Play Cosmic Cop Online

Summary

Cosmic Cop, known in Japan as Armed Police Unit Gallop, feels like a hidden gem in Irem’s arcade catalog. Though it never wore the R‑Type badge outright, the game borrows enough of the series’ DNA that you can spot its influence in later titles like R‑Type Final, and it runs on the sturdy Irem M‑84 board that powered many of the era’s shooters.

Playing as the R‑11B Peace Maker, you can actually steer the scrolling speed by angling your ship—push right and the world rushes by, pull back and you buy time to line up a lock‑on laser. The five zones each end in a memorable boss, and the score board rewards speed as much as firepower. Power‑ups are alphabetic: “P” doubles your weapons, “L” refills the laser’s energy, and “M” equips a versatile missile unit that can switch between anti‑air, anti‑ground, or napalm payloads—though a single brush with terrain will strip it away. In its home market, Game Machine listed Cosmic Cop as the thirteenth most‑successful table arcade unit in November 1991, a modest but respectable showing for a title that still surprises newcomers today.

Storyline

Cosmic Cop takes place at the same time as R‑Type Delta. Players assume the role of an operative in the eponymous private security firm, hunting down rogue autonomous vehicles that have been hijacked by the alien Bydo. These out‑of‑control machines are known as “Mad Cars.”