 4 and the 2 ps2 games and called a day. Less cost and a much bigger profit than this pseudo contra game.
The demo is total poop. I cannot believe the laziness from Konami on the textures for this thing! There's just no excuse for graphics this bad on a system that can do so much more. Pixel art would have been better than this....and I hate pixel art.
@Contra_III I'm happily gonna pay $60 for Link's Awakening because Nintendo actually remade the game and improved on the graphics, gameplay and added more to the game. This poor excuse for a NEW Contra game actually looks like an old game because the graphics are poop! There's just no excuse for textures this muddy, blurry and jaggy for a system that can give us amazing graphics like Super Smash Ultimate.
I will stick to the original Contra series thanks or Blazing Chrome. Not this pathetic excuse for a game they slap the Contra name on it. The funny thing is this will sell like crap, because Konami are more interested in trying to capture an audience that haven't even heard of contra. What they should of done is make a proper Contra for the real fanbase of the series, but that's expecting to much from Konami nowadays.
Wow. Not good. Just....not good.
@Savino DON'T encourage them..
This game is beyond Contra III tier, making it the best shooter I've played in the past decade.
It also comes very close to overtaking C The Contra Adventure as the best game in the Contra series. This installment has convinced me that the franchise has a bright future ahead just like Konami's Metal Gear games.
This is not the contra I know.
Not gonna buy it. After having watched the demo, I can't help but feel that 3D shooters and Contra simply don't fit each other... I wish they would rather have made an extension to Contra 3 to add some new levels. Just my personal opinion...
@Quarth
All games should get demos. I miss the days of the Xbox 360 when demos were required.
@Kang81 Agree.
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