Cotton Fantasy Is A Worthy Cuter Shooter Game

If you are unaware of the Cotton franchise, I assure you that you are not alone; the shoot’em (cute’em) up series is over 30 years old, dating back to Nintendo’s Super Famicom.

Seven games were released between 1991 and 2003. Following an 18-year gap, the series was reintroduced with Cotton Reboot! in 2021, marking the very first official release here in the West.

Cotton Fantasy is the follow up to Reboot!, where players assume the role of a young witch named Nata de Cotton who, alongside her fairy companion Silk, travels various increasingly difficult levels through a fantasy dream-like world on a quest to defeat several monsters and get her Willow candy.

Players of the side-scrolling shooter must blast various monsters and avoid being shot while collecting crystal power-ups to enhance Cotton’s firepower and unleash powerful magic spells on enemies, in addition of bombs capable of obliterating enemies. The game incorporates some role playing game elements, as players are able to level up their attack up to 13 levels. The player has three lives, represented by an arrow, though only one hit is allowed per life and the game is over once all lives are lost, unless more credits are inserted into the arcade machine to continue playing.

Having played Cotton 2 with friends on the Sega Saturn, I was pretty sure of what I was getting into, and it didn’t disappoint. First of all, the game runs like a dream at a smooth 60 FPS, but I can’t imagine it being a very good shooter with a subpar framerate. I had no problem with the controls. Everything does what it’s supposed to in a game like this.

And it’s a really pretty game, with vibrant colors that look as bright as unicorn vomit. The sprite work is top notch, even if it doesn’t stand up nearly as tall games like Streets of Rage 4. Sound direction is crisp — the pew pews are as cute as the franchise’s moé protagonist. And the soundtrack is a real bop.

I wish I could have had a chance to experience the game with multiplayer, which was one of my favorite parts of Cotton 2. Although I can’t imagine many people playing this online, and local multiplayer is nigh impossible with so many “adults” refusing to wear masks.

Cotton Fantasy is fun but not perfect, but you definitely get what you pay for.

I give Cotton Fantasy from Success Corp. a 3.5 out of 5.