It's pleasing that United Games Entertainment is working alongside ININ Games, and Ratalaika Games on port programming to bring Japanese only retro games to modern consoles, like the Mega Drive's Space Harrier-esque rail shooter, Panorama Cotton. It's magical to witness on ageing 16-bit hardware — which unimpressively converted SEGA's Super Scaler games like Galaxy Force II, Thunder Blade and Turbo OutRun – that Success achieved technically jaw-dropping graphical results using the lost art of sprite scaling.
The original Cotton's spooky cute-'em-up setting is expanded wondrously, alongside Kenichi Hirata's creative soundtrack, to dial the quirkiness up to eleven. With the option to adjust Cotton's speed, and use inverted controls to steer the broomstick riding witch, the effective shoot-'em-up elements established in the original from Cotton Reboot! transcend to a single player, third-person perspective.
It's chaotic fun to blast coloured crystals for magic attacks, take multiple routes through imaginatively designed levels, and collect Tea Time bonuses. With five surreal stages, and a 'Last Battle' section, it takes 45 minutes to beat — plus there's an attainable, yet mildly skill based Platinum Trophy, which necessitates achieving a million points in Challenge Mode without relying on the rewind feature, save states or cheats.
Following Ratalaika's good work on Gleylancer, Panorama Cotton has a welcome amount of display options for CRT shaders, scanlines, and screen curvature. Sadly, early release bugs undermined our confidence in smaller niggles, for example it was unclear how we unlocked the playable fairy Silk, there are no wallpaper options, and the 4:3 DAR with no shader display mistakenly fills the widescreen. Also, Japanese story text hasn't been translated, there's no gameplay manual, and it's priced over twice as much as Gleylancer.
It's disheartening a previously Japanese exclusive Mega Drive game, patiently anticipated since 1994, is now known for poor presentation due to Version 1.00 releasing with gameplay breaking emulation errors — like Stage 2's missing scaffolding obstacles, and invisible enemies. There was a narrow window for Halloween 2021 hype, and even though thankfully a week later Version 1.01 patched in the omitted sprites, still Panorama Cotton could be haunted by the infamy of Ratalaika's conversion. Since many gamers never experienced this rare game, it'd be a shame if they believed an initially bad PS4 port directly correlates with the quality of the original.
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This is my third draft of my Mini Review of PS4 Panorama Cotton. The first was a 'Below Par' score, and was based on its launch Version 1.00, where I mainly discussed how much the emulation bugs affected the gameplay, and how they got in the way of the skill needed for the Platinum.
The second draft was straight after Version 1.01 released with bug fixes last Friday 5th November, with the missing sprites returned, and I focussed mainly on how I enjoyed the original's qualities, and I gave it a 'Good' score.
I was unsatisfied with not addressing the earlier emulation problems, though, so I wrote it out a third time with the 'Not Bad' score here, where I praise the original's gameplay, but I still address the impact that the launch port's errors could have on people's impressions of this Mega Drive game.
I find Panorama Cotton lots of fun, so I might treat myself to the physical version by pre-ordering it from Strictly Limited Games – presumably with all updates included, and bugs fixed.
I'm just apprehensive about it being released with so many emulation glitches first of all, which are fixed quickly one week later, as the earlier, understandably low scoring reviews will have repercussions upon the reputation of the original game.
If anyone has any questions, or if you just want to chat about sprite scaling games, please copy me in. Cheers!
@JamieO Well, I'll say this: it's clear you're concerned with your score accurately reflecting the quality of the experience, which is something I appreciate in a reviewer.
Wow, not even localised? What where they thinking?
Edit: Especially since Gleylancer was translated
@JamieO Thanks for the thorough review and for continuing to spend time covering niche releases like this. I generally buy these classic shootem ups as soon as they hit the PS Store, but there are probably plenty of people who have never heard of Cotton or Gleylancer that might check them out because of your coverage.
It's a shame that the Cotton anniversary releases have been bare bones, but in the end I'm really just happy that they're being made available at all. Still, it would have been nice if Cotton had received the Namco Museum treatment by including multiple games, artwork and design info in a single package.
As an aside, it's interesting that they didn't provide translated captions for the cut scenes. It reminds me of when Sony released a bunch of untranslated Japan only PS1 classics a few years ago, including some great shootem ups. It's a non-issue for me, but I'm sure it's a turn-off for some.
I appreciate these Cotton games getting a release outside of Japan. But the story not getting translated really bothers me. It ruins the charm.
@Amnesiac Good point, if they had included the various Cotton games that are being released this year in a collection — with added extras like different ports of the original game, an art museum, each release's soundtracks available to listen to separately, historic developer interviews, and online leaderboards – it would've be awesome.
Even though the roots of the series are with Success, I guess the ownership of the separate Cotton games must be shared between different publishers now, though.
