Contra: Hard Corps was developed by Konami and released for the Mega Drive and Genesis in 1994, the only Contra game made for a Sega home console. It is set a few years after a devastating alien war and follows a special unit of the military, the Hard Corps, as they respond to a robot uprising that quickly turns into something much larger. Instead of the series’ usual two commandos, players choose from four very different characters: Ray Poward, Sheena Etranzi, the werewolf Brad Fang and the small robot Browny, each with a unique set of four weapons. The story branches at key moments, sending the squad down different routes toward several endings, and the pace is relentless, with gigantic multi-stage bosses appearing almost every minute. The Japanese release gave players a small life bar, while western players had to survive in classic one-hit-death style, making it one of the toughest games on the system.