COTTOn Rock'n'Roll -SUPERLATIVE NIGHT DREAMS-

Okay, after finishing as every character (minus Tacoot), I actually don't like playing this as most of the cast; that said, Ria is really fun, especially for scoring, and if one character is really good that's all you need, right? Ria can 'buzz' enemy bullets and the enemies themselves by grazing them, and this helps to build your score multiplier and rank up; when you rank up, you gain a shield, which can absorb bullets for more score, and which also causes serious damage to enemies on contact. Holding the shot button (there is a separate autoshot button, don't worry) puts you in a focus shot mode, where your hitbox gets smaller and the buzz range increases. You also have a bomb, and this also helps build multiplier, especially if you hit a bunch of enemies.  This leads to a fairly addictive cycle of risky bullet grazing and score-building. Eventually, you'll learn how to exploit this to skip tricky boss attacks, and where it can be used to suck up a bunch of bullets.  The game is packed with content, too: you have eight levels in the story initially and a further six you unlock by clearing the game (with or without continues) with each of the six characters you initially have. The main benefit of this is that you can pick and choose which levels to play, so there's some room for experimentation with regards to which levels are best for scoring.  There's an odd thing going on with the difficulty, at least with Ria. Because there are more bullets on hard mode, you will get a huge amount of score, and extends are awarded fairly regularly – on my first hard mode 1CC, playing fairly sloppily, I got nine score-based extends and a further two from the special stages – and as a result, hard mode might be easier than normal. That's fine, but it's interesting. You can also suicide in exchange for a bomb, and you'll probably want to because the max life stock is 5. Ultimately, this is a game to play more for score than challenge. That said, if you want challenge, not every stage is equal in this regard and you can definitely find a challenge here – I'll admit, the boss of Stage N absolutely destroys me (so many bullets to suck up though! I hate to leave that on the table). Dodging bullets isn't as easy as a bullet hell game, either; Ria's hitbox is visible in focus mode, but it isn't *very* visible, and it's still a little large, so you aren't easily going to micro through dense bullet patterns (which, yes, do exist here). This is good, because it makes buzzing and shield management all the more essential. As for negatives, bullet visibility is an issue. Some enemy bullets are the same colour as the player's, and one boss's flame breath is actually rendered on a layer beneath the player shot, which results in it being entirely obscured if you use Ria's focus shot. Additionally there are some instant lasers without real telegraphing, which feels like a bit of forced memo though it honestly isn't too bad. One little pet peeve: include achievements for 1CCs and passing score thresholds! Oh, and just one more thing: all the achievements are in Japanese, which is particularly interesting in this case because one achievement, named "伝統" ("dentou", or "tradition"), informs of a secret scoring mechanic where you can gain an extra 200K score per stage by avoiding all regular (white) teacups during tea time but which I would never have found out if I couldn't read it. I'm guessing this is carried over from the older Cotton games (which admittedly I haven't played) and is an artifact of old arcade culture and particularly Japanese arcade culture, where the secret scoring mechanic would pass around socially... I'm not saying you should explain it in the game, but if it's explained in the Japanese achievement list then it should probably equally be communicated in an English language release via the same method. Which is to say, translate the achievements! It's rare to talk about story in a shmup, but the story presentation here is relat…

great game! and absolutely well worth buying and supporting! but…. my goodness… please play oriental night dreams too-that game is simply stunning and has music that will get stuck in your head one second after you boot the game

‎Horror games are great and fun, but sometimes we need variety so we don't get bored. One of my favorite genres other than horror is retro games, much like this one. ‎ ‎This is a side scroller shooter about a witch who's an addict of willow candies. ‎Her hunger for Willows makes her hot-headed, immature, and sometimes even violent if anyone stands between her and her favorite snack. ‎Of course, in a cutely comedic way. ‎:3 ‎ ‎The Cotton series has been around for over 30 years, originally debuting in Japanese arcades in 1991 with Cotton: Fantastic Night Dreams. It is widely recognized for helping establish the "cute 'em up" subgenre, featuring a broom-riding witch named Nata de Cotton instead of the standard spaceships found in other shooters. ‎So, by the time I post this review, she is about 33 years old. How old are you now, gamers? Same as her, older, or younger? Doesn't matter. Even some grandpas and grandmas around the world are still gaming and mostly active as a gamer. ‎We players never get old, but simply leveling up in the game of life. ‎:3 ‎ ‎This game is quite famous in Japan and lots of cameos participating as well in this one, they are: ‎>Umihara Kawase: The protagonist from the Umihara Kawase series. She uses her signature fishing rod to grab enemies and throw them. ‎>Psyva Ria: A humanoid version of the Axion 001 ship from the Syvariar series. ‎Fine: An anthropomorphized version of the fighter ship from the game Shooter: Starfighter Sanvein. ‎>Luffee (or Ruffee): A character from the adventure-RPG Doki Doki Poyatchio who uses charged laser attacks. ‎>Izuna: The main character from the Izuna: Legend of the Unemployed Ninja series. ‎>Tacoot: An unlockable character who uses a "cosmic rod" that acts as an option in battle. ‎ ‎Cotton herself has also made cameo appearances in other games, such as: ‎-Rondo of Swords: A strategy RPG where she is a playable party member. ‎-Trouble Witches Origin: She appears as a playable DLC character. ‎ ‎While primarily known as a side-scrolling shooter series, it has experimented with other formats over the decades: ‎>Side-scrolling (Horizontal): Most entries, including the original, Cotton 100% (1994), and Cotton 2 (1997), follow this classic format. ‎>3D/Pseudo-3D: Panorama Cotton (1994) for the Sega Mega Drive and Rainbow Cotton (2000) for the Dreamcast shifted to "over-the-shoulder" rail-shooting gameplay. ‎>Modern Revival: After a long hiatus starting in 2003, the series returned recently with Cotton Reboot! (2021) and Cotton Fantasy (2021). ‎ ‎The games remain popular today, with several classic titles recently ported to modern platforms. ‎ ‎Thank you abundantly to: ‎Developer ‎Studio Saizensen ‎Publisher ‎SUCCESS Corp. ‎Keep on preserving and remaking old games for all generations! ‎ ‎Me riding a broom and shoot 'em all frantically likey! ‎b(^_^)d ‎ ‎+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ ‎The review is over, move along. ‎Unless you want to read more even though it is skippable. ‎Thank you so much for your precious time reading mine. ‎+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+ ‎ ‎Nata De Cotton has an addiction. But she can control herself not to give in. Well, sometimes. ‎No matter how difficult it will be. And yet, she'd rather use her addiction as a positive urge of motivation to help others. ‎ ‎Recently, people blamed the social medias addiction and I find that hilariously ridiculous. ‎This is just as same as for coffee drinkers, smokers or alcoholics, yet they blame the sellers. ‎The key to deal with addiction is self-control. ‎You're the only one who can actually lessen it gradually, then eventually stop, instead of blaming others. ‎People tends to look for scapegoats, rather than looking at themselves 'in the mirror' for introspection. ‎ ‎So, be more like Nata De Cotton. ‎If she can motivate herself, just like any other ex-addict in real life, why can't you? ‎