Space Adventure Cobra: The Awakening Review – The Anime OG

Space Adventure Cobra: The Awakening Review

There is a brand new Space Adventure Cobra video game in the year 2025! Cobra is a manga that began in 1978. It was popularized in North America with the 1982 anime film Space Adventure Cobra. There was also an anime series called Space Cobra that ran from 1982 to 1983. Unlike the movie, there wasn’t an English dub of the series. Space Adventure Cobra: The Awakening is a 2D action platformer based on the first 12 episodes of the series.

The last Space Adventure Cobra game came out in 1995 for the Sega CD. Its gameplay copies Hideo Kojima’s Snatcher, which in turn was a copy of Famicom Detective Club. There were some Cobra OVAs released 15 years ago, but that’s the last bit of Space Adventure Cobra media we’ve seen. I don’t know why this game was made other than love of the source material. It warms my heart to think that Space Adventure Cobra: The Awakening was made without the intent to promote some other product.

Total Recall

Cobra is about a legendary space pirate named Cobra, who has a gun for an arm called the Psychogun. At the beginning of the manga, and in the first level of Space Adventure Cobra: The Awakening, Cobra grows tired of battling the massive Pirate Guild. He undergoes surgery to change his appearance and erase his memory. The story begins with post-surgery/ no memory Cobra going to a Total Recall-like facility, where he gets memories of a vacation he never took. This procedure brings back his memories of his past life. His robot companion Lady Armaroid makes contact with him, and they resume their battle against the Pirate Guild.

The story in Space Adventure Cobra: The Awakening covers the first 12 episodes of the anime series. They go just a little further than the story of the Royal triplets, and Cobra’s battle against Crystal Bowie. As a long-time watcher of the Space Adventure Cobra movie, it was interesting to see Crystal Bowie referred to by his proper name, instead of North America’s “Crystal Boy” name.

Anime Authentic

Space Adventure Cobra: The Awakening starts with a gorgeous new animated sequence. It begins like the opening of the Space Cobra anime series, and even uses the same music. The score of the anime has a 70s funk/ jazz sound. All of the game’s music is fantastic, and perfectly compliments the original series’ score. There are also lots of cutscenes that are straight up scenes from the anime. They are lower resolution than I would have thought, and the picture is cropped from its original 4:3 fullscreen aspect ratio, into a widescreen aspect ratio, but I was pleasantly surprised to see them. Anyone unfamiliar with the source material will get enough in-game cutscene and dialogue to easily follow the plot.

Another interesting aspect of Space Adventure Cobra: The Awakening’s presentation is it’s fully voiced in English. The Space Cobra anime series didn’t get an English dub, so this is the first time all the anime segments have gotten any dubbing. The voice acting is really good. Every character sounds close to their voices in the Space Adventure Cobra film. Sometimes the acting is a little stiff, but it’s miles ahead of most English language Funimation dubs.

2D Run-and-Gun Platformer

Space Adventure Cobra: The Awakening is a 2D action platformer. There are strong elements of run-and-gun shooters, as well as Metroidvanias. The game has 12 episodes, each based on a different episode of the anime. They usually have at least 2 levels. The game does a good job of offering variety within its own gameplay formula. Sometimes Cobra has to rush through sequences, in true run-and-gun fashion. There are sections where he has to protect something from being hit. Every level has power-ups to collect, and treasure to find. Some boss fights almost feel like bullet hell shmup sequences. At the end of a level, the player is given a score based on their time, how many enemies they kill, and how many of each level’s collectables they find. There are several collectables in each level that can’t be found on a first run through, without needed power-ups.

On top of the 12 story episodes, there are also local multiplayer levels. These are found in their own section of the main menu, and are built from the ground up. It’s not just the same game with an optional second player. I found Space Adventure Cobra: The Awakening to be quite challenging, but there are 3 difficulty options. Dying doesn’t set the player back much in a level. It mostly costs the player end-level score. But I still found myself dying and replaying sections frequently. All in all, Space Adventure Cobra: The Awakening has a lot of content.

A-Typical Controls

Space Adventure Cobra: The Awakening’s controls took some getting used to for me, mainly because firing Cobra’s Psychogun requires an R2 press. Jump is X and dash is circle. It felt unnatural to jump with a face button, and use my main attack with a shoulder button. I got used to it eventually, but I would’ve changed this if Cobra didn’t have so many actions, which require all the buttons. The player can aim the left joystick to shoot while running, but pressing L1 keeps Cobra stationery so he can aim his Psychogun. The right joystick moves the camera around to see obstacles off screen. For whatever reason, I really wanted to aim my gun with the right joystick.

Holding R1 fires a shot the player can steer the direction of, kind of like the Nikita missile launcher in Metal Gear Solid. Square does a melee attack that hits enemies with certain shields which block Cobra’s Psychogun. Triangle uses a gadget, which starts as a revolver. The revolver, for example, is weaker than Cobra’s Psychogun, but will also break through certain enemy energy shields. Cobra also has a screen clearing attack, which he can use by holding L2 and R1. It uses up an energy meter that’s replenished by gathering enemy drops. Enemies also drop health items.

Archaic Level Design

There are some aspects of Space Adventure Cobra: The Awakening’s level design that take some getting used to. Cobra can’t dash over harmful surfaces. Walls are often a little too far apart to slickly jump between.  Grapple points are sometimes placed too far apart to jump between, but too close together to jump, then dash towards. An enemy requiring a melee attack might be placed between platforms Cobra sticks to, preventing him from attacking them. Cobra will be on a floating platform he can’t run off of, but he can (accidentally) jump off of. Sometimes, obstacles are just offscreen. This is extra annoying if they introduce a new idea and the player dies before realizing how to deal with it.

And then there are bits of Space Adventure Cobra: The Awakening that lack polish. Sometimes the subtitles and spoken dialogue don’t match. Every now and then there will be a mid-level cutscene taken from the anime that doesn’t match up with the in-game level design. None of these aspects are dealbreakers on their own, but they add up. And when you combine them with some of the poorer level design and control choices, it makes for a frustrating game sometimes. Another big problem with Space Adventure Cobra: The Awakening is that it’s expensive. The Digital Gold Edition with all the content is $60 CAD, which is a lot for a lower budget game that isn’t incredibly polished.

Looking Good

Space Adventure Cobra: The Awakening’s presentation often shines beyond its budget though. The visuals have a cell-shaded aesthetic that makes them look much better than they probably should. Even though it’s a 2D plane, the levels have lots going on. The backgrounds have depth and animation, and are often a joy to look at. Combine this with the excellent music, and anime cutscenes, and Space Adventure Cobra: The Awakening is punching way above its budget.

I really enjoyed Space Adventure Cobra: The Awakening. But a lot of that love has to do with the excellent presentation. The game struggles with some odd controls, and archaic level design. It’s not built as tightly as a lot of modern platformers. But it has lots of content, and a variety of gameplay in its main story. The game’s real strength is its anime presentation. Space Adventure Cobra: The Awakening perfectly captures the visual and auditory aesthetic of its Space Cobra source material. If you’re a fan of Space Adventure Cobra, or looking for more 2D action platform games, then Space Adventure Cobra: The Awakening is worth your time. Maybe just wait until it’s on sale.

***PS5 code provided by the publisher***