Cotton Fantasy Reviews
Cotton Fantasy is ridiculously cute, colourful and charming. Shoot 'em fans looking for a more relaxed game oozing with personality will have a blast playing through the 16 levels filled with candy and bucket loads of kawaii. I especially liked that all seven playable characters have completely different playstyles, as that alone significantly beefs up the game's replayability. I had a great time playing this game and if you also love extreme cuteness then surely you'll enjoy it too.
The sheer variety of levels, choosing your own route, the differing playstyles, and the online leaderboards easily make Cotton Fantasy one of the best modern shmups available on the Nintendo Switch, with the lack of a dedicated Caravan Mode being my only real gripe here. Still, thanks to online leaderboards and good character variety, this is a shooter that’ll keep any scorechaser fan in bliss.
Cotton Fantasy is the new installment of the veteran Success Corporation franchise that champions the cute 'em up subgenre. 22 years after his last Dreamcast adventure -bypassing the remake Reboot! and various ports released last year - of the witch Nata de Cotton. We will once again control the young and problematic witch along with six other playable characters -including one unlockable-, each with their own gameplay and mechanics that will make each game with each of them a new and satisfying experience.
Review in Spanish | Read full review
Cotton Fantasy is a lesson on how to present a franchise to a new generation while bringing back all the best things it had presented in its various titles. Adding guest characters was also a great idea to create different dynamics that break the repetition a shoot'em up usually has.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Cotton Fantasy is a shoot’em up that works as an ideal entrypoint to the genre and also offers enough fun for those who already are veterans. With a variety of character options that significantly change the gameplay and a clear care for the franchise, it's a game that's definitely recommendable to anyone looking for a good shoot ‘em up experience.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Cotton Fantasy feels like the definitive Cotton experience. Taking aspects from all the games that came before it and creating an experience that is just a joy to play through with Cotton or with the varied characters available. If you love your arcade games, this will likely put a big smile on your face with all the colours and numbers glaring back at you on screen and, of course, a pumping arcade-style soundtrack. The games main niggle is the price of entry is a bit steep, and the game is very light on content. Whether you are old or new to the Cotton series, this is an excellent side-scrolling shooter that is a must-play for high score chasers and fans of retro shooters.
Just like other games in the franchise, Cotton Fantasy is not meant to be challenging. It’s yet another cathartic power fantasy of a shooter, where you’re given an excessive amount of weapons to wreak havoc against some of the cutest enemies in the genre. Even if the polygonal visuals aren’t as charming as the graphics in previous games, the sheer amount of playable characters, as well as its nonlinear structure, make this game the single most replayable Cotton title out there.
Cotton Fantasy is frankly my favorite Cute 'em Up I've played in years. The different character playstyles caught me off guard and I fell in love with the title so quickly. In the gameplay department, it does very little long and sets the standard of the series for the most part. If it took the omissions from Cotton Reboot for a potential sequel we could be looking at a G.O.A.T contender. Sadly the visuals do let the overall package down and I feel that may have done some damage to the stage designs. It's not enough to knock the title down but is something that could be easily addressed in a future title in the series. This Cotton anniversary stretch has been great and what better way to cap it all off with the best gameplay the franchise has seen? The only thing sweeter than Willows it seems is Cotton Fantasy!