Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure

Last updated
Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure
Cosmoscosmicadventurecover.jpg
Cover art
Developer(s) Apogee Software
Publisher(s) Apogee Software
Producer(s) Scott Miller
Designer(s) Todd Replogle
Allen Blum III
Artist(s) Stephen Hornback
Composer(s) Robert Prince
Platform(s) DOS
ReleaseMarch 1992
Genre(s) Platform
Mode(s) Single-player

Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure: Forbidden Planet is a video game programmed by Todd Replogle and published by Apogee Software. It is a two-dimensional side-scrolling platform game. The game was released in mid March 1992 for MS-DOS compatible systems. [1]

Contents

Plot

The storyline is about a little alien boy named "Cosmo". Cosmo's parents are taking him to Walt Disney World for his birthday. A comet hits their ship, forcing them to land on an unknown planet (called Zonk in WIP [1] ) and repair the ship. Cosmo goes exploring, and when he returns, his parents are missing. Seeing large footprints, Cosmo thinks that his parents have been captured and sets off to rescue them before they are eaten. There are three episodes in the game series in which Cosmo must navigate through 10 alien-themed levels for each episode.

At the end of the first episode, Cosmo unexpectedly gets swallowed by a large creature. The story continues in the second episode, where Cosmo ends up in the creature's body and has to find a way out. At the end of the second episode, Cosmo finds the city where he thinks his parents might have been taken. In the final episode, Cosmo finds his parents (who were in no danger of being eaten the whole time) and has a great time at Disney World for his birthday.

Gameplay

Typical gameplay shot Cosmo.gif
Typical gameplay shot

The player controls Cosmo, and the objective is to reach the exit of each level. Cosmo can walk and jump, and can hang onto most walls with his suction-cup hands. Combining the hanging and jumps allows Cosmo to climb to higher places. There are some interactive objects, including pushable ceiling buttons, teleporters, and springs that make Cosmo jump higher. There are also hovercraft (floating pads that allow Cosmo to fly) and hint globes (which cause a message to be displayed if Cosmo runs into one; destroying one with a bomb earns 12,800 points). The player has access to bonus levels after each level if enough stars are collected.

Cosmo has a health meter with three units. Each time an enemy or hazard damages Cosmo, he loses one unit of health. If he takes further damage after losing all health units, or falls off a chasm, the player restarts the level. Cosmo has unlimited lives. There are power-up modules that restore one health unit each. There are also two hidden cheeseburgers in each episode. Picking one up earns Cosmo an additional empty health unit, allowing Cosmo's health meter to reach a maximum of five units. Enemies hurt Cosmo by touching him or firing projectiles at him. Cosmo can kill many of them by jumping on them. Bombs can also be collected and used to destroy enemies. Cosmo can carry at most 9 bombs at a time. After Cosmo drops a bomb, it takes a few seconds to explode, and it can hurt Cosmo if he is too close. Bombs can also be used to destroy other objects and hazards. Shield cubes, once collected, provide a temporary invincibility shield for Cosmo.

Development

The game's working titles were "The Adventures of Zonk" [2] and "Cosmo Kid from Space", but Stephen Hornback ultimately gave it the final name. [3]

Cosmo uses 16-color EGA graphics at 320×200 screen resolution. The game uses three-layer, horizontal, parallax scrolling. A file contained with the shareware version of the game urged people not to download it if their computers could not handle it. The game was written with 24,500 lines of code. [4] The game supports AdLib music, but sound effects are generated by the PC speaker.

Reception

Computer Gaming World stated that Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure was "especially playable and extremely addicting", and that fans of Commander Keen and side-scrolling platform games "will find Cosmo much to their liking ... hours of pleasure without excessive destruction". [5] The game was reviewed in 1993 in Dragon #197 by Sandy Petersen in the first "Eye of the Monitor" column. Petersen gave the game 2 out of 5 stars. [6]

Related Research Articles

Commander Keen is a series of side-scrolling platform video games developed primarily by id Software. The series consists of six main episodes, a "lost" episode, and a final game; all but the final game were released for MS-DOS in 1990 and 1991, while the 2001 Commander Keen was released for the Game Boy Color. The series follows the eponymous Commander Keen, the secret identity of the eight-year-old genius Billy Blaze, as he defends the Earth and the galaxy from alien threats with his homemade spaceship, rayguns, and pogo stick. The first three episodes were developed by Ideas from the Deep, the precursor to id, and published by Apogee Software as the shareware title Commander Keen in Invasion of the Vorticons; the "lost" episode 3.5 Commander Keen in Keen Dreams was developed by id and published as a retail title by Softdisk; episodes four and five were released by Apogee as the shareware Commander Keen in Goodbye, Galaxy; and the simultaneously developed episode six was published in retail by FormGen as Commander Keen in Aliens Ate My Babysitter. Ten years later, an homage and sequel to the series was developed by David A. Palmer Productions and published by Activision as Commander Keen. Another game was announced in 2019 as under development by ZeniMax Online Studios, but was not released.

