Contra: Legacy of War

Contra: Legacy of War from 1996 was the series' attempt at a leap into fully three-dimensional graphics, at a time when many successful 2D franchises were trying to find their way into the incoming 3D era of fifth-generation consoles. Instead of the iconic side-scroll, it offers an over-the-shoulder view and a trek through sci-fi environments full of alien monsters and the military hardware of the Hard Corps organization. The game was developed for Konami by the American studio Appaloosa Interactive, which in the mid-1990s specialized precisely in transitioning popular 2D action franchises into three-dimensional space. The game was released simultaneously for the Sega Saturn as well, which only underscores just how much of a corporate bet on the genre's future this was at the time.

This version differs fundamentally from classic Contra entries – the camera positioned behind the hero's back changes spatial orientation and the way you aim, levels are built as three-dimensional corridors full of obstacles and enemies attacking from every direction, and for the first time in the series the controls had to handle movement in all directions instead of just running and jumping along a single axis as in previous 2D entries. The weapon system, power-up collecting, and alien theme remain true to the series' spirit, but the pace, spatial orientation, and overall feel of the game are noticeably different from previous 2D installments because of the new perspective, in both positive and negative ways – the period hardware limitations noticeably affected camera and character control. Enemies also attack from the depth of the space and from behind, so players must constantly watch their surroundings instead of just tracking a single plane of movement, which fans of the series had been used to until then.

Why play it: It's worth attention as a historical detour of the Contra brand into a mid-1990s 3D experiment – more interesting for series fans curious how it fared at the time transitioning into the new console generation than as a first choice for newcomers looking for classic side-scrolling action.