Ketsui Death Label

[Taylor]

Good review, though the "...the game is structured in such a way as to have almost no appeal to anyone but the most absolutely dedicated shmup devotee." comment wasn't exactly very fair. All genres do that at some point, but you never hear anyone bitch about Etrian Oddysey, eh?

Good point, certainly nobody outside of Japan is going to get a copy of this and be amazed by its hardcore appeal.

Though, I thought they did a good job in this regard. Giving away lives each time you hit game over and unlocking the extra modes anyway if you're not making any progress. It's about accessible as you can make a boss rush (credit feeding and unlocking credits obviously don't apply). It won't go casual but they at least thought of the wider market and did their best to open it up.

[Zeether]

Considering how bad Stuart's rep is I wasn't surprised to see a shitty review from him.

[bcass]

He might have a reputation, but it certainly isn't for bad writing.

[Ghegs]

I tested out the multiplayer modes with BiQ.

Vs. mode was...confusing. You both play through the same stage at the same time and you can see the silhouette of the other player on the other screen. The point of the mode was largely lost on us, as one of us would suddenly die even without getting seemingly hit by anything. I guess you have to keep collecting chips in order to bring the opponents' "life meter" of sorts down which then kills them?

Kizuna mode was mind-boggling. It's co-op with a twist, only one player is in control of the ship at a time. You start whatever course you want and the game changes the active player at steady intervals. So you can be in the middle of a complex pattern, BANG, your time runs out and the next player's in control. Very fun, though. And up to 8 players can be in on this. Would make for some interesting time at a shmupmeet.

[Jockel]

I tested out the multiplayer modes with BiQ.

Vs. mode was...confusing. You both play through the same stage at the same time and you can see the silhouette of the other player on the other screen. The point of the mode was largely lost on us, as one of us would suddenly die even without getting seemingly hit by anything. I guess you have to keep collecting chips in order to bring the opponents' "life meter" of sorts down which then kills them?

It's just about the chips/boxes.
You simply win when you have a certain advantage of boxes (i believe it was 400)
and hold it for a few seconds.
So if nobody shoots anything, the meter won't move a bit.
Of course dying is still a problem, because the time you need to respawn will give your opponent a pretty good chance to get an advantage.

[Frederik]

The contrast settings are very helpful. Even though I have a DS Lite, I switched it to "DS" and while the backgrounds look like everything takes place on a particulary cloudy day, the bullets are much easier to see now, especially during fast patterns like the very fast second one from DOOM.

I don´t envy the people playing this on a fat DS, though. The d-pad might be better, but the significant lack in contrast must make this a real eye-killer

[bcass]

Not having any visibility problems here (playing on original DS).

[complexz]

Are there full run videos of Doom/Extra on Nico yet?

Haha, no. There's this, though.

Also, how do you guys make replays?

this was a great help, gave me a extra live or two to lose on doom anymore similar vids? especially of the more annoying bosses like cinderella amber and evaccaneer.

as for replays just go over to replay mode after you have finished a good play, then pick save and it will save your last played game.

[MrMonkeyMan]

Sphinx - Death Label
Trafalgar - Death Label
Cinderella Amber - Death Label
Death Label Clear
Doom Mode Clear

They're all nicovideo links.

[complexz]

many thanks!

EDIT: all too many "why didn't I think of that!" moments so much help

[professor ganson]

I had no idea this was going to come packed with a DVD. What's on it? (I may not open this til Christmas.)

[Frederik]

Thanks, these help a lot!

Even in the case of the DOOM mode replay which shows me I´ll never, ever be able to do this. The Death Label one, on the other hand, actually gave me hope. Seems like the key to beating Doom there is indeed just having enough lives and squeezing just a couple more shots between bombing and dying in there

[iatneH]

My copy has finally shipped from yesasia. They never were able to source that music CD for me and it was removed from my order.

Also, I have not been able to get this running on my Supercard DS One. Some problem with initializing the save data on first boot.

[8 1/2]

So what's up with the bombs? How do you get four at the start of a stage? Is it just not dying in the previous stage? It must just cap at 4 if that's true because I've certainly gone several days without dying and I didn't get up past 4.

[Frederik]

How do you get four at the start of a stage? Is it just not dying in the previous stage?

Yep. No miss a stage and you get four on the next, die and you´ll only get three. It never goes below or above that.

Oh, and on a sidenote I FINALLY CLEARED DEATH LABEL. Whooo! I´m still shivering a bit. I don´t remember the last time a game made me so nervous. After almost making it two times in a row I trained Evaccaneer a bit more and managed to get to DOOM with 6 lives in stock. That was barely enough

Also, Extra mode is indeed very, very hard. And actually, Ketsui wouldn´t have worked as a full game on the DS - it just feels pretty awkward. It´s also a weird feeling to suddenly have a use for the shot, and having to switch between two speeds.

