Fantastic Night Dreams: Cotton

"The only side-scroll shooter for NGPC is a darn good one."

The Neo Geo Pocket Color was a great system. It had its flaws, but it didn't deserve its fate. If you own one you know exactly how I feel. One thing people often complain about is its variety of games. For any shooter fans out there, your cry has been heard. Cotton: Fantastic Night Dreams is the ONLY side-scrolling shooter for the Neo Geo Pocket Color, and it happens to be a very good one. Cotton is a popular Japanese series with import games for Playstation, Mega Drive, and Saturn. Basically you are an adorable which, you ride a broom, you have a sexy fairy friend, and you shoot everything that moves. With a fair amount of items and enemies, Cotton will deliver as an incredibly fun game. It first strikes as visually disappointing, the Neo Geo hardware is capable of much more, but it makes up for this in Gameplay.

Graphics: 7/10
Pretty sad for a Neo Geo game, but there are occasional details that please (i.e. 2nd boss). There's an awful lot of commotion on screen at once, but it seems Success just got lazy. Don't expect a splendor for your eyes, just an OK looking game.

Sound: 10/10
I really enjoyed the tunes. The boss and level themes are very faced-pace setting the mood perfectly. There's a new tune for each stage, and none of them disappoint.

Gameplay 10/10
This is where Cotton shows life. The gameplay is fantastic, very enjoyable for any shooter fan. Cotton only features 7 levels however, each is long with two bosses, and the game is challenging to beat. It'll take you a while before you finish this one. There are several types of power-ups including 2 different types of bombs, and many different types of average fire. One of the types of bombs even traces the ground! The bosses and mid-bosses are well constructed each having a ''secret,'' to find, and some are hard still. Cotton is challenging and extremely fun, from blowing up owls to trees, you'll play this more than Metal Slug.

Lasting Appeal: 9/10
It will take a while to beat the games 7 levels and 14+ bosses, but you'll go back over, and over, and over. Cotton delivers one of the greatest shooting experiences you will find in a handheld.

Overall: 9/10
If this game had better visuals it would've received a perfect score. Cotton has great music, it's fun, and you will play it to death. Neo Geo Pocket owners will be delighted by his title because it gives shooting fans what they thirst for. Unfortunately Cotton is EXTREMELY hard to get hold of, thus I recommend ebay.com or www.gametz.com, because there isn't another alternative to getting this game. It took me 7 months to negotiate a trade, and I don't regret the work I went through. If you own a NGPC and like shooting games, at all, find (and buy) Cotton now.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/12/01, Updated 07/12/01