
A new task force, known as the titular "Hard Corps", are sent to deal with the situation. Set five years after the events of Contra III: The Alien Wars, a terrorist group led by the renegade Colonel Bahamut has stolen an alien cell recovered from the war and now intends to use it to produce weapons. This game is part of a large collection of Mega Drive games in The Strong's collection that represent nearly 100% of all games released for that system.Contra: Hard Corps, released as Contra: The Hard Corps in Japan and Probotector in Europe and Australia, is a run and gun video game released by Konami for the Sega Genesis in 1994, making it the first game in the Contra series released for a Sega platform. Mega Drive games also received re-release as part of collector's editions for the Sony PS2 and PSP, and other systems, as well as being available for download on the Nintendo Wii Virtual Console. Games continued to be released internationally as recently as 2002. The first successful 16-bit system, the Mega Drive's 14-year lifespan places it second only to the Nintendo Game Boy. With seven distinct versions, it also has the largest number of licensed versions of any console. The Mega Drive/Genesis also supported a number of add-on components (32X, CD, Power Base Converter), making it one of the most flexible systems ever developed. The Genesis could do things that the NES simply couldn't. Sega also focused attention on its better graphics, speed, and sound, especially after the release of Sonic.


These efforts were often successful, as Sega marketed the Genesis as hip, cool, and edgy. In addition to porting over popular coin-op games, Sega executives worked hard to lure developers away from Nintendo. Dubbed the Genesis, this version was developed with the American market and consumer in mind.

A year later, Sega released the Mega Drive in the United States. Released in 1988, the Sega Mega Drive heralded the coming of the 16-bit era and inaugurated the Console Wars of the 1990s.
