Fast forward to 2003, when Cave released Ketsui: Kizuna Jigoku Tachi, another stellar danmaku game with all of the company's hallmarks. Massively popular in Japanese arcades, the game was later ported to the Xbox 360 and, oddly enough, in a limited edition to the Nintendo DS – which didn't take long to become one of the rarest (and therefore most expensive) games available for the system.
The DS version of the game is actually a cut-down boss rush version of the original Ketsui as Nintendo's handheld was nowhere near powerful enough to handle a full port. Does this mean it's a bad game? The answer thankfully is a resounding "no". Granted, the fact that this is the only option available to players who want the bullet hell experience on the go does help matters, but Ketsui Death Label is actually a decent title on its own merits. The removal of the main stages and emphasis on boss battles gives a much more focused approach to learning all of the game's bullet patterns and finer details. The chaos is rather more ordered than a play-through of a standard stage in any given bullet hell shooter (the full arcade version of Ketsui included), and as a result it becomes a great way to learn the ropes of this seemingly impossible-to-penetrate genre.
That's not to say Ketsui Death Label is an easy ride, though. The game features a grand total of nine difficulty modes or "courses", each of which increases the savagery of the onslaught significantly. A first-time player should be able to master the Novice course with relative ease, but by the time you get up to Very Hard and above you're going to start running into serious problems. The game starts out with only the novice and DOOM Mode (a series of battles against increasingly difficult versions of the arcade game's true last boss) available, and each successive mode is unlocked by completing the previous one. I'll be honest: right now I've still not managed to unlock the Death Label and Extra modes as Very Hard has been handing me my arse consistently. And this is before you even get into the intricacies of the scoring system – wherein you're awarded more points by hammering away at foes at shorter and shorter ranges. The more danger you're in, and the less time you have to react, the more points you get. It's a system and encourages perfection and punishes greed in equal measure. Practice definitely makes perfect when it comes to bullet hell shooters…
Despite the scaled-back nature of the DS port, it's clear that the guys at Arika (devs of this version) put a lot of effort into the package as a whole. Alongside the main game there's also a feature titled "Tell me! IKD-san!", in which the game characters appear to have conversations with one of the developers about play tips and strategies. Unless you can read Japanese this section will be all but useless – the only clues to what's going on being the occasional screen grab or video clip illustrating a technique. Ketsui Death Label also features unlockables in the form of boss artworks which can be accessed through the EVAC Report feature, wherein fulfilling certain in-game conditions reveals part of a picture. As an added bonus, the game also shipped with a DVD containing video of the current arcade Ship A world record being set.
If you like danmaku games and own a DS, Ketsui Death Label is a release you will not want to miss. Unfortunately the rarity of the game means you'll be paying big bucks to get your hands on a copy, but it really is worth it for fans of the genre.
