LadiesGamers Cotton Reboot!

Cotton Reboot! Review

Game: Cotton Reboot!
Genre: Action, Arcade
System: Nintendo Switch (Also on PS4)
Developer|Publisher: Rocket-Engine CO Ltd | ININ Games
Age Rating: EU 7+ | US Everyone
Price:  UK £34.99 | US $39.99 | EU € 39,99
Release Date: July 20th, 2021

Review code provided with many thanks to PR Hound

Journey to the West

Not all games from Japan get their chance to shine in the West. There are multiple reasons for this. Sometimes companies feel a game is unlikely to find an audience abroad. Translating a game also costs money and additional resources. For the gamers that didn’t import the old school gems, they’ve been rewarded for their patience. Over the years we have seen games like Monster World 4 finally be translated and appreciated in the West. Mother 3 fans still need to be a bit patient it seems though. Today we have Cotton Reboot! A cute looking shooter that’s looking to win the heart of the retro lover out there.

LadiesGamers Cotton Reboot!
This is my strong powerful stance too

Grab Your Broom

A young hot-headed witch named Nata de Cotton is on the hunt for candies known as Willows. One day in the forest a fairy named Silk pleads with Cotton for assistance to prevent the coming darkness. Reluctant at first, Silk convinces Cotton to help with the promise of a giant Willow on completion of the quest. Eager, a sugar craving Cotton jumps on her broomstick and sets off on an adventure with Silk. The silly story is presented in nice animated cutscenes between levels. The game doesn’t take itself too seriously and there is a very amusing resolution at the end, which won’t take you long to see as this is an arcade game and a single playthrough will only take you around an hour.

LadiesGamers Cotton Reboot!
Cotton has some powerful spells

Cute Em Up

The game plays as a 2D side-scrolling shooter. With the bright colours and cute graphical style, this design is akin to what’s known as a ‘Cute em Up.’ The aim is to ride on Cotton’s broom and shoot enemies and bosses with your spells whilst racking up as high a score as possible. It’s a very simple premise, but I can assure you it’s a very entertaining game. The game offers a handy tutorial to help you understand the general mechanics whilst also maybe making you giggle a little at its presentation.

Controls are nice and simple. I felt I had full control of Cotton whilst flying around on the broomstick. Hit an enemy or projectile and you lose a life but you may be pleased to hear you can touch walls in this game and receive no damage. Lose all your lives? No big deal, add another credit and carry on where you left off. Even Cotton’s most basic spell (standard shot) does devastating damage to enemies in front of you making Cotton feel like one heck of a Witch. You can also just hold the button down to shoot instead of constantly mashing it.

Powerful spells

When things do get a bit hairy Cotton can collect more powerful spells like dragon fire, electricity and earth magic. To collect these you need to shoot at crystals dropped by enemies until they change colour (e.g. red, blue or green). When you shoot into a single crystal your standard spell also splits like a prism effect causing more damage to enemies. These spells can also be levelled up making them more powerful. Hold it on the crystal long enough and it will turn black, scoring you even more points. As the player the choice is yours.

Want to just enjoy the ride and fire off crazy spells, you can do that and just have some fun. But if you want to get those high scores you’re going to have to do some risk-reward to your play style. At the end of every level is a challenging boss encounter which is what I usually saved my spells up for. When these encounters are over the level ends with ‘Tea Time’ where lanterns drop from the sky which you can collect to gain more points. It’s a design that’s charmingly arcade in tone, it’s a shame it was never released in the West back in the day. 

LadiesGamers Cotton Reboot!
You’re no match for my electricity

HD Makeover

The main feature of the game is the arrange mode, which is the remake of the original X8600 Sharp console version, which is also featured in this title for the retro fans. Instead of going 3D, the graphics have lovingly been redone in 2D with a gorgeous HD makeover. Though I never got to play the original I became very nostalgic for the arcade design playing through this title. Lots of bright colours, various silly enemies and scores popping up.

It also makes brilliant use of the sounds and score to really recreate that arcade feel. I may not be able to enjoy this on an old candy cabinet but this is good enough for me. The only niggle I had with the graphics is in arrange mode if you fire off a fully levelled spell it has a habit of hiding the incoming hazards. Sometimes it all gets just a bit too crazy. I never found this to be an issue playing through the retro version of the game which keeps things much more simple.

LadiesGamers Cotton Reboot!
The original game is also a joy to play

Cost of Entry

The game’s biggest barrier is its cost of entry. Cotton Reboot! is an excellent game that I had a lot of fun playing but it’s understandable some gamers would not be too keen to buy it on day one. In this package, you get the nice remake, the original retro game and a time attack mode but that’s kinda it. Yes, there are difficulty settings but compared to other retro releases like the Sega Ages games on the Switch which are available significantly cheaper it seems only the most dedicated Cotton fan will buy into this. A shame because at a more affordable price this would be a great impulse purchase for people new to the series. 

LadiesGamers Cotton Reboot!
Sometimes it is a little hard to see what’s going on

Conclusion – Cottoned On

Cotton Reboot! is an absolute treat for arcade fans and a title that shows this genre certainly still holds up years later. If you never got a chance to appreciate Cotton this is a great opportunity to see why this was so beloved in Japan. A brilliant title to enjoy if you don’t have a lot of time on your hands and want to rack up a high score. Cotton has her chance to finally shine in the West, let’s hope we see more games get their chance in the future as well.

Final Verdict: I Like it a Lot

I like it a lot

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