COTTON REBOOT!

COTTON REBOOT! is a vibrant and affectionate revival of a classic “cute ’em up” that successfully bridges decades of arcade history with modern expectations. Developed by Rocket-Engine Co., Ltd. and published by BEEP, the game is a full remake of the original Cotton: Fantastic Night Dreams, a title long remembered for blending whimsical anime aesthetics with challenging horizontal shooter gameplay. Rather than simply polishing the old visuals, COTTON REBOOT! reimagines the experience from the ground up, aiming to respect its roots while making the game approachable and engaging for contemporary players. At its core, the gameplay remains faithful to classic arcade shooting fundamentals. Players guide the candy-obsessed witch Cotton across horizontally scrolling stages filled with airborne enemies, environmental hazards, and screen-filling bosses. Shooting, positioning, and quick reflexes are still essential, but the remake introduces refinements that subtly modernize the flow of combat. Enemy patterns are clearer, movement feels smoother, and visual readability has been greatly improved, which is crucial in a genre where split-second decisions define success or failure. The overall pacing strikes a balance between accessibility and challenge, making it welcoming to newcomers while still demanding enough to satisfy genre veterans. One of the standout additions is the reworked scoring and power-up systems, particularly the Jewel Fever mechanic. By defeating enemies efficiently and collecting dropped crystals, players can trigger a temporary powered-up state that dramatically increases firepower and scoring potential. This mechanic adds a layer of strategy to what might otherwise be straightforward shooting, encouraging players to think about timing, positioning, and risk rather than simply surviving. For players interested in mastery and high-score chasing, this system provides meaningful depth and replayability, transforming each run into a test of optimization rather than mere endurance. Visually, COTTON REBOOT! is a dramatic upgrade over its source material. The remastered Arrange Mode features high-resolution artwork, widescreen support, and richly detailed backgrounds that bring the game’s fantasy world to life. Characters are expressive, enemies are bursting with personality, and bosses feel appropriately imposing without losing the playful tone that defines the series. Despite the increased visual complexity, the game generally maintains strong clarity during hectic moments, which is essential in a shooter where overcrowded screens can quickly become frustrating. For purists and longtime fans, the inclusion of the original Sharp X68000 version is a thoughtful touch, allowing players to experience the game exactly as it once was and compare the two interpretations side by side. Sound design further reinforces the game’s celebratory tone. The soundtrack offers rearranged versions of classic tracks alongside original audio options, letting players choose between nostalgia and a more modern soundscape. Voice acting, absent in early versions of the game, adds personality to Cotton and her fairy companion Silk, injecting humor and charm into the brief story segments. While the narrative itself remains light and largely secondary to gameplay, its playful presentation helps establish a consistent identity that sets the Cotton series apart from more serious or militaristic shooters. In terms of content, COTTON REBOOT! is relatively concise, staying true to its arcade heritage. A single playthrough can be completed in a short sitting, which may surprise players accustomed to longer modern campaigns. However, the design clearly expects repetition. Multiple modes, including Time Attack and score-focused challenges, are built to encourage replaying stages, refining strategies, and climbing leaderboards. For fans of arcade shooters, this loop of replay, improvement, and mastery is not a drawback but the core appeal. Players seeking extensive progression systems or narrative-heavy content, however, may find the experience somewhat lean. Ultimately, COTTON REBOOT! succeeds as both a respectful homage and a confident modernization of a genre classic. It captures the joyful absurdity, demanding gameplay, and colorful personality that defined the original while smoothing out rough edges that could alienate modern players. While its appeal remains somewhat niche, particularly for those unfamiliar with arcade shooters, it stands as an excellent example of how classic games can be revitalized without losing their identity. For fans of shoot ’em ups, retro aesthetics, or simply games that prioritize pure mechanical fun, COTTON REBOOT! delivers a lively, polished, and genuinely satisfying experience. Rating: 6/10

很典型的老遊戲復刻 以前玩過的來補票就對了

除了不支持北通手柄，其它都挺好的。

Fuyez la version Steam de cette pépite! Privilégiez la PS4 et la Switch. La version Steam plante au démarrage ou à la sortie de jeu. Et le dev ne fait plus rien pour corriger...

