honestly a testament to the vastness and sheer quality of the dreamcast that a virtually-unadorned arcade port of this dropped in japan months after the announcement of the console's discontinuation. reports from this era reveal a sega so heavily creator-driven that it financially threatened the company. this may explain why the racing-focused sega rosso (who would go on to kick off the beloved initial d arcade stage series) plopped this into arcades at the turn of the millenium.
the game is coolly minimalist with its series of abstract corridors and translucent blocks, all of which melt to black at the end of each level within the veneer of an endless interstellar subway tunnel. the hud is equally minimal, containing only a timer in skewed perspective placed within the right side of the floor behind the player character. each hallway level features a series of blocks of varying sizes at the opposite end of the hall from the player that must be hit with a small, springy ball a la squash. comparisons to breakout come to mind here.
comparatively however, the input depth of cosmic smash is quite remarkable. much like the also-excellent virtua tennis, the dreamcast's stiff, snappy joystick lends itself well to keying in specific shot angles. this is assisted by the game's rich character contextual state space, which allows the player to stretch for balls well above their head with the same inputs that allow shots from close to the chest or at a horizontal length apart from the player (this results in a satisfying dive). this also solves the issue of the game's behind-the-back perspective, as the character will subtly alter its input time in order to hit the ball accurately even within a range of distances the ball might be at. this adds a level of intuition that satisfies the game's strict demands on accurate positioning in order to line up particular shots. after all, compared to breakout which only features a static bar to bounce the ball back on, using a racket requires much more nuanced swings to achieve the same range of angles.
level design is as solid as one would expect across the board. every aspect of the game's limited kit is tested, from lining up specific small shots to clearing as many bricks as possible in a short period of time to more puzzle-focused rooms with moving/reactive obstacles in your path. shot routing, aim, and timing are all tested in equal measure. sega rosso's racing background becomes more apparent with the timer system, which uses a familiar style of having a base time to work with (around 90 seconds on arcade settings) increased at "checkpoints" at the end of each level (anywhere from 10 to 50 extra seconds per level completed). since the game allows you to choose level routes within a map reminiscent of a sprawling metro, carefully watching your time spent per-level and evaluating how soon you need to tackle one of the ending rooms is key as a heuristic for increasing score.
there are other elements to scoring high as well. there is a trick shot that grants the ability to quickly chew through a series of blocks that otherwise would bounce the ball back with careful aim; the downside to this is that it sucks up time on the clock at an expedited rate. use of this technique is vital since it allows for marginally different angle setups (the manual claims 28 variations depending on the player's prior state) and for fast clears in levels with many stacked or multi-hit bricks. clearing the level with one of these trick shots yields further points, and clearing all stages with a trick finish provides a gigantic score bonus on top of that accrued from all prior levels. the same goes for using a variety of different styles of trick finish (using the contextual state space mentioned prior) and keeping up perfect rallies where the ball is never dropped. although reaching one of the easy endpoints does not take much practice, combining this with the extra scoring requirements and the ability to choose different stage routes yields much more complexity than may be clear.
some extra thoughts:
play this with a high timer to begin with via the options menu. this will allow you to adjust to the controls and level design before attempting to play with the regular timer as intended.
the game's biggest flaw in its console form is that there are absolutely no bells and whistles. even having played hotd2 recently that game featured a mission mode, an "original" mode (however slight it is in actuality), and a boss rush. this game could've at least used a level select, or perhaps an alternate starting set of levels after the initial seven or so have been played to tedium.
if you've gotten at least eight trick clears throughout a run, you can attempt to clear a stage with a "goalie" of sorts taking shots back at you. what surprises me is that the game tells you "Silence Your Cell Phones" before this level starts... isn't this game from 2000? I never thought that phrase went back so far.
there's a wealth of different costumes to obtain via cheat codes on the main menu. some of them are surprisingly cool...
as the manual boasts: "A return to the essence of gaming produces... the perfect blend of skill and strategy."
the game is coolly minimalist with its series of abstract corridors and translucent blocks, all of which melt to black at the end of each level within the veneer of an endless interstellar subway tunnel. the hud is equally minimal, containing only a timer in skewed perspective placed within the right side of the floor behind the player character. each hallway level features a series of blocks of varying sizes at the opposite end of the hall from the player that must be hit with a small, springy ball a la squash. comparisons to breakout come to mind here.
comparatively however, the input depth of cosmic smash is quite remarkable. much like the also-excellent virtua tennis, the dreamcast's stiff, snappy joystick lends itself well to keying in specific shot angles. this is assisted by the game's rich character contextual state space, which allows the player to stretch for balls well above their head with the same inputs that allow shots from close to the chest or at a horizontal length apart from the player (this results in a satisfying dive). this also solves the issue of the game's behind-the-back perspective, as the character will subtly alter its input time in order to hit the ball accurately even within a range of distances the ball might be at. this adds a level of intuition that satisfies the game's strict demands on accurate positioning in order to line up particular shots. after all, compared to breakout which only features a static bar to bounce the ball back on, using a racket requires much more nuanced swings to achieve the same range of angles.
level design is as solid as one would expect across the board. every aspect of the game's limited kit is tested, from lining up specific small shots to clearing as many bricks as possible in a short period of time to more puzzle-focused rooms with moving/reactive obstacles in your path. shot routing, aim, and timing are all tested in equal measure. sega rosso's racing background becomes more apparent with the timer system, which uses a familiar style of having a base time to work with (around 90 seconds on arcade settings) increased at "checkpoints" at the end of each level (anywhere from 10 to 50 extra seconds per level completed). since the game allows you to choose level routes within a map reminiscent of a sprawling metro, carefully watching your time spent per-level and evaluating how soon you need to tackle one of the ending rooms is key as a heuristic for increasing score.
there are other elements to scoring high as well. there is a trick shot that grants the ability to quickly chew through a series of blocks that otherwise would bounce the ball back with careful aim; the downside to this is that it sucks up time on the clock at an expedited rate. use of this technique is vital since it allows for marginally different angle setups (the manual claims 28 variations depending on the player's prior state) and for fast clears in levels with many stacked or multi-hit bricks. clearing the level with one of these trick shots yields further points, and clearing all stages with a trick finish provides a gigantic score bonus on top of that accrued from all prior levels. the same goes for using a variety of different styles of trick finish (using the contextual state space mentioned prior) and keeping up perfect rallies where the ball is never dropped. although reaching one of the easy endpoints does not take much practice, combining this with the extra scoring requirements and the ability to choose different stage routes yields much more complexity than may be clear.
some extra thoughts:
play this with a high timer to begin with via the options menu. this will allow you to adjust to the controls and level design before attempting to play with the regular timer as intended.
the game's biggest flaw in its console form is that there are absolutely no bells and whistles. even having played hotd2 recently that game featured a mission mode, an "original" mode (however slight it is in actuality), and a boss rush. this game could've at least used a level select, or perhaps an alternate starting set of levels after the initial seven or so have been played to tedium.
if you've gotten at least eight trick clears throughout a run, you can attempt to clear a stage with a "goalie" of sorts taking shots back at you. what surprises me is that the game tells you "Silence Your Cell Phones" before this level starts... isn't this game from 2000? I never thought that phrase went back so far.
there's a wealth of different costumes to obtain via cheat codes on the main menu. some of them are surprisingly cool...
as the manual boasts: "A return to the essence of gaming produces... the perfect blend of skill and strategy."