Ibara
Ibara title screen
Developer: | CAVE |
---|---|
Music: | Shinji Hosoe |
Program: | Shinobu Yagawa |
Art: | Tomoyuki Kotani |
Release date: | Arcade JP: July 15, 2005 PlayStation 2 JP: February 23, 2006 |
Next game: | Pink Sweets: Ibara Sorekara |
Contents
Ibara 鋳薔薇
For world record scores, please refer to the Hall of Records entry.
For information about the Black Label version, please refer to Ibara Kuro: Black Label.
Gameplay Overview
(ED: Someone just copied from Wikipedia for this, lol. This is really bad and will be improved in due time. In the meantime, even though I hate it, it's probably still better than no introduction)
Ibara (鋳薔薇) 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 a 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. Some of the enemies and their attack patterns are very familiar such as the large cranes in stage 1 and the minigun-wielding first boss. The enemy's explosions spiral around when destroying some of the heavier weapons/scenery and thin, while seemingly camouflaged enemy bullets are scattered around the play area in comparable patterns. More subtle references include the HUD layout which lists the name of the current stage at the top of the screen and, when starting a stage, tells users the title of the background music that is playing.
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 the 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.
Screen Elements
HUD
Ibara's HUD layout is relatively simple compared to other CAVE titles, and should be very familiar to players of other Yagawa games, such as Battle Garegga.
The HUD shows the current score, Life Stock, Full Bomb Stock, and Bomb Fragment Stock for both Players, along with the name of the current Stage and the top score from the score table.* The two Player HUD layouts are mirror images of each other. If only one Player is currently in-game, the other half of the HUD will be hidden. The HUD image shown here displays the Player 1 configuration, and highlights the screen regions where the Player 2 elements would be displayed if they were present.
A | Player 1 Life Stock |
B | Player 1 Score |
C | Player 1 Full Bomb Stock |
D | Player 1 Bomb Fragment Stock |
E | Current Stage name |
F | Highest score on the score table* |
G | Player 2 Score |
H | Player 2 Life Stock |
I | Player 2 Bomb Fragment Stock |
J | Player 2 Full Bomb Stock |
*On the PCB, Ibara's score table can be configured to save scores indefinitely or reset them every time the game is powered off. Without knowing the machine configuration, it is impossible to know whether the TOP score represents an all-time high score for this machine, or simply the highest score that has been achieved this power cycle.
Scrolling
Ibara is a vertically scrolling shooter, so the background and 'ground level' stage elements are constantly scrolling from top to bottom. The rate of this scroll is mostly constant, though in some specific areas (notably, the boss arenas of Stage 5 and 6) the scroll speed slows down or stops completely.
However, Ibara, like many other CAVE games, also features a horizontal scroll. As the Player moves left and right across the screen, the background layer (and thus, 'grounded' enemies, items, and stage elements) will also move slightly. The background scrolls much slower horizontally than the Player's movement speed, which creates a parallax effect.
At any given time, the horizontal scrolling creates a 'viewport' that is approximately 75% (3/4) of the actual stage width. This is an important concept to understand, because enemy and item spawns are based on stage position, not screen position.
Dead Zones
Ibara has several screen regions that have a mechanical impact on gameplay by reducing enemy damage or item drops. These are known as dead zones.
There are two different kinds of dead zones in Ibara:
No Damage Zone | Enemies or stage elements within these areas will not take damage while they are inside the dead zone.* |
No Item Zone | Airborne enemies defeated within these areas will not drop items.** |
As a general rule, the very top and bottom edges of the screen (below the HUD elements) are No Damage Zones.
The No Item Zones are on the left and right edges of the screen, and are less easily identifiable. There is, however, a visual cue that can be used when trying to find the No Item Zones. Aligning the center of a left slot Option with the left edge of the screen, or vice-versa, should position the Player on the border of the No Item dead zone.
*It is not currently known whether all damage is negated within these zones, or simply greatly reduced. There is some evidence to suggest damage is still taken by enemies within these regions, albeit at a drastically reduced rate.
**This applies specifically to small airborne enemies that would drop according to the Item Drop Table; larger airborne enemies like the Stage 4 airships appear to be unaffected.
Controls
Control Explanation
Ibara uses only two primary buttons and an 8-direction joystick in gameplay. Each button can fulfill multiple functions based on how it is pressed or released, which can be a bit confusing for new players.
