Cotton REBOOT 2(!) and COTTON ROCK N' ROLL 2 ANNOUNCED!

[thegaminghubby]

Enjoying what I've played of this so far, particularly the new mechanics and enemy type variation. Does anyone know how the enemy capture works? I think I did it once, but that was purely accidental.

Google Lens Translate helped a lot with the Tutorial pages. You hit the Capture button while holding the Magic button, and depending on the enemy captured you get different effects like a shield.

Using Translate also let me know they also kept the Black Crystal mechanic where getting more of them increases their score value, but it's such a TINY window to collect them before they turn White and shatter that it seems almost counter-intuitive

Thanks, this is good to know. It does feel a bit clunky, but may take some time to get used to.

[Kino]

Anyone else having issues with the PSN leaderboards not updating your score? It's not just me, I saw some Japanese player on Xitter complaining about this yesterday.

There's even some strangeness going on with the local ranking; it only saves the score you had at the end of loop one, regardless of if you go for the second loop. Between this and the glitchy graphics during Tension Mode, that 1.01 patch can't rollout soon enough

[Daygo2Duval]

Enjoying what I've played of this so far, particularly the new mechanics and enemy type variation. Does anyone know how the enemy capture works? I think I did it once, but that was purely accidental.

use the magic button to capture enemies. tap the button to use magic. hold for a second to use capture. the capture shoot button will shoot the captured enemy sort of like a bomb.

[beer gas canister]

Looks like Nintendo issued a Switch 2 update that includes compatibility fixes for High Tension, so it should be more stable now

[Jonpachi]

So I do NOT get how the capture mechanic works. I understand I'm supposed to hold Magic, and then press Capture. In practice, the Magic destroys whatever I'm trying to capture, and it never works. I can't detect anything happening at all when I press it, even in isolation. What is supposed to happen? You have to shoot off a Magic to use Capture? This makes no sense.

[StarLightMoonLight]

Looks like Nintendo issued a Switch 2 update that includes compatibility fixes for High Tension, so it should be more stable now

I haven't gotten the game yet but I'm still seeing reports of the game crashing, mainly from twitter.
https://x.com/Sanappo/status/1953074661656334605
Is Nintendo open to bug-reports for Switch 2 backwards compatibility? I really hope this gets fixed.

[Steven]

I have not figured out the capture mechanic either. Has anyone gotten it to work reliably?

Maybe this should have gotten another or longer delay to fix some of the problems that people seem to be having with this game.

[Jonpachi]

Ok, I spent some time with this one tonight, and I think I understand it now. The explanation someone gave above is close, but it's not worded correctly.

1 - First, you must exhaust all of your Magic stock
2 - Press and HOLD the Magic button
3 - Fairies will start to swirl around you to indicate the capture is ready to fire (there is a cooldown afterward)
4 - Release Magic to shoot off the Fairies and they will capture small enemies they collide with, and bring them back. Each enemy seems to grant a different additional attack.
5 - Once you have an enemy captured, they will stay with you and keep shooting, but you can choose to detonate them by pressing the Capture Shoot button.
6 - You can collect and use additional Magic while you have a captured enemy.

[Kino]

1 - First, you must exhaust all of your Magic stock

Not so, you just have to be mindful of how long you hold the Magic button.

Press magic button = Normal Magic
Hold magic button for a second = Capture
Hold magic button for 2 or more seconds = Fairy Magic

I haven't gotten the game yet but I'm still seeing reports of the game crashing, mainly from twitter.
https://x.com/Sanappo/status/1953074661656334605

The crashes seem to be a Switch-exclusive issue. I was trying to replicate this on the PS4 version, but no dice.

[Jonpachi]

1 - First, you must exhaust all of your Magic stock

Not so, you just have to be mindful of how long you hold the Magic button.

Press magic button = Normal Magic
Hold magic button for a second = Capture
Hold magic button for 2 or more seconds = Fairy Magic

I haven't gotten the game yet but I'm still seeing reports of the game crashing, mainly from twitter.
https://x.com/Sanappo/status/1953074661656334605

The crashes seem to be a Switch-exclusive issue. I was trying to replicate this on the PS4 version, but no dice.

Oh man, that's so much worse. How is there not a dedicated Capture button?

Also, what is Fairy Magic?

Spoiler

I think I kinda hate this game.

[Steven]

Wow.

