Cotton series

[aaron]

what are youse guyses thoughts on the Cotton games? i could never really get into them but maybe i've just been playing the wrong ones. i've only played Cotton Boomerang and Cotton 2 on saturn.

[BoneSnapDeez]

Never played them because they all cost about a zillion dollars. They look cute tho.

[Stark]

Maybe you don't like cute-em-ups? I liked Cotton Boomerang personally, but I'm not hardcore into shmups, so I wouldn't be able to tell you how it compares to other shmups.

[Gunstar Green]

It's never really interested me a whole lot. Panorama Cotton is a very graphically impressive rail shooter on the Mega Drive though.

[mjmjr25]

It's a cute 'em up...I guess, but they aren't easy.

I enjoy them all but i'd stay away from Cotton 2. Cotton Boomerang is Cotton 2 w/o the bugs - same stages / bosses / enemies.

The rotation system is cool, the enemy freeze / capture is cool, it's a pretty complex series and the different characters all have strongsuits.

I have 2 gripes but they are minor:
- Unless you use needle, it's really hard to judge your hitbox, the characters and bullets are too large, it doesn't lend itself to reflex play so much as positional strategy.
- Almost every boss can be mastered by finding safe zones or exploiting certain softspots, or other weaknesses. (obviously this is true in most games with practice, but more evident and easier in this series).

All that said - these games play fast once you hit 3rd / 4th stage and they get very difficult.

Cotton Boomerang
Cotton 100%
...are the must owns. Panorama was good but doesn't match the options, enemy development, or gimmicks of Boomerang. Cotton 2 as said is fine on it's own, but after playing Boomerang I wouldn't see reason to own both other than for collecting purposes.

[SoltanGris]

I've been playing Cotton 2. Hard to get the SF-style moves off at times though. Didn't know about bugs?

[rufus777]

.

[nightrnr]

I've been playing Cotton 2. Hard to get the SF-style moves off at times though. Didn't know about bugs?

You can always access the cheat menu to assign moves to buttons:

from:
http://home.netvigator.com/~tarot/Games/CottonUW.html

You can access all extra options, plus a training mode (great for practicing for high scores) with the following command. Place the cursor over "Option" in the start menu, then press and hold X, Y, and Z. Now press and hold A, B, and C. (I find it easier to enter the command by holding X, Y, and Z, press and hold A or C, then press and hold the two other buttons half a second later.

This also happens to be my solitary contribution to gamefaqs, as I was shocked that no one else had submitted the code. I modified the explanation slightly to suit how I use it.
http://www.gamefaqs.com/saturn/574730-cotton-2/cheats

Personally, I like Cotton 2 slightly better than Boomerang, but I might be the only person to feel that way. I think I just prefer energy bars to one hit deaths. Makes it feel like more of an adventure shooter.
Both are awesome of course.

I think I would have taken to shmups earlier if I had been exposed to this sort of game growing up. Really, Japan got most of the magical/quirky/fun stuff.

[aaron]

Maybe you don't like cute-em-ups? I liked Cotton Boomerang personally, but I'm not hardcore into shmups, so I wouldn't be able to tell you how it compares to other shmups.

i think this is really the issue. there's something about the cute aesthetic that just bugs me. i'm also more partial to vertical shmups than hori. so, yeah. i'll give boomerang another shot. but i dunno.

[ninjainspandex]

Never played them because they all cost about a zillion dollars. They look cute tho.

Cotton 100% on the SFC isn't expensive, I just bought a cart a couple months ago for $18. You could probably get it for even less if you look around. Definitely one of the prettier shooters on the SFC.