I play a lot of shmups but am by no means good at them, so this review is from the perspective of an amateur who is trying to get through the game using as few lives as possible, but not cranking up the difficulty or setting a 1CC clear as the goal. Cotton Reboot is both a port and a remaster of the first game in the Cotton shmup series. It contains two modes. The first mode in this release is a faithful port of the X68000 release of the original arcade game. The X68000 version was a graphically updated and arranged version of the arcade game, and is widely considered to be the best way to play the original Cotton. The second mode in Cotton Reboot is the arrange mode, which has newly updated graphics and soundtrack, and sports new enemy arrangements, bullet patterns, magic attacks, and scoring mechanics. While I am glad the 90s version is included, I think the arrange mode is the star of the show here with more interesting gameplay mechanics and much prettier presentation. The game contains options which make it enjoyable for a wide range of skill levels, including adjustable difficulty, adjustible number of lives, and unlimited continues for people who just want to clear the game. For the dedicated shmup enthusiast, there are online leaderboards. After clearing the game, you unlock three additional characters to play as. There is also a time attack mode where the goal is to rack up as many points as you can in a given time limit, played in a basic stage with no stage hazards and infinite lives. Cotton Reboot is incredibly responsive to play, has an amusing and whimsical story, and a graphical style which appealingly mixes cutesy characters and enemies with an otherwise gothic and spooky Halloween atmosphere. While some of the criticisms people are leveling at the game are fair (such as not supporting borderless windowed mode), the complaints are hardly deal-breakers. This is a sprite based game with artwork designed for a 720p resolution. Yes the game should have supported a convenient borderless windowed mode with arbitrary scaling to your preferred resolution. But even if that feature was there, this would still be a 2d game rather than a 3d game, and the art which was drawn with a 720p resolution in mind could only be upscaled to higher resolutions rather than re-rendered at that native resolution. Complaining about the 720p internal resolution in a 2d game like Cotton Reboot is like complaining about NES games rendering at 240p rather than 4k, i.e. a fools errand. The only genuine technical complaint I have is an audio issue I encountered. When I streamed the game from my PC to my Steam Deck, when the game loaded it would correctly direct sound to the default audio device (the Steam Streaming Speakers outputting audio to the Steam Deck). But when the game reached the title screen it switched audio output to my PC's speakers. I'm not sure what the root cause is, but I presume it's a bug that is re-initializing the audio device used by the game when it reaches the title screen, but it is incorrectly selecting the first enumerated device in all the audio devices Windows has available, instead of correctly selecting the default audio device specified in Windows. There is no option in game to select an audio device manually, so I had to force the application to use the Steam Streaming Speakers via Windows and then restart the game to get this the audio to stream properly. It would be nice if this bug was fixed but given the game hasn't seen a patch in over a year I'm not going to hold my breath. At the same time I also don't think this is a big enough issue to give the game a negative review over. Ignoring those couple of small technical complaints, both of which can both be worked around, I think the game is deserving of recommendation. It seems like there are many reviews on Steam that malign this release for reasons other than the game itself. Whether the complaints be the 720p resolution, issues that are outside of the developers' control like Steam Deck compatibility, or completely external factors like the price. Make no mistake. Cotton Reboot is a fun time, a timeless shmup, and if you can catch it on sale great value for the money.

The mother of cute em ups, fun and straightforward but with plenty of juice to squeeze in getting all the achievements. The price is high, so get it on discount, but still very much worth a shot for any shmup fan. Ignore the negative reviews.

This is the best Cotton game available on Steam until the sequel, Cotton Reboot High Tension, gets released. It easily surpasses the Cotton Rock'n Roll arcade port and is far better than the rail shooter provided by Rainbow Cotton. It's really fun to play, difficulty is well dosed and the mechanics for scoring and managing magic crystals are second to none - all available on the Arrange mode. The game is a revamp of the original X68000 reimagination of the first arcade game, which is also included in the package. It's nice to be able to play it, but it's very limited and not as polished as the arrange mode. The game also includes a Caravan mode, with 2 and 5 minutes options. It's fast paced and explores well the game scoring mechanics. The production value is impressive, with 720p 2D visuals, fully voice acted retro cinematics and music that goes along really well - both in arranged new versions and the original X68000 score. The game also features unlockable characters and sound tracks styles for the arrange mode, making a well rounded package in terms of content. It's a very fun game to play, with balanced difficulty, and a joy to look at.

希望更多人知道這系列

2h遊んでの感想です。 キー設定ができて操作しやすくていいと思います。 テンキーを使わせてほしいです。 演出が激しいので目が疲れます。 演出を半透明にするとか暗めにするとか、設定できるともっと遊びやすいと思います。 ステージとステージの間にカットインが入りますが、 これをオンオフ設定できるようになりませんか？ 毎回キーを押して飛ばすのがめんどいです。 キャラクターを設定でかえるのではなく、 ストーリーを開始するときに、 選択できるようになりませんか。 また、キャラクターがコットンじゃないときは、 Loading中に表示されるキャラも使用中のキャラにできませんか。 ステージをまたぐLoadingなのですが、 ティータイム中や、ティータイムが終わってボーナスを表示している間におわりませんか？ ティータイム後のボーナス表示をキーを押してとばせませんか。 むしろティータイムはいらない気がします。 ステージが終わって、よし次って思うのですが、 いちいちティータイムが入るので気がそがれます。 さくさく進んでより遊びやすくなるのではないか、と思いました。

Se tu gosta de Cotton, vai gostar desse provavelmente, pois é outro bom jogo da serie. Tem uma boa dose de diversao e desafio e é curtinho, o que é bom para quem quer tentar 1cc (e pode ser ruim para quem só quer zerar uma vez). O port de pc nao é a melhor coisa do mundo, principalmente se voce comprar no preco original, mas funciona sem muitos problemas no windows 11. O ponto negativo desse jogo para mim é o esquema de cores dos tiros e cenários. Nas fases finais principalmente, quando muita coisa ta acontecendo, tudo parece ter cores muito parecidas, o que dificulta a enxergar. Mas por sorte esse jogo é mais fácil que os de saturn, que tem port para console, entao da para encarar mesmo com esse problema.