COTTOn Rock'n'Roll -SUPERLATIVE NIGHT DREAMS-
- January 5, 2023
- Studio Saizensen
Get on Steam"COTTON Rock'n'Roll -SUPERLATIVE NIGHT DREAMS-" is a vertical scrolling shoot 'em up game featuring the fan-favorite character, Cotton. This game offers remastered graphics, rearranged music, and new game modes that shake up the classic gameplay. Players can engage in intense battles with a variety of enemies and powerful bosses while enjoying the fast-paced, high-energy action of this charming shoot 'em up game.
PC
Steam Deck
Windows
Reviews
- The game features a diverse cast of characters, each with unique playstyles, enhancing replayability and providing a fresh experience with every playthrough.
- The production values, including graphics and soundtrack, are top-notch, creating an engaging and visually appealing experience.
- The gameplay is accessible for beginners while still offering challenges for veterans, making it suitable for a wide range of players.
- The game lacks a compelling story, with only one repetitive narrative that diminishes replay value and engagement.
- Infinite continues from the start reduce the challenge and satisfaction typically associated with completing shmups, making it less appealing for hardcore fans.
- The PC port has several technical issues, including hardcoded resolution limits and performance dips, particularly on AMD GPUs, which detracts from the overall experience.
- story18 mentions
- 17 % positive mentions
- 67 % neutral mentions
- 17 % negative mentions
The game features a single storyline centered around Cotton, which is entertaining but repetitive, particularly with the recurring "screaming for candy" scene. While the narrative can provide some laughs, players express disappointment over the lack of variety and depth, questioning the purpose of replaying the game with different characters when the story remains unchanged. Overall, the writing is seen as somewhat corny, but it offers a light-hearted experience.
“The one story is Cotton's story, and it is entertaining, albeit it does repeat the same 'screaming for candy' scene 6-7 times.”
“Takes about 6 hours to 100% because you must play through story mode with all 6 or 7 characters.”
“Cotton's storyline was a bit corny in its writing, but that's just a nitpick.”
“There is only one story.”
“I was under the impression everyone had a story, which is why I bought the game.”
“What's the point in replaying the game if the story never changes?”
- music12 mentions
- 83 % positive mentions
- 17 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The music in the game has received high praise, with many users highlighting the fantastic original soundtrack (OST) that complements the game's cute 'em up style. Reviewers note that the soundtrack enhances the chaotic gameplay and adds to the overall experience, contributing to significant replay value. Overall, the OST is considered a standout feature of the game.
“The music is fantastic.”
“The soundtrack is also very good for this kind of cute 'em up.”
“Thumbs up for the excellent OST too and the very distinctive ship variety that adds a significant amount of replay value.”
- graphics10 mentions
- 40 % positive mentions
- 40 % neutral mentions
- 20 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are generally praised for their high production values and appealing art style, though some users report significant graphical glitches, particularly in the ported version. While the visuals are considered nice, the overall experience is marred by these issues, especially on lower-end hardware.
“The production values (both audio and graphics) are top notch and professional.”
“It's graphically nice, the OST is great, but that's about it.”
“You may ignore or embrace the cutesy art style, but one thing that can't be denied about this game is how well designed, fun, and challenging it is; this game is tight!”
“The game itself is fine, but the port has several graphical glitches, like glitchy background sprites in some stages.”
“This game runs on my ancient ThinkPad X220 with integrated graphics (I lowered the resolution just in case but still) using Proton (haven't tried running it on regular Windows yet), which is a bit mind-boggling.”
- gameplay10 mentions
- 40 % positive mentions
- 40 % neutral mentions
- 20 % negative mentions
The gameplay is praised for its fun and frantic mechanics, reminiscent of previous titles in the series, with each character offering a unique play style that enhances the overall experience. Players can also optimize their gameplay settings for minimal latency, further improving the action. Overall, the game serves as an engaging introduction to its mechanics while maintaining a dynamic and enjoyable gameplay loop.
“Stage A is a great introduction to the game's mechanics.”
“Based on my first impressions, this game still retains the fun and frantic gameplay loop of those games.”
“The playable characters each have a very unique play style; for example, there's the traditional Cotton, another character that plays a lot like Sine Mora with a time mechanic, and the final boss you can unlock who plays like R-Type with her staff that can be detached and placed in different positions to shoot in different directions.”
“The playable characters each have a very unique play style; for example, there's the traditional Cotton, another that plays a lot like Sine Mora with a time mechanic, and the final boss you can unlock who plays like R-Type with her staff that can be detached and placed in different locations to shoot in various directions.”
“You can use Special K to force the game to output in borderless fullscreen mode (with flip model composition and HDR retrofitting), and then disable the in-game limiter (by enabling VSync in-game and using windowed mode, and then disabling VSync and engaging your own limiter with low-latency options through Special K) for a gameplay experience that reports 0 frames of added latency.”
- optimization8 mentions
- 38 % positive mentions
- 25 % neutral mentions
- 38 % negative mentions
Overall, the game's optimization is generally well-received, with users reporting smooth performance on various systems, including the Steam Deck, which can achieve close to 120fps. However, some players experience occasional dips below 60fps and noticeable stuttering due to frame pacing issues, particularly with vsync enabled. There are suggestions for updates to improve internal framerate consistency and reduce motion blur in fast-paced scenarios.
“The Steam Deck, when docked, is capable of getting close to a reported 120fps (can't go higher because of vsync being engaged). When using Special K to force disable vsync, my secondary ITX rig (with an i5-13600K and RX 6700XT) gets close to 700fps being reported, so game optimization clearly isn't an issue.”
“From what I see (even when testing other resolutions), it's entirely plausible (my hypothesis) that the in-game internal resolution is 1920x1080 regardless of the final output resolution. I noticed no difference in performance with anything lower, although this could be moot if it's simply a CPU-bound scenario.”
“Ran flawlessly in Proton, though the performance dipped below 60fps at times.”
“It would be nice if an update released that made the game run internally at the framerate that the overlay shows (even if it's simply interpolating animations and positioning of objects from 60fps), especially as fast-paced games would benefit from clearer motion and less frame pacing issues. Due to how the limiter behaves, you still have visible stuttering with VSync enabled due to the frame skipping phenomena, especially if your screen refresh rate does not evenly divide by 60.”
“From what I see (even when testing other resolutions), it's entirely plausible (my hypothesis) that the in-game internal resolution is 1920x1080 regardless of the final output resolution, as I noticed no difference in performance with anything lower. Although this could be moot if it's simply a CPU-bound scenario.”
“The Steam Deck, when docked, is capable of getting close to a reported 120fps (can't go higher because of VSync being engaged), and when using Special K to force disable VSync, my secondary ITX rig (with an i5-13600K and RX 6700XT) gets close to 700fps being reported, so game optimization clearly isn't an issue.”
- stability2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game's stability is marred by several graphical glitches, particularly with background sprites in certain stages, indicating issues with the port rather than the core gameplay itself.
“The game itself is fine, but the port has several graphical glitches, like glitchy background sprites in some stages.”
- humor2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is perceived as unintentionally ironic, with players noting a disconnect between the developers' intentions and the execution, particularly criticizing the decision to focus solely on a PC release as a cash grab. This has led to a sense of amusement regarding the developers' lack of awareness.
- replayability2 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Players appreciate the game's distinctive ship variety and excellent original soundtrack, both of which contribute significantly to its replayability.
“Thumbs up for the excellent OST too and the very distinctive ship variety that adds a significant amount of replay value.”
