Panorama Cotton | |
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Developer(s) | Success |
Publisher(s) | |
Director(s) | Hideki Tamura |
Producer(s) | Takato Yoshinari |
Programmer(s) | Toshiyuki Kuwabara |
Artist(s) | Hideki Tamura Motoi Saito Shinobu Itō [1] |
Composer(s) | Kenichi Hirata |
Series | Cotton |
Platform(s) | Sega Mega Drive, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S |
Release | Mega DriveSwitch
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Genre(s) | Rail shooter |
Mode(s) | Single-player |
Panorama Cotton [lower-alpha 1] is a 1994 rail shooter video game developed by Success and published by Sunsoft for the Mega Drive exclusively in Japan on August 12, 1994. Panorama Cotton is the third entry in the Cotton series and made a major departure from the original gameplay formula of prior Cotton entries; instead of being a side-scrolling shooter like the others, it is a pseudo-3D shooter in the style of Sega's Space Harrier .
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Panorama Cotton is a pseudo-3D scrolling shooter reminiscent of Space Harrier , set in an anime-style fantasy world. [3] [4] Various levels scroll "into the screen", vertically, horizontally, or diagonally. The player can move Cotton over the screen, shooting at oncoming enemies and avoiding obstacles on her way. Cotton can upgrade her weapon to higher levels as you advance in the game, and can also cast magical spells by collecting special items.
![]() | This article needs an improved plot summary.(November 2020) |
The most important plot elements in all of the Cotton games are magical candies called Willows. In the previous and first installment of the series, Cotton: Fantastic Night Dreams , the world had fallen into an endless night after an evil Demoness called Wool stole the 7 Willows that brought light to it. In desperation, the Fairy Queen Velvet dispatched a beautiful fairy named Silk to get the Willows back. Before long, Silk met up with Cotton, a witch who loved to eat Willows, and together, they defeated Wool and brought back the willows. Light returned to the world, and Cotton left on her own.
Panorama Cotton's story begins when Silk's sister Knit comes to tell her that Queen Velvet has started saying things that do not make any sense. Later, the Queen reveals that she believes that the world is falling into chaos, and that she is the only one who can save it. She rides off on an animal called "Pinky" to save the day, and disappears before anyone can stop her. Perplexed, Silk and Knit deduce that a burnt Willow which recently turned up in the castle garden is responsible for the Queen's odd behavior. Apparently, monsters north of the kingdom have been burning any Willow they see. Before doing anything else, Silk immediately decides that she needs to get rid of the burnt Willow in the castle first.
Silk carries the burnt Willow far away, but before she can dispose of it, Cotton appears suddenly and snatches it from her. Not pausing for a moment to hear Silk's story, Cotton begins to eat the burnt Willow. However, she quickly spits it out, angry and disgusted. When Cotton discovers that someone is burning Willows, she vows that she won't let it continue. From there, Silk and Cotton set off on their new adventure.
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GameFan reported Sunsoft only produced 4,000 copies in total. [3] An unofficial English translation patch was released in 2019. [5] In 2021, ININ Games and Strictly Limited Games announced that Panorama Cotton would be launched for Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 across western regions in digital and limited formats on October 29, marking the game's first official international appearance. [6] [7] [8] In addition, the original Mega Drive version will also be released in western regions under a limited run of copies. [8] It is also set to release for Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S on December 7, 2023. [9]
Aggregator | Score |
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Metacritic | (NS) 58/100 [10] |
Publication | Score |
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Beep! MegaDrive | (SMD) 6.75/10 [11] |
Famitsu | (SMD) 21/40 [12] |
Última Generación | (SMD) 58/100 [13] |
Panorama Cotton received positive reception from critics and players. [3] [14] Mean Machines Sega 's Marlon compared the game with both After Burner and Space Harrier, commending its fast pseudo-3D sprite-scaling visuals. [15] Readers of the Japanese Sega Saturn Magazine voted to give the title a 8.0367 out of 10 score, ranking at the number 113 spot in a poll, indicating a large popular following. [16] Gamers' Republic's Dave Halverson regarded it to be the "pinnacle of 3D shooting" on the Sega Mega Drive. [17]
Fantasy Zone is a 1986 arcade video game by Sega, and the first game in the Fantasy Zone series. It was later ported to a wide variety of consoles, including the Master System. The player controls a sentient spaceship named Opa-Opa who fights an enemy invasion in the titular group of planets. The game contains a number of features atypical of the traditional scrolling shooter. The main character, Opa-Opa, is sometimes referred to as Sega's first mascot character.
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Thunder Force is a series of free-roaming scrolling shooter type video games developed by the Japanese software company Technosoft and published by Sega. The franchise is recognized for its distinctive gameplay, graphics, and synthesizer-based chiptune music soundtracks.
Super Fantasy Zone is a scrolling shooter, part of the Fantasy Zone series. It was released for the Sega Mega Drive in Japan and Europe. Players control the character Opa-Opa on his quest to defeat Dark Menon, and the game plays similarly to previous Fantasy Zone entries. The game plays similarly to Defender, where the screen scrolls in the direction that Opa-Opa is going. The player shoots at enemies to defeat them, collecting gold coins that are used to purchase temporary upgrades that improve Opa-Opa's offensive capabilities and speed, among other things.
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Cotton 2: Magical Night Dreams is a 1997 scrolling shooter arcade video game developed by Success and published by Tecmo. The fourth installment in the Cotton franchise, it is the arcade sequel to Cotton: Fantastic Night Dreams. In the game, players assume the role of either the titular young witch or her rival Appli who, alongside their companions Silk and Needle, sets out on a quest to defeat several monsters and retrieve the missing "Bluewater Willow" candy to Pumpkin Kingdom. Its gameplay is similar to the first game, consisting of shooting mixed with fighting and role-playing game-esque elements using a main three-button configuration. It ran on the ST-V hardware.
Rainbow Cotton is a 2000 rail shooter video game developed and published by Success exclusively for the Dreamcast. The fifth installment in the Cotton franchise, it is a follow-up to Panorama Cotton (1994) and the first 3D entry in the series. In the game, players assume the role of the titular young witch who, alongside her fairy companion Silk, sets out on her broomstick on a quest to defeat the evil demon Tweed and retrieve a stolen Willow candy from York Country. Its gameplay is similar to Panorama Cotton, consisting of shooting mixed with role-playing game elements while flying through 3D environments on a predetermined track.
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