Cosmic Race[a] is a spaceship-themed racing video game developed for the PlayStation system, created by the Japanese company Neorex — their only produced game — which became famous after receiving the dishonor of a "0.0 out of 10.0" rating in Game Players magazine. The game was released in January 1995 in Japan only.
| Cosmic Race ~for the locked up planet~ | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Developer(s) | Neorex |
| Publisher(s) | Neorex |
| Director(s) | Masato Furuta |
| Producer(s) | Toshiyuki Komai |
| Designer(s) | Eijiro Kito |
| Programmer(s) | Eiji Kamiya Masaki Nishibu Shiro Shamoto |
| Artist(s) | Kazunari Hasegawa Muneyuki Ichihara Shigehisa Okada |
| Writer(s) | Kenji Nakamura |
| Composer(s) | Hurry Mind |
| Platform(s) | PlayStation |
| Release | |
| Genre(s) | Racing |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer (up to two players) |
Gameplay
edit
Cosmic Race is a spaceship-racing game. The game consists of six different ships, including the Borg, Couga, Hito-01, Propeller, and S-lagon, each with their own anime-style driver.[2] The game had sorts of humanoid cats, dogs, and humans.
It has multiple gamemodes, including:
- "point time try"
- "cosmic race"
- "chase 1pad" (two player)
- "chase 2pad" (two player)
- "scramble"
- "story"
Development and release
editA release date of December 22, 1994 was initially reported.[3] Early footage on video show a number of changes that were made in the final release.[4]
Reception
edit| Publication | Score |
|---|---|
| Famitsu | 16/40[8] |
| Next Generation |   [5] |
| Consoles + | 71%[6] |
| Game Players | 0%[7] |
| Ultimate Future Games | 25%[2] |
Cosmic Race is notorious for being one of the worst video games of all time. Criticisms of the game include the strange controls (the player must press the R1 button to move forward), the poor graphics that were taken from the PlayStation developer's kit, and the poor collision detection.[citation needed] In Japan, Famitsu gave it a lowly 16 out of 40.[8]
Next Generation reviewed the game, rating it one star out of five, and stated that "Although there are only a few titles available on the PlayStation, it is obvious, in comparison, that Cosmic Race is substandard on almost every level. The graphics are childish and uninspired and the control is entirely awkward. If all were right with the world, this game would never have been made."[5]
The game was reviewed in Game Players issue #88, published September 1996, which was the last issue published under the name "Game Players." In it, the reviews section was prefaced (as usual) with a list of the possible ratings (0.0-10.0). In each issue ratings 1.0-10.0 would have humorous real world analogs. The rating of 0.0 had been described for quite a while as simply "Cosmic Race." Since this was the final issue of Game Players under its original name, they decided to commemorate the occasion by finally giving the game a proper review. The review was written by Chris Charla, who bemoaned long loading times, poor graphics which were taken directly from the PlayStation SDK ("your mom could do better graphics than this. Seriously."), a non-intuitive control system, and a complete lack of collision detection (allowing you to "fly under the world").[7]
In an article about kusoge games, Video Game Collector magazine noted Cosmic Race alongside Twin Goddesses, Exector, Not Treasure Hunter, and Metal Jacket as "terrible" games in the early PlayStation lifetime.[9]
Notes
editReferences
edit- ^ "コズミックレース". PlayStation Official Site Software Catalog (in Japanese). Sony Interactive Entertainment. 2020. Retrieved 2020-08-03.
- ^ a b "Ultimate review sector: Like hey, take a trip with the Cosmic Race... man". Ultimate Future Games. No. 5. Future Publishing. April 1995. pp. 86–87.
- ^ "Sony makes their move and a new platform is born". GameFan. Vol. 3, no. 1. January 1995. p. 130.
- ^ ASSEMBlergamers (2021-06-17), ASSEMblergames Youtube Archive, retrieved 2024-09-06
- ^ a b "Finals - Cosmic Race". Next Generation. No. 7. Imagine Media. July 1995. p. 64.
- ^ Garnier, François (March 1995). "Playstation Review (CD+): Cosmic Race". Consoles + (in French). No. 41. M.E.R.7. p. 124.
- ^ a b Charla, Chris (September 1996). "Review - Cosmic Race". Game Players. No. 88. Signal Research. p. 74.
- ^ a b "コズミックレース 〜for the locked up planet〜 まとめ [PS] / ファミ通.com". Famitsu. 2017-12-01. Retrieved 2024-09-05.
- ^ "Made in Japan". Video Game Collector. No. 10. 2008. p. 14.
