10. Final Boss –  Contra: Operation Galuga

Say what you will regarding the quality and length of Contra: Operation Galuga, but it’s definitely not lacking in difficulty. The bosses in particular are as hard-hitting as they come in the side-scrolling shoot-em-up genre. At the top of the food chain is the final boss. This antagonist appears in various incarnations throughout the Contra series, though it’s within Operation Galuga where its most horrific version yet surfaces with a design resembling a Xenomorph from the Alien films. And a giant it is, with its moving hands constituting the platforms you must shoot it from. Once you crack its skull, you must face its exposed brain whilst dodging a flurry of orbs. The battle has players frantically dodging and spraying in a truly Contra-like way, but no amount of co-op or Konami Code will ease you through this fight.

9. Sanctum Zealot – Enotria: The Last Song

Enotria was a surprisingly fun Italian soulslike this year that ended up giving us a lot of tough bosses. Boss fights within Enotria rely upon parrying skill and mastery over the clever mask switching system. Sanctum Zealot is an optional boss fight that requires all that and them some. Found near the end of the Sicilian-themed level, Falesia Magna, this helmed giant wields an ultra greatsword capable of killing characters in two to three hits. The first phase of the fight can be overcome by dodging or parrying its slow and devastating swings, but the second phase ups the ante with extra speed, elemental buffs, and ranged flurries. If you want to overcome Sanctum Zealot, it may be prudent to return later after finishing most other sections of the game first, as this masked warrior packs a punch.

8. Daigo, Saejima, And Majima – Like A Dragon Infinite Wealth

Even best friends fight sometimes, but they probably didn’t have to go as hard as they did in Like A Dragon Infinite Wealth. Chapter 12 starts with Kiryu and his old-time buddies hanging out, but of course, Yakuza have a different concept of having fun than you or I. After some of the coolest scenes in the game, a fight ensues between the group of friends. What really makes this turn-based bout difficult is managing the elemental resistances and weaknesses between the three opponents. Yes, this is technically a four on three fight, but unless you specifically hit each opponent with their weakness, there’s not much damage that can be done against the infamous trio.

7. Hive Tyrant – Space Marine 2

As the battlefield commander of the Tyranids, the Hive Tyrant isn’t one to be underestimated. Equipped with a long whip in one hand and a devastating cleaver in the other, this colossal Tyranid bioform absolutely punishes whether you keep your distance or decide to tank it up close. If you have a particularly good team, you may whittle down its health bar pretty quick…and then be shocked (literally) by the second phase and its constant wave of psychic attacks. Grenades are about the only surefire offense guaranteed to stagger the Hive Tyrant … if you haven’t already used them all on the waves of Tyranids during the fight, that is.

6. Dullahan – Dragon’s Dogma 2

Dragon’s Dogma 2’s Headless Horseman is among the coolest encounters that can be had in the game, even if there’s no horse to accompany the Dullahan in this case. Wandering around at night can be costly enough in this series, but doing so in certain areas while fog is out can be downright deadly. Dullahan comes out on foggy nights and is about as hard to hit as it is to see through DD2‘s dense fog. The spectral teleportation that Dullahan employs is tough to anticipate, and worse yet, it slices at players immediately after vanishing. And you don’t want to let a Dullahan catch you on the ground since its life-draining ability damages both life and loss bars to a devastating degree.

5. Kiana The Forest Queen – Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown

Prince of Persia: The Lost Crown has my favorite side-scrolling boss fights of any game since the release of Hollow Knight. Chief among those fights is the forest queen, Kiana. The fight comprises an impressive array of phases, attacks, and interesting animations, making it one of the most impressive in the game. Kiana’s three phases necessitate constant vigilance and concentration to overcome, yet never manages to feel unfair or cheap thanks to clear visual attack cues. The wolf/spear-wielder duo throws some clever combo moves at the player, such as the one-two punch of the spear throw followed by the wolf sweeping across the ground. Like other fights in The Lost Crown, Kiana makes sure players master every tool in their repertoire in order to come out on top.

