Cosmo Gang: The Video!

[louisg]

OK, I searched around, and was astonished to find there is not a single thread on Cosmo Gang: The Video. It's a Galaga-like cute 'em up with charming artwork released in the early 90s for both arcade and Super Famicom. Any thoughts or strategies on this one? I've been thinking of grabbing the Super Famicom edition which seems to put up a decent fight on "Extra Hard" mode. Though, it appears to be lacking that compelling mechanic from Galaga where you have to risk dying to power up.

http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detai ... me_id=7408

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgSa7bm73XA

[soprano1]

I think i played this about a year and a half when i wanted to try my hands on Space Invaders and similar games. Animations are good, gameplay is about the same as Galaga as you mentioned.

[Despatche]

One of MARP's tourneys had this. Apparently a lot of points come from the bonus stages.

[DJ Incompetent]

What does "The Video" mean? I have pondered this. I do not get it.

Mushihimesama: Lawn Chair!
Armed Police Batrider: Input Source!
Gunbird: LED Strip!
Air Gallet: Tablet Stylus!
Thunder Dragon 3: The Walking!
White Fudge ~ Ibara 3: Twenty Yum!
DoDonPachi: Spaniard Taxes!
Gradius IV: Ocean Donut!
Touhou 28: The Marshmallow of Count Snuffleupagus: Motivation Application!

..yeah that's kinda fun. I couldn't stop.

[BIL]

I always thought it was like Remote Control Dandy 2: Science Fiction. You know, because the original was a documentary. CG1 was probably an audio drama.

[louisg]

The first Cosmo Gang was actually a redemption machine and worked like the bonus stages in the game. I remember playing it at California Extreme. So, they differentiated this one with "The Video!" (as goofy as it is). There was also "The Puzzle"

It's still not as bad as those books that say "A Novel" on the cover.

[BIL]

I think it's cute. Engrish cute.

[S_Fang]

Holy sky! I finally find that game I watched during a family snow trip in my childhood.

Better take a look at that in these days.

[DJ Incompetent]

The first Cosmo Gang was actually a redemption machine and worked like the bonus stages in the game. I remember playing it at California Extreme. So, they differentiated this one with "The Video!" (as goofy as it is). There was also "The Puzzle"

It's still not as bad as those books that say "A Novel" on the cover.

That's-...actually significant. I remember old crappy early 80s songs about pre-industry crash videogames with lyrics like, "Who is the king of videos? Pacman! Who is thriller of human minds! Pacman! Who is master of machines? Pacman!" So I guess back in the day people would actually call videogames "videos" in some confusing slang. Sooo that means to say Cosmo Gang: The Video was really trying to mean Cosmo Gang: The Videogame.

Another Mike Tyson Mystery solllllved!

[louisg]

So is the scoring mechanism in the game totally broken then, based on what Despatche said?

[Skykid]

I don't remember the original Cosmo Gang being a redemption machine - just a score attack along the lines of Namco's own Whack-A-Mole/Sweet Licks.

Cosmo Gang was an exceptionally cool cab, all physical parts. I played it loads as a kid. The horde of pink aliens come inching down to the fuel cans at the bottom of their runway tracks and when their mouths open you had to fire a mounted gun, knocking them back several paces. I think if one successfully retrieved a can it was game over.

A simple idea but ingeniously constructed for a purely mechanical cab.

[Despatche]

It's not broken from what I remember, it's just that the bonus stages are really important. Mess one up and you may as well reset.

(One of the bonus stages is based on the original Cosmo Gang.)

[louisg]

I don't remember the original Cosmo Gang being a redemption machine - just a score attack along the lines of Namco's own Whack-A-Mole/Sweet Licks.

Cosmo Gang was an exceptionally cool cab, all physical parts. I played it loads as a kid. The horde of pink aliens come inching down to the fuel cans at the bottom of their runway tracks and when their mouths open you had to fire a mounted gun, knocking them back several paces. I think if one successfully retrieved a can it was game over.

A simple idea but ingeniously constructed for a purely mechanical cab.

OK, I remembered it wrong then. It *is* a really cool cab I'm shocked; there aren't any good videos of it on YT. Hrm.

[BrianC]

The first Cosmo Gang was actually a redemption machine and worked like the bonus stages in the game. I remember playing it at California Extreme. So, they differentiated this one with "The Video!" (as goofy as it is). There was also "The Puzzle"

It's still not as bad as those books that say "A Novel" on the cover.

