Blazing Chrome (2019)

This game is a love letter to classic run-and-gun shooters like Contra and Metal Slug. Developed by Brazilian studio JoyMasher (which I'm a big fan of), it delivers fast-paced side-scrolling action with tight controls, challenging enemy patterns, and explosive boss fights. The game’s retro-styled pixel art and chiptune-inspired soundtrack capture the look and feel of the 16-bit era while adding modern polish. The OST of this game is brilliant, same level as the classics that inspired it, and I'm really not exaggerating.

The gameplay emphasizes quick reflexes, varied weapon choices, and cooperative play, with both local coop and unlockable characters adding replay value. Fortunately I could experience the coop with a friend, though he lost interest once we beat this the first time, even though there were new playable characters afterwards. Though I highly recommend replaying with them since they change the gameplay a lot. Difficulty levels range from approachable to hardcore, making it accessible for newcomers while still satisfying genre veterans.

On the downside, the campaign is short, with only six stages that can be finished in just a few hours. Some critics also noted that the game leans heavily on nostalgia without bringing many new ideas to the genre. In hectic moments, the screen can feel cluttered, occasionally making it hard to follow the action. Overall, Blazing Chrome succeeds as a faithful homage to its inspirations. This is a must-play for fans of the run-and-gun genre, or even just for the nostalgia alone, and finally I also highly recommend looking into the other JoyMasher titles, they are very high quality retro love letters.

In the pantheon of run n gun shooters, there are few games revered as highly as Contra III. I wouldn't personally say it stacks up with Alien Soldier and Metal Slug 3 personally, but it's very strong in it's own right, and it's a game plenty of people absolutely love. And few people seem to love it more than the two person team behind Blazing Chrome.

The most obvious comparison to Blazing Chrome is Sonic Mania. An indie-ish reboot of a series that may as well have died in the early 90s that is basically one step removed from being a fangame. And Blazing Chrome is not as good a modern conversion as Mania. The production values are lower, there's a lot less polish in the design and aesthetic, it's incredibly short, and it still feels more like a game from 91 than 19

Fortunately, the base of Contra 3 is a way better game than any 2D sonic and the game turns out pretty good overall. There's an awful lot of passion injected into this game, from the wonderfully fitting VHS B-movie style and story, to the way it kinda tries to incorporate "mode 7" effects and gimmicky sequences (which were the worst parts of Contra 3 but are less terrible in BC). The soundtrack is also great, and the useage of sampled voice clips and the insanely strong CRT filters available also nail the B-movie vibe that the game really succeeds at.

Boss battles are also pretty great and theres a wondeful level of cheesiness throughout the entire game which helps elevate it beyond just being a facisimile - if only barely. If half-stars existed on Grouvee, this would be the pinnacle of 3.5 stars - it barely evolves any sort of contra formula, it's rough around the edges, with a lot of cheap difficulty at times and very little attempt to fix the problems contra had (Chiefly the slow, conservative gameplay style the game tends to encourage, which carries on a lot to BC)

But I'm not the first person to say that this is probably the best Contra game in about a quarter-century. And that, more than any other indie than i can really remember, makes its nostalgia trip is a particularly sweet one. Not for everyone, and with a lot of room for improvement, but solid overall.

I recently played Blazing Chrome after seeing it on the Xbox Game Pass for PC. It's a game I wanted to play since I first heard about it. It does rekindle that old school side-scrolling shooter feel of 90's arcade shooters. The game is like a mix of Metal Slug & Contra Corps. It doesn't do anything new in the genre and that's okay. I had a ton of fun blazing through the levels multiple times while listening to the kickass OST.

The game isn't for everyone as it is pretty short, it took me less than two hours to complete it. If you are a fan of running through a game dozens of times to best your score then I recommend it.

Was excited to see this on Xbox Game Pass. I almost bought it outright and am glad I didn’t.

This game doesn’t feel as good as Contra. The weapons are not fun and don’t make me feel more powerful. I found myself switching off of them back to the rifle because they required too much for finesse for a Arcade shooter. For example, the laser and bombs don’t automatically fire when you hold down the button and thus suddenly picking up those weapons is very jarring to the gameplay.

Basic enemies require multiple hits to kill and the melee attack is unpredictable. I also think the characters are too big, making the screen feel small, with the very real issue that you have little time to react to new enemies appearing on screen. The large characters and pixelated graphics also don’t do the look of the game any favors.

All in all disappointing.

Played through completion and was a fan of Contra, Super Contra and Contra III: The Alien Wars. This game is very much a ripoff of the Contra series without the wow factor. Maybe its my age, maybe its my limited time, maybe because it is derivative, but this did not click with me. The graphics are much pixelated for my taste (Contra III has better graphics in my opinion), screen shakes a lot, character cannot move when hanging on railings, music is uninspiring...in summary: stopped playing on second stage.

In retrospect, it is probably sign of the times: when I played the original Contras, I was younger (more time in my hands) and with less gaming (and entertainment in general) options. I also did not own most of the games: as was customary at the time, I used to rent on Friday afternoon and return it by Monday, which made me compulsively play through it over the weekend. Looking behind, it was a bit masochistic but reflected my options and personality at the time. Now I feel I generally turn away from too long (RPG´s) and difficult for difficulty´s sake games (looking at you Super Meat Boy). No problem with being difficult (loved Lords of the Fallen), but give me an incentive to keep playing (good graphics, enthralling story, beautiful scenery).