<i>Air Zonk</i> 1992 video game

Air Zonk, known in Japan as PC Denjin, is a horizontally scrolling shooter released for TurboGrafx-16 in 1992. Air Zonk was an attempt to update the company's image via a modern, punkish character called Zonk, who bears a purposeful resemblance to the TurboGrafx-16's caveman mascot, Bonk.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Todd Replogle</span> American video game programmer

Todd Jason Replogle is an American video game programmer best known as the co-creator of the Duke Nukem series. He wrote six 2D action games for MS-DOS released as shareware by Apogee Software between 1990 and 1993. This included Duke Nukem and Duke Nukem II, which were side-scrolling platform games.

<i>Duke Nukem</i> (video game) 1991 video game

Duke Nukem is a 1991 platform game developed and published by Apogee Software for MS-DOS. The 2D, multidirectional scrolling game follows the adventures of fictional character Duke Nukem across three episodes of ten levels each. The game's first episode was distributed as shareware. The name was briefly changed to Duke Nukum to avoid trademark issues.

<i>Monster Bash</i> 1993 video game

Monster Bash is a side-scrolling platform game developed and published by Apogee Software on 9 April 1993 for DOS. The game features 16-color EGA graphics and IMF AdLib compatible music. It was developed by Frank Maddin and Gerald Lindsly.

<i>Raptor: Call of the Shadows</i> 1994 video game

Raptor: Call of the Shadows is a vertically scrolling shooter developed by Cygnus Studios and published by Apogee Software. Its working title was "Mercenary 2029". It was released on April 1, 1994 for MS-DOS compatible systems. The first episode of the game, "Bravo Sector", was distributed as shareware. The other two episodes were sold commercially.

<i>Xargon</i> 1994 video game

Xargon: The Mystery of the Blue Builders is a video game trilogy produced by Epic MegaGames for DOS. The game is a side-scrolling platform game. The main character, Malvineous Havershim, must journey through strange landscapes as he seeks to destroy the evil Xargon.

<i>Duke Nukem II</i> 1993 platform video game

Duke Nukem II is a 1993 platform game developed and published by Apogee Software. The game consists of four episodes, the first available as shareware. It is the follow-up to 1991's Duke Nukem, and followed by Duke Nukem 3D in 1996. Todd Replogle was the primary designer of all three games.

<i>Bio Menace</i> 1993 video game

Bio Menace is a 1993 game developed and published by Apogee Software for MS-DOS. A 2D multidirectional scrolling platform game, it was built on a licensed version of id Software's Commander Keen game engine. Apart from the engine and music, all in-game content was created by the game's designer, Jim Norwood. In 2014, the game was re-released on Steam, and in 2015 on GOG.com with support for Microsoft Windows, macOS, and Linux.

<i>Monuments of Mars</i> 1991 video game

Monuments of Mars is a third-person puzzle-platform game developed by Scenario Software for MS-DOS and compatible systems. It was published by Apogee Software. The game consists of four 20-level episodes, the first episode being shareware, the rest being commercial software. It is similar to the games Arctic Adventure and Pharaoh's Tomb but uses an unrelated engine.

<i>Alien Carnage</i> 1993 video game

Alien Carnage, originally released as Halloween Harry, is a side-scrolling platform game developed by Interactive Binary Illusions and SubZero Software, and distributed by Apogee Software. The game features 256-colour VGA graphics and background music in MOD format. Alien Carnage is composed of four episodes. The first episode was released as shareware, and the rest were distributed commercially. In May 2007, John Passfield and 3D Realms released Alien Carnage as freeware. In 2014, the game was re-released with Windows support.

<i>Major Stryker</i> 1993 video game

Major Stryker is a 2D vertically scrolling shooter video game written for DOS by Apogee Software. Its working title was "Strike Force" and was released in January 1993. It consists of three episodes, with the first episode distributed as shareware, and the rest available commercially. The three episodes are set on a Lava Planet, an Arctic Planet and a Desert Planet. The game was re-released as freeware on March 14, 2006, and on Steam with support for Microsoft Windows and macOS in 2014.

