Thank you ININ Games for sending us a review code!

The X68000 computer was released by Sharp in 1987 and was exclusive to Japan. The graphics were on par with the Sega Genesis and the Yamaha YM2151 sound chip was decent too. Cotton: Fantastic Night Dreams came out initially in 1991 and utilized the X68000 nicely. You can play the original game in the X68000 mode to see how far it has come along in the HD Arrange Mode.

The story in this title deals with the world being shrouded in darkness. A bikini-wearing fairy is looking for someone to undo this curse and stumbles upon a young witch named Cotton. The only problem is that Cotton doesn’t mind the darkness and has no initiative to help out until the fairy offers her willow candy in return.

After agreeing to help out, Cotton is whisked into action shoot em’ up style flying on her broom and dodging incoming enemies and projectiles. Cotton has a couple of attack methods including targeted bullets and area of effect attacks that can damage many enemies on the screen if not all of them. Most of the seven stages have a mid-boss and a final boss at the end. The last stage just has a final boss to contend with and she’s tough.  I’m thankful for the infinite number of retries that would have translated to quarters in the arcades.

The game is pretty short and can be completed in less than two hours. You can resume your progress as long as you don’t exit out of the game. Beating this title in one sitting is totally doable and after doing so the first time around, you’ll unlock new characters to play as. There are online leaderboards you can submit your score to see where you stand across the world. As usual, I won’t be dethroning anybody anytime soon.

While the original graphics were charming, the HD Arrange Mode visuals are greatly enhanced and add even more charm to this cute game. I love the art style and expressions Cotton makes, especially when she gets denied enjoying the hard-earned candy after defeating each of the bosses. The added sound clips are a nice touch, but I don’t understand what they’re saying since it’s in Japanese.

Cartoon violence is a given since you’ll be shooting and dodging bullets. The fairy doesn’t wear much and must be providing obligatory fan service. There’s a wide variety of enemies and some of them are undead with detached body parts.

Overall, Cotton Reboot! is fun and I can see why people loved it when it first became available. Being able to compare the original and HD versions of the game is pretty slick. With that said, for a game that will only entertain for a few hours, I think that the asking price of $39.99 is a bit steep. If you loved the original game or enjoy good shoot em’ ups, Cotton Reboot! Is worth checking out.