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PS2
Ibara + Bonus Booklet
- New Import |
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The first production of Ibara is bundled with a
bonus 15-page booklet courtesy of Arcadia Magazine.
Flip through the pages to check out the ship Types,
gameplay details and information on all six stages
and the Rose Family bosses for each stage.
NCS Game Synopsis
«©NCSX»
Two agents of destruction named Bond and Dyne take
to the skies and shoot, shoot, and shoot some more
to defeat six beautiful boss babes - that's six BBBs
known as the Rose Family. They're actually called
Guardians in Ibara and each gal guards an end-level
to prevent Bond and Dyne from progressing any
further. The first Guardian is named Orange Meillandina who has
pink hair adorned with a massive red rose and wears
red stockings that are held up by black garters. Her
sisters in arms are dressed both elaborately as well
as provocatively which helps draw in the gamers in
the coin-op's Attract screen mode.
The shooting action is of the simple sort with a
standard shot button and a bomb button. Bond pilots
a speedy ship with a dual-shot arms system while
Dyne's ship blows out a more powerful shot stream
but moves slower. Seven weapon types may be
activated by picking up little metallic devices
which change the standard vulcan shot to a 5-way
blaster, homing missiles, machine guns, and our
favorite, the napalm blast which lingers on enemy
armor for added damage. Up to three weapons may be
equipped and toggled for use in different situations
and against various enemies. The bomb attack clears
the screen of both enemy ships and their shots. To
spice up the game, there's a special wrinkle with
the bomb system as well.
NCS Game Notes
* On the title screen, deep voiced men chant "Ibara"
once as the skies fill up with ships and marching
robots appear on the bottom portion of the screen.
* When your guy catches shrapnel, he'll moan as the
ship explodes and a Rose sister laughs in the
background at your folly.
* In the Now Loading screen, "NOW LOADING" in pink
letters moves from right to left as faint outlines
of roses moves in the opposite direction in the
background.
* After pressing START, the following modes appear:
ARCADE MODE / Start a new game in original arcade
mode and layout
ARRANGE MODE / Customize your game with Fighter
type,
Bullet Design (Color, Normal, Clear), Key Configuration
GALLERY / View 13 pages (x 6) artwork of the Rose
girls, ships, locations, sketches, and heroes.
Everything is unlocked at the outset and
may be viewed immediately.
OPTION / Set screen to Yoko, Tate R, or Tate L,
toggle wallpaper, set sound levels
EXIT / Return to title screen
* In the ARCADE MODE setting, there's a Practice
option if you wish to try the game first and you'll
be fully powered up with a full complement of sidearms
and trailblazers. Players may set the bomb stock,
player stock, and fighter type. The default EXTRA
ship is earned every 1,000,000 points but you may
set it to every 2M or 3M as well as only one EXTRA
ship once 1M, 2M, or 3M is earned. The CONTINUE
option may be toggled on or off. The KEY CONFIG
allows you to map the SHOT and BOMB buttons to any
of the face buttons or triggers though we think
they're fine just as they are (O for BOMB and X for
SHOT). There are two facets to the DIFFICULTY level
in the game - Difficulty 1 may be set to eight
gradations as follows:
SUPER EASY
VERY EASY
EASY
NORMAL
HARD
VERY HARD
SUPER HARD
UNBELIEVABLE
Difficulty 2 also support eight gradations as
follows:
MINIMUM SLOW
VERY SLOW
SLOW
MEDIUM
FAST
VERY FAST
MAXIMUM FAST
UNFORGETTABLE
* The game starts off with a thick orange ship (Type-A)
that hurtles across a short runway and over a
mountain ledge, crossing a body of water before
reaching the shores of the enemy. The water below
shows wavy effects but is otherwise unremarkable but
if you observe closely, you may see three sea
creatures swimming from right to left as they leave
a little wake in the waves. You're greeted by a
group of spinning helicopter ships that approach and track
the player's ship while firing off purple colored
double missiles. As the sight of the enemy
installations appear, the first line of ground
defense consists of a battery of gatling gun
machines as well as mounted turrets which track your
flight and shoot
more purple shots. The spinning helicopter ships
continue their assault as new units replenish those
that have dropped off the screen. As the first wave
of ground forces are destroyed, additional heavy
armor moves in from the right side of the screen
while the gunfire from your ship begins to decimate the
ground installations below. That won't do. More
reinforcements are sent in but they're of little
consequence to any seasoned shooter. Midway in the
level, you'll encounter swinging arms that swish to
and fro which have guns mounted on them but they're
otherwise unremarkable and destroying the
installation that they're mounted upon will get rid
of them also. As you continue your progress through
the first level, power ups may be picked up which
add little side ships to your craft which aid in
fire as well as providing a shot blocker.
