S4E09: Contra Hard Corps -or- One-Hit Thrills

About this episode

Markivus Nious joins Mike and Jaymo to discuss Contra: Hard Corps, its music, game difficulty, and its cultural implications.

Markivus Nious from 40 Something Gamers is ready to run and gun through Contra: Hard Corps (Sega Genesis / Mega Drive, 1994) with Mike and Jaymo as part of The Old SwitchAroo’s epic quest to research and review every retro game in Nintendo Switch Online’s Nintendo Classics catalog. In this episode, Markivus shares his perspective as a musician on video game music, we discuss how the American version of Contra: Hard Corps was much more difficult than the Japanese version of the game in order to stymie the American rental market, how the Contra franchise turned into Probotector in some parts of Europe, and the way a Castlevania cameo in Contra: Hard Corps stands in between the player and primate romance. We also get a bit more serious with a look at Contra’s roots in the Iran-Contra Affair and how games like Contra relate - or don’t relate - to violence in the real world. Thanks for listening, and a very special thanks to Kristal Fields of The Lazy Circles for our catchy theme song! Subscribe to The Old SwitchAroo to get more retro goodness delivered straight to your feed! You can also join the fun on https://www.theoldswitcharoo.com , where you'll find links to our Discord, social…

People in this episode

Hosts: Mike, Jaymo

Guest: Markivus Nious

Topics covered

• Contra: Hard Corps
• video game music
• game difficulty
• Contra franchise
• Iran-Contra Affair
• violence in video games

Keywords

• Contra Hard Corps
• Sega Genesis
• video game music
• game difficulty
• Iran-Contra Affair
• Probotector
• Castlevania cameo

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: 40 Something Gamers, The Lazy Circles

Products: Contra: Hard Corps, Sega Genesis, Mega Drive

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