Compatible emulators

Synopsis

Unlike the majority of Black Label versions of Cave, this version is a profoundly different game from its standard version. Visually, we note the appearance of a rank gauge giving the level of difficulty of the game, life bars of the bosses, a whole bunch of counters that appear on the screen and a circular area around the plane that symbolizes the main change of this version: the scratch area.

The game is now played with 4 buttons:

- the A button becomes the 'Cave style' shot, it slows down the plane, automatically orients the auxiliary modules towards the enemies (giving an impression of power much higher than the classic Ibara) and makes the scratch area appear.
- the B button remains the bomb, with its variant 'Hadou gun' if you hold it and you have a full bomb in stock. Small difference: only the front part of the Hadou (the one that advances) shows bonuses.
- the C button becomes the 'Raizing style' shot, just like in Ibara.
- the button D appears, it allows to change the secondary weapon in progress.

Most of the enemy patterns (and the overall level design) are similar to classic Ibara. There are still some finely modified details such as the first pattern of the second boss which finally becomes negotiable for the common mortals, or the best overall readability of pellets (no fuzzy trails), or the hit box visible during the scratch mode (button A).

Last notable state of the changes compared to Ibara Classic, the tracklist undergoes 3 changes at levels 1, 4 and 5.

Like any self-respecting Black Label, the scroring system is at the heart of the game play. We keep the medals dear to Raizing, except that they can be sucked automatically by the player's plane, allowing more flexibility in movements if we want to keep his chain. Medals begin the optimal scoring mechanics of IKBL:

- Picking up medals raises the rank.
- the rank makes the scratch area grow (it turns red) and enemy shots can flood the screen! Each scratched ball mounts a counter, the XTC (attention the eyes: the eXtreme Terror Counter !!) which can go up to 9999.
- when making a bullet cancel the pellets are converted into roses and the XTC multiplies the value of the roses.
- Picked roses lower the rank and inflate the score.

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