ST: Ibara Kuro: Black Label

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EOJ
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ST: Ibara Kuro: Black Label

Post by EOJ »

1.0 Introduction
Ibara Kuro: Black Label (henceforth IKBL) was released in February 2006 in the Japanese arcades as a JAMMA PCB.

Basically IKBL is a total overhaul of Ibara, with all new scoring systems, life bars for the bosses, a weapon change bar on the bottom of the screen, a rank gauge at the top middle of the screen, and new (more visible) bullet patterns. Enemy patterns have also changed in some cases, for example the enemy layout in the first half of stage 5 is very different from Ibara. IKBL is also fundamentally different from the PS2 Ibara “Arrange mode”, and it would be a grave error to confuse the two. They are different beasts entirely.

1.1 Controls:
A: shot (slows down ship, makes hitbox visible)
B: bomb (just as in Ibara, hold B when you have at least 1 full bomb to release a Hadou gun)
C: rapid shot
D: weapon change

The A shot is a "search" shot, while the C shot is a "normal" shot. There are no other shot types available in this game.

Any time you are not holding the A shot you suck in all the medals and items which are within a certain proximity to your ship (roughly half the distance of the screen area). The Dio Spirossi ship can suck in items further away than the Silister Similis can.

1.2 Ships
There are two ships: Silister Similis (straight shot) and Dio Spirossi (wide shot). The Dio Spirossi is exclusive to IKBL, it is not found in Ibara or the PS2 Arrange mode. You still select Bond or Dyne as your pilots, but like the original Ibara, Bond can only be used on the 1P side and Dyne is restricted to the 2P side.

Each ship has 4 different shot types (A-D), which vary in their speed, power, and range. Among the two pilots, there are 16 total ship combinations, giving this game a lot of variety. The most popular types seem to be Bond Silister Similis type D, and Bond Dio Spirossi type D.

1.3 Rank Gauge
The rank gauge is at the top of the screen. It increases from green (low rank) to flashing red (max rank). As it increases, the bullet fire of the enemies gets more and more intense. There are two ways to increase the rank gauge: 1)to collect medals and items on the screen (the larger the value of the medal, the faster the rank gauge increases), 2)to destroy sections of the stage bosses. The XTC counter (see below) has no effect on the rank gauge. There are two ways to lower rank: 1)use the Baradise system (see below), or 2) die.

1.4 Extends
Extends are at every 10 million. There is also a 1UP in the stage 4 midboss, exactly the same as Ibara. Each time you die you get an extra full bomb.

2.0 Scoring
There are 3 scoring systems in the game, and they all work together.
These are the Baradise System, the XTC System, and Medal Chaining.

2.1 Baradise system
The Baradise system has a max multiplier of x300. Basically you just bomb enemy fire, or a large structure (like those big factories in Stage 1), and any enemy fire in contact with the bomb will turn into roses which are worth up to x300 their normal value. The only way to get x300 is to have the rank gauge at max (flashing red). Otherwise it will be a value between x1-x299. This scoring system does not give big points by itself (as it does in the PS2 arrange mode), and is used more to clear the screen of bullets and lower rank at some points in the stages, as well as cash in on modest amount of points in the process. As will be explained below, you need to combine this with the XTC counter in order to get big points in the game.

On the bosses, any time you destroy a phase, you automatically cash in on the Baradise multiplier. You do not need to bomb here to do it.

2.2 The XTC System
This is where the big points come in IKBL. XTC stands for “Xtreme Terror Counter”. Your ship has an invisible ring around it, similar in size to the Kakusei ring in Espgaluda. We’ll call this the XTC sphere. This sphere becomes visible when you are holding the A shot and enemy fire passes through it. It does not work when you’re holding the C shot or not holding any button at all (in other words, this is not like bullet scratching in Psyvariar). As the fire passes through the sphere, your counter increases from +1 to a max of +9999. You need to have the rank at or near max to increase this counter quickly, especially when milking the bosses (the sphere is green when the rank is low, and red when the rank is high). Every time you “scratch” a bullet, it adds points to your score. The value of the XTC counter is added to the normal value of each "scratched" bullet. The ultimate purpose of this counter is for it to be used to cash in on the Baradise system. Basically, you bomb a large enemy, or defeat a boss’s form, and the value of the XTC counter is combined with the Baradise multiplier for huge points (you can get almost 15 mil in some spots).

