Contra Rogue Corps director on the game’s camera angle, characters, dodge mechanic, more
Contra Anniversary Collection landed on the Switch eShop not too long ago. In addition, Konami revealed at E3 that the company is making an entirely new game in the franchise known as Contra Rogue Corps. After the announcement was made, Famitsu spoke with producer Nobuya Nakazato about why the team went with an overhead camera angle, the game’s characters, and the new characters.
We’ve prepared a translation of Famitsu’s short interview. Continue on below to read it in full.
Usually when you think of Contra you think of that side-on view, so before you play this game you might think it was something different. But it’s definitely a Contra game…
Nakazato: That’s right. Maybe it’s how overblown the whole thing is, or maybe just how flashy and kind of stupid it is. From the very first game there has always been the ability to play multiplayer, and we’ve brought that over to this one too. Here, though, as you can play with up to four players, we had to go with the top view so that the screen didn’t get too confusing.
Ah, so you did it to make it easier to play with four players.
Nakazato: In other games in the series there were both side and top views, but here it doesn’t switch depending on the stage. Instead, the camera seamlessly shifts for the best view. If the player were able to manually shift the camera it would give them too much to do and make it hard for them to concentrate, so we’ve made it so the camera automatically moves to the best viewing angle.
I see. I guess four players is the cap, right?
Nakazato: Yes. Multiplayer is a big draw of the Contra series, so we focused on that a lot.
It seems pretty easy to jump in and out of the action. The characters of the series are also a big draw. They are all so interesting…
Nakazato: They have all been macho military types, but we always tried to give them a little more personality.
In the opening trailer we also see Kaiser riding on a giant missile, which is an homage to Contra 3, isn’t it?
Nakazato: Yes. In that game you could nag from missiles, so we thought we would update the way it looks and have it in there as a taste of those earlier games. This time around you can only see it in the cut scenes, but there are still rockets you can use to kill enemies.
I can’t wait to play it. Just like the old games, there are a lot of actions but the game itself is still simple to play. The new dodge also adds something new.
Nakazato: Using the dodge while on the move makes the character zoom forward, so I think learning to use it well is convenient and it also feels satisfying.
I saw one bit where an enemy was crammed into steel drum with explosives and then fired into the sky while the camera followed them – I love those sort of over the top scenes. Finally, do you have a message for those Contra fans waiting for the game?
Nakazato: I’m sure there are many, me included, looking forward to this one. While it’s still not finished, Contra Rogue Corps is a title that marks the 32nd Anniversary of the series. There are lots of nods to past entries in the series, so I hope Contra veterans will also give the game a try. There are even a few homages to Contra Hard Corps on the old Mega Drive (Genesis for you NA guys. Mega Drive is so much cooler though…it sounds like an upgrade for Optimus Prime or something). I hope everyone is looking forward to that OTT multiplayer Contra fun!
Translation by provided by Corks on behalf of Nintendo Everything
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