Nintendo Switch Cotton 2 : Magical Night Dreams (APPLI) / 닌텐도 스위치 코튼 2 : 매지컬 나이트 드림즈 (어플리) / コットン 2
3코튼 2: 매지컬 나이트 드림즈
《코튼 2: 매지컬 나이트 드림즈》는 석세스가 제작한 아케이드 진행형 슈팅 게임이다.. 《코튼》 시리즈의 네 번째 게임으로, 세가의 ST-V 아케이드 기판으로 개발돼 1997년 11월 일본서 출시됐으며 이후 가정용 이식판이 세가 새턴으로 출시됐다.
주인공 커튼과 라이벌 어플리 둘 중 하나를 조종해 펌킨 왕국의 사탕 '블루워터 윌로'를 되찾아오는 것이 주이야기로, 게임플레이는 첫 번째 게임 《코튼: 판타스틱 나이트 드림즈》에 기반하고 있으나 커맨드를 입력해 특수 샷이나 마법을 사용할 수 있는 것이 특징이다.
1998년 9월, 이 게임의 스테이지와 게임플레이 시스템을 변주한 재발매판 《코튼 부메랑》이 아케이드와 세가 새턴으로 출시됐다. 플레이어에게 체력이 존재하던 《코튼 2》와 달리 한 번에 바로 사망하는 캐릭터 3명을 사용하고 점수 시스템이 달라지는 등 많은 차이점들이 존재한다.
2021년 9월에 세가 새턴판 《코튼 2》 및 《코튼 부메랑》, 그리고 석세스의 종스크롤 슈팅 게임 《가디언 포스》 세 작품이 모두 수록된 합본 《코튼 가디언 포스 새턴 트리뷰트》가 닌텐도 스위치, 플레이스테이션 4와 마이크로소프트 윈도우로 발매됐다.
Cotton 2: Magical Night Dreams
Cotton 2: Magical Night Dreams[a] is a 1997 scrolling shooter arcade video game developed by Success and published by Tecmo.[1][2][3] The fourth installment in the Cotton franchise, it is the arcade sequel to Cotton: Fantastic Night Dreams. In the game, players assume the role of either the titular young witch or her rival Appli who, alongside their companions Silk and Needle, sets out on a quest to defeat several monsters and retrieve the missing "Bluewater Willow" candy to Pumpkin Kingdom. Its gameplay is similar to the first game, consisting of shooting mixed with fighting and role-playing game-esque elements using a main three-button configuration. It ran on the ST-V hardware.
Headed by Takato Yoshinari, Cotton 2 was developed by members at Success who previously worked on the original Cotton. The game was later ported to Sega Saturn. In 1998, a remixed arcade edition titled Cotton Boomerang: Magical Night Dreams was released by Tecmo with additional characters, new gameplay and scoring systems, as well as altered stage and visuals. Both Cotton 2 and Cotton Boomerang were met with positive reception from critics, most of which reviewed them as import titles, since their release on Saturn for being faithful conversions of the arcade originals.
Gameplay
Cotton 2: Magical Night Dreams is a scrolling shooter game similar to Cotton: Fantastic Night Dreams where players assume the role of young witch Cotton or her rival Appil who alongside their companions, the fairy Silk and the hat Needle, travel across seven increasingly difficult stages through a magical dream-like world on a quest to defeat several monsters and retrieve the missing "Bluewater Willow" candy to Pumpkin Kingdom.
Like its predecessor, the players must blast various monsters and avoid being shot while collecting elemental crystal power-ups to enhance Cotton and Appli's firepower respectively in a similar manner as Soldier Blade to unleash powerful magic spells on enemies. The color of these crystals can be changed by shooting at them and they also determines the element of Cotton and Appli's primary shot but deploying these crystals for a magic spell decreases the firepower of each character. The game incorporates some role-playing game elements as with the original Cotton, as players are able to level up their attack up to 5 levels, but excluded gameplay mechanics in the sequel are the charge attacks and fairy abilities.
New to Cotton 2 are the introduction of a lifebar for each character to sustain multiple enemy hits and fighting game elements, as players can perform "command" shots by executing a combination of directional and button-based commands to fire in multiple directions, as well as pick up enemies and their shots to throw them around to destroy other enemies by performing one of the "command" shots to seal them into an orb and pick trapped enemies to use them as shield. The orb behaves differently based on the currently equipped elemental magic, while keeping it on-screen and scoring chain combos is crucial to reach high-scores, as it grant points by turning into a bubble depending on the number of defeated enemies after falling off-screen or hitting a strong enemy. Players can also shoot the orb to reveal health items.