At one time, Arika, publisher of the ports for DoDonPachi Dai Ou Jou and Espgaluda, expressed interest in porting the game to the PlayStation 2, but later stated that the console was insufficient for achieving arcade-perfect status; namely, the second half of the fifth stages employs a quick swap of the entire background plane, coupled with reversing the overall scrolling direction (tate-ana), something unachievable given the standard amount of RAM and processing power of the PlayStation 2 console.[citation needed]
On 2007-3-26, Arika's vice president Ichiro Mihara mentioned the release of Nintendo DS version of Ketsui in his personal page [3]. The game, subtitled Death Label, was available for download in test events in 2007-3-31. Video footage of the game was also released by Mihara. In the time-limited demo, players had 120 minutes to face off against Doom with a single ship and no bombs. Another demo event took place at Cave Festival in Akibahara on 2007-9-23 to 2007-9-24. This version has time limit of 24 hours, and contains extra levels. The retail version of the game was released in Japan in 2008 and includes a DVD Superplay video with the current world record of the arcade release using Ship A.
The game adds the ability to save replays, which can be sent to other Nintendo DS units. In addition, it can upload the Ketsui demo game to other game consoles via Download Play. The EVAC Report feature allows players to unlock up to 113 panels covering the 11 bosses' artworks when specific conditions are met, some as simple as changing the sound options or touching all four corners of the screen with the ship, others as complex as defeating a boss in under 15 seconds or clearing Extra Mode. At times, failure to unlock a panel within a certain deadline might partially unlock it, revealing a grayed portion of the pictory and what is required to unlock that portion; clearing modes, uncovering entire pictures and/or unlocking certain panels enables questions and replays in the Tell me! IKD-san! extra featurette.
Single player modes:
Novice: Sea Horse (mid-boss), Gem & Ini (mid-boss), Jamadhar (boss)
Normal: Black Draft (mid-boss), Bull Frog (boss), Trafalgar (mid-boss), Sphinx (boss)
Hard A: Sea Horse (mid-boss), Cinderella Amber (boss), Vinogradov (mid-boss)
Hard B: Gem & Ini (mid-boss), Sphinx (boss), Evaccania (last boss)
Hard C: Vinogradov (mid-boss), Trafalgar (mid-boss), Black Draft (mid-boss), Evaccania DOOM (true last boss)
Very Hard: all 10 bosses and mid-bosses in arcade order with arcade first loop difficulty
Death Label: all 10 bosses and mid-bosses, in non-arcade order with arcade second loop difficulty
Extra Mode: a graphically toned-down and remixed Stage 5 from the arcade version, preluding a fight with an exclusive, extremely difficult version of Ketsui's True Last Boss - Evaccania DOOM.
DOOM Mode: five battles against an increasingly more difficult True Last Boss - Evaccania DOOM
Each mode is unlocked by completing the previous mode, with the exception of Doom Mode, which is available from the start. Also, the game permanently increases the starting lives of a difficult should you fail to complete it. Multi player modes:
VS mode: Competes against other player for multiplier chip. When one player has a longer win/loss gauge, multiplier chip goes to that player when an enemy is destroyed.
Training mode: Allows selecting stage, boss difficulty, player's ship, ship stock, bomb stock, auto bomb.