Contra Rogue Corps director on why the series is returning and going in a new direction, wants to see Gradius return
Contra is finally returning with the series’ newest entry, Rogue Corps. The game launches on Switch and other platforms in September.
When asked why it’s the right time for Contra to come back, director Nobuya Nakazato told Metro:
“As you saw in the Nintendo Direct a lot of old games are being remade these days and there is definitely a retro gaming boom at the moment. So I thought it was my chance to bring back the franchise that I love.”
Nakazato was also asked about how the team settled on the direction for Contra Rogue Corps as opposed to doing a remake or following something closer to the earlier games. In response, he explained:
“This game is keeping the core of what makes Contra what it is. If it’s just keeping the old elements you could just play the Contra Anniversary Collection and it would be the same thing. Which is fine, please do! [laughs] But this adds new elements to make it a new game. The old games are still good today but I really wanted to add more new things into the game and not just rehash the old ones.
And when you think of Contra, what makes Contra a good game – that is enjoyed by a lot of players – is when you’re playing together with someone; whether it’s a sibling or a friend. So we wanted to expand on this idea and have four people playing together, especially four people that may not be in the same room at the same time. So that is why we have online multiplayer now, as it makes the game way more fun and way more appealing to modern gamers.”
Towards the end of the interview, Nakazato was asked if there will ever be a new Gradius. Although he didn’t have any announcements to make, Nakazato would “love” to see it make a return.
“Well, there is a kind of reference to Gradius in the game, actually. And by the way, you see on my jacket the Konami code – everybody thinks it made its debut in Contra but actually the first game that used that was Gradius. I’d love to see Gradius come back.”