Joystick | Movement. |
A (Tap) | Fire a short burst from the Main Shot and any Options. While tapping, Options will not lock in position, and will change their angle based on movement. By rapidly tapping and then holding A, the autofire rate can be increased. Autofire rate will remain elevated until the next death. |
A (Hold) | Continuously fire the Main Shot and any Options. While the button is held, Options may lock and hold a fixed angle. Which Options will lock, if any, is based on what Ship Type is selected. |
B (Tap) | Use a Bomb if at least one Bomb Fragment is in stock. |
B (Hold) | If you have at least one Full Bomb in stock, holding the B button will 'Arm' a Hadou. A Hadou will remain Armed until the button is released. |
B (Release) | If you have an Armed Hadou, releasing the B button will cause the Hadou to fire. |
Start | Begin the game or Continue after a Game Over. While in game, removes any Special Option formations the Player may have collected. |
Movestrips
Custom English movestrip created by Emphatic.
Ships
Weapons
Main Shot
The Main Shot is fired by pressing or holding the A button. The Main Shot has a built-in autofire system that will fire continuously when the button is held down. Similar to Battle Garegga, rapidly pressing and then holding the Main Shot button will increase this autofire rate; however, unlike in Garegga, raising the autofire in this way does not have a known multiplicative effect on per-frame rank. Any elevated autofire rate will be reset upon death, but can be raised again in the same way.
Though the Main Shot itself behaves the same when tapping or holding the A button, holding the button down may trigger Options to lock depending on what Ship Type was chosen at the start of the game.
The strength and spread of the Main Shot is influenced by the Ship Type chosen, and by the Power-Up system. Again similar to Battle Garegga, there are both small and large Power-Up items; as the level of the Main Shot increases, the amount of Small Power-Ups needed to raise the Shot strength to the next level also rises.
(ED: Add images showing the Main Shot at different power levels and/or with different ship types)
Options
The Player can have up to three Options in Ibara; one Option can be placed on either side of the Player ship, with the third in the rear. Options fire automatically every time the Main Shot fires, and cannot be used independently of the Main Shot. Increases in the Main Shot fire rate will also increase the fire rate of Options, though the relationship is not 1:1. Depending on the Ship Type chosen by the Player, one or more Options may be 'lockable', and will hold their current angle when the Main Shot button is held down. Options are collected in the form of items, and are not directly linked to the main Power Up system used for the Main Shot. There are seven different Option weapons that can be collected, and each of the three mounted Options may use a different weapon type.
Option Slots
Options can occupy three different logical slots:
- Left of the Player Ship
- Right of the Player Ship
- Behind the Player Ship
Depending on where on the Player's item collection hitbox a new Option is collected, and how many Options the Player currently has equipped, a newly collected Option may occupy a different Slot.
Prior to having all three Option slots populated, any Option picked up will be used to 'fill up' open slots, regardless of where on the Player ship the Option item is collected. However, once the Player has all three Options, the position on the Player ship where an Option is collected will influence where the new Option will try to mount. A newly collected Option that tries to replace a mounted Option of the same type, in the same position, will contribute 10,000 points to the score.
For example, if the Player already has a single Option in the right position and collects a Machine Gun on the right side, it will be automatically assigned to the left or rear Option slots. However, if the Player already has three Options, the Machine Gun will try to mount on the right side. If the existing Option mounted to the right position is already a Machine Gun, and the Player already has three Options, the Player will gain 10,000 points instead.
(ED: Add images to explain the Option positions and collection mechanics.)
Special Option Formations
Ibara also has several special Option Formations that can be obtained by fulfilling certain conditions. These special formations change the aiming and movement behavior of the Options. They may or may not be useful depending on the current situation. If a Special formation is no longer of use to the Player, it can be canceled by pressing the Start button (see Controls for more details).
When a Special Option Formation is collected, it will change the behavior of all currently equipped Options. However, when a new Option is equipped, it will not 'inherit' the special behavior. For example, if the Player collects Wide with three Machine Guns, and then changes one of their options to a Rocket, the Rocket will not have the Wide behavior.
