Embedded Files
Cotton. No no, not the stuff your socks are made of. No, I’m talking about the red-headed witch that dominated the Japanese arcade scene. Earlier this year, I was given a code to review the Cotton Reboot, and I had a really good time with it. Recently, I was given not one, but two Cotton game codes. Cotton 100% and Panorama Cotton. Japan must have really loved this little witch, and her magic has worked on me too. I will get to Panorama Cotton soon, you have my word, but for now, let’s talk about Cotton 100%. Can this little witch shoot and spell cast her way into your heart? Or should we boot her back to Japan? Let’s find out.
Review Code Provided
Written by: Danny K
Anyway. The story is...um...well, you see, Cotton Reboot had Japanese voice acting, but English text. The story was bonkers, you better believe it was, but at least I had some semblance of an idea of what was happening. This time we do not have the option for English text. This isn’t a remake, let’s remember here, so I had to make do with the pre-level animations. Best as I can tell, there’s an evil clone of Cotton who has kidnapped some of the fairies, so now Cotton, the real one, has to clear her name and defeat this evil imposter.
I know, I could have looked up a translation online but I’d prefer not to do outside research for a game unless I really have to. But if what you want is a wacky story, Cotton 100% is exactly what the doctor ordered.
The gameplay for Cotton is a cute ‘em up. A cute ‘em up, for the uninitiated, is a shoot ’em up that looks cute rather than cool or scary, and usually has a toned-down difficulty. I don’t think Cotton was the pioneer of this subgenre, but she’s one of the greats if having three games (that I know of at least) is any indication. You have two modes to play, standard and challenge. The only difference between the two is that standard mode has a few modern conveniences, including save states, a rewind function, and cheats (that you have to unlock by beating challenge mode) and challenge mode is just the game without these
Once you get into the game, you can set the difficulty (which is really just how many credits you have) and lives per credit. One hit and Cotton is down for the count and uses a life. Use up all your lives and you can use another credit. Use up all your credits and it’s game over. Cotton has her standard shot, a secondary weapon, and even magic to help her. She also gains experience as she fights these cute monsters and her shots get stronger and faster with pickups you find.
Each stage has a sub-boss about halfway through the level, and then an end boss. The levels are pretty short, so you could beat the game in one sitting. When you finish a stage you get TeaTime. Bags of tea fall from the heavens and you must collect as many as you can. To my knowledge, these are just to increase your score, but I think that enough points will give a life back. I don’t know how many, I just remember noticing I had one more life than I had had a second ago. Sadly, as I mentioned, time was not on my side for this one, so I wasn’t able to do a full playthrough of the game. I only got to about the fourth level then died and had to call it quits. But with enough practice, I’m sure I could beat this game, despite my lack of skills in shoot em ups.
The presentation is pretty nice too. The music is easy on the ears and each level has a unique track. The backgrounds look good, assuming you have time to look at them. The enemies are as adorable as our protagonist, to the point I almost felt bad in killing them...almost. The voice acting is limited, but what’s here is nice. And the pre-level animations I mentioned earlier are totally wacky, but I’d expect nothing else from Cotton.
In conclusion, if you need more Cotton in your life, it shouldn’t even be a question. Buy this game. Its cute graphics and fun yet tough gameplay are sure to keep you coming back for more. Cotton, don’t go changing for nobody!
Author: Danny K
Google Sites
Report abuse