Review of Rainbow Cotton (Switch eShop)
Successful Developer’s Leading Franchise Since 1991, CottonThe film’s mysterious Halloween world and cute witch theme made a strong impression on fans of the shooting genre. Its interesting premise is traversing badlands in search of delicious candies, along with a magical combination of obtaining colored gems, weapon power-ups, trench bomb attacks flashes and foul-mouthed fairies, have been staples in every installment since the beginning.
With the exception of one pachinko, most Cotton games follow the same 2D side-shooter format, including the 2021 game Cotton Fantasy: A sublime night dream. But empty Panoramic cotton, a 1994 Mega Drive exclusive and one of the system’s most technically impressive titles, Success shifted the action to a 3D perspective, drawing the camera behind Cotton’s back. It gives one Space falcon-Dynamic style through eye-catching colorful stages, sometimes with different paths. Despite being a graphical showcase for the system, it was not as well received by critics as its predecessors, never appeared overseas (until 2021) and had a limited print run. famous low.
However, Success wanted to try one more time with the 3D rail shooter genre, coming up with an idea for a new game for Sega’s Dreamcast. A relatively new team has been working around the clock for months leading up to launch Rainbow cotton in 2000. Now ININ Games has taken it out of the back catalog and given it a full HD upgrade. Still impressively colorful and sharp, it’s now been adapted for widescreen and features some key gameplay improvements.
All animated cutscenes now have English subtitles, but the game’s fairy tale remains untranslated and is actually a bit confusing. Thankfully, it can be turned off in the options. Elsewhere, a two-player co-op mode has been added, although this is more novel as the second player can control Cotton’s fairy option, Silk, by aiming at multiple targets different. Untampered originals are also present, housed in the ‘Retro Mode’ option – a nicely emulated bonus for enthusiasts.
When the Cotton series was at its peak, it was a fun, quirky yet well-thought-out game that offered a ladder of weapon enhancements and a variety of magical attacks available by rotation. gemstone colors. Rainbow Cotton has the same charm and structure, but due to the change in viewing angle, the clarity is less. This is a different kind of game, based on action, pieces, and arcade chaos.
What Rainbow Cotton shouts from the rooftops, however, is astonishingly ambitious. Success’s team, despite being largely new, have done their best to craft a brilliant story full of fantasy spectacle and impressive boss encounters. While Panorama Cotton did a great job of scaling flat objects on the Mega Drive, Rainbow Cotton has the advantage of a fully realized 3D world along with the Dreamcast’s cool polygon engine. And it certainly stands out with its high resolution, widescreen display. The Christmas-themed opening stage lit up at night, dotted with tiny houses and breakable crates across the cobblestone street, really put the right notes in the air. The tracks take you above an endless pink ocean and underwater into a sunken, lost city. It emerges from steamy, lava-filled caves to sun-drenched fields and villages.
It only has five stages and a lengthy final boss encounter, but those stages are long and filled with interesting features and secrets. Most of the boss battles are well thought out and there are many different paths to take, allowing the campaign to be played out in a variety of ways. Arrows highlight moments where you can turn left or right, up or down, or shoot signs to take you to entirely new routes and fight new mid-bosses. The first act’s divided path takes place in the town square, where you’re beckoned right or left by two storefronts: go left and you engage in a train attack through a tree. the railway bridge, its transformation bays filled with cannon-wielding enemies; Or head straight to the river for a more serious challenge with the giant pumpkin boss.
You have some limited freedom when moving around the screen, however, although you can’t fully control the camera, you can change the action depending on the space available, as well as the conditions. maneuvers through specific spaces and under or over objects. You bounce off the scene if you collide with it, and it doesn’t cause health damage. At best, it will momentarily disrupt your flight path, requiring you to quickly get your bearings. The crosshair represents your firing line, and you can hold the button to fire automatically or tap it to fire a little faster, dealing more damage.
Your goal is to use phase one to power up as much as possible, making boss fights a lot easier. When the yellow floating vases appear, you can easily spot them thanks to their decorative faces on the front, you can shoot them for bonuses. Some carry additional fairies, which circle around you as you please and fly away to attack enemies on your behalf, as well as important health items, points, or gems. Like all Cotton titles, the initial yellow gem will increase the power of your shot and you are required to get as many as possible, ideally removing the magic completely in the first stage . On the other hand, the gems will change color when hit, allowing you to take red, blue or green to perform different magic bomb attacks. Some of these create an electrical storm on the screen, others are called meteor showers.
Making the most of the bonus pots is indispensable to beating the game. You often have to practice shooting at them while everything else is going on around you, which can be difficult in the later stages. If you don’t keep shooting at the vases they will eventually pass you, off screen and out of range. Thankfully, one of the best new features in this HD remaster is the new lock-on ability, whereby holding down a button allows you to aim on enemies. Once completed, your fairy options will focus on those specific goals. That means when a vase appears, your fairies will keep playing and providing power while you take care of everything else around you. It seems like a simple addition but it is very practical, smart and necessary an addition that instantly elevates this version to the final version of the game. Please note that lock-on and other new features, such as boss health bars, are not available in Retro Mode.
Rainbow Cotton was never considered one Great game, but there is definitely a very good game here, you just need to dedicate a little bit to succeed. One of its main problems is that Cotton obscures quite a bit of the screen. You can’t really see what’s right in front of you when you’re flying straight, and there’s a certain amount of guesswork involved with this. For example, Space Harrier has the same problem, but that game happens much less frequently than Rainbow Cotton, where you have to do multiple missions at once. It’s not too difficult to learn, and the new widescreen format makes things a lot easier to handle, but it’ll still take some concerted effort to figure out.
Conclusion
While there’s still room for improvement in ININ’s presentation, and it would’ve been nice to have some more unlockable rewards, this is still the best version of Rainbow Cotton thanks to its smooth frame rate, enhanced Lovely levels, widescreen format and all-important gameplay improvements. It’s a fun, sometimes breathtaking, novel adventure in the Cotton universe that can sometimes feel confusing and messy. Stick with it, though, and a fun and truly captivating rail shooting game will surface.
