Episode 14: The Best of Contra
Drawing inspiration from epic films like Alien and Predator, the Contra series defined the run ‘n gun genre with its manic, over-the-top action and visuals. Each new entry brought equally rockin’ music along with it, and the PixelTunes guys are proud to present some shining examples. This is the music which has kept players fighting the baddies for over 25 years. The journey starts in 1987 on the NES, and concludes with the latest Contra releases. We hope you enjoy it!
We’ll have some great Contra-related content posted on our Facebook page for this episode, so please follow us there! You don’t want to miss it!
The Tracklist:
1. Contra (NES) – Energy Zone Theme – Hidenori Maezawa, Kiyohiro Sada
2. Super Contra (Arcade) – Thunder Landing – Kazuki Muraoka, Motoaki Furukawa
*Break*
3. Contra 3: The Alien Wars (SNES) – Boss Battle – Aki Hata, Masanori Adachi, Miki Higashino, Tappy Iwase
4. Contra Force (NES) – Stage 4 – Kenichi Matsubara, Yasuhiko Manno, Tomoya Tomita
*Break*
5. Contra Hard Corps (GEN) – Hard Corps Blues – Akira Yamaoka, Hiroshi Kobayashi, Michiru Yamane
6. Contra: Shattered Soldier (PS2) – Hell Drive – Akira Yamaoka
*Days of Our 30 Lives – a Contra Soap Opera* – *Break*
7. Neo C0ntra (PS2) – Hellicarrier – Sota Fujimori
8. Contra 4 (DS) – Waterfall – Jake Kaufman
*Epic Contra Center Theme Park* – *Break*
9. Contra ReBirth (WiiWare) – Area 3 – Manabu Namiki
10. Hard Corps: Uprising (PS3, X360) – Capital Tower Building Boss – Daisuke Ishiwatari
PixelTunes Radio VGM Podcast 
That Neo Contra song is sick! I’m surprised I haven’t heard that soundtrack before now.
There’s a ton of excellent dance tracks on the PS2 Contra games. We don’t always have the same taste in music, but we both agree that those OSTs kick all sorts of butt.
By the way, Tom, I {Ed} have been listening to your past few episodes and I’ve really been enjoying it! The “Games not in Series” episode introduced me to a lot of cool stuff!
Awesome! We started our podcast around the same time you started yours, but haven’t been quite as good at keeping up with the bi-weekly schedule. I’m working through your backlog, as is probably obvious since I’m just commenting on Episode 14.