Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure

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Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure

Developer(s)	Todd Replogle
Publisher(s)	Apogee Software
Release date(s)	March, 1992
Genre(s)	side-scrolling
Mode(s)	Single Player
Platform(s)	MS-DOS

Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure is a video game programmed by Todd Replogle and published by Apogee Software in 1992. It is a two-dimensional side-scrolling platform game produced for the PC platform, and features 16-color EGA graphics at 320x200 screen resolution.

The game's technology at the time was comparable and in direct competition with that of Nintendo's Super Mario Brothers 3 for the NES (which was released several years prior, but was still selling well at the time). Although Cosmo contained superior graphics capabilities in the form of three-layer masked horizontal parallax scrolling, this feature came at the cost of the game's frame rate. A file contained with the shareware version of the game urged people not to download it if their computers could not handle it.

The storyline, intended for smaller children, is about a little alien boy named "Cosmo" going on a wacky-go-lucky adventure to find his parents after an accident on their way to earth for Cosmo's Birthday Party at Disney World. There are 3 episodes in the game series by which you must navigate Cosmo through either 11 or 10 alien-themed levels.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

1 Story
2 Endings
3 Enemies and characters
4 Items
5 External links

[edit] Story

Cosmo's parents are taking him to Disney World for his birthday. A comet hits their ship, forcing them to land on an unknown planet 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.

[edit] Endings

Open Wide!

At the end of the first episode, Cosmo unexpectedly gets swallowed by a large alligator-like 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 and has a great time at Disney World for his birthday.

[edit] Enemies and characters

Many of these are not referred to by any name in the game, and are mentioned here by their appearance.

Cosmo: The main character in the game, that the player controls around the levels. A special ability of Cosmo's is that his hands are like large suction cups. This allows him to hang onto certain surfaces, although he has a lot of trouble with icy surfaces because they're too slippery for Cosmo to have a firm cling to.
Eye Plants: Pink stalks that have an eye growing in place of a flower. They appear on the ceiling or floor of a level. If you bomb an eye stalk, you'll get a free bomb returned to you, and if you bomb 15 eye stalks in one level, you will get 50000 points.
Red aliens that you encounter during your travels, usually in habitable levels. They hurt Cosmo by biting him.
Blue aliens that usually fall from the sky. They roll about on the floor, moving towards Cosmo, and if he touches it, it will hurt him.
Aliens that have the look of a bird's head and shoot colorful bullets that can hurt Cosmo.
Little birds that appear in most of the levels. These fly back and forth trying to peck at Cosmo.
Worm: These are pink slug-like alien that appears every so often, sometimes from a box that is red with warning stripes (yellow and black) in the middle. It is harmless until you step on it and touch the bubbling puddle it leaves behind.
Clam Plant: Just like the name suggests, these plants open and close every few seconds. Cosmo is hurt if he touches one when it is open.
Ghosts that can hurt Cosmo but only advance towards him when his back is turned. It is similar to the Boo character of the Super Mario video game series.
Robots that appears mostly in the levels of the series that have to do with electronics. The robot shoots bullets.
Humanoid robots that are only faintly visible. If Cosmo jumps on one three times, it will become visible, and the fourth jump defeats it.
Plant-like enemies that jump toward Cosmo when he is not looking.
Plants that bite at you when you walk or jump over it.
Robot with high energy laser beams that shoot upwards.
Blue plants that grow out of walls and its head spits out a colorful bullet every so often.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Zonk: The blue alien that you see at the "One Moment..." loading screen when you start the game, and the alien that helped Cosmo's parents to safety as later shown in Episode Three. Originally this was going to be Cosmo's name.
Duke Nukem: Duke Nukem is found on Level 7, Episode 2 encased in a block of ice. You can bomb the ice to release him, in which case he will give you a cheeseburger (which increases Cosmo's health capacity). He refuses to help Cosmo as he is on a mission (to save the galaxy), but tells Cosmo to watch out for his next game: Duke Nukem II. In earlier versions of the game, Duke's name is displayed as Duke Nukum. See Duke Nukem for more information.

[edit] Items

Power Up modules: These colorful atom-shaped objects are Cosmo's life force. Collecting one of these restores one health unit.
Bombs: Bombs can blow up almost everything you encounter.
Stars: After every two levels you have an opportunity to enter a bonus stage, depending on the number of stars you collected during the levels. Reaching twenty-five stars gets you into one bonus stage; reaching fifty gets you into a different one.

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Cheeseburger: These add one empty health point to your health meter.
- One of them is hidden in Level 5, Episode 1 behind a wall inside a USA Earth satellite.
- Another is hidden in a crate at the end of Level 9, Episode 1.
- There is another in Episode 3, Level 8, but a red door blocks your way. The only way to get it is to find a red switch, which is hidden among flames.
- Another is given to you if you free Duke Nukem in Level 7, Episode 2!
- Another is hidden in Level 9, Episode 2. It is to the far right, just below the exit, in a secret area. Cosmo reaches it by climbing down a wall a bit before.
Little hovercraft allow Cosmo to fly.
Shield: This cube breaks open and provides a temporary invincibility shield for Cosmo if he touches one.
Hint Globes: Globules that are held up by a harmless bolt of electricity. These cause a message to be displayed if Cosmo runs into one. Blowing Hint Globes up will give Cosmo 12800 points.