The one official and modern Contra game that never was recognized as such due to poor marketing / naming was Hard Corps : Uprising. It actually shows not only everything a good modern Contra should be, but also in a respect , Castlevania, especially for Level 3.
Why they hell didn't they just call it "Contra" so people knew what the hell it was, bought the game, and then could show that 2.0 and 2.5 D are still viable in todays world?
Stupid Konami.