<i>Pharaohs Tomb</i> 1990 video game

Pharaoh's Tomb is an MS-DOS platform game created by George Broussard and published by Apogee Software.

<i>Arctic Adventure</i> (video game) 1991 video game

Arctic Adventure is a platform game written for DOS, published by Apogee Software. It is the sequel to Pharaoh's Tomb. The protagonist, Nevada Smith, is an archaeologist searching for a Viking treasure in the Arctic. It was re-released on Steam in 2015 with support for Windows and macOS.

<i>Dark Ages</i> (1991 video game) 1991 platform video game

Dark Ages is a platform game written for MS-DOS, published by Apogee Software. It was the first shareware game to feature music for the AdLib sound card.

<i>Commander Keen in Keen Dreams</i> 1991 video game

Commander Keen in Keen Dreams is a side-scrolling platform video game developed by id Software and published by Softdisk in 1991 for DOS. It is the fourth episode of the Commander Keen series. The game follows the titular Commander Keen, an eight-year-old child genius, in an adventure in his dreams as he journeys through a vegetable kingdom to defeat the evil potato king Boobus Tuber and free enslaved children from the Dream machine. The game features Keen running and jumping through various levels while opposed by various vegetable enemies; unlike the prior three episodes, Keen does not use a pogo stick to jump higher, and throws flower power pellets to temporarily turn enemies into flowers rather than shooting a raygun to kill them.

<i>Commander Keen in Invasion of the Vorticons</i> 1990 episodic side-scrolling platform game

Commander Keen in Invasion of the Vorticons is a three-part episodic side-scrolling platform video game developed by Ideas from the Deep and published by Apogee Software in 1990 for MS-DOS. It is the first set of episodes of the Commander Keen series. The game follows the titular Commander Keen, an eight-year-old child genius, as he retrieves the stolen parts of his spaceship from the cities of Mars, prevents a recently arrived alien mothership from destroying landmarks on Earth, and hunts down the leader of the aliens, the Grand Intellect, on the alien home planet. The three episodes feature Keen running, jumping, and shooting through various levels while opposed by aliens, robots, and other hazards.

<i>Commander Keen in Goodbye, Galaxy</i> 1991 video game

Commander Keen in Goodbye, Galaxy is a two-part episodic side-scrolling platform video game developed by id Software and published by Apogee Software in 1991 for DOS. It consists of the fifth and sixth episodes of the Commander Keen series, though they are numbered as the fourth and fifth, as Commander Keen in Keen Dreams is not part of the main continuity. The game follows the titular Commander Keen, an eight-year-old child genius, as he first journeys through the Shadowlands to rescue the Gnosticenes so they may ask the Oracle how the Shikadi plan to destroy the galaxy, and then through the Shikadi's Armageddon Machine to stop them. The two episodes feature Keen running, jumping, and shooting through various levels while opposed by aliens, robots, and other hazards.

<i>Commander Keen in Aliens Ate My Babysitter</i> 1991 video game

Commander Keen in Aliens Ate My Babysitter is a side-scrolling platform video game developed by id Software and published by FormGen in December 1991 for DOS. It is the seventh episode of the Commander Keen series, though it is numbered as the sixth, as Commander Keen in Keen Dreams is outside of the main continuity. The game follows the titular Commander Keen, an eight-year-old child genius, as he journeys through an alien world to rescue his kidnapped babysitter. The game features Keen running, jumping, and shooting through various levels while opposed by aliens, robots, and other hazards.

References

  1. 1 2 Apogee Software December 1991 Catalog
  2. ↑ Joe Siegler (November 20, 2000). "New Version of the Apogee / 3DR FAQ Online". 3D Realms . Retrieved December 4, 2017.
  3. ↑ "Retro Interview: Stephen A. Hornback". Imagine Publishing . Retrieved December 2, 2017.
  4. ↑ Todd Replogle & Stephen Hornback (1992). "Cosmo Hint Sheet". Apogee Software. Archived from the original on December 6, 2017. Retrieved December 6, 2017.{{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  5. ↑ Miller, Chuck (March 1993). "Totally Spaced-Out". Computer Gaming World . No. 104. pp. 110, 111.
  6. ↑ Petersen, Sandy (September 1993). "Eye of the Monitor". Dragon. No. 197. pp. 57–62.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.