Ibara Kuro has the same beautiful spritework as the original game, the same relatively underrated prog-rock OST, the same deeply satisfying weaponry and fly-apart explosions. What it does not have is the Battle Garegga-esque scoring and rank structure, replaced here by what I consider to be the most satisfying grazing-and-cash-in mechanic I've ever experienced (I've not yet played some of the other heavy hitters in that field like Psyvariar, but I would be surprised if anything could unseat this absolute behemoth of bullet-riding).
In Kuro, you pump rank/difficulty up by collecting medals and other items, and then you just fucking surf on meticulously-well-placed and visually-gorgeous waves of pink and blue bullets. You watch a number with a very nice font skyrocket above your ship (the wonderfully-named "X-Treme Terror Counter), and when you can't take the heat anymore you smash that bomb button for huge bullet cancels and, if your timing was right, massive points.
True veterans will take this one step further and map out the specific points in each stage that Cave has built in a cancel, allowing the player to cash in without spending resources; and even sicker weirdos will revel in delicious boss milks, utilize insane aura-flash/hadou gun (bomb HOLD and release) strats for huge damage and gobs of max medals, and laugh maniacally as they rake in extends (one every 10 mil).
The original Ibara is an amazing shmup, underappreciated in its time and still a blast to play; but, for me, Kuro bests it. It's a risk/reward mecca for deeply experienced players, a goading test of nerves as much as skill, and wears all of its mechanics on its sleeve (as opposed to the notoriously secret-heavy and obfuscating Shinobu Yagawa-designed original).
It is an STG where you can sip tea and check your phone while easily milking tens of millions of points from a boss. That, my friends, is living, and anyone who tells you it's not needs to find inner peace.
In Kuro, you pump rank/difficulty up by collecting medals and other items, and then you just fucking surf on meticulously-well-placed and visually-gorgeous waves of pink and blue bullets. You watch a number with a very nice font skyrocket above your ship (the wonderfully-named "X-Treme Terror Counter), and when you can't take the heat anymore you smash that bomb button for huge bullet cancels and, if your timing was right, massive points.
True veterans will take this one step further and map out the specific points in each stage that Cave has built in a cancel, allowing the player to cash in without spending resources; and even sicker weirdos will revel in delicious boss milks, utilize insane aura-flash/hadou gun (bomb HOLD and release) strats for huge damage and gobs of max medals, and laugh maniacally as they rake in extends (one every 10 mil).
The original Ibara is an amazing shmup, underappreciated in its time and still a blast to play; but, for me, Kuro bests it. It's a risk/reward mecca for deeply experienced players, a goading test of nerves as much as skill, and wears all of its mechanics on its sleeve (as opposed to the notoriously secret-heavy and obfuscating Shinobu Yagawa-designed original).
It is an STG where you can sip tea and check your phone while easily milking tens of millions of points from a boss. That, my friends, is living, and anyone who tells you it's not needs to find inner peace.