''Cosmic Cop'' is a side-scrolling shoot 'em up

arcade game An arcade game or coin-op game is a coin-operated entertainment machine typically installed in public businesses such as restaurants, bars and amusement arcades. Most arcade games are presented as primarily games of skill and include arcade v ...

produced by

Irem is a Japanese video game console developer and publisher, and formerly a developer and manufacturer of arcade games as well. The company has its headquarters in Chiyoda, Tokyo. The full name of the company that uses the brand is Irem Softwar ...

in 1991. It is part of the popular '' R-Type'' video game series.

Story

Taking place concurrently with ''

R-Type Delta is a shoot 'em up video game developed by Irem and released for the PlayStation console in 1998. It is the fourth game in the ''R-Type'' series and the first to feature 3D graphics. The game received generally positive reviews from critics. Ga ...

'', ''Cosmic Cop'' sees the player as a member of the like-named private security organization tasked with hunting down autonomous vehicles driven berserk by the Bydo, dubbed "Mad Cars."

Gameplay

The player pilots an R-Type fighter, the R-11B ''Peace Maker''. As in most horizontal shooters the screen scrolls continuously to the right, but ''Cosmic Cop'' is unusual in that the scroll rate can be controlled by the player. The further right the player's craft is oriented onscreen, the faster the game scrolls. Gameplay progresses through five different "zones," each culminating with a

boss Boss may refer to: Occupations * Supervisor, often referred to as boss * Air boss, more formally, air officer, the person in charge of aircraft operations on an aircraft carrier * Crime boss, the head of a criminal organization * Fire boss, a ...

. Significant bonus points are awarded for completing the zones quickly. The R-11B is armed with forward-firing guns, as well as a lock-on laser that automatically targets enemies, but whose energy depletes as it is fired. These weapons can be powered up twice by picking up a letter "P" and the laser's energy can be quickly refilled by picking up a letter "L." Picking up a letter "M" will equip the R-11B with a missile unit that will fire one of three types of munitions: anti-air missiles, anti-ground missiles, or napalm bombs. Contact with any terrain will cause the missile unit to be lost, however.

References to ''Cosmic Cop'' in other ''R-Type'' media

*The ''R-Type Special'' CD released in 1993 includes arrangements of the music from every ''R-Type'' arcade game, including ''Cosmic Cop''. *The R-11B has an entry in the library in the ''R-Types'' compilation for

PlayStation is a video gaming brand that consists of five home video game consoles, two handhelds, a media center, and a smartphone, as well as an online service and multiple magazines. The brand is produced by Sony Interactive Entertainment, a divisi ...

. *The R-11B is once again playable in ''

R-Type Final is a horizontal shooter video game by Irem for the PlayStation 2 video game console. It was planned to be the last mainline game in the ''R-Type'' series. However, ''R-Type Tactics'' was released for the PlayStation Portable in 2007, and the di ...

'', along with its improved successors the R-11S ''Tropical Angel'' and R-11S2 ''No Chaser''. ''Final'' also includes the anti-ground missiles that originated in ''Cosmic Cop'' as a weapon, usable by many of the craft in the game. *The R-11S variant is an available unit in ''

R-Type Tactics , known in North America as ''R-Type Command'', is a turn-based strategy/tactical role-playing game released in 2007 in Japan, and 2008 in North America and Europe for PlayStation Portable. The main part of the game consists of two consecutive cam ...

''.

Reception

In Japan, ''Game Machine'' listed ''Cosmic Cop'' on their November 1, 1991 issue as being the thirteenth most-successful table arcade unit of the month.

Notes

References

{{R-Type series 1991 video games Arcade video games Arcade-only video games R-Type Science fiction video games Video games about police officers Video games developed in Japan Video games scored by Takushi Hiyamuta Video games set in the 22nd century Video game spin-offs Single-player video games