Contra: Shattered Soldier is a video game from the Contra series made by Konami. It was created by Team Kijirushi, a team of workers at Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo. The game returns to the side-scrolling gameplay style used in earlier Contra games before Contra: Legacy of War. It follows Contra: Hard Corps and was released for the PlayStation 2 in 2002. Later, it became available on the PlayStation Network in Japan in 2012 and in North America in 2013.

Gameplay

Shattered Soldier returns to the classic game system used by the series before Contra: Legacy of War. The game is played in 2D from a side-view perspective, with fully polygonal graphics. However, during certain parts of the game, such as when riding a snowboard or motorcycle, the view changes to a front or rear perspective. The controls and abilities are similar to those in Contra III: The Alien Wars. Players can keep their character still while aiming and shooting, or move while keeping their aim steady (a feature first introduced in C: The Contra Adventure and later added to the Game Boy Advance version of Alien Wars).

A major change in Shattered Soldier is the removal of power-up items. Instead, players choose from three permanent weapons that can be switched at any time. Each weapon has a standard automatic shot and a charged shot, resulting in six total types of shots. The standard shots include: a rapid-fire machine gun (Heavy Machine Gun), a flamethrower (Flame Whip), and a grenade launcher (Diver Mines). The charged versions are: the Round Sweeper, which fires a "gun pod" that shoots bullets in multiple directions; the Energy Shot, a powerful single bullet; and a group of Homing Missiles that track nearby enemies.

Like Contra: Hard Corps, Shattered Soldier has multiple endings. However, the ending players receive depends on their performance during the game, not the path taken. The game uses a "hit rate" system to measure how many enemies or objects are destroyed in each stage. A high hit rate, along with fewer lives lost and fewer continues used, is needed to unlock better endings and extra features. Players can replay completed stages to improve their scores before reaching the fifth stage. After that, they must complete the remaining stages without interruption.

Plot

In the year A.D. 2642, Earth is still damaged from past battles with aliens, and environmental problems have become too big for humans to manage. A malfunction in an advanced weapon system caused the deaths of 80% of Earth’s population. Bill Rizer, a hero from previous wars, was blamed for the disaster and for killing his partner, Lance Bean, who tried to stop him. He was sentenced to 10,000 years in a frozen prison.

Five years later, in 2647, Earth faces a new danger from a terrorist group called "Blood Falcon," led by a powerful and mysterious commander. The ruling government, known as the "Triumvirate," decides to release Bill Rizer early because of his past success in protecting Earth. They hope he can stop Blood Falcon. A cyborg soldier named Lucia, created using research by Dr. Geo Mandrake, is sent to help Bill.

Bill later discovers that Lance is still alive and is actually the leader of Blood Falcon. After defeating Lance, it is revealed that the aliens from earlier battles attacked Earth because the Triumvirate secretly stole a powerful object called a "Relic" from them. Bill and Lucia then work to confront the Triumvirate and learn the truth about the Relic. The Triumvirate is found hiding in the Galuga archipelago, the site of Bill and Lance’s first mission. After a difficult battle, Bill and Lucia defeat the Triumvirate and return to Earth as heroes.

Characters

• Bill Rizer – A hero from the Alien Wars and one of the main characters in earlier Contra games, Bill Rizer is released from a frozen prison where he was held after being wrongly accused of causing a disaster involving a broken hyper-magnetic weapon grid that killed 80% of Earth’s population and for allegedly killing his former partner, Lance.

• Lucia, also known as Bionoid LCR – A female robotic soldier who helped free Bill Rizer from prison. She was originally designed by Dr. Geo Mandrake (from Contra: Hard Corps), but he could not complete her before his death, so she was later created.

• Lance Bean – Bill’s former partner and one of the main characters in earlier Contra games. He is now the leader of the "Blood Falcon" terrorist group and has merged with an alien organism.

• Triumvirate – Three very old men who have lived for hundreds of years using robotic implants that also connect their minds. They are the leaders of Earth’s government in the year 2647 and were responsible for falsely accusing Bill of causing the disaster that killed most of Earth’s population and for killing Lance. Their names are Gaius, Nero, and Commodus.

• Relic of Moirai – A mysterious force that the alien attackers are trying to find and recover.

Development

Konami hired Appaloosa Interactive to create Contra: Legacy of War and C: The Contra Adventure. For the next game in the series, Konami assigned their team at Konami Computer Entertainment Tokyo to work on it. Nobuya Nakazato, who directed Alien Wars and Hard Corps, was responsible for the game's direction, design, and story. A few years before Shattered Soldier was announced, Konami had planned a Nintendo 64 game called Contra Spirits 64, which would have been developed by Konami Computer Entertainment Osaka. However, those plans were canceled.

Soundtrack

The soundtrack was created by Akira Yamaoka and Sota Fujimori. In 2002, Konami Music Entertainment released a physical album for it, with the catalog number KOLA-016. Some songs are missing or not complete.

Reception

The video game Contra: Shattered Soldier received "generally favorable reviews" from the Metacritic website, which collects and summarizes game reviews. In Japan, the magazine Famitsu gave the game a score of 30 out of 40.