Wikipedia

Panorama Cotton

Panorama Cotton[a] 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.

Panorama Cotton
Developer(s)Success
Publisher(s)
Sunsoft
  • Mega Drive
    • JP: Sunsoft
    • NA: Strictly Limited Games
    ININ Games (NS, XB)
    United Games Entertainment (PS4)
Director(s)Hideki Tamura
Producer(s)Takato Yoshinari
Programmer(s)Toshiyuki Kuwabara
Artist(s)Hideki Tamura
Motoi Saito
Shinobu Itō[2]
Composer(s)Kenichi Hirata
SeriesCotton
Platform(s)Sega Mega Drive, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S
ReleaseMega Drive
  • JP: 12 August 1994[1]
  • WW: 29 October 2021
Switch
  • WW: 29 October 2021
  • AU: 30 October 2021
PlayStation 4
  • NA: 29 October 2021
Xbox One, Series X/S
  • WW: 7 December 2023
Genre(s)Rail shooter
Mode(s)Single-player

Gameplay

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Gameplay screenshot.

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 in her way. Cotton can upgrade her weapon to higher levels as the player progresses, and can also cast magical spells by collecting special items.

Plot

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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 a 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 which do not make any sense. Later, the Queen reveals that she believes the world is falling into chaos, and 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 someone is burning Willows, she vows that she will not let it continue. From there, Silk and Cotton set off on their new adventure.

Development and release

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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 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 also released for Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S on December 7, 2023.[9]

Reception

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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]

Notes

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  1. ^ Japanese: パノラマコットン, Hepburn: Panorama Kotton

References

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  1. ^ "ソフトウェア一覧（ソフトライセンシー発売）| メガドライブ". SEGA HARD Encyclopedia (in Japanese). Sega. 2020. Archived from the original on 2020-06-26. Retrieved 2020-11-04.
  2. ^ "ネオジオ関連メーカーリレーインタビュー 11: サクセス". Neo Geo Freak (in Japanese). No. 22. Geibunsha. March 1997. pp. 86–87.
  3. ^ a b c Des Barres, Nicholas (December 1994). "E. Storm Import MD: Panorama Cotton". GameFan. Vol. 2, no. 12. DieHard Gamers Club. pp. 208–210.
  4. ^ Kalata, Kurt (12 December 2016). "Panorama Cotton". Hardcore Gaming 101. Archived from the original on 2020-05-03. Retrieved 2020-11-05.
  5. ^ Wong, Alistair (March 4, 2019). "Space Harrier-Esque Cute 'Em Up Panorama Cotton Gets English Fan Translation". Siliconera. Curse LLC. Archived from the original on 2020-11-05. Retrieved 2020-11-05.
  6. ^ Romano, Sal (September 21, 2021). "Cotton Guardian Force Saturn Tribute, Cotton 100%, and Panorama Cotton coming west in 2021". Gematsu. Retrieved 2021-09-21.
  7. ^ Whitehead, Thomas (September 21, 2021). "More Cotton Games Are Coming, Including The Extremely Rare Panorama Cotton - Along with Cotton 100% and Cotton Guardian Force Saturn Tribute". Nintendo Life. Nlife Media. Retrieved 2021-09-21.
  8. ^ a b Moyse, Chris (October 21, 2021). "Panorama Cotton returns October 29, with a full Sega Mega Drive release". Destructoid. Enthusiast Gaming. Retrieved 2021-10-22.
  9. ^ Panorama Cotton Comes to XBOX!, retrieved 2023-12-04
  10. ^ "Panorama Cotton for Switch Reviews". Metacritic. CBS Interactive. October 29, 2021. Retrieved 2021-12-07.
  11. ^ "BEメガドッグレース – パノラマコットン (MD)". Beep! MegaDrive (in Japanese). No. 59. SoftBank Creative. September 1994. p. 14. Archived from the original on 2020-11-05. Retrieved 2020-11-05.
  12. ^ "NEW GAMES CROSS REVIEW: パノラマコットン (メガドライブ)". Famitsu (in Japanese). No. 296–297. ASCII Corporation. 19–26 August 1994. p. 39.
  13. ^ Sanz, José Luis (June 1995). "Versión Final – Mega Drive – Panorama Cotton". Última Generación (in Spanish). No. 4. MV Editores. pp. 84–85.
  14. ^ "Sega-16 – Panorama Cotton". www.sega-16.com. Archived from the original on 27 October 2020. Retrieved 12 January 2022.
  15. ^ Marlon (January 1995). "Megadrive Preview – Panorama Cotton". Mean Machines Sega. No. 27. EMAP. pp. 34–35.
  16. ^ "メガドラ読者レース". Sega Saturn Magazine (in Japanese). No. 9. SoftBank Creative. September 1995. p. 83. Archived from the original on 2020-11-05. Retrieved 2020-11-05.
  17. ^ Halverson, Dave (September 1999). "GRkives - <<Retro Video Game Assimilation>> -- Panorama Cotton". Gamers' Republic. No. 16. Millennium Publishing. p. 93.
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