Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure is an odd game that suggested an alien version of Bart Simpson and had some very odd level design.
The engine used here was later used in Duke Nukem II, but sneakily edited to take advantage of EGA's expanded 16-color palette to make it seem like it was VGA 256-color instead.
Debug Mode#
Press Tab + F12 + Delete. The following key combos will be available:
- F10 + C + 0 - Extra items
- F10 + G - Activates God Mode
- F10 + M - Display how much memory is in use
- F10 + W - Warp to level
- F10 + P - Pause the game without "Game Paused" dialog window
- F10 + E + N + D - Skip to End-of-Episode cutscenes
Demo Recording#
You can record your very own demo just like the one you see in the attract mode by doing the following:
- Start the game.
- Activate Debug Mode.
- Quit to the title screen.
- Press F11, and you will begin a new game, but any dialog or message boxes will not show during the course of the recording (unless activated by manually using a hint globe, but this is not recommended).
- To advance to the next level in the hard-coded list, press X.
- To complete the recording, simply quit back to the title screen. (Finishing the last level in the list will restart the level instead of completing the recording.)
- Your recorded demo will be saved in a PREVDEMO.MNI file in the game's working directory, which you can place into the game's archives using a proper game editor.
Unused Graphics#
CARTOONS.MNI contains one story graphic that doesn't seem to be used anywhere in the game. It's a small graphic of Cosmo's parents' spaceship from afar, similar to the first image that we see on the first page of the story:
TILES.MNI contains a few unique background tile graphics that are not used anywhere in-game:
Unused Objects#
Several objects within this list are used in-game, but not contained within the wicker baskets or barrels found around the levels:
Actor Type |
Description |
Notes |
|---|---|---|
0 |
Basket (contains nothing) |
None |
22 |
Large Circular Saw Blade (moves horizontally) |
Works like Large Circular Saw Blade (moves vertically, Type 20). |
40 |
Spear (stationary) |
Works like the normal Spear (Type 41), but remains stationary in the retracted position. |
53 |
Basket (contains blue stacked spheres) |
Basket not used, contents are used by themselves. |
58 |
Barrel (contains jump pad) |
Jump pad is used by itself without barrel. A bit buggy, as the spawned pad stays in the air if it goes off-screen, but comes back down if scrolled into view. |
84 |
Clam Plant (ceiling mounted) |
None |
93 |
Basket (contains dancing mushroom) |
Basket not used, contents are used by themselves. |
100 |
Barrel (contains two-jump hopping cabbage creature) |
Barrel is not used, nor are its contents: Hopping Cabbage Creature (two jumps to kill, Type 251). |
116 |
Basket (contains three-fingered yellow/cyan fruit) |
Basket not used, contents are used by themselves. |
142 |
Barrel (contains orange bottled drink) |
Barrel not used, contents are used by themselves. |
171 |
Basket (contains red with yellow spots gourd) |
Basket not used, contents are used by themselves. |
183 |
Floating Score (6,400) |
Works like all other Floating Score Sprites. While a handful of actor types award 6,400 points when bombed, none of them create a Floating Score. |
251 |
Hopping Cabbage Creature (takes two pounces) |
None |
256-262 |
Hint Globes #19-25 |
None |
(Source: Scott Smitelli)
Unused Code#
Due to the way the game was programmed, three of the Star Bonus achievements (presented in-order) are not used in the score count (highlighted in BOLD):
- Not Bad!
- Way Cool
- Groovy
- Radical!
- Insane
- Gnarly
- Outrageous
- Incredible
- Awesome!
- Brilliant!
- Profound
- Towering
- Rocket Scientist
References#
- 3D Realms Site: Cosmo's Cosmic Adventure↩︎
- Date of the files in the original shareware release.↩︎