Under the Skin
Encyclopedia
Under The Skin, known as in Japan, is an action-adventure
video game by Capcom
. It was developed by the company's Production Studio 4, and released in 2004 for the PlayStation 2
. Containing science fiction
and comedy
elements, the main character of the game's story is an extraterrestrial
named Cosmi, sent from Planet Mischief to Earth
to generally wreak havoc. The game features cameos from some of the cast of one of Capcom's other games, such as an entire level that functions as a parody of Resident Evil 3: Nemesis
.
Becky: The self-proclaimed friend of Cosmi. Cosmi considers her more of a nuisance rather than a friend, considering her obsession to be with him (and pulling pranks on him). She looks similar to Cosmi, but with white skin, blonde jelly-like hair with two snail-like eyes on top (which might mean that her hair is alive as well), a red dress, red boots, a red lady hat and white pants under her dress. She can teleport with a special item. But in the end, she becomes egotistical and demands that everyone should love her.
Mumphy: He is quite the lovely baby of his family, and has not left his planet until now. His nickname is the "Ball of fire", which fits his appearance well. He is a robe-clad ball with eyes and a mouth, with pink skin colour and a feather on top. He is quite literally a hothead considering his special item that causes Volcanic Eruptions. In the end, his mother reveals that he is adopted, and shows him a picture of his real mother.
Baron von Proptop: A vagabond of all trades, he travels from world to world to see new life and new civilisations but collapses from exhaustion when reaching Earth. He is saved by a friendly nun, and taken care of by her. He finds out that they suffer from an economical crisis so Proptop decides to thank the nun by winning the contest and giving the prize money to them. He wears a tall French-polis hat, with a propeller on top, a red scard, goggles, green-jumpsuit with large sleeves etc. His special item causes everyone to tie themself up and drop coins. In the end, he wins and returns to the nuns, leaving the money to them and continuing his travels without having them see him. The nun hears his propeller for the last time...
Princess Cleo: A princess from her own world. She has never had a boyfriend and enters all kinds of competitions to raise her fame. Finally she enters the Michief tests to try and raise her fame again. She looks like a mermaid with pink fish skin on her tail, pink hair, a very oddly shaped crown, a white trenchcoat and a human face. She can summon a UFO whenever she wants. In the end, she finds true happiness from witnessing Earth's vast oceans, and decides to spend her entire life in the sea.
Magnetron: A genius in mechanics. He creates a large machine, which he operates called "Magnetron" for the contest. He himself is a small green blob with only one eye, a cat-like mouth and a shell on top of his head. His robot has horns, goggles, a large clunky blue body, magnets for hands and small legs, he can use a special item to drag in every coin for a time-limit. In the end, his success leads to the mass-production of his robots, and he becomes wealthy.
Action-adventure game
An action-adventure game is a video game that combines elements of the adventure game genre with various action game elements. It is perhaps the broadest and most diverse genre in gaming, and can include many games which might better be categorized under narrow genres...
video game by Capcom
Capcom
is a Japanese developer and publisher of video games, known for creating multi-million-selling franchises such as Devil May Cry, Chaos Legion, Street Fighter, Mega Man and Resident Evil. Capcom developed and published Bionic Commando, Lost Planet and Dark Void too, but they are less known. Its...
. It was developed by the company's Production Studio 4, and released in 2004 for the PlayStation 2
PlayStation 2
The PlayStation 2 is a sixth-generation video game console manufactured by Sony as part of the PlayStation series. Its development was announced in March 1999 and it was first released on March 4, 2000, in Japan...
. Containing science fiction
Science fiction
Science fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
and comedy
Comedy
Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...
elements, the main character of the game's story is an extraterrestrial
Extraterrestrial life in popular culture
In popular cultures, "extraterrestrials" are life forms — especially intelligent life forms— that are of extraterrestrial origin .-Historical ideas:-Pre-modern:...
named Cosmi, sent from Planet Mischief to Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
to generally wreak havoc. The game features cameos from some of the cast of one of Capcom's other games, such as an entire level that functions as a parody of Resident Evil 3: Nemesis
Resident Evil 3: Nemesis
Resident Evil 3: Nemesis, released in Japan as is a survival horror video game and the sequel to Resident Evil 2, developed and published by Capcom. The game was released for the PlayStation, and was subsequently ported to the Dreamcast, Microsoft Windows and Nintendo GameCube...
.
