Back in 1991 Success released a side scrolling shooter in Japanese arcades in the same vein as other comical cutesy shoot em ups like Twinbee, Fantasy Zone, Parodius called “Cotton Fantastic Night Dreams”. You play as a candy addicted witch (along with help from sexy scantly clad fairies) who all shoot down monsters in a light-hearted horror fantasy setting. It was a big enough hit to have multiple home ports for PC Engine Super CD-ROM2 (Turbo Duo in the US), Sharp x68000, PlayStation, and Neo Geo Pocket Color as well as a very nice remake called “Cotton Reboot!” for PS4 and Nintendo Switch.
Cotton also had several sequels. Most recently “Cotton Fantasy” for PS4/Switch which I strongly recommend checking out. For Sega Saturn, “Cotton 2” and its tweaked up update “Cotton Boomerang”. A Super Famicom exclusive sequel called “Marchen Adventure Cotton 100%” as well as a Sega Mega Drive exclusive called “Panaroma Cotton” which was a big departure from the usual side scrolling Cotton shooters. Panorama instead puts you in a pseudo 3D perspective kind of like games like Space Harrier, After Burner, and Star Fox.
Back in 2000 Success put out the sequel to Panorama called “Rainbow Cotton” exclusively for the Sega Dreamcast. Once again it was in a 3rd person perspective but this time everything is in 3D. No 2D sprites in sight.
Most Cotton fans considered Rainbow Cotton to be the weakest in the series due to its very shoddy controls and slow pace. The game also felt like it was rushed in development and there were plenty of glitches. Now we have a remastered version on modern platforms which is said to fix all the issues the Dreamcast original. So did Success truly polish the game up? Lets find out.
You start out the game watching some hilarious anime story cutscenes which are now subtitled (you also see them before boss battles). One thing you will notice if you had played the Dreamcast original is that the graphics are definitely improved. Now it is in 1080p and the polygons are much sharper. Every character in Cotton games are usually cute, spooky, and charming. Rainbow here is no exception. Unfortunately that Sonic Adventure-style polygon popup issue you see when you fly through walls in the original Dreamcast release is still apparent. The controls however have been improved for a bit. You can actually lock into place while shooting down your foes. In the Dreamcast original you automatically center if you let go of the analog stick which played a major part of the many reasons why Rainbow Cotton was panned back when it was first released.
One major criticism I have toward the game is the lack of in game instructions or even a tutorial which forces the person who purchased the game to figure everything out on their own. Allow me to change that.
The gameplay is simple. You only use 2 buttons. Your main fire button and the magic button. Hold down the shot button to send your fairies after the nearest enemies. It is a similar mechanic to the lock on lasers from Panzer Dragoon. As you blast enemies and bosses you gain experience and you eventually level up your shot. Get hit and you actually lose experience. You’ll see strange vases with faces on them. Those contain extra fairies, colored magic crystals, and hearts that replenish your life gauge. The colored crystals change color as you shoot them. Red is fire magic. Blue is lightning. Green summons stars and meteors that rain on enemies. Orange is extra experience points to level up your main shot. The blue and red star coins you see when you shoot enemies or other random objects awards you extra points. After each boss battle you collect tea mugs for even more points. Dodge them all instead and you will get a secret bonus of 20000 pts.
There are a total of 5 very colorful stages, each with alternate routes which are triggered by either where you fly or what you shoot. In the Dreamcast original there was no indication of what would trigger an alternate route so you had to figure all that on your own, In this new version there are now arrows pointing to where the alternate routes are now so it is now fun to replay the game and check out all those hidden mid bosses.
The music while very relaxing and charming is nothing to write home about. There hasn’t been a memorable Cotton soundtrack since the very first game in my opinion. Especially the Turbo Duo release with those rocking CD arrangements.
There is a “retro mode” which is literally the original Dreamcast version with a lazy blurry CRT filter that looks like it is straight out of a Retroarch emulator. Honestly, I don’t understand why they would even include the unaltered version. It was a mess on Dreamcast, and it is even more of a mess here with that filter that looks like someone smeared Vaseline on your TV screen. It’s a novelty only for the true masochists that love to get whipped by a beefed up muscle momma.
Would I recommend Rainbow Cotton to someone who never played a Cotton game before? Absolutely not. It definitely isn’t a bad game, but let’s be real. Even with the improvements, there are still a few issues, like the lack of instructions and tutorial like I mentioned earlier. The occasional Dreamcast era polygon pop up is an issue since there is no rapid fire button, be prepared to get a blister going against the bosses with this one. And of course, the utterly pointless “retro mode”.
Personally I am not really a big fan of both Panorama Cotton and Rainbow Cotton, as I much prefer the side scrolling games. If anyone wants to get into Cotton I highly recommend either “Cotton Reboot!” or “Cotton Fantasy”. Those games are absolutely great fun and 2 of the best in the entire series so far. Overall, Rainbow Cotton I would only recommend to only the diehard fans of the franchise.
Rainbow Cotton is now on the Nintendo eshop for $19.99 USD. A physical release is being distributed by both Strictly Limited Games and ININ Games.
A review code was given for the purpose of the review.
David Medina is a hardcore gamer and Japanese import collector owning dozens of systems and games from Famicom to Nintendo Switch. He has an active YouTube channel called "The Karnov Jr Show" and posts retro gaming content there weekly showing off collections, random store tours, and gameplay clips.