If you stop holding A at any time while building up your XTC counter, it starts to fade. Once it has completely faded away (it takes a few seconds), you have about 1 second to find a bullet to pass through your XTC sphere or your counter is reset to zero. When you die, this counter is normally set to zero as well, but if you start shooting with the A shot immediately after your death and you’re close enough to enemy fire, it is possible to retain the XTC counter’s value and keep building it up. RAM does this on the last boss in his replay on the Ibara superplay DVD. He actually dies a bunch of times, but never loses his XTC counter, as he respawns amidst a ton of enemy fire each time.

Normally when you bomb and “cash in” on the XTC multiplier, the XTC counter is reset to zero, so it’s only profitable to cash in on this multiplier during boss fights and a few times in a stage (after stage 3 it’s better not to cash in at all during a stage, as you get more points from just keeping your XTC counter high throughout the level). There are ways (difficult ways) to get around this, but I’ve only seen this done on the stage 2 boss. Basically you have to have excellent timing and be in the right position just as the second phase of the boss is destroyed. If you do it right you can carry over your +9999 XTC counter to the next phase of the boss, for huge points.

The best weapon to use for optimal XTC counter milking and a fast increase is the machine gun, and sometimes the Gatling (on bosses).

2.3 Medal chaining
This is the third scoring system in the game, and the only one taken from the original Ibara. It’s exactly the same as Ibara, so see that guide for more details. Basically you want to get the medal values up to 10,000 and keep them there throughout the game. The larger the medal value, the faster it fills up your rank gauge.
Last edited by EOJ on Tue Oct 19, 2010 6:31 pm, edited 8 times in total.
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Post by GaijinPunch »

What are the default extends?
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Post by Twiddle »

10mil per.
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Post by EOJ »

Okay, I added the extend info to the guide.
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Post by RotateMe »

I'd really like to watch some footage of Ibara Kuro but there doesn't seem to be any video (or even superplay) online...
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Post by zakk »

RotateMe wrote:I'd really like to watch some footage of Ibara Kuro but there doesn't seem to be any video (or even superplay) online...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mJ-C69RlHE
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Post by RotateMe »

omg he draws stuff towards him!!!

Well thx for the link but I can't really make out other differences than the one stated above (I can clearly see there's this XTC system involved but I don't really see it in action... standard baradising if I watch it)
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Post by EOJ »

I uploaded a 20mil stage 1 vid to super-play.co.uk, hopefully they'll process it and put it up soon. It shows how to use the XTC system and get about 10mil halfway through the first part of the stage, when you "baradise" the first factory. If you don't use the XTC counter but "baradise" the same spot a la PS2 Arrange mode, you only get about 500,000 points. That's a pretty big difference.
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Post by RotateMe »

Thank you Sir!
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Post by EOJ »

zakk wrote:
RotateMe wrote:I'd really like to watch some footage of Ibara Kuro but there doesn't seem to be any video (or even superplay) online...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0mJ-C69RlHE
Make sure to watch the last part of that promo vid to see the importance of the XTC counter. It shows one of the best spots in the game to jack up your XTC counter, which is the first phase of the last boss. Getting it to +9999 there (weaving through the blue bullet hell over and over) is very similar in difficulty and technique to milking Tageri (stage 5 final boss) in Ikaruga down to 1sec. You get a boatload of points if you manage to do it. :wink:
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Post by EOJ »

Okay, I put the 20mil stage 1 replay up on Megaupload:

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=FI9GX06F

So you can download it there if you want it fast. :wink:

The replay is by TGA-RET, by the way. My best at the end of Stage 1 is about 12mil. It's really hard to get close to 20mil.


I played a few more credits today, and got 31 mil at the end of stage 2. :D
That's my best yet going into stage 3--I'm finally getting pretty good at the stage 2 boss milking (still a ways off from RAM though- he ends stage 2 with 78mil). Just need to work on some of the later stages now.
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Post by RotateMe »

Finally watched the video and I have to say I think I love this game. Might it be that the hit-box is a bit smaller or is he just so skilled/lucky to do things I would have died at a 99% lower speed?

Some people say that kuro is a bastardized version of vanilla ibara but I say fuck that, it looks awesome and I really want to play it. Problem is to get a Cabinet and the PCB :oops: ...
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Post by EOJ »

You don't need a cab, just a supergun. You can hook that up to your TV/monitor and play the game (that's what I do).