*
The first boss is a gal named Orange Meillandina who
pilots a ship that occupies the upper half of the
screen and looks like a big orange bat of sorts. It
spouts out structured purple shots that form shapes
as they course through the air. There's circular
shapes and double circles followed later by red
missile shots that form triangular shapes as they
course through the air. There's the usual screen-filling buckshot that one has to slowly maneuver
through but its standard fare. As she takes on
damage, she'll release purple lances and blue swords
which criss-cross the screen to provide a moving
maze to maneuver through. Meillandina also makes use
of a gatling gun mounted on the center of her ship
which blasts off steady streams of thick purple
wedges that move slightly faster than the other
shots she's streaming off.
* In the second level, a canyon area awaits which
starts off with a pipe which snakes on the floor and
plugs into the side of a mountain wall. Ships stream
in that look a lot like your ship, except they're
colored purple and they move in line formations
which make them patsies to your attack. They're
followed up by a heavily armored mech on the left
side of the screen that shoots out a brisk patter of
purple circular shots and a group of green mechs on
the right who press the attack with blue laser fire.
More ships waltz in and perform their galactic
dancing and add to the chaos as the screen fills up
with ground units as well as aerial bombers who fly
in for the kill. Gloire de Midi is the second boss
who's accompanied by a goose-like ship that blows out waves
and waves of red streaming shots in quick
succession. She sits in a massive drab-green colored
tank which rolls below the goose and eventually
joins the attack by blowing out chunks and chunks of
whirling variable speed buzz-saw-like objects. As
you whittle down the tank's defenses and ruin Gloire's chances at stopping you, it'll shoot out a
devious maze of fire that requires quick twitching
to move your ship quickly to "safe spots" which last for a
microsecond before its time to move to another safe
spot.
* The levels progressively increase in difficulty.
The third level is pretty unbelievable in the amount
of firepower that's thrown at your ship - imagine
the defense budget for the Rose empire... Shooter fans
who enjoy a fairly difficult game that requires
skill will appreciate Ibara. The game is a doozy. In
the third level, there's a respite from the fierce
shooting in the early part of the level when you
encounter a hopping robot who jumps up and spins in
mid-air while unleashing a torrent of spots that
radiate from it in an outward motion. The shots are
easy to avoid since they'll part away from each
other as they radiate outwards so its a chance to
catch your breath and collect yourself before the
carnage begins anew. After the first wave of shots,
it will start shooting thick streams that arc in
front of it. After that, it shoots out DoDonPachi
Daioujou class radiating shots that are tightly
spaced and allow very little room for error. The
game forces you to make use of the entire expanse
of the screen real estate to avoid shots, maneuver
through storms, and prepare for the next waves of
enemies. When one nears the third level boss, a huge
flock of birds flies up from the bottom of the
screen. The third level boss takes things easy at the
outset but once her first line of armor is cracked,
she fills up the screen with billowing fire
that again, is of the DonPachi class of attack which
leaves
little quarter for error or misjudgment.
* When power ups are caught, the type of weapon that
they add to your arsenal appears over your ship such
as "Machine Gun" When your ship is
destroyed, all of your power-ups
burst out of your ship and fill up the screen. In the CONTINUE
countdown, each number is echoed by a girl who
chuckles in a sobbing sort of way. Your ship also
releases a massive amount of shrapnel when it is
destroyed which in turn destroys everything in their
path of destruction.
* The song that plays in the first level is called
Bonds of Steel. Get it? Bond - character in the
game. The second song is Like a Rolling
Stone.
* The Rose Sisters in the order of their stages are:
1st Guardian: Meidi aka Orange Meillandina
2st Guardian: Midi aka Gloire de Midi
3rd Guardian: Kasumi aka Hana Kasumi
4th Guardian: Shasta aka Mount Shasta
5th Guardian: Lace aka French Lace
6th Guardian: Teresa aka Mother Teresa
* Ibara is a technical shooter that relies on the
piloting skills of players to successfully navigate
through the game on a single ship. We forgive you if
you need three ships to make it through the levels.
There's no shot-thwack gimmick, Reflect Force, or
other shot diversionary tactics to take the heat off
for a few seconds. This is pure, unadulterated shoot
'em up action which was the meat and potatoes of the genre
in the early days. Your only solace is the bomb attack to clear up the joint
for a few seconds before the carnage starts anew.
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This document is ©NCSX 2006. All rights reserved. No
reproduction in whole or in part of this document
may be made without express written consent of
National Console Support, Inc.
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