[8 1/2]

Nice work. I have some weird pride issue that won't let me get up over 10 lives, so I've been training trying to beat DL with only 10 in stock. Why 10? I don't know, I'm nutty that way. Everyday Shooter drove me to stop playing it when I was able to keep buying more lives. I know, I know, score-wise the number of lives doesn't matter, but 20 just feels wrong.

[bcass]

And actually, Ketsui wouldn´t have worked as a full game on the DS - it just feels pretty awkward.

I think a version of the full game would have worked brillianty on the DS. There's nothing wrong with the d-pad (on a fat DS at least). It works a lot better on a hand-held than I first imagined. In fact, it exceeded all my expectations. Everything is very smooth, slowdown where it should be, great controls and perfectly visible graphics/enemies/bullets. True, it would have to be scaled down somewhat from the arcade version, but that doesn't mean it wouldn't have been a lot of fun to play.

[Icarus]

I dunno. I like KDS but I find it really uncomfortable to play for long periods of time, as the DS is quite small and not very comfortable on the hands. The DS d-pad isn't really that precise, either.
If anything, I would have been happy if Death Label was on the PS2, but beggars can't be choosers.

[Style-0]

With 2-3 hours play time, I have some thoughts to share.

If I had time I would have played it a lot more (got the game last Wednesday). Great stuff and a lots of fun!

It is the first game I have played on the lite that make me realize the d-pad isn’t the greatest.

The initial unlocking was a bit exaggerated, I felt like I had unlocked half of the stuff on my first play through. But this may be natural when you’re not getting extras in big chunks.

I missing some sfx, the bosses are almost complete silent giving these action filled and quite detailed scenes an air of barrenness.

Don’t really know what to think of the life adding system although I’m glad it didn’t broke the scoring mechanism (?) I'm still lacking a complete understanding of this though.

I think I would have liked the score to be displayed more visible. I don't know when I would have the time to check it but none the less

[dmauro]

I'm excited to have gotten to the 3rd Doom, but those patterns made it clear I will probably never unlock level five.

[seiatsu]

Sphinx - Death Label
Trafalgar - Death Label
Cinderella Amber - Death Label
Death Label Clear
Doom Mode Clear

They're all nicovideo links.

I found most of those already too except for the full DL replay (the one I care about). Not sure how I missed it but thanks....I will check it out later.

[LaserGun]

The contrast settings are very helpful. Even though I have a DS Lite, I switched it to "DS" and while the backgrounds look like everything takes place on a particulary cloudy day, the bullets are much easier to see now, especially during fast patterns like the very fast second one from DOOM.

That really helped me a lot, it definitely makes the bullets look more dense and it makes the backgrounds darker and less grainy, I tried putting it back to 'DS Lite' after and the screen just looked fuzzy and awful, the bullets were too light and pale too.

[Frederik]

That really helped me a lot, it definitely makes the bullets look more dense and it makes the backgrounds darker and less grainy, I tried putting it back to 'DS Lite' after and the screen just looked fuzzy and awful, the bullets were too light and pale too.

Yeah, going back now everything looks so dull.

[Elixir]

Just confirming once again that this game's scoring system is pure and utter sewage. How anyone is meant to prepare for the full game through this is beyond me.

[jonny5]

My copy has finally shipped from yesasia. They never were able to source that music CD for me and it was removed from my order.

Also, I have not been able to get this running on my Supercard DS One. Some problem with initializing the save data on first boot.

maybe try using somebody elses save file...or just make a txt file and reneme the extension and throw that on the card with it....might work....

had the same problem running it on my buddies r4....couldnt get it to work at all on that

[seiatsu]

Just confirming once again that this game's scoring system is pure and utter sewage. How anyone is meant to prepare for the full game through this is beyond me.

I didn't know it was supposed to be used to prepare for the full game??? I guess that makes perfect sense since this is on the DS and the full game will be on the 360. I mean everyone that has a DS has a 360 too, right?

Silly me for not putting two and two together sooner

[SFKhoa]

Also, I have not been able to get this running on my Supercard DS One. Some problem with initializing the save data on first boot.

Set save type to unknown?

[iatneH]

I'm not too worried about it since I know my copy should be here in a few weeks.

Frederik: you need to try Judgement Silversword.

[Elixir]

I didn't know it was supposed to be used to prepare for the full game???

Now you do.

[bcass]

Sorry, but that sounds like elitist snobbery coming through there. Even if the scoring is different, this is the best Cave bullet-hell practice you can get on a hand-held. The plain fact of the matter is that this is a great little slice of Cave-shmupery.