(ED: Add images to show the different Special Option Formations)
Formation | How to Obtain | Description |
---|---|---|
Wide | Pick up 5 consecutive Option items, then pick up the next Option item. | Left and Right Options angle dramatically outwards and will no longer rotate, regardless of Ship Type. Rear Option points forward. Generally not very useful; normal Option behavior is usually better in all situations. With 3x 5-Way Options it produces amazing screen coverage, however. |
Search | Pick up 5 consecutive Bomb Fragments, then pick up the next Option item. | Options will aim at enemies automatically, and remain 'locked on' without Player intervention. Extremely useful at the final section of Stage 4, and easy to set up by collecting bomb fragments from the large enemy airships before picking up the Rocket they drop. However, it is sometimes detrimental, since it removes the ability to target specific enemies or boss parts. |
Rolling | Pick up 5 consecutive Medals, then pick up the next Option item. | Options rotate continuously while firing. Currently has no known practical applications. |
Back | Pick up 5 consecutive small Shot Power Ups, then pick up the next Option item. | Options point backwards instead of forwards. Currently has no known practical applications. |
Option Types
Below is a table describing the different Option weapon types that are available in Ibara. Note that weapon 'availability' is used to describe consistent drops; there are some enemy types (notably, fixed turrets) that can spawn with random weapons, so their drops may vary between runs. For the purposes of clarity and utility as a reference, this table indicates only drops that are consistent between runs regardless of enemy RNG.
Bombs
Hadou Gun
Aura Flash
Aura Flash is a tiny 'flash' around the Player ship that will appear when you Bomb, Power Up to the next full power level for the Main Shot, gain a new or different Option, build a full bomb, or ready a Hadou. The Aura effect is represented by a ring around the Player that persists for a few frames and grows slightly before fading. The Aura Flash makes the Player briefly invulnerable, cancels a very small ring of bullets around the player, and does a huge amount of damage, but it lasts an incredibly short time and has miniscule range.
Aura Flash counts as 'Bomb' type damage for the purposes of destroying enemies or scenery, so can be used in some situations for scoring purposes or to trigger certain drops. It can also be utilized in conjunction with invulnerability after respawning to 'aggressively suicide' and use the Aura Flash damage from collecting Options to deal heavy damage to Bosses and large enemies; this technique will be explained in more detail in the Strategy section.
Items
Item Drop Table
(ED: Under construction)
Bomb Items
(ED: Verify point values)
* These are 'surplus bonuses'; the point value is only applied if the item is collected while the Player is already at maximum Bomb Stock (4 full Bombs + 40 Fragments).
Shot Power Ups
(ED: Verify point values)
Icon | Point Value* | Description |
---|---|---|
100 | Small Shot Power Up Dropped by enemies based on the Item Drop Table Increments the Player's Main Shot power by one 'tick'. Depending on the current Shot level, it may take multiple Small Shot Power Ups to raise the shot strength to the next level. | |
1,000 | Full Shot Power Up Dropped by enemies based on the Item Drop Table, or by the Player when losing a life Increments the Player's Main Shot power by one full power level. |
* These are 'surplus bonuses'; the point value is only applied if the item is collected while the Player is already at maximum Main Shot power level.
Options
All Option items give a 'surplus bonus' of 10,000 Points if the Player has three equipped Options and an identical Option is equipped in the 'slot' that the newly collected Option would occupy.
For example, if a Player already has a Rocket, a 5-Way, and a Machine Gun, collecting a new Machine Gun would contribute 10,000 Points to the score if and only if the new Machine Gun would be 'equipped' to the same location as the existing Machine Gun.
For a more detailed explanation of Option slots, and how they interact with the surplus score bonus for Option collection, refer to Option Slots.
For a list of Option Types and information about their usage and availability, refer to Option Types.
Rose Items
Rose Items are created when canceling enemy bullets with a Hadou explosion or trail, or with the explosion from a Player death animation. They can be collected for a small amount of extra score.
Icon | ||||
Value (Points) | 100 | 200 | 400 | 800 |
Point Medals
Point Medals are dropped by enemies based on the Item Drop Table, or through fulfilling certain special conditions. They are the primary source of score in the game, and can be collected for points.
Initially, the value of Medals is set at only 100 points. By collecting every Medal currently on the screen, the value of the next Medal to drop will rise to the next value above the most recently collected Medal. This 'chain' of Medals can eventually increase up to 10,000 points per Medal. Medal value will reset to 100 points if a Medal falls off the edge of the screen (or, rarely, when it otherwise despawns).
