Linus Spacehead's Cosmic Crusade

Linus Spacehead's Cosmic Crusade
Developer(s)	Codemasters (NES only) Supersonic Software
Publisher(s)	Camerica (NES only) Codemasters
Platform(s)	NES, Amiga, MS-DOS, Sega Game Gear, Sega Master System, Sega Mega Drive
Release date(s)	NES[1] NA 1992 Amiga,[2] MS-DOS,[3] Sega Game Gear,[4] Sega Master System[5] & Sega Mega Drive[6] NA 1993 (GG & MD only) EU 1993
Genre(s)	Adventure, platform
Mode(s)	Single-player

Linus Spacehead's Cosmic Crusade is a video game released in 1992 by Codemasters for the NES. A remake of the game, retitled Cosmic Spacehead, was released in 1993 for Amiga, MS-DOS, Sega Game Gear, Sega Master System and Sega Mega Drive. The game features adventure elements, with locations connected by platform sections.

The game is the sequel to Linus Spacehead, which was released exclusively as part of the compilation Quattro Adventure.

Gameplay

Linus is an alien from the planet Linoleum who crashed into the legendary planet Earth. After returning home and expecting a hero's welcome, Linus soon found his fellow Linomen were skeptical of the existence of the so-called "planet Earth" and decides to return to it, this time with a camera. However, he is flat on the planets' currency, Linobucks, and must deal across the planet to get a new cosmic car and a camera. In his adventures, Linus deals himself out of Linoleum (including using a fake ID for Larry Flynt to compete in a bumper car contest), quash a robot revolution in Detroitica and gets gas from an abandoned space station.

Each major location of Planet Linoleum has a teleporting device, which can be activated using a card. However, they often leave Linus with a side-effect, required to complete a puzzle. To travel between adventure sections, Linus goes through arcade sections, where he has to reach the other side of the level, avoiding free falls, enemies and collecting Cosmic candy at the same time (after collecting 10, an extra life is added). Linus dies at the smallest contact, so instead of speed running a level (which can be done, since the levels are small), it's more advisable to learn his foes' movement patterns and wait for a safe opening; this is particularly true in NES Linus Spacehead's Cosmic Crusade, where Linus can not change direction in mid-jump. Passwords are scattered at key locations.

Licensing

Like other Codemasters games, the NES versions were not licensed by Nintendo. Linus Spacehead's Cosmic Crusade was released both as a stand-alone cartridge and as one of seven games for the Aladdin Deck Enhancer. At least in Europe, a later/updated version of the game was released as Cosmic Spacehead. There are several differences between that and the earlier version. Cosmic Spacehead includes the Pie Slap mode, and Linus can jump higher and change direction in mid-jump, which makes the platform arcade sections easier. The Mega Drive version was included in a "Codemasters 2-in-1" with Fantastic Dizzy.

All but Linus Spacehead's Cosmic Crusade include a two player mode named Pie Slap, reminiscent of Armor Ambush for the Atari 2600. While the Master System version is similar in graphics to the NES version, the gameplay is closer to the remaining versions. In the Amiga, Mega Drive and MS-DOS versions, the art style is different from the NES version.

Reception

GamePro described the game as "a great point-and-click text adventure for the Game Gear", additionally praising the cartoonish charm of the graphics.^[7]

References

External links

• Cosmic Spacehead at MobyGames