Cotton Boomerang (1998)

Developer: Success
Publisher: Tecmo, Success
Platforms: Arcade, Sega Saturn
Genres: Shooter, Arcade

The 3D catalog: game boxes on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalog in 3D

The same catalog has a room you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real games from it when you tell them what you feel like playing. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this game is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

More games like this

How it feels

A frantic witch-themed shoot-em-up with tag-team characters and one-hit-kill tension wrapped in comic fantasy charm.

whimsicalfast-pacedarcade-stylefantasycutebullet-hell

About

A followup game to Cotton 2, Cotton Boomerang uses the same graphics, sound and enemies, but slightly different gameplay. Gone are the lifebars, now you have one-hit kills (similar to the very first episode). Gone are the extra lives, instead you have 3 chosen characters, tag-team style. Gone is the experience-based level system, leveling up now depends on bonus items during the game. Gone are the special, full-screen Magic attacks, instead you have an instant smart-bomb when you change into a different character in-game. Gone are the powerup-dependant magic attacks, now each character has his/her own magic attack by default. The characters are also equipped with secondary attacks to make their shooting style more distinctive from each other. And to top that, you have plenty of new moves, counterattacks, powerups, and key combinations to use. Whereas Cotton 2 was more of a tactical shooter (whenever that is applicable to the game) with its chain combo and life/experience system, Cotton Boomerang is an all-out shooter due to the added moves, different level layout, and generally faster and crazier gameplay.

Screenshots

More games like this

More by Success

This page is from Underplayed Gems, a catalog of older and overlooked games. Not quite it? You can browse by platform and genre, or take this one into the 3D catalog and ask the Catbot for something closer.