It is possible to 'rescue' a dropped Medal chain by collecting a medal of a higher value. For example, if a 10,000 point medal is on the ground, but the Player misses a Medal dropped from an airborne enemy, collecting the 10,000 point Medal on the ground before it scrolls off the screen will maintain the Medal chain at 10,000 points. This will work even if the Player collects a lower value Medal; in the same hypothetical scenario, if the Player collects a 100 point Medal, then a 10,000 point Medal, the chain value will still rise to 10,000 points - provided there were no other Medals lower than 10,000 points in value on the screen.
From 100 to 900 points, medals increase in value by 100 points each:
Icon | |||||||||
Value (Points) | 100 | 200 | 300 | 400 | 500 | 600 | 700 | 800 | 900 |
From 1,000 to 10,000 points, medals increase in value by 1,000 points each:
Icon | ||||||||||
Value (Points) | 1,000 | 2,000 | 3,000 | 4,000 | 5,000 | 6,000 | 7,000 | 8,000 | 9,000 | 10,000 |
Rank
Rank System Overview
Ibara features a dynamic difficulty, or "Rank" system similar to that found in Battle Garegga. Most actions taken by the Player will increase the Rank, which also continuously rises with every frame of play time. The only known way to decrease the Rank is to die, either by accident or with planned suicides.
Almost every action taken in the game will increase the Rank:
- Firing a bullet from the main weapon or Options
- Collecting an item (all items, including Power-Ups, Options, Medals, and even the 1-UP item, will increase Rank)
- Using a Bomb or Hadou
- Sealing enemy bullets
Ibara's Rank system is quite complex, but there are a few basic principles that can help new players:
- The Rank will decrease more if you die with fewer lives in stock. In other words, if you have only 1 spare life and die (thus leaving you with 0 stock), it will decrease the difficulty twice as much as if you died with 2 lives in stock.
- Partial Bombs will increase rank more rapidly than Full Bombs.
- The Hadou Gun will increase rank even more rapidly than either kind of Bomb.
- Collecting Power-Up and Option items will always increase Rank, even if the items do not impart a change to the Player (IE: collecting Power-Up items while at full shot strength will still raise rank).
- Raising your autofire rate does not affect the per-frame Rank; however, since you are firing bullets more rapidly, it does still affect the rate at which Rank will build over time.
Rank System In-Depth
Rank value is stored internally as a hexadecimal value, which is actually 'inverted' compared to the Player's experience of it - as this value decreases, the game gets harder. Because it is more consistent with the user experience, it is customary to refer to the increase in game difficulty as 'increasing the Rank', even though that is not technically accurate to the internal implementation.
Settings
There are two separate settings determining the rank in Ibara. Difficulty 1 determines only the starting rank and has no further effect on the gameplay. After the player has started a run, the rank is then gradually increasing determined by difficulty 2, which is the per frame rank increase.
Depending on the number of runs played during one continuous session, the starting rank will gradually increase. Starting rank can be reset either by entering the test menu or by powering down the PCB. The values in the table below are taken from the first run after powering up the PCB.
Difficulty 1 (starting rank) | Decimal | Hexadecimal |
---|---|---|
Easy | 15,204,352 | E80,000 |
Normal [default] | 14,680,064 | E00,000 |
Hard | 14,155,776 | D80,000 |
Very Hard | 13,631,488 | D00,000 |
Super Hard | 13,107,200 | C80,000 |
Unbelievable | 12,582,912 | C00,000 |
Difficulty 2 (per frame rank) | ||
Slow | 12 | C |
Medium [default] | 16 | 10 |
Fast | 20 | 14 |
Very Fast | 24 | 18 |
Maximum Fast | 28 | 1C |
Unforgettable | 32 | 20 |
Notes:
- Rank maxes out at 00,000,000 (000,000 in hex) regardless of the difficulty settings.
- Starting rank for Harder mode is 8,808,032 (866,660 in hex) on default settings.
- Starting rank for Extended mode is the same as on Normal mode on default settings.
Miscellaneous Actions
Rank is influenced by certain actions of the player, e.g. firing your Shot or picking up an item. All of the actions that have an effect on rank are listed in the tables below. Even though, an increase in difficulty is actually measured by a decreasing rank counter, the numbers below are listed as if the rank counter would count up. This is simply to make things easier to follow.
Action | Rank increase in decimal | Rank increase in hexadecimal |
---|---|---|
Death from 1 life > 0 lives | -2,097,152 | -200,000 |
Death from 2 lives > 1 life | -1,048,576 | -100,000 |
Death from 3 lives > 2 lives | -524,288 | -80,000 |
Death from 4 lives > 3 lives | -262,144 | -40,000 |
Death from 5 lives > 4 lives | -131,072 | -20,000 |
Seal a bullet | 4,096 | 1,000 |
Notes:
- Cancelling bullets turning them into rose items has no effect on rank.
