Contra Hard Corps Walkthrought

We kick off with a city brawl — in Contra: Hard Corps (known to many as Contra Hardcore and even Probotector on some carts) the run-and-gun rhythm hits immediately. On the opening blocks, don’t loiter mid-screen: the spider mini-boss telegraphs a lunge — meet it with lock stance and shots upward; when it vaults over you, slide then hop and turn. Next rolls in a transformer bruiser: the safe lane is under its chassis, but only until the thrusters heat up; once it opens the “heart,” dump two–three volleys from your heaviest slot, then slide under again. During the bombing stretch, hug a side edge; bombs are readable by their shadows: sidestep — slide — burst. On the truck roof don’t jump unless you must: rails and turrets fire diagonally, it’s easier to go prone on the cab and hose the upper screen corners. After the radio chatter you’ll choose — chase or lab. That pick steers your route and your endings.

Chase: highway, bikes, chopper, and Deadeye Joe

In the chase branch, speed is everything. On the bike, hold your line near center: barriers and pits read early, and the side drones are fodder for auto-aim and homing rockets. When a helicopter parks above, don’t try to dance under it — stand slightly off-center, pop the edge turrets, and when it preps a fan spray, do a short hop over the low lanes and immediately fire upward. Before Deadeye Joe, he likes baiting jumps with mini-missiles: pre-enable fixed fire (lock mode) and track diagonally without moving your feet. When he climbs into the anthro-mech, there’s a damage window at the ankles: two slides through the punch strings, then punish the center of the torso. If your character packs strong tick DPS (Fang and Ray really show it), open with that, then finish with something safer like homing.

Lab: turrets, a sentry sphere, and an alien specimen

In the research wing, doors seal during alarms — don’t brute-force. Clear the ceiling sensors first: they trigger a laser grid you can’t dodge. On the lift platformer where the floor “breathes,” move in bursts from cover to cover and always keep a slide buffered. The rolling sentry sphere exposes its core on turns — lock your stance, aim at 45 degrees, two phases and it’s done. The specimen room — that “alien nastiness” spitting droplets and latchers — play from the left corner; read droplet arcs off the splash cue, answer vine summons with a short slide tight to the wall. Best picks here are Browny’s cutting discs and Fang’s Crush gun: they clear appendages fast without overexposing you. When the central mass shifts color, that’s your green light to finish with homing rockets without losing tempo.

Branches and paths to endings

After the first two big forks, the game throws another choice. Surrender or bolt — your call, but remember: giving in opens a short, super-weird “TV show” route with a quick ending — Genesis Contra fans love the absurdity, but there’s minimal loot or practice there. The escape path drops you onto harder turf — a train, an industrial zone, and then Bahamut’s trail. On the train, don’t stand on carriage seams; sit around the front two-thirds of a platform. Snipers in the backdrop fire with a delay — read the pixel flash and answer with diagonal shots. The locomotive boss revs and blasts steam — a safe pocket sits about half a screen from the stack; park there, just remember to hop the falling segments. These forks shape your endings: want the “more canonical” line — push the resistance route to the space bridge; want something offbeat — explore the alternates. Passwords help: jot them cleanly so you can warp back to a node and sample another branch without rerunning the opener.

Bosses: quick room cues

The ring arena with layered platforms is sneaky: don’t shoot the top tier from dead center — stand a step to the right to cover two drone lanes at once. The wall-crawling sword guy loves catching you midair — don’t jump first; slide under the slash and turn point-blank, his cycle lets you land two volleys safely. The giant cannon with a rotating shield breaks once you carve out a single sector — aim precise, don’t waste spread. In rooms where the floor peels away and the fight goes vertical, change gears: lock stance + micro-hops up the platform ladder at a 45-degree sightline, or the boss will bully you off-screen. Finals love multi-phase swaps with fresh patterns; if a fan of orbs starts, move clockwise, “unwinding” them with your aim angle, and answer plasma rain with ground-level slides, not jumps.

Who to pick and which slots to value

Ray is reliable by default: balanced guns for most rooms, and homing saves nerves in mobile fights like the chase. Sheena blooms on mob-heavy stages — her wide cones blanket the screen; swap to pinpoint damage on bosses. Fang is about melting health bars — pick him if you know patterns and can hold a lock stance. Browny is the mobility king: double jump and a tiny hitbox forgive mistakes on vertical climbs and shifting floors; his slicing discs are a gift against organics and small turrets. Either way, keep one diagonal-friendly tool, one auto-homing, and one “heavy” slot for brief boss-open windows — that way a route split won’t catch you off guard, whether you’re in Contra: Hard Corps or the Probotector-flavored variant.

Three essentials. One: the slide grants brief i-frames — save it for beams and fans, don’t burn it on grunts. Two: lock fire wins half the fights — flip it on whenever you need forward/diagonal aim without shifting position. Three: mark the decision nodes — a Contra Hard Corps walkthrough feels way better when you deliberately return via password and try a different path to the secret endings. For control nuances see /gameplay/, and for behind-the-scenes and era nods check /history/ — it helps unpack Bahamut’s plan and why some versions star “Probotector” robots while others keep the usual commandos.