Bit's Cosmic Crisis -Colecovision
Retro Gaming Review

Colecovision console Classic Retro Gaming Video Game Review

Bit's Cosmic Crisis for Colecovision Classic Retro Gaming Video Game Review

Title:	Cosmic Crisis
Manufacturer:	Bit Corporation
Platform:	Colecovision
Release Date:	1983
Part #:	PG901
Rating:	3 out of 5
ESRB Rating:	N/A

Rating:

Bit's Cosmic Crisis Screenshot:

Bit's Cosmic Crisis for Colecovision screenshot Classic Retro Gaming Video Game Review

Don't be fooled by the word "Cosmic" in the title, thinking you may be on the cusp of an epic space battle. This odd little game seems as though it was created as one game and given a "spacey" title to help it gel with other galactic, planet-saving games of it's early 80's era.

The game's manual is a glorious infusion of broken English including their heading for the "object" of the game; Objection. It's easy to figure out the strategy and pertinent info, but when encountering such a manual, it makes the company's back-story all that more interesting. Bit Corp was a Taiwanese game developer who made a few games for the Atari 2600 before going out of business in the early 90's.

Cosmic Crisis' Story Arc

Demons have invaded and must be conquered if mankind is to survive. Fighting them is futile. The only way to defeat them is to trap them and let them fall to their deaths. You have the ability to trap these demons and let them fall through the floors. If they fall far enough you will succeed in winning control of your planet's future.

Cosmic Crisis' Game Play

I believe you begin this game as Bill and have 3 lives. You may choose to play alone or 2-player. Cosmic Crisis has 8 game variations, but 4 of them are simply 2-player versions of the first four. The available variations let you choose which level to begin play - levels 1 through 4.

Holy shit! Check this out...
Bit Corporation was a Taiwanese game developer and console manufacturer founded in 1982. They made a handful of Atari 2600 and NES titles before going out of business in the early 90s.

As a console developer, they made clones of Nintendo, Atari, and Sega consoles. They also made 2 computer clones, the Bit-60 and Bit-90, which were based on Atari and Colecovision technology respectively.

You can move in 4 directions with the joystick which enables you to climb up & down ladders and traverse the floors. When climbing, even though a ladder might extend beyond the floor, you have to stop even with the floor in order to dismount the lader.

The left fire button lets you dig a hole in the floor and the right button will fill in the hole. You can dig holes almost anywhere as you wander the screen. Demons may become trapped in the holes you dig. If you get back to them in time, using the right button will cause them to fall.

Once a demon is stuck in a hole, it will struggle to escape. If you don't get there fast enough to use the right fire-button, he will escape. Otherwise the demon falls to the floor below. If you dig multiple horizontally aligned holes the demon will fall through as many as you can dig. Thus a demon on the 3rd floor could fall all the way down through all 3 holes.

Demons are white, red, and blue which determines how many floors they must fall to perish. Otherwise they will simply come back to get you! If a demon touches you, you lose a life. They escape from a trap if you fail to get there fast enough. If a demon escapes twice, he will increase in power.

Killing demons depends on how many traps (holes) they fall through:

White Demon - Dies upon falling through 1 trap (hole).
Red Demon - Dies upon falling through 2 traps (holes).
Blue Demon - Dies upon falling through 3 traps (holes).

The premise seems kind of silly (because it is) but there is a certain amount of strategy involved from digging enough holes while still being able to move around AND get back to flailing demons when they succumb to your traps. Remember, you can't move past any of the holes you dig, which is why you may need to fill one in to move or flee!

Final Judgement: