Space Adventure Cobra: The Awakening

Space Adventure Cobra: The Awakening turns Cobra’s early anime adventures into a colorful, straightforward action-platformer built around running, climbing, blasting enemies, and working through dangerous sci-fi ruins. The Psychogun, Colt Python 77, grappling hook, and cigar give the action more flavor than a basic point-and-shoot platformer.

Its level-by-level structure will feel focused rather than freeing, so it is not the Cobra game to pick if you want a huge world to roam. But for fans who want a brisk, recognizable adventure with bosses, three difficulty settings, and two-player co-op, it is an enjoyable licensed game with enough personality to rise above pure nostalgia.

Retro Replay Review

Gameplay

Space Adventure Cobra: The Awakening has a clean, old-school pitch: get Cobra through hazardous stages, shoot what is in the way, and use his gear to keep moving. That sounds familiar, but the mix of jumping, climbing, traps, obstacles, and boss encounters gives the game a useful sense of momentum. You are not just standing at a distance and firing the Psychogun. The levels ask you to navigate their dangers while keeping pressure on enemies.

The weapon and gadget lineup is where the adaptation earns some of its character. Cobra’s Psychogun and Colt Python 77 make combat feel rooted in the series, while the grappling hook and cigar widen the range of situations beyond simple shooting. It is a sensible fit for a side-view action game: recognizable tools become practical ways to deal with each new stretch of level.

The tradeoff is scope. This is a focused run-and-jump adventure through designed stages, not an open-ended spacefaring game. If your favorite action games let you wander, poke into every corner, and set your own pace, the linear structure may feel narrow. If you want a direct arcade-style campaign where movement, gunfire, hazards, and bosses take turns in the spotlight, that focus is a strength.

Three difficulty settings make it easier to choose how much resistance you want, and two-player co-op is a welcome option for tackling the campaign with company. The game’s strongest case is not that it transforms the genre. It is that it gives Cobra a lively, approachable action format that understands why his equipment is fun in the first place.

Graphics

The side-view stages use flat cartoon shading, sharp scenery silhouettes, and loud sci-fi color. An ancient temple pairs tan and orange stonework, carved glyphs, columns, sculptures, flaming bowls, glowing green doorways, and a purple wheel-shaped creature perched overhead. It looks like a playful anime adventure rather than a gritty space opera.

Other battles push the color harder, with Cobra standing atop a purple armored rail vehicle beneath a large blue energy dome as hovering craft fire yellow shots through a red-and-purple canyon under a violet starry sky. Bright shots and energy effects stand out clearly, though overlapping beams can make the action look busy. The wide camera also leaves Cobra looking small against the scenery.

Story

This adventure adapts the first 12 episodes of the anime, following space pirate Cobra and Lady Armaroid as they investigate a mystery tied to three sisters and treasures coveted by the Space Pirate Guild. Crystal Bowie is part of the threat, which gives the campaign a recognizable antagonist rather than treating the license as a pile of disconnected references.

That foundation should land best if you already enjoy Cobra’s mix of pulp space adventure, treasure hunting, and larger-than-life opponents. The story has a clear forward drive: Cobra and Lady Armaroid are pursuing a mystery while the guild is pursuing the same prize. It is an easy setup to follow between action stages, and it gives the platforming more context than a generic trek through sci-fi scenery.

There is also value in the game being specific about which portion of Cobra it adapts. It is not a reinvention of the character or an unrelated story wearing the license. Fans looking for a fresh game based on that early material have a better reason to care than they would with a vague, all-purpose franchise tie-in.

If you are curious about Cobra’s earlier game history, The Space Adventure on Sega CD is a very different graphic-adventure take on the franchise, not an earlier version of The Awakening. That contrast makes this game’s commitment to active platforming and shooting feel even more deliberate.

Overall Experience

Space Adventure Cobra: The Awakening is a solid seven-out-of-ten licensed action game because it knows what it wants to be. It takes a recognizable anime adventure, puts Cobra’s signature weapons and tools into regular use, and keeps the trip moving through traps, traversal challenges, fights, and bosses. The result is focused rather than ambitious, but it has real charm.

The payoff depends on what you bring to it. Cobra fans get a colorful adaptation of familiar early material and a game that treats the hero’s gear as more than decoration. Action-platformer fans get a straightforward campaign with enough tools to avoid feeling completely one-note. Open-world explorers may find the stage-based format restrictive, but that is a matter of taste, not a failure of intent.

Give it a chance if a compact anime-flavored shooter-platformer sounds better to you than a sprawling sandbox. Co-op and selectable difficulty add useful flexibility, while the bright locations and series-specific gadgets keep the journey from blending into the crowd. For the official Windows release details, see the Space Adventure Cobra official Windows listing.