4. Gallanza and Maglielle – Granblue Fantasy Relink

As one of this year’s best co-op action RPGs, Granblue Fantasy Relink is no stranger to tough boss encounters. Some of the most difficult battles occur within the many optional missions of the game – such is the case with the Gallanza/Maglielle duo fight. Players will encounter each of these commanders through the story, and individually they aren’t so tough to beat. But once you fight them in the ‘Wolf and the Veil’ Proud Quest, things get out of hand. Gallanza serves as the brutish tank with quick attacks, while Maglielle performs ranged AOE attacks from afar. The duo will occasional assail you together with devastating combo attacks as well, so it’s best to come as prepared as humanly possible before attempting to best them together.

3. Gilgamesh – Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth

Final Fantasy’s returning eccentric swordsman constitutes not only the most difficult fight in Rebirth, but the most rewarding and involved to unlock. Cloud and company must first obtain every Protorelic in each of the game’s six massive regions. After doing this, a new landmass opens up, aptly called Gilgamesh Island. The final dual with Gilgamesh is quite the spectacle indeed, requiring post-game leveling and a whole lot of strategy to win. If the newly arranged ‘Battle on the Big Bridge’ theme didn’t convince you that old Gilgy means business, his dozens of unique (and often hilarious) attacks and huge HP will.

2. Hundred-Eyed Daoist Master – Black Myth Wukong

In a game as focused on boss fights as Black Myth Wukong, the Hundred-Eyed Daoist Master reigns supreme as the toughest. This centipede human hybrid monstrosity is incredibly hard to dodge and deflect due to its awkward attack positions and strange hit boxes. Every movement it makes seems just a tad bit delayed, and they’re all rather unpredictable. And then there’s the second phase which adds a lightning buff to its attacks for extra measure. There is one item that makes this fight a bit easier though, and that’s the stun-inducing Weaver’s Needle. But whether or not you choose to use the special item, Hundred-Eyed Daoist Master is one of those boss fights that warrants a celebration upon defeat due to its difficulty.

1. Promised Consort Radahn – Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree

You didn’t think Shadow of the Erdtree wouldn’t make it on a boss fight list, did you? Well, to no one’s surprise, Elden Ring’s challenging DLC features more than a few tough-as-nails battles, and none are more difficult than the final boss awaiting players at the end. Promised Consort Radahn uses some familiar attacks from the original Radahn fight, but a majority are enhanced by Miquella. The first phase challenges the player against a bevy of gravity-based attacks that ripple multiple times in succession. The second phase is perhaps one of the few boss moments to rival the Malenia fight in the base game. Miquella controls Radahn directly during this second phase, infusing him with deadly Holy elemental buffs and occasionally inflicting an instant death move should the player get caught. Promised Consort Radahn serves as the ultimate conclusion to the DLC, distilling Shadow of the Erdtree’s philosophy on difficulty in one crazy boss fight. No matter the build or level, you’re going to have to fight tooth and nail to even stand an ounce of a chance this Miquella/Radahn duo.

Note: The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily represent the views of, and should not be attributed to, GamingBolt as an organization.

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl

GSC Game World’s sequel isn’t a particularly challenging survival experience when managing hunger and radiation. However, patience and endurance are key, whether deducing and defusing anomalies, surviving encounters with Mutants or managing your inventory and dealing with the encumbrance. Doing all this without any fast travel is just the cherry on top. The lethality of firearms also goes both ways, ensuring each gunfight could be fatal with proper preparation.

All of which is to say, the bar was very low for Operation Galuga. The Contra franchise has frankly been outputting poor games for far longer than it ever did great ones, at least as far as consistency is concerned. We’ve had some bright spots – such as 2007’s great Contra 4 – but even those were so long ago that there was no real expectation from this new release.

Operation Galuga clears the lowered bar with ease. But it is a legitimately good game. It would probably never be able to stand side by side with the greats of the franchise and the genre’s heyday, but it is better than almost anything the series has managed to put out in decades, and manages to be a legitimately good, but not great, game on its own merits.

Ostensibly the game is supposed to be a remake of the very first game in the series, but functionally, Galuga is perhaps better described as a very loose reimagining. The “star” of the show is the story mode – yes, there’s a story mode, and you can almost argue that its very presence might indicate that the point has been missed thoroughly yet again, but hang on. While the story here is fairly poor, with trite writing and bland voice acting that seems to riff on every single action movie trope possible, it is mostly in keeping with the spirit of the franchise.

And realistically, you can ignore the story mode. There’s a full arcade mode that you can play which has none of the cutscenes and briefings, and just has you jumping into the maps and running through them. You do need to play through the story mode to unlock characters to be able to use in the arcade mode beyond the default two, however, but even then, you can skip every single cutscene and get right into the action.

"Operation Galuga is better than almost anything the series has managed to put out in decades, and manages to be a legitimately good, but not great, game on its own merits."

And that’s the area where the game is good. While it’s a reimagining of the first game (meaning the same general level themes and sometimes, general progression), it brings in elements from other games in the series too, while also adding some of its own in the mix. There are some great reinterpretations of classic set pieces as well, and the camera is a lot more dynamic, and frames the action in a lot more interesting ways as well. 

These levels involve a lot of running and gunning. They, for good or for bad, mostly limit themselves to the palette and enemy roster of the first game. What this means is that the areas you progress through and the enemies you fight can feel fairly generic (because the first game in the series was, obviously, the most vanilla – it was the later games in the series that went a bit insane, and went in hard with their setting, aesthetic, and enemy design). Nonetheless, the game still manages to put up a lot of interesting enemies in frenetic and frantically paced shootouts, which can feel satisfying to conquer.

Operation Galuga also, wisely, makes concessions to the fact that it’s a different day and age than the one that the original games came out in. The original Contra games were infamous for being nail bitingly tough – so much so that the existence of the Konami Code was specifically to make the first game easier. Obviously, the kind of difficulty those games used to have wouldn’t fly today, and concessions to modern expectations have been made.

You can still play Operation Galuga like the classics – that is, play it on a high difficulty and set it so that taking even one hit kills you – but if you are not inclined towards that any more, you can set it up so that you have an HP bar (that you lose a life for depleting), and you can set it up on a lower “Normal” and even lower “Easy” difficulty. These alone should allow pretty much anyone to jump in and make their way through to the end, especially since even if you do lose all your lives, you get the chance to continue from the last checkpoint in the level with all your lives and no other penalty.

I do not mean any of this as a criticism. I view these as great changes, because they allow new players (or simply ones who don’ find themselves up to the challenge the traditional difficulties provide) to be able to still meet the game on their own terms. As I mentioned, you can set it up so that you can still play it as a traditional Contra game, and that’s good. It means everyone gets catered to.

Galuga also allows other ways to tweak the experience, including a system of perks, unlocked with credits you gain for playing and replaying levels. These perks can range from always starting levels with certain weapons equipped (rather than having to find them from weapon drops in the level) to tweaking  your health bar, the number of lives you have, the range of your mobility, and so on. You can also use these credits to unlock new characters.

"It won’t ever top anyone’s list of favorite Contra or run and gun game, and it will certainly not convert anyone who was not already a fan of the IP or the genre, but to those already in the know? It’s a good enough title to be worth checking out."

Again, if you want, you can ignore most of the things that make the game easier and just play it like a regular Contra game. On my part, while I used to play Contra endlessly, I can no longer keep up with the level of dexterity and skill that the games demand, so I was glad to see concessions and cushioning available.

Once you do get down to the actual run and gunning, as mentioned, you find a game that is pretty good. It never hits the highs of the original few games – limiting itself just to the first game for enemy and setting being the primary reason for that – but it ends up being a fun enough time, particularly when played with someone in co-op, or just when you get into the zone and start running the levels repeatedly to master them and optimize your runs through them. It’s just good enough to compel you to keep playing it, while never transcending its limitations.