I still watched the manga-style cut-scenes in Panorama Cotton with Japanese text, because it was interesting to try and guess the plot from the images, but like @shonenjump86 mentioned it detracted from the quirky charm of a Cotton story.
I tried to find some of the more obscure PS1 retro shmups on the UK's PS3 PS Store earlier this year, too, but it became clear that the UK's PS3 didn't receive as many hidden gems as other territories like Japan and North America.
I like the way you mentioned that Push Square's coverage may open a few more eyes to these retro games, as well. I'm happy overall that so many previously Japanese exclusive games are becoming more easily available.
@JamieO Thanks for the in depth review i know there is already a physical release on another site but i dont know if that is with patches. Its on Strictly Limited but i dont know about their policies on patches
@JamieO Must admit never played the originals, but always curious about retro blasters,& been wondering how some of the other Cotton On titles shaped up in light of how they'd snuck onto the PSN! Nice one.
Going a bit off-topic,but Zombies Ate My Neighbours/Ghoul Patrol finally appeared with little fanfare around Halloween after its long delay on ps4 too.
Also slightly off-topic,but another MIA title for me is the digital release of the second half of Turrican Flashback with Amiga Turrican 3 etc.? Heard there'd been delays with the sold out Strictly Limited Games physical version,but yet to hear a peep about the digital version!🤔
Everyone who knows Japan's Mega Drive in the 90's will disappear from the bad emulation of Panorama cotton.
@Robocod You're actually very much on topic here when you talk about spooky themed retro games appearing on PS Store for PS4 without fanfare during Halloween 2021, mate. I brought the stealthy release of Zombies Ate My Neighbors and Ghoul Patrol up with Push Square's editors at the end of last week.
Just on Thursday 28th November QUByte Classics - The Immortal by PIKO quietly released, then on Friday 29th November Zombies Ate My Neighbors and Ghoul Patrol arrived months after the Switch version — plus it only costs £9.79 for two 16-bit era games, which highlights Panorama Cotton's higher pricing at £12.99 yet again.
Push Square also mentioned Cotton 100% to me, too, but we've decided my next Mini Review will be the upcoming re-release of Gynoug.
Also, I checked the basic information for Strictly Limited Games' Turrican Anthology Vol. 2 physical pre-order, which includes Amiga Turrican 3, and it simply states that shipping will start later this year. I don't know about a digital release, though.
Like you mentioned, I think the majority of people in Western regions will have never played Panorama Cotton, just like you, so perhaps it will stand out to retro gamers, due to its rollercoaster ride, on-rails shoot-'em-up gameplay.
Yeah mate,must admit I'd seen mixed comments regarding the other versions of Zombies Ate My Neighbours/Ghoul Patrol but naughtily added it to my digital backlog with its attractive discount launch price!😂👍
Hadn't seen the Immortal since a Zzap! Review of the Amiga version,so was a surprise seeing it in the new psn releases for sure!😁
Have a buddy that has been waiting on Turrican Anthology volume 2,been surprised that ININ Games that published Turrican Flashback V1, Ultracore,etc. haven't confirmed anything about a digital release on the rest of it! Guessing Ratalaika would've worked again with Factor 5.🤔
Bit like Clockwork Acquario,bit of a waiting game i suppose!
If they want any other ideas,wouldn't say no to Speedball 2,Chaos Engine, for a couple of amiga classics,or Alundra,Adventures of Lomax,or Blood Omen Legacy of Kain for some early ps1 classics revisited!😁
Here are a few updates to this review.
For anyone interested in the physical release of Panorama Cotton, Strictly Limited Games sent a 'Frequently asked questions' email to its customers on 11th November explaining about:
"Patches and language options for Cotton 100% and Panorama Cotton – All Cotton games published in the west will be available in English and several other languages - check website for info. A patch to address some pixels not showing up in Panorama Cotton has been implemented. These patches will be available on the SLG game card/disc, once ready."
Regardless of whether I think it's an understatement to describe Version 1.00's missing scenery obstacles, and impossible to avoid hits from invisible enemies and projectiles as just "some pixels not showing up", it's good news that Strictly Limited Games' physical versions will include the most current updates from Version 1.01 onwards.
I'm currently checking out Ratalaika's re-release of Gynoug and its 4:3 DAR image is much sharper, and not stretched like Panorama Cotton, so an update that includes Gynoug's crispy, correctly proportioned 4:3 image would be appreciated too.
I worked out how I unlocked the playable fairy Silk, as well. It turns out it was when I achieved a million points for the 'Millionaire: Get 1000000 points or more in Challenge Mode' to acquire the Platinum Trophy. Just make sure you manual save your progress, because the game doesn't auto save unlocking Silk.
With the positive news that English language options are coming, I wonder if there's text in the game that explains how to access the hectic Silk Mode.
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