As in Contra III: The Alien Wars, the player can carry two weapons and switch between them at any time. Weapons include the standard rifle, the machine gun, the spread shot, the crash gun (shoots arcing grenades), the ripple gun (acts like a force field when sprinting), the heat gun (shoots large blasts of fire), the chain laser (homes in on enemy targets) and the Katana (unleashes a wide arc of energy onto the targets). Additional moves can also be purchased in Rising Mode. The character can dash, dash in mid-air, double-jump and deflect enemy projectiles by bouncing them back. Arcade Mode is a more difficult game mode in which the power-up shops are removed. Both modes also feature a health bar, similar to the Japanese release of Contra: Hard Corps, allowing the player to take more than one hit before losing a life.

In Rising Mode, players can collect points throughout levels which are then used to purchase various upgrades and customization for weapons, armor and character abilities. Hard Corps: Uprising features two main game modes, Rising and Arcade. Producer Kenji Yamamoto has said that the intention is to 'link to Contra: Hard Corps' and 'make into a brand new franchise', taking inspiration from the previous Contra installments. Hard Corps: Uprising is the thirteenth overall installment in the Contra series and serves as a prequel to both Contra: Hard Corps and the original game. Konami has added three additional player characters (Sayuri, Harley Daniels, and Leviathan) via downloadable content. In Hard Corps: Uprising, the player assumes the role of an elite soldier simply called Bahamut, along with other main characters. The game was released digitally on Xbox Live Arcade on Febru and on the PlayStation Network in March 2011. Hard Corps: Uprising is a run and gun video game developed by Arc System Works and published by Konami for the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3.

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