A run and gun limiting itself on the level design and enemy variety is unfortunate, but I do like what we have here a lot, and it’s not lacking in absolute terms, just conspicuous by its absence when compared to some of the other games in the series. 

There are other problems with Operation Galuga – for example, the graphics are- well, they’re not – okay let’s stop beating around the bush, they’re pretty bad. It’s an ugly looking game. It’s not just lacking in terms of the tech, but also the art style which is a very noticeable downgrade from the great spritework and 2D aesthetics of some of the best games in the series, including WayForward’s own Contra 4 on the DS. The good thing I can say about them is that they hold a steady framerate at all times, no matter how hectic the action on screen may get.

"In the end, however, a lot of what the game does poorly can be ignored, at least by those looking for a good run and gun or Contra experience."

That matters more than anything else when it comes to Contra, but the unfortunately and obviously low budget nature of the visuals does intrude on the experience fairly often – particularly in the story mode where, let’s face it, the game does not have the budget or production values necessary to back up its storytelling aspirations. Speaking of those aspirations, if you do care about the story (which you shouldn’t, at least not in a Contra game), then you will find it to be extremely poor, tapping on almost every single trope in the book, and, seemingly, playing it straight.

In the end, however, a lot of what the game does poorly can be ignored, at least by those looking for a good run and gun or Contra experience. This game isn’t as good as the classics that it is inspired from, or not even as good as the peak of the modern era, which was Contra 4. But it is a good, well playing, fun entry into the canon, one that retains all the strengths of the franchise, and executes on them well enough to invite plays and replays by those that like this style of game.

It won’t ever top anyone’s list of favorite Contra or run and gun game, and it will certainly not convert anyone who was not already a fan of the IP or the genre, but to those already in the know? It’s a good enough title to be worth checking out, even with all the flaws and caveats that come bundled with the recommendation. 

This game was reviewed on PlayStation 5.

Hi-Fi Rush (PS5)

Step aside Starfield and Indiana Jones and the Great Circle – the true best Xbox exclusive is coming to PS5 on March 19th. Tango Gameworks’ Hi-Fi Rush already cemented itself as one of the best character-driven, hack-and-slash action-adventure titles ever made when it suddenly dropped last year. The addition of rhythmic elements to the combat with a gorgeous art style and fun humor, made it all the more endearing, but PS5 players can experience the Arcade Challenge! Update! for more challenges and replay value right out the gate.

Outpost: Infinity Siege

If you’re a fan of sci-fi tower defense and base-building, then Team Ranger’s Outpost: Infinity Siege may be worth checking out. Story details are lacking at the moment, but it involves gathering resources, managing units and fighting for survival across multiple sci-fi zones with unique hazards, with a mix of first-person gunplay and overhead commands. You can customize your Protoslag Gun in different ways and team up with friends in co-op, including an endless Horde-mode style mode. Outpost: Infinity Siege is out on March 26th for PC.

Winter Survival

Between Palworld, Sons of the Forest, Enshrouded, Nightingale and Pacific Drive, there are plenty of survival crafting games to jump into. DRAGO Entertainment’s Winter Survival is another potentially worth noting as players fight for survival on a hike gone wrong in Mount Washington State Park. Hunt the wildlife, stave off the cold and hunger, and explore the area to find refuge. Random events can also occur, for better or worse, but the real challenge is managing your sanity, especially when hallucinations start to manifest. Winter Survival launches on March 6th for PC via Steam Early Access, where it will remain for at least six months.

Lightyear Frontier

Of course, those seeking something less stressful can look into Lightyear Frontier. The farming title sees players venturing to a far-off planet for farming purposes. Despite having a mech, it’s more of a multi-purpose tool, allowing you to plough the fields, clear out pollution, plant new trees, and much more (and yes, you can also build a home). With co-op support, it should be interesting to see how Lightyear Frontier fares when it launches into early access on March 19th for Xbox Series X/S and PC.

