Cosmic Carnage

The title garnered mixed reception from critics since its release.

• Title — Cosmic Carnage • Developer — Almanic Corporation • Publisher — Sega • Programmer — Takashi Shichijo • Composer — Hikoshi Hashimoto • Platforms — 32X • Genre — Fighting • Modes — Single-player, multiplayer

• Illustration — Gameplay screenshot. 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 single-player mode, players can choose from eight playable characters and fight against computer-controlled fighters. Achieving a ‘good ending’ for a fighter is time based; depending on how fast the player kills opponents, the more time there is left to escape to the life pod and get as far away as possible. Like Mortal Kombat, special and death moves are performed by entering button commands while pressing the d-pad. A notable feature is the ability to customize a character prior to matches; Four of the selectable characters use armor to assist them in battle and players may choose between one of two options (‘light’ or ‘heavy’) for each of the three armors (body, leg and arm), each providing characters with their own special move. Similar to the Samurai Shodown franchise, the camera zooms in or out to maximize or minimize the level of graphical detail depending on character movement.

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. • Cylic – An alien red ant. In the Japanese version, he is a brown-haired human soldier named Jake. • Zena-Lan – A female soldier whose head is constantly on fire. In the Japanese version, she is a blond-haired human soldier named Ray. • Naruto – A shadow being. In the Japanese version, he is a brown-haired human. • Tyr – A man with metallic skin wearing samurai like armor. • Talmac – A tall, dark, sinister figure with a skull-like face, spiked red hair and sharp claws. No one is sure if he wears a mask or not, because no one has gotten close enough to find out. • Yug – A gorilla-like humanoid who is possibly a robot. He relies almost entirely on his powerful arms for his attacks. • Naja – A female snake-shaped siren, with a cobra's head and, instead of legs, a long tail that she uses as a battering ram. Her design and American name are derived from the serpentine nāga of Hinduism and Buddhism, which in sculptures and drawn art were often depicted as having humanoid torsos. • Deamon – A vicious alien with large talon-like claws and a scorpion-like stinger attached to the back of his head.

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 "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.