Arrow of Justice
Cosmo Police Galivan (simply known as Galivan in Japan) is a 1985 arcade platform game released by Nichibutsu, with it's titular protagonist a rather transparent Captain Ersatz of Space Sheriff Gavan and Space Sheriff Sharivan.
You are Galivan, last member of the Cosmo Police unit, who crashed on Planet Cynep after an ambush from space criminals and losing your Cosmo Police armor in the process. You'll need to find your way out while battling enemies unarmed, until you managed to obtain power-ups that grants you the Cosmo Police Armor, changing your character from his default, unarmored form to a powerful form capable of launching energy projectiles.
A sequel, Cosmo Police Galivan II: Arrow of Justice, is released in 1993, in the Beat 'em Up genre instead of being a platformer. Your titular character is back, this time with his default armor available from the start and remaining on him throughout.
The second game, obscure as it was, is constantly derided by it's excessive use of Palette Swap in enemy designs and that it's background scenery and designs is actually more interesting than the one used for the game itself, something online
reviews (whatever little there is for this game) repeatedly makes fun of.
Cosmo Police Galivan (both games) contain examples of:
- Acrofatic: Hezzmo may be a gigantic literal lump of cancer in a humanoid form resembling a sumo wrestler, but that doesn't mean he can't jump all over the place and easily leap vertically offscreen, moving in and out to ambush you with great speed.
- Amazing Technicolor Population: The Cavemen-like Oger enemies in the sequel. They resemble normal cavemen, but comes in shades of blue, purple, green, yellow...
- Amphibian Assault: The second boss, Mirage Beast, is a giant frog-humanoid who keeps hopping around the area while trying to kick you down.
- Amusement Park of Doom: The second stage is set in one of these, with the merry-go-round's horses replaced by horned, skinless abominations...
- Badass Normal: The first game have you beating up enemies without the Cosmo Police armor. And you can take down quite a lot of mooks unarmed, though you'll need the armor for bosses.
- Body Horror: Hezmo, the overweight, blobby boss, have his body made of entire lumps of oversized boils, tumors and pimples fused together into a humanoid body.
- Dual Wield: Psycho Crown swings two curved blades, which can double as boomerangs to be thrown from a distance before returning to him.
- Extendable Arms: The first boss from the second game, Mammon, a skeletal alien creature with bony arms (ending in claws) capable of covering half the screen every swing.
- Eyes Do Not Belong There: More than one area in the second game, including the arena where you fight the boss, Hezmo, has eyes growing out of the (flesh-covered) wall in the background.
- Frog Men: Mirage Beast is an alien frog-human twice your height, who effortlessly leap all around the place while attacking you.
- Genre Shift: Despite being a "franchise" with only two games... the first entry is a platformer, while the sequel is a sci-fi themed Beat 'em Up.
- Meat Moss: For some unexplained reason, as you infiltrate Glovuss' fortress in the second game the front area is coated in entire walls of flesh-like substance, with the pillars resembling thick veins.
- Mecha-Mooks: The "Borg" enemies are robotic. You can come across a number of them which are in deactivated, hibernation mode and seemingly harmless... until you got too near, at which point they attack.
- Monstrous Scenery: One outdoor stage has scary-looking giant flying piranhas in the back while you fight enemy robots in the foreground.
- Palette Swap: Both games uses repetitive sprites for their enemy designs, but the sequel is a notable offender; it's a game with 15 levels, and 5 basic enemy designs note . Naturally the mook-level enemies will repeat their sprites constantly.Repetition is and always was a standard issue with beat em up games in the late 80's and early 90's. Even some CD based games in the genre didn't feel like adding in more then six enemies for the duration of anywhere up to 10 stages.
However, this game has a whopping 4 enemies for 15 stages. And they resort to colour swaps sometime around the first level. - Powered Armor: How the Galivan is depicted in the first game, as a pickup the player collect from crates.
- Primitive Clubs: The Cavemen-like Oger enemies swing heavy clubs as their weapons.
- Snake People: Subverted when you fight Glovuss. The boss arena contains four sinister-looking (and really realistic) snakemen armed with tridents... and they're actually statues. All of them. They serve to make the arena smaller and as scenery filler.
- Space Police: Your titular protagonist, Galivan. The title of both games kind of said it all...
- Starfish Aliens: The Greader enemies, a pile of tentacles, fangs, and assorted alien organs on two chicken-like legs who moves by waddling around the area. In a game filled with otherwise mediocre enemy design, this is one of the very few actually interesting foes.
- Stingy Jack: Psycho Crown is an alien example of the trope, a pumpkin-headed alien thug serving as a boss.
- Sword Beam: Oddly enough, unlike most galactic police forces in pop culture who's given blasters, the Cosmo Police give their units swords. Which can be upgraded to shoot crescent energy blasts and serve as a ranged attack.
- Teleport Spam: Glovuss, the Final Boss of the second game, would port all around the arena during his battle.
- Throne Room Throwdown: Glovuss is fought in his throne room, where he will teleport from his throne to fight you. The throne room itself have scary-looking statues of snake-humans adorning it's corners, too.
- Wolverine Claws: The ninja-like Shade enemies wears clawed gauntlets, and tries roughing you up with them.
- A Winner Is You: When you defeat Glovuss and finish the game, you're rewarded by... a shot of a computer displaying scrolling text congratulating you on a black background. For five seconds. Then the game really ends.
- Womb Level: One stage filled with Greader enemies is seemingly inside some monster's esophagus. With sharp teeth protruding from the ceiling and floors.
