Cosmic Avenger

In this side scrolling shooter you have to kill as many enemies as possible to raise your high score.

Released: 1 July 1981
Platforms: Arcade ColecoVision
Genres: Arcade Horizontally scrolling shooter Science Shooter
Developers: Universal Entertainment
Publishers: Universal Entertainment
Perspective: Side view
Themes: Action Science fiction
Country: Japan
Languages: English

About

Cosmic Avenger is a horizontally-scrolling shooter developed by Universal and released as an arcade video game in July 1981. It is part of the first-wave shooters with forced horizontal scrolling which followed Konami's Scramble and Super Cobra from earlier in the year. It was released the same month as Vanguard. The final installment in Universal's Cosmic series, players take control of the Avenger space fighter and, as in Scramble, use bullets and bombs against enemy air and ground forces. The world is one continuous level made up of different areas.

The game was ported to ColecoVision as one of its August 1982 launch titles in North America. The ColecoVision version was more successful than the arcade original, garnering mostly positive reception from critics who praised the action, visuals, and sound effects. Ports to the Atari 2600 and Intellivision were in development and advertised, but not released.

Keywords

side-scrolling
revenge
launch titles

Media

The articlegameplay, story, development, reception

Gameplay

Players take control of the Avenger fighter craft, guiding it across horizontally-scrolling terrain and dodging obstacles. The main objective is earning points by destroying alien forces. The game is divided into three sections, each with its own terrain and obstacles. There is no intermission between sections; the game scrolls into the new terrain seamlessly. The game can be played by one or two players, alternating turns as each player's ship is destroyed.

A joystick moves the ship in four directions, and buttons fire lasers and bombs to destroy spaceships, anti-aircraft missiles, tanks, and UFOs. A radar display at the top of the screen shows incoming enemies. The ship does not require a constantly depleting fuel supply to be replenished, which allows players to focus solely on the enemies. The enemies have specific behavior patterns and can crash into each other.

Reception

The ColecoVision version of Cosmic Avenger was reviewed in Video magazine in its "Arcade Alley" column where it was described as "great fun" and as a game that "packs more than enough excitement in its three screens to satisfy any lover of arcade-style action games". Although reviewers noted that the game is "not as free-ranging as [those] in which the ship can scroll left as well as right", it was praised for its "beautiful graphics", and it was suggested that Cosmic Avenger might herald the coming of a "scrolling shootout" trend in home video games. In September 1982, Arcade Express reviewed the ColecoVision version and scored it 9 out of 10. Creative Computing Video & Arcade Games said in 1983 that "although Cosmic Avenger was not terribly popular in the arcades, Coleco's adaptation will do well in the home market" and a "nice addition" to the console's library.