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(Note: here's another thing I originally posted on Cohost. Enjoy!)

Picking up where we left off last time, it's time to take a look at this updated rerelease of Deathsmiles.

Cave had a history of releasing alternate versions of their games, starting with the enigmatic Campaign Version of Dodonpachi. It was with Dodonpachi Daioujou, though, that the idea really took off; around six months after the initial release, a new version was released with significant changes to some key gameplay mechanics, and named "Black Label" on account of its black title screen (as opposed to the original's white title screen). The "Black Label" name stuck, and was applied to several updated rereleases of Cave games going forward.

A list of differences from the original Deathsmiles can be found here, but the main ones are:

You can power up with 500 items
The plus value does not reset after exiting power-up mode
The maximum plus value is now 100,000
A new stage is added (the Ice Palace)
A new character is selectable (Sakura)
A new difficulty level is added for each stage (level 999)

Right after the Deathsmiles 1CC from the previous post, I tried a 1CC on MBL with Sakura - after a couple of failed attempts, I decided to stick with what worked for me, and went with Rosa again, using a similar route.

Watch on YouTube

The key difference is that revenge bullets are added to the mix immediately, instead of having to select level 3 five times. Bullet patterns have also been beefed up significantly.

0:35 - One difference that I didn't take as much advantage of as I should have is that skulls advance your item counter by 3 instead of 1. The implication of this is that it is now optimal to let items break apart into skulls in normal mode, as well as power-up mode.

1:16 - As mentioned previously, when you have 500 items you have the ability to enter power-up mode, although it's not as strong as when you have 1,000 items. In normal mode, enemies that don't normally drop items now do.

1:31 - The plus value is now displayed beneath the item counter whenever it's not zero.

1:51 - The plus value counts down during boss battles, unless you're playing the stage on level 1.

2:36 - The falling rocks in stage C-2 appear to have been toned down somewhat, in terms of scoring. It takes until almost the end of the power-up for the plus value to reach 10,000...

3:11 - ...but this time, it keeps on going...

3:23 - ...and doesn't reset when the power-up ends. The only situations in which the plus value goes down are boss battles (as stated previously) and death (when you lose 30% of your plus value).

3:34 - My first 500-item power up of the run, to take advantage of this set of falling rocks.

4:39 - You can now increase your item counter during boss battles by placing your option in contact with the boss, and, depending on your character, tapping shot (Rosa, Sakura, Windia), holding laser (Casper), or either (Follett).

6:56 - First extra life at 50 million.

9:40 - When you collect a life-up item at max health, it shows the item's point value. It gives you the points anyway, whether or not you're at max health, but it's a sign that the game's going well.

12:51 - This boss has been made harder since the original, and with no bombs left, I'm gonna have to do it the old-fashioned way...

13:10 - ...oh well.

17:49 - After clearing the first six stages, I am faced with a choice of not only going to the Gorge or straight to Hades Castle, but the new Ice Palace stage is available as well. It's not relevant to this run, but when playing for score it's another matter entirely - most of the stage is covered in ice crystals which release gobs of revenge bullets (as with the Gorge, entering this stage immediately activates Death Mode), which:

turn into skulls when absorbed with your option during power-up mode
turn into crowns when you exit power-up mode, which means that if there are plenty of revenge bullets on screen when your power up ends, you will immediately refill your item counter

Check out the Ice Palace section of the superplay I linked earlier - almost the entire stage is played in power-up mode, and it contributes more to the score than any other stage.

21:36 - Second extra life at 300 million.

22:21 - Oof - that was a silly mistake.

25:32 - Another death.

25:39 - Using the 500-item power up for defensive purposes, as it cancels all bullets on screen.

26:01 - Taking another death, despite having three bombs at my disposal - the intention is to come out ahead on life anyway, thanks to the two extra lives you get for defeating Jitterbug without using bombs.

27:48 - For this attack, Tyrannosatan goes to the top of the screen. My chosen method to handle this is to go to the bottom of the screen and use the lock shot, but Rosa's isn't the easiest to use and I take a hit while trying to lock on.

29:02 - Once again, Tyrannosatan is defeated. There is another boss - Bloody Jitterbug - who will appear if certain conditions are met. These conditions are:

Play through all of the first six stages at level 999
Play through the Ice Palace without dying
Play through the Gorge without dying
Play through Hades Castle, up to Jitterbug, without dying
Beat Tyrannosatan (you can die here, but you still need to 1CC)
Bloody Jitterbug will now appear

Here's a video (skip to about 40:30):

Watch on YouTube

30:15 - This time, I choose the "stay in Gilverado" ending.

33:07 - Who could this be? Find out in Deathsmiles II...

So, was DSMBL worth the while? At the level I was playing at, I'd say that I was having more fun, even though I wasn't doing things too differently to how I played through the original. It does seem, though, that the fact that the plus value carries over between power-up activations, and is reduced upon death, can make playing for score a bit frustrating - although with that being said, the superplay video linked earlier in the post - the highest score in this game on video, I might add - dies twice before Jitterbug.

One thing I will say, though, is that the new character, Sakura, goes particularly well with the version 1.1 mode introduced in the home ports. In this mode, if you're playing with a joypad, you can directly control your option with the right analog stick. Sakura's options fire in whichever direction they're facing, so if you assign everything to the bumpers and triggers, it becomes a really fun twin-stick shooter.

(Note re version 1.1: since I originally wrote this post, I have uploaded a 1CC of this mode that includes the Ice Palace. Check it out below:

Watch on YouTube

Until next time...)