Cotton: Fantastic Night Dreams

Cotton: Fantastic Night Dreams[lower-alpha 1] is a shoot 'em up video game developed by Success and first released by Sega in arcades in 1991. The game is a horizontal shooter where the player controls Cotton, a young witch who rides a broomstick. It has been ported to many systems, including the Sharp X68000 home computer, the PC Engine Super CD-ROM², PlayStation and Neo-Geo Pocket Color.

Cotton: Fantastic Night Dreams
Japanese arcade flyer
Developer(s)Success
Publisher(s)
Director(s)Taku Ishigouoka
Producer(s)Takato Yoshinari
Designer(s)T. Kashima
Programmer(s)Masaru Hatsuyama
Toshiyuki Kuwabara
Artist(s)Hideki Tamura
Shinobu Itō
Takeshi Takahashi
Composer(s)Kenichi Hirata
SeriesCotton
Platform(s)
Release
Genre(s)Shoot 'em up
Mode(s)Single-player
CabinetUpright
Arcade systemSega System 16
CPUM68000 (@ 10 MHz)
SoundSound CPU:
Z80 (@ 5 MHz),
Sound chips:
YM2151, NEC uPD7759
DisplayRaster, 320 × 224 pixels (Horizontal), 4096 colors

It was the first entry in the Cotton series and was followed up by many subsequent sequels.[1][2]

Gameplay
Arcade version screenshot.

Cotton: Fantastic Night Dreams is a "cute 'em up", a sub-genre of shoot 'em ups that tend to have unusual, oftentimes completely bizarre opponents for the player to fight.[3] It plays in a similar way to other scrolling shooter video games such as R-Type. What distinguishes Cotton: Fantastic Night Dreams from other games of a similar ilk is its bright colorful graphics and its lead character, Cotton. The game also takes place in a fantasy dream-like world instead of space like many other shooting games. The game can be compared to other fantasy Shoot 'em up games like Parodius. It bears most similarities in style to the Chariot game on Three Wonders.

The player must blast various monsters and avoid being shot. The player can collect power-ups to enhance their weaponry and unleash a more powerful attack on the enemy. The player has lives represented by an arrow. The player has three lives and is only allowed one hit per life.

The game has been compared to Magical Chase, as they both feature young witch characters who ride broomsticks, are of the same genre of shooting games, and were released for the PC-Engine in a similar time frame.[4]

The game incorporates some role playing game elements, such as being able to level up attack up to 13 levels.[5]

Release

Cotton: Fantastic Night Dreams was first published by Success in the arcades for the Sega System 16 arcade board in April 1991.[6][7]

The game was ported to the Sharp X68000 home computer and the TurboGrafx-16 game console in 1993.[6] The X68000 version was published by Electronic Arts Victor and is a nearly perfect port of the arcade version.[8] The Turbografx-16 version runs on the Super CD-ROM² add-on. It was published by Hudson Soft and released on February 12, 1993.[6] It features a lower resolution, a modified color palette, and CD quality audio.[8] The Japanese version also includes voice acting with Cotton being voiced by Tarako.[9]

Cotton was ported to other systems in later years. It was ported to the PlayStation in Japan under the title Cotton Original on April 28, 1999. This version was reissued on March 30, 2000 under the "SuperLite 1500" budget series.[10] The game was also ported to the Neo Geo Pocket Color in 2000.[11] Due to hardware limitations, it features less detailed graphics and inferior sound quality compared to previous versions.[12] It has since become a rare collector's item.[13] In 2007, the game was released for mobile phones in Japan. To commemorate the release, 50 Cotton themed teacups were given away in a lottery and a competition.[14] Also on June 28, 2007 Cotton Original was released for the PlayStation network's Game Archives.[15]