WWE 2K24

Controversies loom heavily for the WWE following a lawsuit against its former chairman, Vince McMahon. Wrestlemania season rolls on regardless, though, and a new WWE 2K title is out on March 8th for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5 and PC. Visual Concepts’ WWE 2K24 offers a new 2K Showcase highlighting 40 years of memorable Wrestlemania matches; new match types like Ambulance, Gauntlet, Special Referee and Coffin; and various new features for MyGM, MyFACTION and Universe Mode. Even Backstage Brawl has been revamped to feel more brutal.

Dragon’s Dogma 2

Dragon’s Dogma 2 is out on March 22nd for PS5, Xbox Series X/S and PC. Combat is real-time and includes new Vocations like the Mystic Spearhand, Warfarer and Trickster, powerful skills and Pawn actions, the world has limited fast travel and a hefty amount of side content that players may miss. Dragon’s Dogma 2 could be a stand-out RPG in this highly competitive quarter.

Rise of the Ronin

Rise of the Ronin is Team Ninja’s biggest project yet and seven years in the making. It’s an open-world action RPG that takes several combat cues from Nioh, particularly its Styles and weapon types while adding a glider, Grappling Hook and even character switching. As a Veiled Edge in the Bakumatsu era of Japan, players must side with different historical figures and carve their path, with multiple decisions deciding their fate.

Forming bonds with characters can alter the course of the story and unlock new endings. However, the developer also promises extensive side content and detailed cities like Edo, Yokohama and Kyoto. It’s out on March 22nd, exclusively for PS5, and with a character creator, four-player co-op and different difficulty options, we can’t wait to see how it pans out.

MLB The Show 24

It wouldn’t be a year of sports follow-ups without a new MLB The Show. Launching on March 19th for Xbox One, PS4, Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and Nintendo Switch, MLB The Show 24 offers 400 new animations, including new pitcher animations, revamped base sizes, and multiple other gameplay improvements. Modes like Diamond Dynasty, Road to the Show, Franchise, and March to October also return, while this year’s Storylines sees the addition of Derek Jeter’s 1995 to 2000 seasons.

Outcast – A New Beginning

Appeal Studios’ Outcast – A New Beginning is a dream come true for long-time fans of the 1999 adventure classic, especially after the cancellation of Outcast 2: The Lost Paradise. Cutter Slade returns to Adelpha, and he’s once again on a mission to save the Talans. With extensive weapon customization, different abilities, a large open world with secrets to uncover and extensive wildlife, and a jetpack for quick exploration, A New Beginning promises an extensive amount of freedom like the original. It launches on March 15th for Xbox Series X/S, PS5 and PC.

Contra: Operation Galuga

The Contra series hasn’t had the best track record lately, especially 2019’s Contra: Rogue Corps. However, Contra: Operation Galuga is a vast improvement, as WayForward embraces the 80s-style run-and-gun action complete with big bosses, several playable characters, three difficulty options and eight stages for players to test their mettle. New weapons, Overlord abilities and stackable upgrades also sound enticing, and there’s even support for up to four players in Arcade Mode. Contra: Operation Galuga arrives on March 12th for Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, PS4, PS5, PC and Nintendo Switch, with a free demo currently available.

Expeditions: A MudRunner Game

If you liked Snowrunner and wanted more of the same, Expeditions: A MudRunner Game…isn’t exactly that. Instead, it’s more of an exploration title where you work with a research team to explore three massive maps. Unearth treasures, transport equipment, help other truckers – the list goes on, with several new tools to help navigate the dreaded landscape and Specialists to lend their knowledge. Expeditions: A MudRunner Game is out on March 5th for Xbox Series X/S, PS5, Xbox One, PS4, PC and Nintendo Switch.

Horizon Forbidden West Complete Edition (PC)

After Horizon Zero Dawn, it’s now the turn of Guerrilla Games’ Horizon Forbidden West to launch on PC. The Complete Edition includes the acclaimed base game and expansion, The Burning Shores, while supporting 21:9 and 32:9 displays alongside 48:9 triple monitor set-ups. PC players can also look forward to Nvidia DLSS 3 and DLAA support, in addition to AMD FSR and Intel XeSS being supported. If nothing else, Nixxes Software being in charge should mean a much better port than the original when it arrives on March 21st.

