Rainbow Cotton (PS5) - Review

by Evan Norris , posted on 06 May 2024 / 1,238 Views

We are living through the second great age of Cotton content. Thanks to several recent productions — including ports, remasters, and reboots — the 90s-era shoot-'em-up series that once languished in obscurity has gained another chance to prove itself. The latest franchise refresh is a full remake of the mostly-forgotten Rainbow Cotton, a Dreamcast rail shooter released exclusively in Japan in 2000. Thanks to the programmers at German studio KRITZELKRATZ 3000, the game is back with refined controls, new graphics, and some extra bells and whistles.

Rainbow Cotton takes place in the fairy kingdom of Filament, where monsters have infested several towns that produce the delicacy willow. When the fairies and their queen Velvet assemble to plan for the ouster of the monsters, one fairy named Silk chimes in. She recommends they recruit the witch Cotton, a great magic-user obsessed with willow. Through some clever storytelling, a few careful omissions, and a hastily-assembled box trap, Silk is able to convince Cotton to join the fairy cause.

The game's story is slight, but amusing. Cotton is a delight no matter the setting; her lovably abrasive personality and anti-hero shenanigans elevate everything around her. The only problem is the collection of anime cut-scenes that fill in the gaps between stages. They're the same crudely-drawn interludes from the Dreamcast version, without any touch-ups. Yes, they benefit from Cotton's hilariously angry outbursts, but the animation is simply not up to par.

Neither is the moment-to-moment gameplay, despite KRITZELKRATZ' adjustments. While the remake makes some important changes, including removing the auto-centering crosshairs that plagued the original, it retains the core mechanics from 2000. Shooting, which is the bread-and-butter of Rainbow Cotton, is just not that entertaining. This is due partially to Cotton (and her broom) taking up too much real estate on screen. Enemies, hazards, and paths are sometimes obscured by her relatively large frame.

Even when you can see the field clearly in front of you, there's a random spray-and-pray feeling to the action. The developer introduced a brand new lock-on mechanic to the remake that deploys Silk as a sort of homing missile, ostensibly to diminish this sensation, but it's not all that effective. It's rather slow-acting, and forces you to linger in a certain spot to achieve lock-on, so you open yourself up to enemy fire. Often it's better to weave around the screen, searching for a clean angle, hoping your projectiles make contact, and avoiding projectiles that drain your health and interrupt your weapon.

Things improve during boss battles, which take place in the middle and at the end of stages. Since there's a single hulking enemy instead of hundreds of bustling smaller ones, the action is more focused and precise. What's more, the bosses are interesting both visually and mechanically. The best of the lot is the stage three end boss, Osashimi. A large, armored fish resembling an Asian sheepshead wrasse, it knocks over pillars with its muscular tail and also deploys fish eggs. At one point during the fight, the camera swings around and faces Cotton as Osashimi attacks from behind. It's a great set-piece.

Things go overboard, though, in the fifth and final stage, where you'll face three back-to-back-to-back bosses at the very end. It's overkill. Indeed, the entire fifth stage represents an annoying difficulty spike that's far more taxing than the other four stages combined — even on easy mode.

The steep difficulty at the tail end of Rainbow Cotton, and the resulting continues and restarts, does extend the game's modest running time, if nothing else. If you're skilled and lucky enough to fly through the five stages in a single sitting, without interruptions, you can expect to spend only 60 minutes in the land of Filament. To be fair, there are a few potential reasons to return to the game once you've finished, including branching paths, a local leaderboard, and a co-op mode exclusive to this remake. Note that in co-op, player one controls Cotton and player two controls Silk, eliminating Cotton's ability to lock on.

In addition to co-op mode, Rainbow Cotton comes with "retro mode", which does its best to emulate the original Dreamcast experience. It includes scanlines and a CRT-esque rounded screen, plus the old-school centering crosshairs. It's an interesting historical artifact, but ultimately an inferior way to play the game.

Aside from co-op and retro modes, the remake arrives with widescreen support, an updated UI, subtitles, and a brand new English localization. It also benefits from upgraded HD graphics, although, to be honest, the original Dreamcast title was already quite attractive, thanks to a bright cartoon aesthetic and some excellent production design. The first stage, with its paving stone pathways and festooned evergreens, is particularly lovely. That same stage has probably the best music in the game, as well.

Regrettably the remake doesn't include anything approximating a manual or how-to-play section. KRITZELKRATZ missed a golden opportunity to add a tutorial to walk new players through all the controls, modes, power-ups, and scoring systems. As of now, they have to learn the hard way.

The Cotton renaissance continues with the remake of Rainbow Cotton. Thanks to HD visuals, co-op support, and some quality-of-life fixes, this new version is somewhat better than the Dreamcast game. Unfortunately, too much of that game's DNA is preserved here, leading to a middling experience. The shooting is never fully satisfying, the animated cut-scenes lack polish, and everything culminates in a frustrating difficulty spike. In the end, this remake doesn't do enough to fix the original's inherent weaknesses.