In 2019, a new release of the game, based on the Sharp X68000 version and tentatively titled Cotton Reboot was announced by a company named "Beep". It is scheduled for release on PC, PS4 and Nintendo Switch.[16] The game will be in 16:9 aspect ratio, and they plan on adding an extra arrange mode for new players of the series, as well as a faithful port of the X68000 version. The PS4 and Switch versions will be made available through both a physical purchase, as well as downloadable, while Steam will be only download. Additionally, they plan on re-releasing the original Sharp X68000 version on Floppy disk.[17]

Reception
Reception
Review scores
PublicationScore
CVG90/100 (PCE)[18]
82/100 (PCE) [19]
Famitsu21/40 (PS)[10]
18/40 (NGP)[11]
GameFan79.75/100 (PCE)[20]
GameSpot7.1/10 (NGP)[12]
Video Games65/100 (PCE)[21]
4/5 (NGP)[22]
Mega Fun71/100 (PCE)[23]
Consoles +88% (PCE)[24]
Game Power76/100[25]
Joypad3/10[26]
Gamers' RepublicD- (PS)[27]
Award
PublicationAward
GamestGrand Prize: 5th place (AC)[28]

Best Shooting Award: 4th place (AC) [28]

Best Presentation Award: 4th place (AC)

Best VGM Award: 4th place (AC)[28]

The year-round hit game: 33rd place (AC) [28]

In Japan, Game Machine listed Cotton: Fantastic Night Dreams on their June 1, 1991 issue as being the ninth most-successful table arcade unit of the year.[29]

The publication Gamest gave the game several awards for the 5th Gamest Grand Prize. Cotton won 4th place in the Best Shooting Award, 4th place in the Best Direction Award, 4th place in the Best VGM Award, and the character of Cotton won 2nd place in Character Awards for best character.[28]

Famitsu gave Cotton Original a score of 21/40.[10]

Gamers' Republic gave the PlayStation port a score of D-, calling the game "antiquated", as well as "lifeless" and "insufferably monotonous". The reviewer said to play games like Radiant Silvergun or R-Type Delta, to see the gap in quality between those games and Cotton.[27] Famitsu was critical of this version, saying that after 8 years the game was showing its age.[10] GameFan however, praised the PlayStation version, saying that despite the issue with slowdown, that it is still worth checking out.[30]

In 2008, IGN placed both Cotton and Magical Chase as number 4 on the top ten list of TurboGrafx titles not released on the Virtual Console.[4]

Notes
  1. Japanese: コットン FANTASTIC NIGHT DREAMS Hepburn: Kotton: Fantastic Night Dreams
gollark: Semiconductor manufacturing is basically *the* most capital-intensive industry. You can't just *make* an i7 without incredibly ridiculously large investment and a lot of Intel's knowledge.
gollark: It's some really low-level code on the CPU which defines CPU behavior.
gollark: Yep!
gollark: It's not like the ONLY reason is that they obfuscate the microcode or something.
gollark: It's because semiconductor manufacturing is EXTREMELY HARD.

