235. Cosmo Police Galivan (Nihon Bussan, Famicom, 1988)

Cosmo Police Galivan is based on a 1985 Nihon Bussan (aka Nichibutsu) arcade game, though rather than being a straight-up port, it takes the idea (run around a level as a transforming sentai guy) and widely expands upon it, turning what was a pretty straightforward run and gun game into a slower-paced (though not slow), level-based exploration platformer that feels much more suited to a home console. 

Cosmo Police Galivan feels very directly inspired by Metroid, and is typical of the era, with certain gates requiring you to find certain weapons or items to progress. Where the game stands out is its relatively short level structure that stops exploration form getting overwhelming (though I will admit for a smoother experience I used a map and loved it). Rather than dropping you into a huge overworld, Cosmo Police Galivan keep the exploration limited to individual levels, so you never get too lost.

Action-wise, your main attack is a sword thrust, and as a result a lot of the enemy encounters feel very duel like, as many enemies have a kind of back and forth motion to their movements. At a very basic level, the action feels like a refined version of Namcot Star Wars, right down to the beam saber. Most of the enemy types feel very thoughtfully designed, which is something I can say about very few Famicom platformers, though no enemy has more than 1 action that they ever do, save for bosses who have 2. Cosmo Police Galivan has a great jump & movement speed with a little bit of slide that you can mitigate with your attack. In the second level you acquire some jump boots that give you extra momentum-based height to your jumps, which feels even better.

The weapon energy and health drops from enemies were also frequent enough that I didn't have to do a ton of grinding, which I really appreciated. I know this is obvious to the babiest of video game players, but getting a more powerful sword feels so good.  Where once enemies took 8 whacks to fell, now they only take 3-4, taking so much tedium out of the game. That said, even with the more powerful sword, the first boss took a whopping 50 hits to take down, and while it had a very simple pattern once you got the hang of it, it was nevertheless very tedious. 

I'm definitely into the aesthetic of Cosmo Police Galivan, even if it's not super original. You spend most of the game traversing industrial / rocky areas, but each level has teleporters that send you to a cool alien dimension with giant mushrooms that rain from the sky. The sound track also sport some nice tunes, and they really got an excellent snare drum noise that is featured prominently.

While I only played through the first level and a half, I could see having a great time going back to play through this when I have more time. I think Hebereke is probably my favorite exploration-based platformer on the Famicom, but it would be interesting to see how Cosmo Police Galivan compares to Metroid in its entirety. The one big downside that I can see that that you have to level up your swords by killing enemies, which is a little more "-vania" than "Metroid", in a bad way.

4/5, an early Metroid-inspired game that succeeds in a lot of ways Metroid failed