Rainbow Cotton

Rainbow Cotton
Developer: Success Publisher: Success Platform: Dreamcast Released in JP: January 20, 2000 This game has unused graphics. This game has hidden bonus content.

Oh dear, I do believe I have the vapors. This page contains content that is not safe for work or other locations with the potential for personal embarrassment. Such as: Somewhat suggestive loading screen of a Japanese woman.

...But what does it mean? This game has text or audio that needs to be translated. If you are fluent with this language, please read our translation guidelines and then submit a translation! Notes: Transcription for the CD warning skit.

Rainbow Cotton is the first game in the series to explore real-time 3D and fully animated cutscenes, with the game now utilizing a multiple path-based rail shooter system. This time, after a mysterious demon heist draws Queen Velvet's suspicions, Silk and Cotton team up again and embark on what could charitably be called an adventure for Willows, but could realistically be described as a killing spree. With a running time of 20 minutes, Rainbow Cotton can best be described as a comedic slasher OVA tacked onto a video game. Of course, the more interesting story is what happened to the game itself.

First announced as "Panorama Cotton 2" in 1999, Rainbow had a considerably troubled development as the game's team were significantly understaffed. According to published anecdotes in the COTTON Original Soundtrack booklet, production of the game was known to have been incredibly hectic. The simple act of even working on the game was hampered with the fact that Success didn't actually have a Dreamcast development kit until that year's Spring. Even in magazine previews, changes were visible two months before the game's release.

Even the aforementioned cutscenes were affected by the poor schedule and lack of staff; one single man was responsible for all of the cutscenes and character designs, while also having to create music for one cutscene himself! Datamining the game's files raise quite a few eyebrows; inconsistent texture sizes and poor optimization practices are abundant, the number of audio files that the fairy talk feature uses range in the near hundreds, and the game being mastered weeks before its intended December launch.

Rainbow Cotton would be released to the new millennium to mixed reception. Even for Cotton standards, the response was considerably muted; most reviews were actually from importers rather than Japanese magazines. This would be the last major Cotton game for two decades, until the surprise release of Cotton Rock 'n' Roll. Following that game's resurrection of the Cotton series, Rainbow would later be remastered for modern platforms.

Hidden Wallpapers

By inserting the CD in a computer, there is an EXTRA folder where you can access several wallpapers in JPG format. Notably, all copyrights are 1999, suggesting that the 2000 date on the title screen was a late modification. This lines up with the GD-ROM header of the game, giving a master date of December 1, 1999.

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  Powerful Foe, Robomagu *whooooosh* *whoooooosh*

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  Rainbow Cotton in hiragana.

0GDTEX.PVR/Unused Run Mode

Most Dreamcast games reserve a texture for when the player doesn't start the game and instead plays the game as an audio CD. This unassuming texture wouldn't be of note, if it wasn't for the specific 3D image of Cotton used. This image of Cotton running is only used once in the actual game (it's in one of the hard-to-see loading screens, seen here).

It was initially assumed to be just a regular pose, but this is actually a leftover from when Cotton was initially going to run on foot a la Sin and Punishment. Remnants of said mode have since been discovered by Andreas Scholl, one of the developers for the 2024 remaster. According to Scholl, the run mode was first discovered by him during the development of the remaster.

Additionally, some Dreamcast games have special warnings for the player after playing the disc as an audio CD. This leads us to...

CD Warning Track

If placed into a CD player, the disc will play the below audio skit featuring most of the game's voice actors. Unusually, it lasts three minutes.

Unused Loading Screen

Hidden in the archive LOAD00.PVM is a photo of Japanese actress Yūka in lingerie, with the standard loading screen text. Likely a placeholder image that the devs forgot to remove.