Thank you ININ Games for sending us a review code!

Rainbow Cotton was originally released in 2000 as a Sega Dreamcast exclusive title. It has since been made available on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and now it’s out for the Nintendo Switch. Rainbow Cotton is the fifth game in the series and the first to be in 3D. Panorama Cotton has a 2D third person perspective, but its not fully 3D like this title is.

There are still animated cutscenes to explain the story in this game. Like previous entries, Cotton is a young broom-riding witch that is obsessed with willow candies. A legendary version of the candy is being held hostage by a demon named Tweed. The fairies have tricked Cotton into saving their kingdom by promising her willow candies if she visits four neighboring towns that are allegedly having a Willow Festival. Instead of festivities, Cotton encounters enemies, which she makes quick work of since they are the only thing between her and candy. With each town cleared of monsters, Cotton gets a stamp on her card which will give her entry to the castle once it’s completed.

Each town has a different atmosphere, with areas that are underwater and others taking place inside of a volcano. Many of the same enemies appear throughout the game, but every town has its own unique foes to contend with. Each level has a mid-boss and unfortunately, if you die after beating them, you’ll still have to restart the level from the very beginning. The final boss lets you start from the beginning of the battle and not the chapter, so that’s nice.

You have five credits and when you use them, your score will get reset. There’s a local leaderboard that you can enter your initials in if you get a high enough score. Many of the levels have different routes with alternate mid-bosses so there is some replayability aside from aiming for a higher score and playing at harder difficulties. Since this game only has five levels, it can be beaten in ninety minutes or less if you’re skilled enough. The last couple of levels are tricky and consume credits until you “git gud”.

Local co-op is fun and makes the game a bit easier with the second player controlling the fairy, Silk. While Silk’s attacks are not as powerful as Cotton’s, she has no health bar to worry about and makes an excellent tank in boss battles.

While zooming through the levels, keep an eye out for yellow jar-like creatures that dispense crystals, fairies, stars, and health replenishment when shot at. The crystals charge up Cotton’s special attacks and the health restoring is super useful. While having multiple fairies fly around you is cute, I don’t think they attack. They may come in handy for collecting the falling tea beverages (Tea Time!) at the end of each level.

Sadly, I must report that the fairies are sexualized during the movie cutscenes. They have jiggling bosoms and wear bottoms that must give them wedgies. Towards the end of the game Cotton gets frustrated with Tweed and cusses her out. Curse words including the F-word are written in a censored format. But you get the gist of what she’s saying. Like previous entries, there is cartoon violence. Another common theme is Cotton being tricked by the fairies.

Rainbow Cotton is fully voice acted in Japanese and the story sequences are translated. However, Silk chatters throughout the game and her ramblings are not captioned so I have no idea what she’s saying. You can disable fairy banter in the options so you don’t have to wonder what you’re missing out on.

The asking price for Rainbow Cotton is $19.99 and I think that’s a bit steep for a partial localization, short gameplay, and limited options. It’s probably my least favorite in the series, but I’m happy to have checked it out. I think it’s worth checking out on a sale though. If you do decide on getting the game, be sure to use a controller that supports turbo rapid firing.