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[01011001]

I'd say there are two options:

a) try something like Shattered Soldier, but with the enhancements of today's technology.
b) make a 3D-Reboot, but keep the bullet-hell arcade-style gameplay. Something like Vanquish perhaps.

c) Make it 2D, make it a Rogue Lite and keep the classic gameplay. Rogue Lites need upgrades and character progression, those could come in form of unlocking new weapons... these will then spawn in the levels as usual... you could even make it part of the story/lore

the Story could easily adapt this genre. every time you lose, you don't actually die, you will go down and be evacuated by Helicopter or rescue squad in indoors levels. Your mission is it to infiltrate... say 4 enemy bases these will have different themes and the level structures will be randomized each try.
you can find hidden routes which will have "secret enemy weapon tech" you can find, and if you find these your team will give you the ability to use enemy weapons... these will be all around the levels in the same way they always were in the old games

another concept could be to make your army stronger or get new recruits you find on the battlefield. They made the Probotectors canon in Contra 4, so you might find a damaged or deactivated Probotector in the levels, you bring them back to base, repair them and now you can use them as your character. each of these characters could have different stats, so Probotectors might be able to withstand more hits... Bill or Lance could be your first character and at first, without upgrades they will go down in 1 hit like in the original games, but new characters and upgrades for the starter characters will improve on this over time.

and maybe everyone but Bill and Lance have permadeath... so while Bill and Lance will always just go down and be evacuated, your additional characters will not... but they could be super strong or have abilities that are extremely effective...
an alternative could be not permadeath, but maybe they will not be rescued but instead get captures by the enemy and you have to get them back if you want to use them again.

so yeah, this is just me spitballing, but I really think a Rogue Like Contra would work in modern times, even if the base gameplay is very classic (8 way directional shooting, 2D graphics, very simple base gameplay Jump + Shoot + Dodge and balls to the wall hard at the start)

 

[CamHostage]

Yes, I'm aware of what you are saying. I love them but a traditional Contra would not have mainstream appeal in this day and age. But this is exactly why I named Housemarque and Platinum as devs which could make Contra more popular.

Do it 3D, as a third person shooter, like Returnal and Vanquish. Add some new mechanics to make the transition to 3D make sense, perhaps character/ weapon customization and upgrades since kids like this stuff but preserve the spirit, like the energetic action and the huge bosses.

They kind of tried the noted-developer route though with Arc System Works doing Hard Corps: Uprising (oddly, without the Contra brand name,) also WayForward made Contra 4, but neither led to a total revival under these studios.

As far as doing a third-person shooter named Contra... I don't know that this would be "Contra" anymore? Half of the fun of Contra is the jumping, not just the gunning (aiming in Contra in general is more about position and timing than where you're sighted when you pull the trigger, thus your bullets being a line of spray rather than any individual shots,) and I can't think of a TPS that's really had great avoidance systems and verticality, especially for surrounding your character in action from all sides. If a developer could pull it off, all the power to them, but every 2D franchise has to face the challenge of how to make the leap to 3D, and Contra has tried tons of times to keep up with its NES-era companions to no great success yet. An energetic shooter with huge bosses sounds like a good start to me, but it's got a long way to go before it makes sense to carry the name "Contra". So, maybe, (I already said, don't pooh-pooh an idea just because it's not exactly what you want,) but it'd be baggage that this new game idea would have to carry rather than a boost for its success and the franchise's future.

c) Make it 2D, make it a Rogue Lite and keep the classic gameplay. Rogue Lites need upgrades and character progression, those could come in form of unlocking new weapons... these will then spawn in the levels as usual... you could even make it part of the story/lore

I like that. I kind of thought that's what Contra Returns is going for when I first saw the trailers, sort of an endless runner approach of running-and-gunning-and-scoring for a run and then when you life-out you collect your winnings and come back to try again after an ad or with some MTX gear. (I think I'm wrong in that assumption though, according your playtest of Contra Returns it sounds like it's a one-screen level/boss attack like a twin-stick shooter, not traditional full-scale levels, right? Kind of like the original Cuphead design.) The balance would be tough to achieve, because the lootbox approach to game design is usually based around just messing with the HP of enemies and Contra design is not usually flexible around random stat manipulation, but if you could build compulsion around getting a little bit farther, that might help with the frustration typically built into Contra. (Again, Cuphead, great example of run-and-gun pushed in unusual directions yet working out.)

 

[OmegaSpirit32X]

Fixed the typo

At least it isn't a Sonic game.

the first three Sonic games had better design than most of the NES library and yet people shit on Sonic.

 

[Belmonte]

They kind of tried the noted-developer route though with Arc System Works doing Hard Corps: Uprising (oddly, without the Contra brand name,) also WayForward made Contra 4, but neither led to a total revival under these studios.

As far as doing a third-person shooter named Contra... I don't know that this would be "Contra" anymore? Half of the fun of Contra is the jumping, not just the gunning (aiming in Contra in general is more about position and timing than where you're sighted when you pull the trigger, thus your bullets being a line of spray rather than any individual shots,) and I can't think of a TPS that's really had great avoidance systems and verticality, especially for surrounding your character in action from all sides. If a developer could pull it off, all the power to them, but every 2D franchise has to face the challenge of how to make the leap to 3D, and Contra has tried tons of times to keep up with its NES-era companions to no great success yet. An energetic shooter with huge bosses sounds like a good start to me, but it's got a long way to go before it makes sense to carry the name "Contra". So, maybe, (I already said, don't pooh-pooh an idea just because it's not exactly what you want,) but it'd be baggage that this new game idea would have to carry rather than a boost for its success and the franchise's future.

Exactly, half of the fun of Contra is jumping and dodging, aiming is about position but this is what Housemarque Returnal is. The aiming is very generous: if the enemy is kind in the aiming spot, the protagonist will shoot in its direction. Because of this, the player have enough attention to maneuver the enemy shots and attacks. Dodging and jumping are very important. Even the enemy projectiles uses a similar pattern from the classic run n guns, but in 3D.

If they adjusted the mechanics, weapons and enemies to make it even more Contra, it will feel a genuine 3D Contra experience.

And about the 2D: kids these days are more familiar with Run n Gun mechanics because of Cuphead, which was a huge hit. The setting is obviously different but a well made 2D Contra would have more appeal than when Contra 4 released.

 

[wondermega]

OG Contra is my favorite NES game (and believe me, this is a difficult crown to award). The sequel is excellent as well, very close actually (predecessor gets it over the goal line because of nostalgia o'course). I enjoyed the SNES entry, even though my interest was dropping off at that point. I regret missing the boat on the WiiWare version (please Konami, release those Rebirth games on Steam - well I can dream, can't I) I can STILL pick up the NES entries and have a blast though -

This game actually looks better than I would expect, although it's still squarely in the "I don't care enough to ever check it out" category. I would jump on a legit old-school version if it ever popped up again somehow in the fashion of Mega Man 9 - hell another gaffer and I got a fair amount of the way into making our own, and even private demo'd it at E3 many many years ago with an interested Microsoft, but for the usual expected reasons we never got to wrap it up and release. Still my dream project and I will get to it someday "when there is time!"

Anyway any time I see some Contra news in general show up on gaf, it's a good day. I am glad to see that there is still interest left in this somehow forgotten, but absolutely worthwhile franchise that unfairly exists in a strange limbo.