Cosmic Carnage

Cosmic Carnage is a fighting game similar to Mortal Kombat. The player fights against other opponents in one-on-one matches and the fighter who manages to deplete the health bar of the opponent wins the first bout. The first to win two bouts becomes the winner of the match. Each round is timed, which can be adjusted or deactivated in the game options; if both fighters still have health remaining when time expires, the fighter with more health wins the round.

The game features five levels of difficulty. Hidden characters can be played via cheat code.

In an uncharted star system, a group of prisoners en route to a celestial space mine overpower the ship's guards and take control of the ship, but during their breakout, most of the ship's controls are damaged. After days of drifting, the criminals realize that their only hope is to hijack another ship and use their distress signal to bring a military ship to their aid. They then trick the ship by ramming their own vehicle into it. The impact, however, badly damages both and destroys all but one of the escape pods, as well as killing all but four from each ship (eight in total). The few survivors fight for the final escape pod and a chance of survival.

All soldiers use Light Armor and can be equipped with Heavy Armor before fights, while none of the fugitives use armor.

Cosmic Carnage was developed by Almanic Corporation in conjunction with ALU. Takashi Shichijo and Hikoshi Hashimoto served as the project's programmer and composer respectively, although neither are credited as such in the credits of the game. According to former Sega staff member Takayuki Kawagoe, the game was initially developed for the Mega Drive, but was converted to the 32X on short notice so that it could have a larger game library. ALU stated on their official website that development kits arrived three months prior to release date during development.

The game was first released for the 32X by Sega in North America as a launch title on 21 November 1994. Former Sega of America executive producer Michael Latham stated that the company was rushed to release games on time for the 32X's launch, and said that "[w]hen Cosmic Carnage showed up, we didn't even want to ship it. It took a lot of convincing, you know, to ship that title." The title was then released in Japan on 27 January 1995 under the name Cyber Brawl and later in Europe on February of the same year.

Cosmic Carnage received a 4.6969/10 score in a 1995 readers' poll conducted by the Japanese Sega Saturn Magazine, ranking among 32X and Sega Mega Drive titles at the number 476 spot. The game garnered a mixed reception from critics. In a 1995 interview with Next Generation regarding the response it received, Sega of America president Tom Kalinske said only, "Well, you know, every now and then there are games with which we're not so happy. It's all part of the learning process."

Electronic Gaming Monthly's four editors unanimously commented that even taking into account the fact that it is a launch title, Cosmic Carnage is a disappointing game which fails to push significantly beyond the capabilities of the standalone Sega Genesis in either graphics or audio. They did remark that the armor mechanic is an impressive innovation, but nonetheless felt that the overall gameplay was mediocre at best. In their review, GamePro praised the armor mechanic and sci-fi styled graphics, but criticized the slow action and limited originality, and concluded that "there are more exciting Genesis fighters around". Next Generation considered it "A sad, shambling mockery of a fighting game."