Cosmic Wars

Cosmic Wars (コズミックウォーズ) is a turn-based strategy game produced by Konami in 1989 which is based upon the characters and conflicts of the popular Gradius series. It was released only in Japan. The game received a sequel in 1997, with Paro Wars, which is the Parodius equivalent of this game.

In Cosmic Wars, players use an army composed of Gradius characters (Vic Vipers, and Big Cores) to battle enemies in various star systems. The object of the game is to get the opponent to surrender their home world by defeating them in combat. The two sides are the Gradians and the Bacterians; the Bacterians closely resemble their design from the MSX version of Salamander. Each side controls a home system; travel between the systems is achieved by warp points, which resemble worm holes. There are many different unit types, ranging from small fighters to large capital ships.

The player can choose to play against the computer, or can select a two-player mode for a match with a friend. The game contains cameos and easter eggs; if the player completes the single-player mode, the brain golem of Salamander makes a cameo, apparently having been the computer player the whole time. In addition, many of the Bacterian commanders have names based off of sci-fi authors, such as "Hubbard" and "Bradbury".