MiSTer FPGA – Cotton: Fantastic Night Dreams (コットン) [1cc] / Sega System 16 Arcade [BETA]

*NOTE* There is some noise in darker purple/grey areas due to YouTube’s re-compression of the original video. Watch at 1080p/60 to keep noise to a minimum, though it’s unfortunately unavoidable in sections like stage 1’s background. Original video/game is completely clean.
Cotton saw a surprise release over Halloween weekend and after getting my ass kicked the first day playing I decided to learn it further, after having already practiced some a year ago with the PC Engine CD version. Took a couple sessions of learning the stages over this past week but I finally was able to record my first 1cc for the game. 64ms turbo fire was used (~15 shots /sec). Almost got through with no deaths, and this was also my first time powering up weapons all the way. I found it’s best to train yourself to not care about the powerups so much, or you will die trying to cycle them in many situations.

I learned during my practice sessions that you can get a special 20k bonus for avoiding all the falling cups in the « Tea Time » sections at the end of each stage. This becomes increasingly difficult later on, as the cups fall faster and in some stages you have less room to maneuver around as well. It’s fun to try for though, and makes those sections much more entertaining!

There is an X68000 version of this game that is said to be a considerable upgrade over the arcade original. Hoping to play that in the near future now that Sorg and Kitrinx are working on the X68000 core together. Not many platforms could boast being better than arcade at times, but X68000 is certainly one of them!

The PC Engine CD/Turbografx-CD also got a port of this, which is an upgrade in the sound department with it’s CD soundtrack and fully voiced cutscenes (*JP version only!*)
It also sports a modified palette and additional animation frames for some enemies. The PC Engine version is easier (besides the St.6 boss fight!) with less enemies/shots on screen and lower HP for many enemies.

My previous video (1 credit to stage 5 boss) for the PC Engine CD version of Cotton:

Turbo fire can slow down the game quite a bit at sections, especially with higher rates of fire. I’m not sure how much this was an issue in the arcade original since it didn’t have turbo buttons. There is also some graphical glitching in the wavy fog background of stage two that I doubt was this noisy-looking in the original PCB. The Sega System 16 core is in beta currently, so it’s expected that not everything is 100% perfect on first release.

Sega System 16 beta core by Jotego. You can support his efforts to bring arcade classics to MiSTer at his patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/topapate

—

Sega System 16 beta core 10-29-2021 build – Cotton: Fantastic Night Dreams (コットン)

1cc. Final Score: 727,260

Filter: Scanlines(Bright)110_85_soft // Gamma: Poly 2.3

Played using a Hori Real Arcade Pro VX-SA (with Seimitsu LS-62 lever) arcade stick & 1ms USB polling.
64ms turbo fire used (~15 shots/sec)

Video: Integer scaled to 1080p // HDMI to Datapath e1s capture card

Volume reduced 57% (Very loud game!)

—

|:=-Timestamps-=:|
00:00​​ – Boot
00:18​​ – Title / Demo / Intro
02:51 – Stage 1
06:04 – Stage 2
09:59 – Stage 3
14:34 – Stage 4
18:44 – Stage 5
22:49 – Stage 6
27:29 – Boss & Ending

—

Occasional livestreams on Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/WalrusFPGA

Twitter: https://twitter.com/WalrusFPGA

=—————CONTRIBUTE—————=

None of this would be possible without the constant hard work of Sorgelig. It cannot be overstated how much he has done and continues to do for this project, since its beginning. You can support him either at his Patreon in the link below, or on Paypal depending on your preference. MiSTer is a paradigm shift in how we can experience these classic games. This is a long-term preservation project that will continue to grow so that gamers today and in the future can experience these excellent systems as accurately and lag-free as possible. Donating what you can will help keep the updates coming. Thank you.

Patreon: https://patreon.com/FPGAMiSTer

PayPal: https://paypal.me/FPGAMiSTer

=—————–INFORM—————–=

Github link for this core: https://github.com/jotego/jtcps1

MiSTer Forum/Wiki/Github (source, guides and info): http://MiSTerFPGA.org

Official MiSTer Discord for live chat/help: https://discord.gg/4xKVg4XVYn
(Be respectful; this server is moderated. New users must be verified.)

=——————BUILD——————=

Worldwide list of sellers for MiSTer expansion boards: https://misterfpga.org/viewforum.php?f=34&sid=74e1c5e7dae1b99284789d93194cfa0b

I have personally ordered all my parts from https://www.MiSTerAddons.com and have been 100% satisfied with the quality and service there. (North American seller. Different region? Check list linked above for best local shipping rates.)

source