Princess Peach: Showtime!

Princess Peach finally gets her time to shine as the protagonist again when Princess Peach: Showtime! arrives on March 22nd for Nintendo Switch. The action-adventure title sees her utilizing various transformations to defeat Wicked Grape and the Sour Bunch, from the deadly Ninja Peach to the martial arts of Kung Fu Peach. You can even don a detective hat as, well, Detective Peach and duel with Swordfighter Peach. Overall, Princess Peach: Showtime! looks like a massive step up from 2005’s Super Princess Peach in every way.

Planet Zoo: Console Edition

A console re-release of a Frontier Developments’ management title on PC from 2019? Odd as it may be, Planet Zoo: Console Edition is out on March 26th for PS5 and Xbox Series X/S. It features the same content that fans of the original love, from creating different habitats in your dream zoo to caring for various animal species (complete with console-centric controls). The Frontier Workshop also gets cross-platform sharing, providing even more content to download, but there’s also a Season Pass for a whopping 14 additional DLC packs for console players.

Open Roads

Previously set to launch in February, Annapurna Interactive’s Open Roads is now out on March 28th for PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC. The story of Tess and her mother, Opal, still looks endearing as they embark on a road trip and revisit the past (unearthing some secrets along the way). With a uniquely gorgeous art style and an atmosphere that evokes the nostalgia of simpler times, Open Roads should be worth checking out for adventure game fans.

"We decided to reboot the original Contra because we believe that now is the time to bring back the true Contra that Contra fans would want."

What was behind the decision to go back to the original Contra and bring it back in reimagined form?

Akiyoshi Chosokabe (director, Konami): The Contra series has been running for more than 35 years, and each title has produced many variations in gameplay. Though each has its own charm, the most representative image of Contra that is still burned into the minds of fans is that of two soldiers, Bill Rizer and Lance Bean, fighting in a burning jungle. We decided to reboot the original Contra because we believe that now is the time to bring back the true Contra that Contra fans would want.

How significantly does Contra: Operation Galuga reimagine the original game? What kind of a balance does it strike between being true to the original and introducing its own new elements?

Tomm Hulett (director, WayForward): This game starts with the same premise as the original. But from there, the story is expanded somewhat (similar to how the MCU films might use years of comic continuity in a single movie), and the gameplay itself is completely unique. It’s a 2D Contra so it plays as you would expect, but level designs, boss encounters, etc. are not beholden to the classic title. For a stage like the Jungle, this means the layout is all new, but you are fighting familiar enemies and it ends with a Wall boss. With later stages, such as the Snowfield, Operation Galuga’s version has nothing in common with the original besides its setting.

Essentially, we are inspired by, but not beholden to, the original Contra.

Chosokabe: This game is based on earlier Contra games, such as the original NES Contra, but the level design and characters have changed significantly. In that sense, it can be considered as a new game.

We aimed to create a “Contra game that is faithful to the original” and is faithful to the core fun of a run-’n’-gun game. The game is about dodging the enemy’s heavy attacks, and just advancing forward. With Contra OG, we believe we have brought back the simple yet tense gameplay, building on this foundation and adding new elements to it such as Overload.

Given how thoroughly Contra: Operation Galuga is reimagining the original game, was there ever a discussion to do something even more drastic- perhaps developing a top-down twin-stick shooter, or something along those lines?

Chosokabe: We discussed and studied various possibilities of what the future of Contra should be like within Konami. Of course, styles like twin-stick shooters were among the options that were considered. Ultimately, we decided to concentrate on pursuing the basic fun of the run-’n’-gun genre in Contra OG. This is because we want to return to the fun of our origins, while aiming for a new evolution.

Hulett: From the very start, Konami was clear the goal of this project was to define “classic 2D Contra action” for the modern console generation. Since they wanted 2D run-‘n’-gun gameplay, and that’s something WayForward excels at, we were happy to remain in that playground.

