Ibara Kuro: Black Label

Ibara is very similar to 8ing/Raizing’s Battle Garegga and Battle Bakraid games.So much so that Ibara could be considered a pseudo-sequel or, at least, a spiritual successor. The similarities are numerous – some are subtle, some are easily spotted. These include combining archaic technology such as biplanes with more advanced machinery; firing and power-up system; and a medal collecting system which drastically increases scoring. The game features a similar method of earning bombs and a delay when launching them as well.

A notable feature of Ibara is the inclusion of a variable, real-time difficulty system by way of the Rank system. The player’s rank increases as they acquire more items and cause more damage, increasing the difficulty of the game along with it. The number of enemies does not increase but the number of bullets fired towards the user does, often reaching a ridiculous level of bullet density.

There are ways of lowering this rank system if the odds appear too much. The only known way of decreasing the player’s Rank in Ibara is to die. The more lives you have, the less the rank decreases when you die.

In this later version, Ibara Kuro: Black Label, Rank can be decreased by cancelling bullets with a bomb, however Rank also increases much faster in this version, potentially increasing from minimum to maximum in a matter of seconds.