- Grazing enemy bullets has no effect on rank.
Item Collection
Item | Rank increase in decimal | Rank increase in hexadecimal |
---|---|---|
100~900 Medals | 256 | 100 |
1,000~9,000 Medals | 1,024 | 400 |
10,000 Medal | 4,096 | 1,000 |
100pt. Rose Item | 256 | 100 |
200pt. Rose Item | 512 | 200 |
400pt. Rose Item | 768 | 300 |
800pt. Rose Item | 1,024 | 400 |
Shot Power Up (small) | 4,096 | 1,000 |
Shot Power Up (large) | 65,536 | 10,000 |
Bomb Item (small) | 8,192 | 2,000 |
Bomb Item (large) | 131,072 | 20,000 |
Option Item | 65,536 | 10,000 |
1-Up Item | 524,288 | 80,000 |
Notes:
- Dropping a medal has no effect on rank.
- Collecting excess items for score has no additional effect on rank.
- Powering up with with a Shot Power Up (small or large) has no effect on rank.
- Reaching the next full bomb with a Bomb Item (small or large) has no effect on rank.
- Triggering any of the Special Options has no effect on rank.
Attacks
Attack (per full burst) | Rank increase in decimal | Rank increase in hexadecimal |
---|---|---|
Regular Shot (Shot Level 0~2) | 30 | 1E |
Regular Shot (Shot Level 3) | 40 | 28 |
Regular Shot (Shot Level 4~5 and Special) | 50 | 32 |
Machine Gun | 15 | F |
5-Way | 75 | 4B |
Gatling | 15 | F |
Homing | 40 | 28 |
Rocket | 100 | 64 |
Burner | 32 | 20 |
Napalm | 50 | 32 |
Bomb (fragment) | 20,480 | 5,000 |
Bomb (full) | 8,192 | 2,000 |
Activating a Hadou Gun | 69,632 | 11,000 |
Notes:
- The values for Regular Shot have been tested for Dyne (A). They may or may not differ for Bond and the different sub types.
- While activating a Hadou Gun has an effect on rank as indicated, actually releasing it has no effect on rank.
Scoring
For world record scores, please refer to the Hall of Records entry.
Strategy
Development
Programmer Shinobu Yagawa previously worked on the games Recca, Battle Garegga, Armed Police Batrider, and Battle Bakraid. Ibara has much more in common with these games than with much of Cave's other releases, many of which were primarily developed by Tsuneki Ikeda.
During the development of Ibara, Yagawa was allegedly instructed to remake 'that game' - a veiled reference to Battle Garegga.(ED: needs sourcing!)
Release
The game was released in arcades in July 15, 2005, and it was released on the PlayStation 2 on February 23, 2006.
To remedy some of the concerns fans had with the original version of the game, Cave released an updated version in limited distribution called Ibara Kuro: Black Label. It was released on February 10, 2006. The update contains many additions, some of which appeared earlier in the released PlayStation 2 port in the form of Arrange Mode.
A sequel, Pink Sweets: Ibara Sorekara, was released in the arcades on April 21, 2006.
Reception
Ibara was not as well received as other Cave games upon release. It is often claimed that Ibara was not very popular with arcade players or operators; several Ibara PCBs are known to have been sent back to Cave to be converted into other games that work on the CV1000B hardware platform. (ED: needs sourcing!) Weekly Famitsu magazine awarded the PlayStation 2 version of Ibara a score of only 26/40 based on four reviews (7/7/6/6).
References
- In-depth rank info from an unpublished document written by Archer (dated September 17th 2011)
- https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2014-11-02-super-bank-breakers
- https://www.famitsu.com/cominy/?m=pc&a=page_h_title&title_id=11135
- https://www.famitsu.com/cominy/?m=pc&a=page_h_title&title_id=24103
- https://www.famitsu.com/cominy/?m=pc&a=page_h_title&title_id=24093
- http://www.cubed3.com/news/4566/1/nintendo-reviews-baten-kaitos-gets-top-honours-from-famitsu.html
- https://web.archive.org/web/20060427111442/http://www.taito.co.jp/d3/cp/ibara/
- http://www.cave.co.jp/gameonline/ibara/index.html