The more I play Black Label...

[atro city]

...the less I understand it. I haven't played the game at all before the Steam release so it's all new to me. For example, I only just found out yesterday that the difficulty in Black Label is heavily increased depending on the style you're using (i.e. don't use Strong). Before that I was banging my head against the wall wondering why BL Novice was so much harder than 1.5 Novice.

The whole system seems really strange. I'm just completely clueless on how to play outside of survival and it's frustrating. Am I supposed to use hypers all the time or as little as possible? Why does my chain keep disappearing suddenly outside of bombing? Why does my hyper gauge drop right before I press the hyper button? What's the purpose of the red bar other than to make the game harder? What determines the value of the hidden multiplier?

I know these are stupid newbie questions but I couldn't find a comprehensive guide anywhere, only a few bits and pieces. It's really strange that a shmup this mechanically complex has no form of tutorial or manual at all.

[cptquint]

http://www.hardcoregaming101.net/dodonpachi/dodonpachi4.htm

[splayr]

In Black Label, the bomb stock is also a hyper stock : filling up the hyper jauge will give you an extra bomb/hyper.

When you drop your chain while in Hyper mode, it resets back to 0 hit (it's true for all modes as well)

The idea is to have the hit counter as big as possible, like most modes again; the hidden multiplier is determined by the hit counter (1000 hit = x2, and the rest I don't remember).
Also, the more full the red gauge is, the more bullets there are to cancel/absorb (cancelling bullets with the shot+laser gives you extra hits, absorbing bullets with the hyper shot gives you extra points) (and also you can't cancel small enemies)

Yep, there's no tutorial, but while I wish there was one for the basic controls, I'm pretty sure Cave never tells anything about their scoring system because they want us to figure it out :p

[atro city]

Thanks for the help. That makes more sense, although I think I'm going to stop playing for now. I thought maybe I could at least get the 5000 hit achievement for Black Label, but apparently not. The chaining system still mystifies me. For example, I chained all of Stage 4 on training mode in BL Novice and got a 6000+ hit combo by the end. Did the exact same thing in an actual run and got half that.

[Play Metaphor]

There was recently an STG Weekly about DaiFukkatsu here https://youtu.be/UkIg8bQ7C68?t=2482 I timestamped the part where Black Label talk starts. I'm gonna start running Black Label for scoring next month.

[@Van_Artic]

we might get a dedicated episode that only covers Black Label on STG Weekly
or i might do a write up about it once i reach my goal

[Play Metaphor]

Originally posted by @Van_Artic:

we might get a dedicated episode that only covers Black Label on STG Weekly
or i might do a write up about it once i reach my goal

Kreygasm

[Fomalhaut]

Something else very crucial to note.

You've no doubt by now noticed unintentionally you'll pick up a bee shaped icon (you'll definitely hear it). These are not random and placement can actually be memorized. I believe there's 40 in the game.
To find them, you can shoot over them with the normal rapid shot to expose their silhouette. To "excavate" them and be able to collect them, they have to be hit by the TIP of your laser.

These bees also switch from facing left to right at 3 second intervals. While facing left, they give you a boost to your hyper meter for a faster charge. They also screen clear bullets into score bonuses (which are larger while in hyper). When facing left, I believe they only give a large score bonus.

It is imperative to find all of these bee locations as it dramatically increases survivability through giving you easy hyper and score multipliers giving you extends earlier. Getting all of them requires gaining access to the game's secret Ura route.

If you don't know how to do that, it's actually a process that will take some practice to understand. In the beginning of stage 1:

-Destroy the large oil drums before the Instrumental Music's (the fat tanks) run them over. There will be three tanks that come from the side when you reach the harbor. This is by far the hardest part as the drums need to be prioritized and QUICKLY destroy meaning you have to get very close to the top of the screen.

-Collect the first three bee medals. Pay close attention and use your shot to find them then laser them until you've memorized their placement. The first bee is in the water just after the boats on the very right. The second bee is found between the first and second of the oil drums that must be destroyed. The third required bee is found just to the right of the third oil drum in the same row.

-Get a full hyper meter. This will take care of itself especially if you make sure to grab the bees when they face left.

-Do not die or bomb (this includes autobombing). You may use hyper, in fact as soon as you get it, activate it.

-(?) I'm told in Black Label and Black Label arrange, you need to hit max rage before the mid boss, but I can't confirm this.

If done correctly, you will see a large blue square zip onto the screen and drag your view rapidly to the left which the Ura mid boss Suzaku will warp in from. You are now the higher scoring Ura loop. If at any point you die on the Ura mid bosses, you will be taken OFF the Ura route and face the standard mid bosses. Feel free to bomb and hyper however.

[@Van_Artic]

bees facing left (yellow) only cancel bullets into small stars and give no hyper gauge; collecting them while flashing white cancels bullets into large stars which can be worth huge amounts of points, as well as giving you hyper gauge

so make sure you always go for the bee when its flashing white, its fundamental
which also means you need to uncover them at the right time for the best results; practice helps

also in black label, power style is forced to the ura route no matter what

[Kitsune Zeta]

Originally posted by Beacon:

-(?) I'm told in Black Label and Black Label arrange, you need to hit max rage before the mid boss, but I can't confirm this.

Yep, a MAX Red gauge is required to reach Ura Route on Black Label. I've had runs where the only noticable difference is the timing of the hyper - in one, the hyper stops shortly before the scrolling centers itself (shifting left or right slightly), and I get standard route, while in another, I had a hyper end shortly after it centered and still got Ura route. [For those not paying attention to the Red Gauge, in Black Label, when a Hyper finishes, you lose half of the Red Gauge (E.G. 75% Red Gauge becomes 25%). In KetsuiPachi, it's instead reduced by star items but also raised by high-value chip items]