It's also worth mentioning that Cosmo Game the Puzzle is the same game as Pac-Attack/Pac-Panic with different graphics. The SNES port seems to be better technically than the SNES Pac-Attack.

[KidQuaalude]

I have a lot of time for it (and the puzzle game too). Was playing it on my cab during lunch today. It's a lot of fun and complements the Galaga series. Psikyos 'Space Bomber' is another bottom-shooter cute-em-up I enjoy, you should check it out if you don't know it.

[Vetus]

One of my favourite shmups. As a Galaga spin-off it's quite cute and enjoyable.

[louisg]

there aren't any good videos of it on YT. Hrm.

Dunno if this is considered good or not, but we did a review for this game not long ago...

Oh great! I was talking about videos of the electromechanical original, but I'll totally take a review of the videogame

EDIT: Watched the review and damn this game looks a lot neater than I'd originally thought. I think I may need this in my collection

[BrianC]

The co-op mode sounds especially fun for Cosmo Gang: The Video. I heard of the game before, but I didn't know about the co-op mode.

[louisg]

The co-op mode sounds especially fun for Cosmo Gang: The Video. I heard of the game before, but I didn't know about the co-op mode.

Same here. I love co-op scoot n shoots with shared lives. It's why I keep my Atari 7800 around (Centipede and Asteroids co-op) and prefer 2600 Space Invaders to the arcade version. Very cool.

[cave hermit]

I found a video of the electromechanical cabinet: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKcN_A0_ODM

It seems really nifty, but more or less a novelty.

[cave hermit]

I really like The Video, it's essentially cute-em-up galaga with a bit more spring in its step. The power ups are fun to use, but I don't like how they are randomized. Same problem with the multiplier chips. And yeah the bonus stages seem disproportionately lucrative compared to the actual stages when it comes to scoring.

The Puzzle is, as far as I can tell, literally just Pac-attack with new graphics: as such I'm not going to bother with it.

edit: as it turns out, The puzzle came a year before Pac-attack: pac attack was based on the puzzle, not the other way around.

[cave hermit]

Also the electromechanical original was in fact a redemption machine:



Seems like the game only goes through 2 or 3 attack waves before ending.

[Skykid]

^ Memories! Any more pics? The aliens themselves and that guy who rocked out in the spaceship looked awesome. I remember they used to sing during the attract sequence.

But weird, it definitely never vended tickets at any of the ones I used to play. I'm 100% sure it was score attack only. I don't even remember that instructional text.

Maybe the places I played it didn't have a ticket redeeming system.

[cave hermit]

Any more pics?

Here's the KLOV page with a few more images: http://www.arcade-museum.com/game_detai ... me_id=7406

[Dave_K.]

My wife got totally hooked on Comso Gang The Video, and loves the two player (collaboration) mode which made it easier for her to learn tricks to getting a higher score. Rancor was selling a doujin superplay DVD that ran on YAJ for a little while.

Not to digress from the topic, but Jaleco had a similar redemption game at the time called Alien Command which incorporated a "boss" video screen, and was VERY cool. You can check out the gameplay of the cabinet here.

[BrianC]

The Puzzle is, as far as I can tell, literally just Pac-attack with new graphics: as such I'm not going to bother with it.

edit: as it turns out, The puzzle came a year before Pac-attack: pac attack was based on the puzzle, not the other way around.

The odd thing is that the port of The Puzzle seems to be better designed around the SNES. Pac-Attack seems to be a quickie port of the Genesis version, rather than directly based on Cosmo Gang The Puzzle port. If I remember correctly, both games use the same passwords for puzzle mode. Looks like the port of The Puzzle also came before Pac-Attack, as well.

Edit: I found a video of the puzzle mode and seems I was wrong about the passwords in Cosmo Gang the video. It does have the same levels and stage clear music, though.

[Skykid]

Spoke to my brother and he helped remind me of something about the Cosmo Gang we used to play: it had no plastic hood! No wonder I couldn't remember that text. Maybe the vendor didn't need to vend tickets so instead of scraping the text off he just unscrewed the whole thing.

[Herr Schatten]

Mushihimesama: Lawn Chair!
Armed Police Batrider: Input Source!
Gunbird: LED Strip!
Air Gallet: Tablet Stylus!
Thunder Dragon 3: The Walking!
White Fudge ~ Ibara 3: Twenty Yum!
DoDonPachi: Spaniard Taxes!
Gradius IV: Ocean Donut!
Touhou 28: The Marshmallow of Count Snuffleupagus: Motivation Application!

I would totally play any of these.