So... why????????????? Why not have something that actually isn't super weird? You know, like just press the capture button to capture, just like how Cotton 2 did it? I guess I'll have to mess around with it, but this seems needlessly awkward.

[Jonpachi]

I spent a few more sessions with this today, and it's starting to click. There is a subtle animation that plays after a second of holding down the Magic button in which your chosen character raises up their hand and points forward. In that moment, you need to let go of Magic to send out your Fairies to capture an enemy. Hold it for a moment longer, and the Fairies start to swirl for Fairy Magic. It's not great, but I do feel like I will eventually get the muscle memory down for the timing. Playing with sound on feels crucial, as there is a audio cue too.

Overall, the game has infuriatingly bad UX design. For example, on the Title Screen, you have to press X to "unlock" the screen, but then you can press any button to continue to the actual Main Menu. Why is it two buttons just to reveal the menu? Why not just any button? Why not just SHOW the menu?

This is perhaps the fate of a game made by fans who are not seasoned game designers. I'd kill to do a free consultation for them and fix this up. Give me two hours in Unity and I could iron all this bullshit out.

[Steven]

This game feels kind of rushed or something. The visibility's just as poor as last time and possibly even worse at times, the mechanics are weird and/or poorly explained, I think the music is kind of forgettable, and most of the stages are kind of dull (starting to like them more, though) if you play for survival. Lots of "kind of" in there, and still a good game overall despite the flaws, but I think this is my clear least favourite of this new batch of Cotton games so far.

[Kino]

Why not have something that actually isn't super weird? You know, like just press the capture button to capture, just like how Cotton 2 did it?

Except there wasn't a capture button in Cotton 2. To seal enemies, you either had to do a HCB motion at melee range, or hit them with command shots. Boomerang made it so grabs automatically sealed, perhaps you're confusing it with that. Not apples-to-apples anyway, High Tension's mechanic is a full on G Darius enemy capture to increase your firepower, one that you're free to ignore unless you're prioritizing survival play. 2/Boomerang's sealing served an entirely different function.

Also, nothing super weird about Capture & Fairy Magic using the same button at all. There's no guesswork involved, an audio cue will sound when Fairy Magic is ready. If they're going to let you camp on one of the two abilities, it makes much more sense for it to be Fairy Magic, does it not?

This is perhaps the fate of a game made by fans who are not seasoned game designers.

BEEP were just publishers. Most of the development staff had experience working on Trouble Witches prior to this. Several of them were active at Data West since the PC-FX days, and the director got his start making doujin shmups on the X68000. These are seasoned vets we're dealing with.

Overall, the game has infuriatingly bad UX design. For example, on the Title Screen, you have to press X to "unlock" the screen, but then you can press any button to continue to the actual Main Menu. Why is it two buttons just to reveal the menu? Why not just any button? Why not just SHOW the menu?

If the worst critique you have is "it takes two button presses to get to the main menu", I'm surprised you hate it as much as you do.

I think it's an improvement from the OG Reboot, in almost every regard. Overtension adds in a neat risk/reward mechanic (while allowing you to turn the game into a danmaku at your discretion,) no more blackened crystals blocking your shots at inopportune times, no more gigantic "x1024"s obscuring everything in sight, no more stalling on bosses for minutes at a time while you wait for the Hurry Up enemies to spawn... only real complaint I have is it's a bit overlong for a 2-looper, they could've stood to trim certain stages down. While I do slightly prefer Studio Saizensen's vision for where the series should go, this is still a fine addition to the canon IMO.

[Steven]

Was it not that you just press B to grab stuff in Cotton 2? I should go play the game again. It's been several years. It's a nice excuse to go play the Saturn anyway, which I also have not done for some time.

[Jonpachi]

If the worst critique you have is "it takes two button presses to get to the main menu", I'm surprised you hate it as much as you do.

I do seem to remember having some other issues I've clearly stated a few times, here... um...

*check notes*

Oh yeah, the horrible decision to map three key functions to a SINGLE BUTTON. There's no excuse for that mess, regardless of the pedigree the staff has.

Beyond that, the level designs are a mess too, with poor pacing and lots of cheap little gotcha death-traps that reek of amateur growing pains. Visually, it's a noisy miasma of colors and shapes that often just blurs into slot machine eyeball-melting madness; the ratio of "what just killed me?" deaths is very high in this one.They clearly had talented Engineers working on it, as it runs very well for a Switch game and all of the assets look sharp and crisp, but it feels there was no Design Director or Art Director on the project. It's like a bunch of kids stumbled onto some pretty assets and a nice engine and went to work making a bunch of bad decisions that ended up damaging whatever experience they thought they were making.

