Cotton Reboot Review

Let’s not beat around the bush here, I’m a chonky boi. I know full well it’s neither healthy, nor long-term sustainable, but a lifetime of mental health difficulties and poor coping mechanisms have meant that I wear clothes that have multiple Xs on the label. This is why I can relate to Cotton, the eponymous protagonist of this shoot-em-up series. She has a short attention span, wears lots of dark clothing, and most importantly; she’s incredibly motivated by food.

If you’ve not played the original Cotton then you’re not alone. The series did see a limited European release in the arcades, but the home conversions were never released outside of NTSC regions as far as I am aware. I’ve certainly never come across a PAL version of any of them. This is likely because the “cute 'em up” genre is at its most popular in Japan. Cotton, along with games like Harmful Park and Twinkle Star Sprites, is often cited as one of the highlights of this niche subgenre of shooters with bright colours and cute characters, and 2021 marks the 20th anniversary of the arcade release of the first game in the series, so what better way to celebrate this than with a worldwide English-language version of Beep’s remake of that debut title?

Cotton is a fairly aloof witch who doesn’t care much for anything other than “Willow”, a fictional brand of sweet that our heroine goes nuts for. So much so that when the forces of evil take over the Fairy Kingdom and Cotton is determined to be the only person who can save them, she’s not interested until they tell her that she gets a giant Willow if she can defeat all the bosses. This story is told in both the original and the reboot through anime style cutscenes, with Silk the fairy trying her hardest to stop Cotton from eating her Willow as soon as she gets it, in favour of saving them until she has all seven colours to make the giant one. This is done by riding her broomstick through waves of enemies, shooting and bombing them as she goes, and collecting gems which serve to add a slight RPG-like mechanic to the game by levelling her up. Shooting the games changes their colour too, giving access to bonus attacks or shields when enough are collected.

Cotton Reboot! is based on the Sharp X68000 version of the first title, Cotton: Fantastic Night Dreams. This was one of the first home ports of the game, and is generally regarded as one of the best versions thanks to a number of graphical and gameplay enhancements. That original is presented as one of the options to play the game and it’s just as fun as it was back in the 90’s, but it’s the Arrange mode that makes this a reboot rather than a plain old remake. This mode changes a number of things to bring the game up to the standards of modern-day shmups.

The most obvious change to the gameplay is the number of projectiles. It’s not quite a bullet hell, but there are a lot more bullets on the screen at all times now, both from enemies and Cotton herself. The gems now serve multiple purposes, as Cotton’s bullets are now refracted by them and fork into multiple directions, giving you both more power, and a method of killing more enemies at once. They still change colour to give bonuses, but there are a few additional colours to give even more power to our favourite Witch. Landslides of rocks, screens full of explosions, and super high points from the rare black gems that help rack up a high score are all present. 

There are new arrangements of the original soundtrack, presented in a fully orchestrated form, including a really nice electric guitar rendition of the level three theme. There are a few tunes that have been added, such as background music to some of the cutscenes that were previously silent in parts. Those cutscenes themselves have been redrawn, and the rather poor English of the original western translations has been replaced. I kind of liked the cute Engrish of the ‘91 version, it was charming, but its absence isn’t a downer as the new text is supplanted with a tonne of new voice-acting from Nami Miyaki, Kaede Horikawa, Tsubasa Himeno, and Natsu Aikawa. It’s all in Japanese so I don’t understand any of it, but it sounds expressive and adorable so that’s all that matters. 

The screen space has been upgraded to 2021 standards for Cotton Reboot! too, with full widescreen being utilised. To make more use of this space, there are enemies on the left in some of the areas. This frustrated me initially, as I assumed that you couldn’t kill them, but if you level up high enough then Cotton shoots bullets to the left as well as right and you can indeed kill them. It’s all about chasing those gems! 

The bosses have a few new mechanics, and some have been adjusted visually. Remembering this is based on the X68000 version as well, so there are some bosses that are totally different from the arcade originals, including the cool Cleopatra-like one from level four. As the X68000 never made it to our shores, this might confuse a few westerners who remember the arcade version (including me)

The original Sharp version is here as well, in an entirely unadulterated form. It’s just as good as it was back in the day, and is the more serene version presented, with fewer enemies and bullets, and a more tactical style than the twitch-heavy Arrange mode. Both are great, and both keep the same spirit of the original, but the Arrange version was the nicer for me as it gave a different dimension to an already brilliant shmup.

In addition, there’s a brand-new stage created for a time attack mode, which is a nice touch rather than just reusing existing stages. The main menu reveals an option for a manual, which is something I’m sure most lovers of vintage games will appreciate, as so many of us have lamented the demise of even in-game manuals recently (and don’t get me started on those manual clips on Switch boxes that never have anything in them). 

What you don’t get is a whole load of game time. With infinite continues by default, you can play through both versions of the game in an hour or so. With the AAA price-point, this could feel a bit steep for some people. If you’re a high score chaser then you will get your money’s worth, but if you aren’t then caveat emptor. Personally, I have no qualms about the value as I keep going back to try and beat my previous high-score so it’s not an issue for this reviewer, however I felt it was worth mentioning for the benefit of those who prefer to reach the credits and move on to another game.

If you are a fan of the Cotton games, then this is a great way of playing the Sharp version without importing an expensive Japanese system and also the Arrange mode feels simultaneously like a new game, and the original. If you’re not a fan of Cotton, this is still a great shmup and one of the best I’ve played on a modern system.