Cotton on to this retro cute ’em up
THE roots of the shoot ‘em up can be traced right back to the very early days of gaming, even before Space Invaders put the genre – and video gaming – on the map.
Players simply couldn’t get enough of blasting away at swarms of enemies, while feverishly dodging incoming fire.
Shoot ‘em ups – or shmups – would go on to dominate arcades throughout the 80s, and by the time the 90s arrived they had spawned a host of sub-genres from multidirectional and fixed shooters, to rail shooters and ‘bullet hell’ games – which you need nerves of steel to play.
But one of my favourites was the cute ‘em up, and in this world the Cotton series is queen.
Released in Japanese arcades in 1991, Cotton: Fantastic Night Dreams saw players assume the role of a young witch who takes on a series of monsters to get her hands on her favourite candy.
Six more games were to follow, but sadly they never really made it much beyond the Japanese market.
That changed last year, with the release of Cotton Reboot from ININ Games, a lovingly re-mastered HD version of the original that fittingly marked the game’s 30th anniversary.
Now Cotton is back with a brand new addition to the series, Cotton Fantasy.
Thirty years on and Cotton has still not been able to shake her addiction to willow candy – and wouldn’t you know, that very candy is starting to vanish from Fairyland.
But the legends spoke of the ‘azure-robed’ one (Cotton) who will appear and willow will fall like rain.
I have to say, when the game loaded I was a tad underwhelmed by the options presented – story mode or training mode – but the disappointment quickly passed when I got to the character select menu.
For the first time in the series you can choose who to play as. There are six new faces to scroll through – some of which you may recognise from other games, like Kawase, the sushi chef from platformer Umihara Kawase, who swaps out a broom in favour of a puffer fish to fly through the levels.
The strengths and shot patterns of each character are explained to make it easier for you to choose, and you get a brief tutorial before you dive into the action.
There’s tons of re-playability here as each character has their own gameplay style, so the levels feel different depending on who you play as.
As you’d expect from a Cotton game, the baddies of the piece are a series of weird and wonderful creatures – there’s even mutant veg – which you have to blast as you progress through the screens.
It’s a good-looking game, sweeping set-pieces look vibrant and sharp while retaining the level of ‘kawaii’ you’d expect for a cute ‘em up, while the soundtrack retains that wonderful 90s chiptune feel.
Just like previous games, the coloured gems which appear when you destroy an enemy hold the key to levelling up your magical powers, so that spells pack a much heavier punch.
Shooting the crystals as they appear cycles them through the available colours, so you can purposely boost certain powers without having to rely on the ones you need appearing.
This game mechanic does alter depending on who you play as though. For instance Fine has no lives, instead racing against the clock. Blasting baddies drops time extenders rather than crystals to help her survive.
Developer Success has done a great job with Cotton Fantasy. It may not be the most challenging game I’ve ever played, but I had so much fun with it I didn’t care.
A worthy addition to a fantastic series which is finally gaining the wider fanbase it’s long deserved.