[Kino]

Oh yeah, the horrible decision to map three key functions to a SINGLE BUTTON.

We all know the difference between tapping a button for a split second, and holding it for multiple seconds, don't we? We can hear that 'alarm' that goes off when Fairy Magic's ready, right? So then there's no ambiguity. I suppose they could've mapped all Capture functions to the 4th button, though I find the solution they went with to still be plenty intuitive.

with poor pacing

Some sections could've stood to be axed, yes.

Visually, it's a noisy miasma of colors and shapes that often just blurs into slot machine eyeball-melting madness

Welcome to the world of danmaku?

the ratio of "what just killed me?" deaths is very high in this one

You'll have to give some examples, because this has not been my experience thus far. I even went back through my replay, and I only observed this phenomenon once, right at the tail end. Every other death it was plain as day what killed me, so yeah, not seeing this 'very high ratio' at all...

[Jonpachi]

Stumbled onto a hidden 1-Up in stage 2 (top right corner on the second set of pistons). Any others we know of?

[Danmaku Dussault]

Ok, I spent some time with this one tonight, and I think I understand it now. The explanation someone gave above is close, but it's not worded correctly.

1 - First, you must exhaust all of your Magic stock
2 - Press and HOLD the Magic button
3 - Fairies will start to swirl around you to indicate the capture is ready to fire (there is a cooldown afterward)
4 - Release Magic to shoot off the Fairies and they will capture small enemies they collide with, and bring them back. Each enemy seems to grant a different additional attack.
5 - Once you have an enemy captured, they will stay with you and keep shooting, but you can choose to detonate them by pressing the Capture Shoot button.
6 - You can collect and use additional Magic while you have a captured enemy.

Thankyou! i bet there is something nasty strategy in time attack for this

[Jonpachi]

Ok, I spent some time with this one tonight, and I think I understand it now. The explanation someone gave above is close, but it's not worded correctly.

1 - First, you must exhaust all of your Magic stock
2 - Press and HOLD the Magic button
3 - Fairies will start to swirl around you to indicate the capture is ready to fire (there is a cooldown afterward)
4 - Release Magic to shoot off the Fairies and they will capture small enemies they collide with, and bring them back. Each enemy seems to grant a different additional attack.
5 - Once you have an enemy captured, they will stay with you and keep shooting, but you can choose to detonate them by pressing the Capture Shoot button.
6 - You can collect and use additional Magic while you have a captured enemy.

Thankyou! i bet there is something nasty strategy in time attack for this

No, I was wrong here and was corrected. I was way off. Reread the replies. I was unclear on the multi-function Magic/Capture button at first.

[StarLightMoonLight]

Marion's update just released today! She's completely free and is playable right off the bat!
The official website for High Tension also has some patch notes, I ran the first note into Google Translate and it said there's 2 hidden extra characters too!
https://www.beep-shop.com/sap/cottonhightension/
Unfortunately, while I was credit-feeding as Marion my Switch 2 crashed, pretty much all drive I had for playing the game is gone now, hopefully we get that Steam release soon!

[thegaminghubby]

Here's the patch notes:

The update file has been released.

Target: Nintendo Switch/PlayStation5/PlayStation4

<The contents included in the update are as follows>

- Marion has been added as a playable character, and two additional hidden characters have been added.
- An invincible period (80f) has been added when casting magic, and a ripple effect that can erase normal bullets has been added.
- Certain spells ('Miracle Magic' and 'Explosion Magic') and capture attacks have been adjusted to make them easier to use and easier to understand visually.
- The behavior and hit detection of a specific boss (stage 6 boss) has been adjusted.
- Special items will now appear when you continue after a game over.
- Effects have been added to some attacks (reflected laser, barrier, charged shot) to make them easier to understand visually.
- Changes and additions have been made to the score display, game over screen, sound effects, etc.
- Minor bugs and gameplay adjustments have been made.

[Jonpachi]

What does that bring the character count to? I had previously unlocked a round witch with glasses and an alternate version of Cotton. If they added 3 more, then we’re at at least 6?

Also,

Hidden 1-Ups
- Stage 2: At the last set of pistons, it’s in between the last two pillars at the top of the screen.
- Stage 3: In the last vertical section, bottom right corner before the screen starts to scroll upward.

Any others?