Mushihime-sama Futari Black Label

Mushihime-sama Futari Black Label is a heavily altered version of Mushihime-sama Futari developed by Cave. It was released in arcades in 2007, as DLC for the Xbox 360 version of Mushihime-sama Futari in 2009, and for iOS in 2012 (in the West, the iOS release is entitled "Bug Princess 2 Black Label").

Black Label Changes

Black Label differs from the original Mushihime-sama Futari (ver 1.5) in a variety of ways, some subtle and some less so.

General Changes

The placement and shot patterns of many enemies have been changed, sometimes dramatically. As a result, the stages can feel very different from the original game in some places. The player characters' shot types have changed as well; rather than offering a choice between Normal and Abnormal shot types as in the original game, each character now has a single shot type that combines certain elements from each of the previous variations. In addition, the player characters' shot power is significantly increased, allowing for bosses to be killed more quickly and some of their more dangerous patterns to be avoided entirely.

There are also some more minor, cosmetic changes: some of the stages have had their colors changed slightly, and the appearance of the golden score gems has been changed a bit.

Black Label also features more slowdown than the original game overall. Combined with the previously-mentioned shot type changes, this leads Black Label to be generally considered easier overall than the original game.

Scoring System

Original Mode

Original Mode's scoring system has been streamlined slightly; now, instead of the overall counter changing color every 500 points, it changes color every 3000 points and plays a sound whenever a color change occurs, making keeping track of the counter's state a little easier.

Medium- and large-sized enemies will also "shed" small gems when they are attacked from point-blank range; when the stage counter is maxed out at 9999, all shedded gems will be large gems instead. This new mechanic is a key component of scoring high in Black Label's Original mode, increasing the emphasis on point-blanking even higher than in the original game.

When the overall counter exceeds 100,000, the speed of all enemy bullets dramatically increases. Some other minor changes occur during this time as well: for example, huge amounts of gems are produced by the lanterns in stage 5, allowing for great scoring potential.

Maniac Mode

The mechanics of Maniac Mode are very similar to those of the original game's Maniac Mode, except that the score multiplier carries over from stage to stage, rather than being reset at the start of each stage. Additionally, the chaining gauge will increase whenever an enemy is attacked with the normal shot (C button), somewhat lessening the need to truly "chain" enemies.

God Mode

God Mode is a heavily-altered replacement of the original game's Ultra Mode. Most significantly, God Mode uses the same scoring mechanics as Maniac Mode (as opposed to Ultra Mode, which used similar scoring mechanics to Original Mode). The main difference between scoring in Maniac and God is that God Mode's multiplier maxes out at x30,000, whereas Maniac's multiplier maxes out at x9,999.

God Mode also features a new True Last Boss, Spiritual Larsa. While Spiritual Larsa is generally considered to be easier than the standard final boss, reaching her is more difficult, as the player must clear the game up to the final boss without having ever lost a life. If the player can defeat Spiritual Larsa, the end-of-game score bonus is doubled.