Plot
The story revolves around the Planet Mischief, where there is a tradition that once someone turns 3-years old, he/she must travel to a planet and learn how to perform "Mischief" and cause panic on that planet. Cosmi, a three-year old alien, travels to Earth for his mission, in order to impress his father, the Master of Mischief, Cosmi Sr., mostly because Earth is considered the greatest challenge. Cosmi crashes with a TV satellite from a town called Coco Town. When crash landing, he manages to hide in an alley on Coco Town, where he is saved by Earth's Mischief Master, Master Itazura. He takes him to his Dojo to train, and lets Cosmi move on with his mission, on 8 different locations: CocoTown, HighStakesHill, Pranksyvania, PharaohIsland, BigBootyBay, FrontiersVille, RaccoonCity and finally Cosmopolis. It is revealed that Cosmopolis is a trap for "Anti-Alien-Forces" to capture all of the aliens on Earth by disguising themselves as aliens. Itazura uses their trap as the final challenge for Cosmi, and challenges him personally there. Cosmi wins and travels back to Planet Mischief to celebrate, but crashes into another TV-station and crashlands on Earth again, this time, in the middle of CocoTown square. Of course, panic arises and reporters try to get a snapshot of the little alien, but Cosmi accidentally pushes someones camera around, causing it to take a photo of the crowd, thus revealing that several of them are also aliens.Gameplay
Since Cosmi is vulnerable in his small alien form, he must first beam up a nearby earthling in order to create a disguise for himself. Once he has beamed a person up, he can change his form by stepping under a UFO. Each earthling has a different ability that can be used for causing mischief, such as boomboxes, vacuum cleaners or bazookas. Successfully knocking over earthlings yields coins that are required to complete the goals set in each level. Once pranked, the earthlings will become hostile towards Cosmi and try to attack him. While disguised, Cosmi can take two hits, the first leaving him in underwear (a possible homage to Ghosts'n Goblins), while the second one reverts him to his vulnerable alien form. Earthlings will continue to chase and attack Cosmi, forcing him to lose coins, until he can find another UFO to change into another disguise. At certain points in the level, a Panic Time will occur where something crazy in the stage happens for a short amount of time.Characters
Cosmi: The son of Cosmi. Sr, he considers himself to be a pro in Michief, even though he's clumsy and arrogant. He can transform himself into Super-Cosmi by using a special item. He thinks that Master Itazura should cool it down about worrying about him.Becky: The self-proclaimed friend of Cosmi. Cosmi considers her more of a nuisance rather than a friend, considering her obsession to be with him (and pulling pranks on him). She looks similar to Cosmi, but with white skin, blonde jelly-like hair with two snail-like eyes on top (which might mean that her hair is alive as well), a red dress, red boots, a red lady hat and white pants under her dress. She can teleport with a special item. But in the end, she becomes egotistical and demands that everyone should love her.
Mumphy: He is quite the lovely baby of his family, and has not left his planet until now. His nickname is the "Ball of fire", which fits his appearance well. He is a robe-clad ball with eyes and a mouth, with pink skin colour and a feather on top. He is quite literally a hothead considering his special item that causes Volcanic Eruptions. In the end, his mother reveals that he is adopted, and shows him a picture of his real mother.
Baron von Proptop: A vagabond of all trades, he travels from world to world to see new life and new civilisations but collapses from exhaustion when reaching Earth. He is saved by a friendly nun, and taken care of by her. He finds out that they suffer from an economical crisis so Proptop decides to thank the nun by winning the contest and giving the prize money to them. He wears a tall French-polis hat, with a propeller on top, a red scard, goggles, green-jumpsuit with large sleeves etc. His special item causes everyone to tie themself up and drop coins. In the end, he wins and returns to the nuns, leaving the money to them and continuing his travels without having them see him. The nun hears his propeller for the last time...
Princess Cleo: A princess from her own world. She has never had a boyfriend and enters all kinds of competitions to raise her fame. Finally she enters the Michief tests to try and raise her fame again. She looks like a mermaid with pink fish skin on her tail, pink hair, a very oddly shaped crown, a white trenchcoat and a human face. She can summon a UFO whenever she wants. In the end, she finds true happiness from witnessing Earth's vast oceans, and decides to spend her entire life in the sea.
Magnetron: A genius in mechanics. He creates a large machine, which he operates called "Magnetron" for the contest. He himself is a small green blob with only one eye, a cat-like mouth and a shell on top of his head. His robot has horns, goggles, a large clunky blue body, magnets for hands and small legs, he can use a special item to drag in every coin for a time-limit. In the end, his success leads to the mass-production of his robots, and he becomes wealthy.