Ketsui makes me wish for the arcade version

(tags game, Dual Screen, shmup, Ketsui)

Hey so I bought Ketsui for the DS. Ketsui, official name Ketsui Death Label (ケツイ　デスレーベル, NTR-YKDJ-JPN) is a port of the arcade vertical scrolling shoot-em-up (shmup) of the same name from 2002. I think Arika is the publisher. I believe this is the first home port of the game, while it is rumored to get a Xbox 360 version pretty soon.

Usually shmup ports are pretty much the Arcade mode plus a remix and a high score table. This DS port is something different though, because it's not a complete port of the Arcade mode. Rather, the main gameplay is the boss fights only. Now my judgment is clouded because I'm thrilled for a Cave property on a DS, but this is plenty fine. There are enough bullets and boss patterns to memorize to get you going. The gameplay pace really captures the speed and terror of swarming bullets. Also the game has a bunch of extras that add some value.

The graphics are fricken noisy, no joke. The DS never chokes. Well I haven't seen the whole screen completely covered in bullets, but see there's this game mechanic where you collect Chips that fall from fallen enemies. These Chips are thankfully of muted color but there are too many. Plus they come right in front of your ship. As a Cave game, the bullet colors are the classic light blue, pink-red and violet (and green), so it really should be no problem once you get used to the screen. Actually you can adjust how long the Chip is visible, from Always to 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28, 32 frames. I set it to 4 and they are barely visible.

So remember the DS has a 256 x 192 pixel display. An old school Cave game like Dodonpachi is 240x320, so we're only missing a few (tens of) pixels. Okay, so were missing a lot of pixels. You will need all of that space to get through the curtain fire (danmaku). Thankfully your hitbox is just one pixel. I have trouble remember which pixel on my ship is the right one so... :-/

The bullet patterns are classic. Actually I've played some of the famous Kenta Cho (aba games) freeware shmups that copy the bullet patterns so I feel right at home. The gaps are crisp and you will be travelling all over the screen.

Though Ketsui is supposed to be a skills game, there are a lot of beginner oriented boss mixes and gameplay settings. I would estimate Novice, Normal, Hard Mode 1, 2, 3 to be equivalent to a Normal difficulty up to level 3 of a 5 level shmup. Auto-bomb (get hit once and it bombs for you) is on by default, and after every cleared boss you get 3 bombs.

There is a Very Hard mode, an even more difficult mode I have not yet unlocked, and probably the hardest mode of all called Doom Mode.

Plus there is coffee-break, enriched drama mode called Oshiete IKD-san!! (おしえて! IKDさん!!) which is a dialogue between illustrated characters and IKD, real-life suit dude-sensei. Just imagine a contented straight-laced 30-something Japanese dude who doesn't act like he should in a suit, telling you non-obvious techniques for massive damage and BURNING PASSION. I like it.

What I like even more is that there is video and godlike replays in this mode as well. It's not limited to the DS but there are some videos of the Arcade version as well. Cave is beckoning to come join them in the game center for a round of arcade shmup. It's grand.

The gallery mode, called EVAC report, has pseudo-Achievements/Trophies with really easy ones such as "Auto-bomb activated 100 times" and "changed key config" :-/ There are 113 in total and assemble 9 or 16 of them for a complete picture of a CG rendered boss. Sexy.

You can save three of your replays (!) and send them to friends via Wifi (!). I don't think it's Internet. Also there is a Kizuna mode and other Wifi modes that let your tag-team on bosses and/or score battle.

Rounding it out, the game saves a lot of statistics like average bomb rate and pickup multiplier, etc. Key config is 1 key to a function setting, so multiple keys can be set to a function.

Finally there's a pack in DVD so you can see Ketsui the arcade version in all its glory. It doesn't fit in a regular DS case, rather it's a special, non-standard box.

The game is 5000 yen, a high price for even a DS game. If you eat up shmups then you will be elated, amused, and sated by this DS port. It's very competent for what it has (WTF no zako sections as PROMISED in teaser trailers), but I wish Cave/Arika put this on a more visually endowed portable like the PSP.