Cotton Reboot

How do you define a reboot? According to Wikipedia, a "reboot" signifies a new start to an established fictional universe, discarding the continuity in order to recreate its characters. For example, that new Mortal Kombat movie was a reboot, same with both 2014's Godzilla and Kong from 2017 (though, not Godzilla vs. Kong, that was a sequel). In the video game world, Castlevania: Lords of Shadow perfectly exemplifies what it means to be a reboot. These properties reset their respective fictions and ditched all of the old baggage. I bring this up because the new game Cotton Reboot is, well, not a reboot. Contrary to what the name suggests, it's actually a remake of the 1991 shoot 'em up classic that follows a candy-loving witch and her fairy companion. Don't get me wrong, it's fun and well-executed, but Cotton Reboot is not a reboot. It's a remake. I just want to make that clear right at the start of this review.

If you've never heard of Cotton before, then there's a good reason for that. Despite spanning a decade, a bunch of consoles and a half-dozen installments, only the 1991 original found its way outside of Japan. Much like Konami's Parodius series, publishers assumed that Cotton was too bright and whimsical to appeal to Western gamers. We demand dark and gritty shooters, not cute and colorful.

Because of that boneheaded decision, a lot of shoot 'em up fans missed out on a great series. If that describes you, then Cotton Reboot is a great place to start. It tells the story of Cotton, a young witch who is coaxed into helping a fairy named Silk defeat The Evils of Fairyland with the promise of candy. But not just any candy, we're talking about a great big Willow candy. Cotton's favorite.

The goal is to fly through seven challenging stages in an effort to collect the colored Willow candies and save Fairyland. Cotton and Silk are tossed into a world that blends both horror and fantasy elements, putting our heroes against zombies, bats, flying eyeballs, serpents and even the Grim Reaper. They'll weave through bullets, power-up their shots, pick up floating gems and use a wide range of special attacks to take the fight to the evil monsters and, more importantly, get that candy.

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As a remake, Cotton Reboot has a lot going for it. The most obvious change involves the visual presentation, which absolutely shines in HD. From the backgrounds to the bosses to the witchy hero, every part of this game looks fantastic. The new graphics bring this fantasy world to life and actually helps to make the game even more exciting. I especially love how the special attacks will take up the entire screen and look genuinely destructive.

Speaking of those special attacks, this remake also allows you to bank a bunch of them at any given time. This means that you can save them up for the especially tough bosses, unleashing them all to flip the odds back in favor. I also like how you can level up both the special attacks and regular shots. There are multiple experience bars going on at once, which adds a little more depth to what was a fairly standard two-button shoot 'em up.

Other enhancements include a new remixed soundtrack, as well as the ability to fly through the seven stages as Silk, with Cotton as your trusty sidekick. I would also add that I found the remake easier to control than the original, and I preferred the way the floating gems would stick around instead of dropping off screen. And you don't have to take my word for it, because Cotton Reboot also comes with a pixel-perfect mode that lovingly recreates the original game from the early 1990s. This is a fantastic extra that gives you even more ways to get into Cotton.

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As you might imagine, a lot of the problems with this remake are the same issues that plagued the original release. I would point to the wildly inconsistent difficulty, which constantly swings from being too easy to bullet hell madness. I'm also not a big fan of some of the stage designs, especially late in the game. Don't get me wrong, the backgrounds and enemies look great, but the game falls apart any time a level insists on scrolling vertically. Slipping enemies behind our hero is mean if she can't turn around and defend herself. Not cool.

And then there's the extremely short length. No matter which version of the game you end up playing through, this is one of those shoot 'em ups that only lasts around a half-hour (at most). This is pretty typical for an arcade shooter released in 1991, but it definitely stands out when it's a home game released in 2021. It's worth remembering that this package is being sold at $40 for the digital version and anywhere from $50 to $100 for the physical version. That's a lot for a game that lasts around 30 minutes. With the steep price, I fear that this will only appeal to the hardcore Cotton fans, when you would hope that this would help bring in a new audience who missed out on the original game. Maybe if enough people buy this remake, we may end up seeing a real, proper Cotton reboot. For now, this remake is pretty good.