References
  1. Murphy, Chris (October 2015). "Cotton: Fantastic Night Dreams". Retro Gamer. No. 147. United Kingdom. p. 15. Archived from the original on January 12, 2017.
  2. Jeremy Parish (February 5, 2014). "Daily Classic: With Cotton, TG-16 Shooters Got Adorable". usgamer.net. Archived from the original on October 8, 2016. Retrieved August 2, 2016.
  3. "The Complete Guide... Shoot Em Ups". Retro Gamer. No. 42. September 2007. p. 52.
  4. Thomas, Lucas (2008-10-17). "Retro Remix: Top 10 Unreleased TurboGrafx Titles". IGN. Archived from the original on 2016-08-20. Retrieved 2019-05-23.
  5. "October issue special appendix PC Engine All catalog '93", " PC Engine FAN " Vol. 6, No. 10, Tokuma Shoten , October 1, 1993, page 75.
  6. "魔女っ子シューティング". Shooting Gameside (in Japanese). Vol. 3. Japan: Micro Magazine. September 24, 2011. pp. 81–83. ISBN 978-4896373714.
  7. "レトロゲームショップ「BEEP」がゲームパブリッシング事業に進出─第1弾は往年の魔女っ子シューティングを再構築『コットンリブート』（仮題）". インサイド (in Japanese). Retrieved 2019-05-23.
  8. Kalata, Kurt (December 9, 2016). "Cotton". Hardcore Gaming 101. Archived from the original on January 23, 2018. Retrieved December 22, 2009.
  9. "【2月12日】今日はPCE版『コットン』の発売26周年！【レトロゲーム】". Gamedrive. 2019-02-12. Retrieved 2019-05-22.
  10. "コットン オリジナル PS". Famitsu. Archived from the original on 2016-01-19. Retrieved 2019-05-05.
  11. "コットン [ネオジオポケット]". Famitsu (in Japanese). Retrieved 2019-05-16.
  12. Provo, Frank (2006-05-17). "Cotton (Import) Review". GameSpot. Retrieved 2019-05-16.
  13. Massey, Tom (2015-01-25). "A guide to gaming's most valuable treasures". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on 2017-11-12. Retrieved 2019-05-23.
  14. "ゲームS!アプリの『コットン』であの"寿湯飲み"が当たる!!". www.famitsu.com. Archived from the original on 2007-03-20. Retrieved 2019-05-23.
  15. "SuperLite 1500シリーズ　COTTON ORIGINAL | ソフトウェアカタログ | プレイステーション® オフィシャルサイト". www.jp.playstation.com. Archived from the original on 2019-05-08. Retrieved 2019-05-28.
  16. "横スクロールシューティング『コットン』最新作『コットン リブート（仮題）』が発売決定。さらに今夏にはX68000版のフロッピーディスク再販も". Famitsu (in Japanese). May 19, 2019. Archived from the original on May 20, 2019. Retrieved 2019-05-21.
  17. "『コットン リブート（仮題）』インタビュー。リブート＆BEEP家庭用ゲーム参入の経緯、X68000版発売の理由など、驚きの連続を発案したキーマンたちに聞く". Famitsu (in Japanese). 2019-05-19. Retrieved 2019-05-22.
  18. "Review: PC Engine CD by Hudson Soft". Computer & Video Games. No. 141. United Kingdom. August 1993. p. 90.
  19. "Cotton - Fantastic Night Dreams". Computer & Videogiochi (in Italian). No. 25. Italy: Gruppo Editoriale Jackson. April 1993. p. 106.
  20. "Viewpoint". GameFan. Vol. 1 no. 8. July 1993. p. 11.
  21. "Warpzone PC-Engine: Cotton". Video Games (in German). Germany. September 1993. p. 30.
  22. Siemens, Sönke (August 2000). "GBC Test: Cotton - Fantastic Nights into Dreams". Video Games. p. 128.
  23. Weidner, Martin; Hellert, Stefan (August 1993). "Test Turbo Duo: Cotton". Mega Fun. p. 89.
  24. "PCE Super CD-Rom Review: Fantastic Night Dreams Cotton". Consoles +. No. 19. April 1993. pp. 86–88.
  25. "Fantastic Night Dreams Cotton". Game Power (in Italian). No. 19. Italy: Studio Vit. July 1993. pp. 74–75.
  26. "Zapp: Cotton Original". Joypad (in French). No. 87. France. June 1999. p. 142.
  27. "World Republic: PlayStation Review - Cotton". Gamers' Republic. No. 14. Millennium Publishing. July 1999. p. 95.
  28. "GAMEST MOOK Vol.112 The Best Game 2 arcade video game of the 26-year history," Vol. 5, No. 4, Shinseishiya, January 17, 1998, 16 - 17 pages, ISBN 9784881994290.
  29. "Game Machine's Best Hit Games 25 - テーブル型TVゲーム機 (Table Videos)". Game Machine (in Japanese). No. 404. Amusement Press, Inc. 1 June 1991. p. 25.
  30. Eggo (July 1999). "The Graveyard: Fantastic Night Dreams Cotton Original". GameFan. Vol. 7 no. 7. p. 84.
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