Cosmo Dreamer

Developer:	Outside Sotonohito
Release date:	October 2 2020 (PC/STEAM), December 15 2022 (Nintendo Switch)

Cosmo Dreamer (コスモドリーマー) is a shmup by Outside Sotonohito released in October 2 2020 for PC/STEAM and later released for Nintendo Switch in December 15 2022 by the publisher Waku Waku Games. It is highly inspired in Touhou games. The game uses free royalty music from Dova Syndrome.

For replay videos, visit the Video Index.

Gameplay Overview

The player has the main shot and the focus shot, and bombs as well. Killing enemies will drop stars and blue bubbles, which fill up the Dream Level gauge. Blue bubbles are also obtained by grazing bullets. Dream Level is basically the bomb stock (3 slots) and can also be used for auto-shield (depending on the Ability type chosen).

Control types

• Consumer:

Has 4 buttons. To move slowly, the player has to hold down the Slow button

• Arcade

Has 3 buttons. To move slowly, the player has to hold down the Shot button.

Scoring

Scoring consists getting stars, increasing the score and increasing the multiplier by collecting blue bubbles. Blue bubbles increase the Dream Level gauge and the score rate. If the player manages to No-Miss No Bomb a boss` phase, a Perfect Fight Bonus is awarded. If the player gets hit while having a Dream Power circle or when bombs but never dies during a boss` phase, it is considered a Beautiful Fight Bonus. After clearing the game, the player`s remaining lives will sum up to the total score.

Modes and difficulties

-Game Start: The standard game mode in which stages are freely selectable.

-Trial: An arcade styled mode in which all stages can be played together in order. It also features a difficult Extra Stage.

-Difficulties:

• Casual
• Maniac
• Expert
• Nightmare

Weapon styles

The player has a variety of weapon sets, allowing equipment customization. There`s 4 weapon groups. Each weapon group offers different equipment types.

• Primary:

-Equipment A (Wide Butterfly): Fires a spread of butterflies. 
-Equipment B (Straight Needle): Fires a series of needles straightly.
-Equipment C (Homing Fairy): Fires fairies that can follow any enemy.
-Equipment D (Reflective Shoot): Fires shots that can bounce from the left and right walls.

• Secondary:

-Equipment A (Shooting Star): Fires a series of forward star shots that can penetrate enemies.
-Equipment B (Lock-on Jewel): Summons jewels that can aim against an enemy and fire at it.
-Equipment C (Charge Flare): Releases a flare that can penetrate enemies. Depending on how long it is charge, the damage of the flare will vary.
-Equipment D (Buddy Doll): A doll that tilts left and right when unfocused, and when using focus shot, the doll will freeze it`s aiming position and fire.

• Dream Magic/Bomb:

-Equipment A (Super Nova): Releases a bomb that cover the entire screen, damaging anything. 
-Equipment B (Gamma Burst): Releases a powerful laser blast that can be tilted left and right.
-Equipment C (Plasma Barrier): Activates a force field that grants protection, can damage enemies and erases bullets.
-Equipment D (Satellite Guardian): Releases orbits that surround the player. They deal very low damage, but they have very good defense.

• Ability

-Equipment A (Shield+): When getting hit, a Dream Level star gets consumed by one for auto-shield activation. 
-Equipment B (First weapon+): Enhances the power of the main shot. However, it will consume all Dream Level stars when getting hit for auto-shield.
-Equipment C (Second weapon+):  Enhances the power of the focus shot. However, it will consume all Dream Level stars when getting hit for auto-shield.
-Equipment D (No guard): Enhances the power of both main shot and focus shot. However, auto-shield cannot be used.

Items

	Star: These star appear from destroyed enemies. They also appear from cancelled bullets after beating a boss phase.
	Blue bubble: They appear when attacking enemies, which fill up the Dream Level gauge. Depending on how close the player attacks an enemy, the size of the DP bubbles will vary. Blue bubbles also appear when grazing. They also increase the Score Rate count.
	Pink bubble: They appear from cancelled bullets via bombing. They also give extra score and increase the Score Rate count.
	Dream Up: Grants the player an Dream Level star.
	1UP: Grants the player an extra life. Appears when destroying the big Mu head (the Stage 8 Midboss), which only happens in Game Start mode and not in Trial mode.

Stage 9 / True last stage requierement

In Trial mode, in order to get to Stage 9 (the true last stage) and the TLB (Deep Mu), the player must beat Stage 8 with 6 lives in stock. If done succesfully, the player won`t fight the FLB and go to Stage 9. If the requirement is not met, the player will face the FLB. Stage 9 consists of going trough revisited versions of the previous stages and harder versions of previous bosses, in which they only have 1 phase and 1 attack set.

Beating Stage 9 in Trial mode results in an ALL+ clear.

About FLB and TLB

Both FLB and TLB have bomber-proof shields. However, if the Satellite Guardian bomb is equipped, both FLB and TLB won`t be able to use their bomber-proof shields.

Story

One snowy night, when relaxing in her room, a girl named Yumegiri Mu looked out her window to see a most puzzling sight...

The children of the town were all floating up into the sky! But where could they be headed?

Curiosity getting the best of her, Mu quickly changed her clothes and leaped from the window.

She simply had to know why the children were flying and why she, too, could fly.

Without an ounce of hesitation, the ever-dreaming Mu flew higher and further into the sky.

Trivia

• Nobara, Matsuri and Nazuna previously appeared in Nightmare Trip.
• The Extra Stage midboss Sirius originates from the Redneg franchise.
• The Lock-on jewel weapon is a reference to Ketsui`s Lock-on shot.
• The Plasma Barrier bomb is a reference to the D.F.S. from Karous and the ABS Net from Radirgy.
• In Stage 8, there`s an enemy that imitates Ryuukou`s final pattern from DoDonPachi.