Cotton Reboot!

It’s a lot for some candy

Coming to Cotton Reboot! for a challenge? Then you’ll want to stick with the original X68000 version, which is included. While this port doesn’t feature the rejigged sprites and effects, it’s a significantly tougher experience, perhaps because of the quirky 1993 hitboxes. Success has done a great job of remastering the shoot-’em-up and bringing it to PS4, but in remastering it feels like each shot fired at the enemy waves has become overpowered. We compared a particular level in different modes, and found far fewer lives were lost in the new Arrange mode.

The original is a clean and simple affair, with a proper old-school arcade feel, whereas the screen is overly cluttered in the rebooted version. As Cotton dispatches enemies, they leave crystals1 behind. Firing through these crystals powers up the shot and splits it into more projectiles. And this is before unleashing high-powered abilities or activating Mania mode, which fills the screen with multiplier numbers.

Success is leaning into the saccharine story of a witch on a quest for candy, which also helps save the world (and a fairy world) from darkness. Apparently. With this in mind, the sparkling visuals and sumptuous colours make sense. Neon bullets shine as they whizz across the playing field and each explosion feels like an evening of serotonin-boosting fireworks. It’s a joy to experience. However, with only a few modes of play2 and score-based leaderboards, this Reboot! may leave competitive players and retro fans wanting more.