Nintendo Life: It’s been over 16 years since WayForward’s last foray into the Contra franchise with Contra 4 on the Nintendo DS. Can you explain to us how this latest project came to fruition?
Tomm Hulett (Director, WayForward): Konami Digital Entertainment (KONAMI) and WayForward had a good relationship working on Contra 4, and over the years we would pitch some ideas or ask if KONAMI had any projects in mind for us. Fortunately, the stars aligned a few years ago, and KONAMI approached us about creating a new side-scrolling Contra title. We answered quite positively!
Konami describes Operation Galuga as a “thorough reimagining” of the original Contra. What drew the team to revisit this classic?
Since Contra is a long-running series, KONAMI was sensitive to the fact that some newer players might think it’s too late to jump in. Additionally, the early story for Contra is a bit muddled (based on territorial differences) so there is an advantage to restarting that aspect and starting over with everyone on the same page. An important detail though — this is not an HD remaster or enhanced port. In terms of gameplay — the stage design, your abilities, the challenges you’ll face — this is a whole new Contra. Hopefully, a great foundation for future entries to build on.
This is not an HD remaster or enhanced port. In terms of gameplay — the stage design, your abilities, the challenges you’ll face — this is a whole new Contra.
To this day, the original Contra remains one of the most beloved entries in the franchise. How did the team ensure that the game would appeal to both Contra veterans and newcomers?
As I briefly mentioned above, hopefully this new game should appeal to veterans. Additionally, we have three difficulty modes and some surprises for people who like their games extra spicy. But we don’t forget the counter-curious newcomers either. KONAMI’s marching orders were to make sure the game was accessible to all skill levels, so no one felt left out. The way I adapted this to the game design was to provide a lot of options for players to manage the difficulty and weight the game to their strengths. The biggest “must” for me personally was that, even on easy settings, there are tons of enemies to shoot and boss patterns to learn. Anyone who completes Operation Galuga can be satisfied that they have mastered the Contra challenge.
Can you talk about how the multiplayer will work? For example, is there local and online play and will the difficulty increase as you add more players?
I believe we will reveal all the details about the multiplayer later. For now, our Story Mode supports 1 or 2 players, and Arcade Mode supports up to 4. As more players join the game, enemies spawn and locations update to account for this increase — and this happens at all difficulty levels. On top of that, the boss HP increases a bit to compensate.
Fans will be familiar with Bill Rizer and Lance Bean from previous Contra games – can you talk about the newcomers?
The two you mentioned are obviously known heroes of the Counter Unit. Playing in arcade mode, I can take out some automated Contra robots called Probotectors. There are several personnel at Contra HQ monitoring Bill and Lance’s progress and reporting in via radio – one of whom is Lucia, who at one point joins the fray herself. On Galuga Island, the group also meets a native warrior named Ariana, as well as Stanley Ironside, who is the leader of the GX Special Forces Unit and a rival of sorts to Bill.
Operation Galuga also sees the return of the Probotector after his appearance in Contra 4. What prompted his inclusion in this latest game?
sincerely? We put it in Contra 4 as a nod to the European audience and the game wasn’t released in that territory at the time. So I couldn’t wait to turn it on. However, after working with KONAMI on the story and the world, I thought that having the Earth Marine Corps have these robot soldiers helped flesh out the game world. They’re only playable in Arcade Mode, but if you keep your eyes open in Story Mode, you’ll see them being used by the Contra Unit.
I expected people to be excited to see the Probotector in the trailers, and so far it’s paid off!
Contra has experimented with various graphic styles over the years, but is perhaps best known for its sprite-based pixel art. What prompted the visual approach to Operation Galuga?
Visual style is something that is chosen at the beginning of a project, and that decision is influenced by various factors. It was determined that 3D assets were the best way to realize the vision that KONAMI and WayForward had for the project.
You’ve shown a remarkable understanding of side-scrolling run-and-gun mechanics with titles like The Mummy Demastered and Spidersaurs. What did the studio learn from these projects that you want to implement in Contra: Operation Galuga?
During Contra 4, we (both WayFoward and myself during my time at KONAMI with my co-producer Simon Laio) invested a ton of time playing all the Contra titles and various non-Contra titles to decide exactly what Contra was, how it felt, and what made him unique compared to his peers.
Then with The Mummy Demastered, it’s a completely different genre (Metroidvania) but with movement and weapon mechanics. With the Spidersaurs, we returned to Contra, but without any demands to fit in that “Contra box”. Additionally, at both WayForward and KONAMI, I worked on other titles other than Contra that allowed me to digest and understand the classic KONAMI style.
With Operation Galuga, KONAMI gave us a lot of space to determine what a traditional Contra 2024 should look like.
With Operation Galuga, KONAMI gave us a lot of space to determine what a traditional Contra 2024 should look like. They had specific parameters, especially for the story, but in terms of game mechanics, WayForward had a lot of freedom. They wanted us to think outside of the Contra 4 box we had created, and my various experiences helped the team determine how far we could take that while still feeling true to—but not beholden to—classic Contra. And maintaining that “classic KONAMI style” became a bigger umbrella for me.
Tl;dr answer: Bosses. Mummy Demastered and Spidersaurs allowed us to come up with a lot of fresh boss ideas for the genre, and I wanted to continue developing those boss encounters with the official Contra stamp. Operation Galuga has many and I didn’t want any of them to be repeated.
Aside from the original, are there any specific Contra games that you drew inspiration from?
We’re definitely referencing games outside of the original, but I don’t want to go into too much detail. I’ll leave that for the post-launch “10 Things You Missed in Operation Galuga” articles! But in terms of general inspiration, I want Operation Galuga to fully encompass the Contra “canon” up to this point. Which means all the lateral movement of the counter. Every game has its fans, and those fans have been waiting many, many years for a return to form — OG has to deliver. As a starting point for newcomers as well, I want to show why Contra has been a beloved action franchise for 35 years.
Without going into potential spoiler territory, will classic Konami code make an appearance in Operation Galuga?
You’ll have to refresh those button presses and check for yourself!
This interview has been slightly edited for clarity.
Big thanks to Tom Hulett, WayForward Technologies and Konami for participating in the interview. Conta: Operation Galuga will launch for Nintendo Switch in early 2024. Will you be picking it up? Let us know.
