Even if you’re in the middle of a scorching summer, there are games that remind you of other seasons, and with a story that follows Cotton as a broomstick riding witch, PS4 Bomuld genstart! conjures up images of moonlit autumn nights. It’s Cotton’s sweet tooth, and love of candy wrapped WILLOW, which persuades her over seven stages to awaken the morning light from demons who’ve created eternal darkness — with a setting in this horizontal shmup that’ll be magic during Halloween.
This retro remake’s entrancing Arrange Mode’s 2D visual style is like a cross between the anime charm of Kikis leveringstjeneste med monsterdesignet i Hotel Transylvania, so its kooky spookiness does for cute-’em-ups what Kid Dracula gjorde for søde platformspillere.
An elaborate scoring system means this single player horizontal shmup has risk-and-reward gameplay as you either collect crystals to gain EXP and magic levels, or shoot through them for more powerful diffused shots — although picking up a black crystal is worth a whopping 10,000 points. There’s subtlety in defending with the fairy Silk’s support satellites, which feels like carefully positioning to block attacks with the Multiple power-ups in Gradius.
Yet, even without save states, progression in Cotton Reboot! is accessible to shmup newcomers due to approachable difficulty options, and once you’ve beaten the 35-minute main game, there’s replay value in unlocking new characters, and practicing techniques in two or five minute Time Attack modes to strive for online rankings.
Glædeligt inkluderede udvikler Rocket Engine også den 1993 X68000 japanske computerport fra den originale 1991 Bomuld coin-op for retro- og pixel art-fans, der ønsker at vende tilbage til det klassiske spil med Success. Det fortryllende arrangerede soundtrack er også en sand Fantastic Night Dreams-samling af talentfulde japanske komponister med stjerner, og du kan låse op for at lytte til de ændrede melodier og en demo af historien i menuen Visuel og lyd. Selvom Fantasy Zone blev udgivet tidligere end Cotton, og hvis parodi is arguably better known in the cute-’em-up subgenre, Cotton Reboot! is a Success-ful retro remake to bewitch you into being sweet on the Bomuld serie.
