As the 30th anniversary of Cotton continues, ININ Games and Ratalaika Games keeps the celebration going with the release of Cotton 100%, a SNES game that was only released in Japan back in the 90’s. Is it more sweetness or full of cavities? Let’s take a look at Cotton 100% for the Nintendo Switch.
Cotton 100% or as it’s known by its original name, Märchen Adventure Cotton 100% (Magical Adventure Cotton 100%) is a side-scrolling shoot em’ up that was released for the Japanese Super Nintendo in 1994 and is a follow up to the arcade game. It seems (or at least from what I’ve been able to translate) in this game’s story, someone who happens to look a lot like Cotton has been kidnapping fairies and stealing Willow, a sweet candy-like plant. While searching around for answers, the fairy Silk runs into the real Cotton and explains the situation to her and the two fly off in search of who is kidnapping Silk’s friends and stealing Willow. Now here lies one of the few nitpicks I have about the game: it’s all in Japanese. With most shmups, the story is just dressing and isn’t necessary to play and enjoy them. However it would have been nice to have the game translated, especially since this is the very first time that Cotton 100% is being released in the West and that the arcade game, which is a part of Cotton Reboot! was translated. (Editor’s note: At the time of the posting of this review it was announced that ININ Games and Ratalaika Games have announced that there will be a patch coming soon that will localize all in game text and cut scenes.)
For Cotton 100% Success, the original developers/creators of the Cotton series, had Ratalaika Games, who recently worked on Gleylancer, work on the game. For the most part Cotton 100% is pretty bare bones as there are only two modes: standard and challenge. Standard mode plays just like the original game but with some modern day mechanics such as having save states, using cheats and the rewind feature. As for challenge mode, it’s the original game just without the modern day mechanics. Gameplay wise both modes are the same: you shoot all enemies that fly towards you, dodge them and their bullets and try not to die. With Cotton 100% you do have the ability to choose the formation of your fairy partners. Their formation coincides with your magic, so depending on which formation you cycle to, it will change the type of magic you can use. Other than that the game is pretty simple and straightforward. The only unlockables that are in the game are the cheats. In order to gain access to the cheats and use them in the standard mode you will have to beat challenge mode. You can change the difficulty of either mode within the game from easy, normal, hard and manic. If you’re looking for the right amount of fun and challenge, the default normal difficulty is your best bet.
The pixel graphics for Cotton 100% are a bit more colorful and whimsical looking than the more darker horror centric route that the original arcade game took. Some of the sprites that were in the original arcade game were used and made to look more cute in Cotton 100%. Regardless of that, enemies and backgrounds do look really cute and bright. As for the music, while it’s not the most exciting or thrilling soundtrack, it’s upbeat, catchy and matches the vibe of each of the stages. The game also has a few filter pre-sets that you can customize to look like if you were playing on an old CRT. Not only can you customize the intensity of the scanlines but you can also curve the screen so that it really does look like you’re playing on a CRT. Personally I leave these kinds of options off, but this is great for those who want that “playing on a CRT TV 90’s” experience.
While not as feature heavy as Cotton Reboot!, Cotton 100% is a really fun and enjoyable experience. The story is pretty enjoyable from what I’ve been able to understand (reminder that a patch is coming soon to localize all in game and cut scene text), the gameplay is simple and fun with the ability to either play using a few modern mechanics or just as it was back in the 90’s and the graphics and music cute and upbeat. While the game is good, I just wish it followed Cotton Reboot!’s lead. By that I mean it would have been cool to have an arranged/remastered mode that uses HD sprites and the original SNES game with a score/time attack. Regardless, Cotton 100% was a blast to play through and a game that I would recommend checking out if looking for a new old shmup to play.
