Panorama Cotton

Panorama Cotton (パノラマコットン) 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.

Gameplay


Panorama Cotton is a pseudo-3D scrolling shooter reminiscent of Space Harrier, set in an anime-style fantasy world. 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.

Plot
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.

Development and release
GameFan reported Sunsoft only produced 4,000 copies in total. An unofficial English translation patch was released in 2019. 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. In addition, the original Mega Drive version will also be released in western regions under a limited run of copies. It is also set to release for Xbox One and Xbox Series X/S on December 7, 2023.

Reception
Panorama Cotton received positive reception from critics and players. Mean Machines Sega's Marlon compared the game with both After Burner and Space Harrier, commending its fast pseudo-3D sprite-scaling visuals. 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. Gamers' Republic's Dave Halverson regarded it to be the "pinnacle of 3D shooting" on the Sega Mega Drive.