This game is a lot harder than Ibara Arrange, particularly if you try to score well. That's because you need to fight the bosses and many of the levels at max rank to keep your XTC at a high level.

I don't think the hitbox is any smaller than PS2 Arrange, though it could be. I haven't played PS2 Arrange in about 6 months, so I don't really remember how small it was.

But anyway, I really love the game now. :D I think I've finally understood how brilliant its scoring system is. It's a lot more complex than PS2 Arrange, and requires better dodging skills. Most of the people who dismiss the game have never even played it. So their opinions aren't worth much.

BTW that video shows the Silister Similis ship, which is the straight shot ship you also find in Ibara & Ibara Arrange. There is another ship in this game called the Dio Spirossi which has a wide shot. I prefer that one, it's a lot easier to get through levels 4-6 with that.
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Post by EOJ »

I've been working on the stage 2 boss milking for the past week or so. Today, I finally successfully carried over the 9999 XTC from the second phase of the boss to the third (last) phase!! :D I messed up the end because I had the wrong weapon equipped and couldn't manage to destroy the boss (it timed out), so I ended the stage with 45mil, but I would have had close to 60mil at the end of stage 2 if I would have destroyed him. That's only 18mil less than RAM has at this point in the DVD superplay, so I'm getting closer to his scores. :wink:

So right now, pretty much every time I get a 9000+ XTC on the first phase of this boss, and a 9999 XTC on the second phase. Just have to get more consistent on the 9999 XTC phase 2>phase 3 carry over trick (the timing is just really, really difficult to get right).
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Post by rtw »

EOJ, thank you for that superplay video, goes back to practice :D

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Re: ST: Ibara Kuro: Black Label

Post by Siren2011 »

I've got a quick question regarding milking with the XTC. In this video:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P4nKsjdJDZw

I noticed how he gets an extend (Over 10 fucking million points!) midway through with his counter at 5,667 before he bombs the building and scores really big.

The trouble I'm facing is, I got my counter even higher than his by that point (with max rank as early as after the first small roofed building), and I STILL only got around 5 or 6 million. And I bomb at the exact same place he does, too! Sometimes I just shoot the building to trigger the point explosion.

Can anyone inform me of what you think I might be doing wrong, here? I'm losing sleep over this. At first I thought he just bombed more bullets than I did, so he received more x300 multipliers. That is highly unlikely, but I'm out of ideas. :cry:

Addictive as hell game, though!

NOTE: And yes, I tried bombing the buildings instead of the bullets themselves, but that didn't do the trick, either.

And does his triumphant score have something to do with holding and releasing the A button over and over rather than holding it down and killing more enemies with lock on, so more bullets can be on screen to scratch? Because it seems like his machine gun keeps reverting to its default position. Anyway, I've tried that too. Arg.

It also seems that the more bullets you can fit into that red sphere for a long period of time, the higher and faster your counter soars.
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Re: ST: Ibara Kuro: Black Label

Post by Sir Arthur ahf »

Hello guys,

Just a few questions about stage 2;

- How do you get the first 2 bombs from the 2 first tanks? The first one should be bombing it... but most of the times it doesn't drop it. Also for the second one you have to gun it down before it starts moving... But, again, not all the time it drop the bomb... Any ideas?

- Also after destroying the first phase (Boss 2) my rank gauge drop to zero. In this video (4:20) the player keep it at max after destroying with the burnar... Any tips?


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOQmz7BUeEU

Thanks people!
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Re: ST: Ibara Kuro: Black Label

Post by Plasmo »

I'm not very into Ibara Kuro, but I can try to answer your questions.

1) The tanks give you a big bomb item when you destroy their gun and all of their four wheels at the sides. If you carefully bomb them while hitting them right in the middle, you should be fine.

2) When you destroy certain enemies and bosses they spew out rose items which lower your rank. These get automatically sucked in. To prevent your rank from dropping, you therefore need to evade the rose items. That's not an easy task. The player in the video destroys the first form of the boss when it's very far to the left of the screen and immediately flies to the right to make as much of the rose items disappear offscreen.
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Re: ST: Ibara Kuro: Black Label

Post by Sir Arthur ahf »

Thanks Plasmo!
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Re: ST: Ibara Kuro: Black Label

Post by KAI »

The only way to maintain the max rank when you fight the bosses is destroying the phases when they're not shooting bullets. You are always going to absorb the roses no matter what you do.
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