Contra: Rogue Corps was one of the biggest surprises to come out of E3 2019. The recent anniversary collection notwithstanding, it had been many years since we’ve seen a new Contra game. Rogue Corps contains all of the wild over-the-top shooting action people expect from the franchise. While it certainly pays homage to the series’ legacy, it introduces different camera angles and gameplay styles to set it apart from its predecessors.
Story plays a large role in Contra: Rogue Corps. Instead of CGI or in-game cutscenes, Rogue Corps tells its narrative through a series of motion comics. We had a chance to sit down with artist Emilio Lopez, who worked on the motion comics and art seen in the game. He explained how he became involved with the project, his process for creating Rogue Corps’ art, and went over some of his favorite pieces of classic Contra games and artwork.
Geek.com: For those who may not know you, can you tell us a bit about your career as an artist?
Emilio Lopez: I started as a freelance illustrator. I then went to animation where I worked on the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles cartoon from 2003 to 2009. After that, I went on to comics and eventually ended up working with Konami. Not on Contra: Rogue Corps, but on a couple of other projects. I did some promotional work on Metal Gear Solid V and did some illustration work on Zone of the Enders: The 2nd Runner HD.
How did you become an artist on Contra: Rogue Corps?
EL: This is a fun story. The company I worked for on this project is Konami Cross Media NY, Inc. I have a long history with those guys. I worked with them when they were under a different name (4K Media Inc) on Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. They contacted me about this project. It was really cool because I’m literally working with all the people I worked with ten years ago.
On the Konami game creation side, we had talked about working on something for a long time. Then this project came up. The Cross Media folks vouched for me, as did Konami USA. Nobuya Nakazato, who is the director of Rogue Corps, made the final decision for the artist to work on this project. That’s kind of how it all came together.
What is your personal history with the Contra franchise? Which games are your favorites?
EL: I’ve never actually owned a Contra game. That’s kind of a horrible thing to say [laughs]. When I was young my parents didn’t have a lot of money so I went over to friends’ houses or went to a cousin or family member and played the Contra games. Back in those days, you had to take turns playing. With Contra, you could play at the same time since it had co-op. That was always good.
My favorite one is probably Contra III: The Alien Wars on Super Nintendo. That game was Contra taken to the Nth level. It’s always over-the-top. One minute you’re doing normal Contra stuff and then all of a sudden you’re riding a missile or a hoverbike. That one’s my favorite.
What can you tell me about your process when developing art for Contra: Rogue Corps.
EL: One thing about doing motion comics is that they’re not actually comics. They are essentially limited animation projects. They require storyboarding, editing, sound design — that sort of stuff. A lot of that is working with a team trying to create the visuals. Our art director, Jason Narvaez, created the storyboards. I would then work from those storyboards to create the images for the motion comic. Doing one drawing — especially if you plan to have it move or do something — means cutting up the drawing so you can animate it. This is not only a drawing assignment, but it’s also an engineering assignment. You’re trying to figure out where you can cut portions of a character so they don’t look weird when they animate.
There’s no standard formula for creating motion comics. Each studio who’s ever done motion comics has their own different way of doing things. I’ve done two motion comics fairly close to each other. I did Contra: Rogue Corps and a Carnage motion comic. That one was a lot different from what we did with Rogue Corps. It was interesting seeing that and also using a little of that information to help me with this project.
Were you able to come up with your own designs or did you need to adhere to a specific vision?
EL: All the main cast of Contra: Rogue Corps already existed before I got onto the project. A lot of it, at least for the main characters, was adapting that into the motion comic. We did have a lot of additional characters specifically for the motion comic. We had a lot more freedom with those. I only designed a few characters. We had Adrian Barrios, who was the former TMNT character designer, come in and do a couple of characters. He designed Aero Captain Lily Panzer and a couple of other characters I can’t talk about. When it came to the main characters, Nakazato and the team in Japan were more specific. They wanted to keep them within a certain line of thought, which we kind of got.
In a film, the director and producers care about the guys who are up in the foreground: people who talk and stuff like that. They’re cool with the background guys as long as they keep to a certain aesthetic. I did a lot of incidental characters like military guys and other people; other warriors and other Contra guys. I don’t think there were any big drastic design changes when it came to making these new characters. They asked if we could do a little bit of this or that and then we were good to go.
Which characters and/or environments did you enjoy working on the most?
EL: Hungry Beast, the giant angry-looking panda [laughs]. It’s so outlandish and silly. It was a lot of fun to draw that character.
We had a bunch of different environments. But for my favorite, I’d have to say it was a part of the second chapter. It’s an introduction to all the Rogue Corps characters, which is totally an environment created by our team. It doesn’t appear within the actual game. It’s this chop shop looking place where a bunch of cyborgs kidnap people and take their parts to make all kinds of other stuff. Keith Conroy, who was the former background designer on TMNT, designed that environment. We got to design that area. The guys in Japan seemed to like it. That was one of my favorite environments because I got to draw all kinds of crazy cyborg stuff; bloody gurneys and all kinds of horrible things.
For the things you specifically created, did you take any inspiration from the older Contra games?
EL: What we worked on was an amalgam of old and new. That also goes for the whole game, it’s an amalgam of old and new. We looked at the past and saw how we could work those elements in but keep them within the realm of the newer games.
What are your favorite pieces of classic Contra art?
EL: I have to confess, it’s kind of crazy that I’m working on the same franchise as Tom duBois and Jim Lee. Jim Lee did Neo Contra on the PlayStation 2. Tom duBois’ covers were just nuts. We also have him doing a cover for Contra: Rogue Corps that’s inside the inner sleeve for the USA edition of the game. It’s such awesome stuff.
I do have to go back to the original Contra cover, the one sort of questionable cover with the two characters who look very familiar [laughs]. That’s my favorite piece of Contra art. It’s just these two bad-ass looking guys with headbands and no shirts.
What does it feel like making art for such a classic franchise?
EL: It’s kind of crazy. I didn’t expect it to happen. When I first got on the project, I was in New York City for something unrelated and I got contacted by the guys at Konami Cross Media and they were like “Yeah, we got a project we’re working on and we’re wondering if you’d like to participate in doing it,” and I was like “Yeah, sure.” Then I told them I was in NYC so I went over to them (after agreeing to the NDA) and they showed me a bunch of gameplay and character designs and said they were doing a motion comic for it and I was like, “Wow, alright.” It’s crazy how everything just came together for me to be a part of this.
It really hit me when I went to this year’s E3. I walked into the Konami booth and saw my artwork on the walls and got to meet Nakasato-san in person as opposed to getting translated emails from him. I feel that was the moment where I was like, “Wow, we’re doing this thing, aren’t we?”
Are there any final thoughts you want to share with our readers about Contra: Rogue Corps?
EL: We on the motion comic side of it put a lot of work into it. The guys out in Japan also put a lot of work into this to try to make it the most fun game possible. I hope everyone enjoys it.
Contra: Rogue Corps releases on Nintendo Switch, Steam, PS4, and Xbox One on September 24. You can pre-order it now from Amazon.
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