Feature How X8's Contra: Super Wall Storm Is Taking Konami's Series Into The Realm Of VR

Konami has given Contra a real boost lately via the release of Contra: Operation Galuga, and the famous run-and-gun franchise is getting more exposure thanks to an upcoming collaboration with Japanese studio Thirdverse's free-to-play VR hero shooter X8 called Contra: Super Wall Storm.

"As someone who grew up with the original Contra, this collaboration with Konami is incredibly special to me," Thirdverse VP Dax Berg tells Time Extension ahead of the December 12th launch. "I can still remember racing to my friend Jason’s house in middle school to play Contra co-op on his NES. Those moments defined a generation of gaming for me, and when Contra: Operation Galuga launched this year, I played it the day it came out, and I really thought it was an excellent modernization of the franchise."

In this new crossover, Contra protagonists Bill and Lance join the "digital realm" of X8 via the rogue AI Index. "In our story universe, these characters retain their identities and even their consciousness," explains Berg. "They realize they’ve been living in a game simulation, or in some cases, they’ve known it all along." While Wayforward's Operation Galuga was an extension of the existing Contra template, the crossover with X8 takes the series in an entirely new direction – and it's a leap that Berg and his team have clearly given a lot of consideration to.

"Bringing Contra into VR has been an incredible challenge and opportunity," he tells us. "The original game is the quintessential run-and-gun shooter. For our VR adaptation, we wanted to take the feel of a classic shmup boss level and put that into a full VR experience. But the shift from 2D to VR is no small task."

Indeed, the transition from 2D to immersive VR is one that is notoriously tricky to pull off. "In a traditional shmup, players see the entire playing field all at once," continues Berg. "In a first-person VR mode, this is not practical. We have attacks that come from eye level from various armadillo bots, attacks from hovering Birdmen that come from above, and attacks from Barrage missiles that come from directly overhead but have tell markings that can be directly below you. Players who want to advance need to be able to look at a multitude of levels of play in order to see where specific attacks are coming from. Sound plays a key role here in teaching the player where to look and when."

Konami itself has struggled to bring Contra into the world of 3D on more than one occasion. Misfires such as Contra: Legacy of War, C: The Contra Adventure and, more recently, Contra: Rogue Corps have proven time and time again that this is a franchise which arguably belongs in two dimensions – so how will this VR collaboration change that?

"One of the things I’m most proud of is how we’ve designed the gameplay to feel intuitive and physical," explains Berg. "Players can physically duck behind cover and use their in-game glove launchers to dodge, jump and double-jump by throwing their gripped hands in a motion in time with a release. There are a lot of movement combinations that feel pretty natural." Finishing moves can be used to displatch weakened enemies, too.

Another hallmark of the Contra series is its difficulty level, and this is something that Contra: Super Wall Storm will aim to emulate. "It will take several play-throughs just to understand how each of the enemies interact," Berg says. "Players may not make it to the Super Wall until they really get a feel of how to jump, dodge, and use effective finishers. That being said, even after you have defeated the Super Wall, players will be given an end rating score. It will be impossible to achieve an A, S or S+ Tier rating without locating (and destroying) sneaky rare difficulty targets that, on destruction, will advance the wave. Players will need to advance and master the bonus waves in order to gain these high ratings."

However, accessibility is also a concern for Berg and his team, and there's a desire to make Super Wall Storm welcoming and challenging. "For players that cannot reach these top ranks – I am actually one of them at the moment – you still gain replayability with our Contra / Freeplay Park Prize wall system. Every time you beat the Super Wall, each player will be able to unlock a completion play through credit. With enough credits, players can access different cool prizes to be used in Freeplay park. This draws inspiration from how arcades and skeeball centres use prizes for players."

Berg says that Konami has fully embraced the potential of this collaboration and has been "really amazing to work with," which might have something to do with the fact that Thirdverse is fairly unique in being a Japanese company working in the realm of VR. "From the onset, they shared our vision of seeing Contra in VR and decided that an established Japanese VR game company like Thirdverse would be the ideal developer to see this through," says Berg. "We’ve adapted some of the Red Falcon enemies to work better in VR, and we’ve included plenty of nostalgic callbacks for longtime fans."

Ultimately, Berg feels that, rather than being a gimmick, Super Wall Storm offers an evolutionary step for both VR action gaming and Contra itself. "We approached Contra: Super Wall Storm with the focus of a past, present and future in gaming style," he says. "The original Contra laid the groundwork, Contra: Operation Galuga built on it with modern advancements this year, and now Contra: Super Wall Storm is a glimpse into the future of how new gaming platforms and VR can expand on the franchise. The biggest new elements are the fully immersive view you get in VR and the physical interactivity a player gets with interacting in the world. These are all things you can only experience with VR."

And finally, the most important question of all: does Super Wall Storm feature the Konami code? "I hope there will always be a Konami Code in every Contra game released," replies Berg with a wink. Make of that what you will.

X8's Contra: Super Wall Storm expansion launches on December 12th, 2024. X8 is currently available on Steam VR, Meta Quest and Pico VR, but is expected to come to PSVR2 in the future.

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