Cotton: Fantastic Night Dreams

Darkness has fallen over the land. The secret to bringing the morning and restoring light is with the seven coloured Willow candies of Fairyland, each of which is currently held by an evil monster.

The fairy Silk leaves Fairyland to seek help, and comes across the powerful witch Cotton. Cotton has little interest in saving the world, but does have a sweet tooth for Willow candies. Silk promises Cotton that if she gathers all of the Willows, they will turn into a giant Willow.

Cotton: Fantastic Night Dreams is a 1991 horizontally scrolling shooter video game developed by Success and published by Sega for arcades. The first installment in the Cotton series, players assume the role of the young witch Cotton who, alongside her fairy companion Silk, sets out on her broomstick on a quest to defeat several monsters and get her Willow candy. Its gameplay mainly consists of shooting mixed with role-playing elements using a main two-button configuration. It ran on the Sega System 16 hardware.

Cotton was later ported to multiple platforms, each one featuring several changes or additions compared with the original version. Cotton proved to be popular among players in Japanese arcades, earning several awards from Gamest magazine; however, the console ports have been met with mixed reception from critics. It is regarded as a key title in the "cute 'em up" sub-genre. On November 28, 2024, the arcade version of the game was ported as part of the Arcade Archives series.

Gameplay

Cotton: Fantastic Night Dreams is a scrolling shooter game reminiscent of Parodius where players assume the role of a young witch named Cotton who, alongside her fairy companion Silk, travels various increasingly difficult levels through a fantasy dream-like world on a quest to defeat several monsters and get her Willow candy.

Players must blast various monsters and avoid being shot while collecting crystal power-ups to enhance Cotton's firepower and unleash powerful magic spells on enemies, in addition of bombs capable of obliterating enemies. The game incorporates some role playing game elements, as players are able to level up their attack up to 13 levels. The player has lives represented by an arrow and three lives, though only one hit is allowed per life and the game is over once all lives are lost, unless more credits are inserted into the arcade machine to continue playing.

Plot

The world of Filament has been enveloped in an evil mist, causing eternal night. This unnatural darkness threatens the land and its inhabitants. A Fairy named Silk asks Cotton to defeat the monsters spreading darkness. Cotton initially refuses until Silk mentions Willow candy, which Cotton will do anything to obtain. This sets Cotton off on her broomstick, blasting through waves of enemies to save the world and acquire her reward

Development and release

Cotton: Fantastic Night Dreams was produced by Success founder Takato Yoshinari. Masaru Hatsuyama and Toshiyuki Kuwabara acted as co-programmers. Hideki Tamura, known for being an anime animator, served as character designer. Tamura was also responsible for the pixel art as co-graphic designer along with artist Shinobu Itō, prior to her role on the unreleased party game QP for Neo Geo, and Tatsuo Kashima. The music was composed by Kenichi Hirata, while Cotton was voiced by radio actress Takae Yoriguchi. Tamura remarked that he quit the anime industry prior to working on the project, being his first job in a video game development position, and as such, was memorable to him in how it taught him how game development worked. Tamura recalled that the game went under the working title Kurumi-zaka Diary: Katsugeki-Hen early in development, but forced the team to change the name to Cotton and change the story to one that made little sense later on. It made use of hand-drawn animations, which was uncommon for an arcade game at the time. The arcade version supports multiplayer. Cotton: Fantastic Night Dreams was first published by Sega in the arcades for the Sega System 16 arcade board in April 1991, and was showcased to attendees at the 1991 AOU Show after launch.

Ports and re-releases

Cotton was ported to the TurboGrafx-16, first being published in Japan by Hudson Soft on 12 February 1993 and later in North America by Turbo Technologies Inc. in April 1993. This version runs on the Super CD-ROM² expansion featuring a lower screen resolution, a modified color palette, and CD-quality audio. The Japanese version also includes voice acting, with Cotton being voiced by Tarako. The game later received a conversion to the X68000 home computer with many changes and enhancements over the arcade version, published only in Japan by Electronic Arts Victor on 24 September 1993. The title was then ported in near arcade-perfect form to the PlayStation in Japan under the name Cotton Original on 28 April 1999 and later reissued on 30 March 2000 under the "SuperLite 1500" budget series. Cotton Original was later re-released through PlayStation Network on 28 June 2007. It was also ported to the Neo Geo Pocket Color, first being published in Japan by Success on 23 March 2000, and later in Europe by SNK the same year. Due to hardware limitations, the Neo Geo Pocket Color release features less detailed graphics and inferior sound quality compared to previous versions. This version has since become an expensive collector's item. In 2007, the game was released for mobile phones in Japan, with 50 Cotton-themed teacups being given away in a lottery and a competition to commemorate the release. A Mega-CD port was planned but never released.

In 2019, a new version based on the X68000 port titled Cotton Reboot! was announced by Japanese retailer BEEP and scheduled for release on Windows, Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4. Developed by Rocket-Engine, this version is presented in a 16:9 aspect ratio, adds an extra arrange mode for newcomers and features a faithful recreation of the X68000 version. The arranged mode also features new voice work based on a cast selected by auditioning, with Minami Miyaki now playing the role of Cotton. The PlayStation 4 and Switch versions were made available on February 25, 2021, as both physical and downloadable releases, while the Windows version was released on November 11, 2021, via Steam. Additionally, BEEP re-released the original X68000 port. In 2020, ININ Games announced that Cotton Reboot! would be released in western regions both physically and digitally for Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 on July 20, 2021. In December 2020, the original arcade version was re-released as part of the Sega Astro City Mini console. An update to Cotton Reboot! was announced in April 2021, featuring Appli ke Pumpkin and her hat companion Needle from Cotton 2: Magical Night Dreams as free playable characters, as well as improving screen visibility and bug fixes. Both Appli and Neddle are voiced by Hyo-sei and Yoshinori Ishikawa respectively. Hamster Corporation released the arcade version as part of thire Arcade Archives series for the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 on November 28, 2024.

== Reception ==…

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