"We are inspired by, but not beholden to, the original Contra."

Contra: Operation Galuga is promising new stages, bosses, and enemies. What has been your core driving philosophy for developing that new content and ensuring that it feels cohesive with the original game and the series’ own identity?

Chosokabe: When adding new content, we tried to identify elements that capture the essence of Contra and those that don’t. For the game, we considered “simple horizontal-scrolling controls,” “intense concentration in avoiding attacks,” “exhilaration in defeating enemies,” and “easy cooperative play” to be important for Contra, and we used these as guiding principles in our decision-making process. We have also made changes to elements that are not essential, such as the traditional 8-way aim, to modernize the game. (You still have the option to choose 8-way aim.) Also, just as the developers of the original Contra aimed for, a main guiding principle for this game was to make it feel like a major Hollywood action movie.

Hulett: As I touched on earlier, we use the original game’s premise as our overall setting, but then we examined the entire “classic canon” of Contra for gameplay inspiration. The Flame Weapon is a good example — the short range, constant DPS flamethrower design debuted in Contra III: The Alien Wars. However, we determined this was the best design for our game so we used that in OG. I tried to imagine this was just the next mainline Contra, following from the 8- and 16-bit games to Shattered Soldier, Contra 4, and Hard Corps — now Operation Galuga. How do we encapsulate that legacy into a new title?

What can you tell us about the game’s challenge options and how they will add to the experience?

Hulett: There are a lot of subtle things at work that allow players to fine-tune the challenge. At the basic level, we have three difficulty levels. You can see the full game on any of them, so there’s no pressure to reach beyond your comfort zone at first. From here, you can choose Life Meter or 1-hit Kill. We’re balanced for the Life Meter at default, so going retro on this option increases the difficulty quite a bit. Then, if you play on Arcade Mode (as opposed to Story) each boss has an additional tweak or pattern for additional challenge.

The player can also unlock Perks that will make life easier or provide additional strategic options, and then once you master the basics and want to push yourself, we have 30 Challenge stages, which are snippets from the main game but altered to test some specific aspect of the gameplay system.

Players who want even more… may find some additional difficulty modes. But these aren’t for the faint of heart!

"When adding new content, we tried to identify elements that capture the essence of Contra and those that don’t."

What can you tell us about Operation Galuga’s improvements and updates to the weapons and their upgrades, and how they will differ from the original game?

Hulett: The original NES Contra established a core set of weapons that is hard to top – and then Contra III added Homing and Crush. It’s a canon set of weapons that really hits all the key needs of a run-‘n’-gun arsenal. So that’s our starting point.

We brought back the weapon stacking from Contra 4 (doubling up a weapon powers it up). In some cases this is just more bullets or faster rate of fire, but in many it actually adds a new function. For example, Lv2 Laser ricochets between targets, and Lv2 Crush makes a vortex that swallows enemy bullets.

Then, our new mechanic is the Overload. You can scrap one of your weapons in exchange for a huge Overload effect — sometimes a screen-clearing smart bomb attack, other times a strategic effect such as slowing time or creating a shield.

The philosophy here is that every weapon drop offers a wealth of strategic options, rather than just “Do I want to shoot a fireball or not?”

How many new weapons should players expect to see in the game?

Hulett: Well, beyond the default gun, there are the six core weapons, and then an alternate set of six more, so that’s 12. And then each one of those has a Lv2 when it’s powered up, and a unique Overload.

Roughly how long will an average playthrough of the game be?

Hulett: Our stages are considerably larger than their counterparts in the original Contra. I think at one point we estimated one of our stages is two stage-lengths from Contra 4? For players who most recently tried Spidersaurs, our mid-game stages in Operation Galuga are about the size of the endgame stages in that title. So as far as run-‘n’-gun stages go, we’re on the lengthy side. And once players have completed the main game, there are still 30 Challenges and plenty of bonuses to unlock, so it’s a substantial experience.