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Old-school gameplay with new-school graphics

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 4 / 5
Date: September 06, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Ikaruga is the perfect game for anyone who fondly remembers games like R-Type and Raiden, or any of the scores of other shooters that were popular on earlier game systems. Ported over from the Dreamcast version (not released in the U.S.), which itself was ported from the arcade version, Ikaruga is pretty much the only space shooter you will find on the GameCube at the present time.

It doesn't disappoint, either. The ability to switch your ship alignment from "light" to "dark" and absorb like projectiles adds a unique spin on the game and is just enough to set it apart from other games in its category. It's easily recommended to anyone who grew up playing shooters or who just wants something different from the normal GameCube fare.

Uh......WOW.

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 3 / 3
Date: January 22, 2004
Author: Amazon User

So, I have to say that I saw this game about 10 times in stores before I actually bought it, I wasn't willing to drop 40 bucks on a title that I was unfamiliar with. Being an inquisitive person with about 40 bucks to spend I hit the internet and found this title for about $25. I decided that based on the reviews and the price I could give it a try.

To be honest, this game does not disappoint, but that is only if you like playing a game that will own you for a while. Being 26, it is not hard for me to "figure out" most games, so it is refreshing for a game to come by that is actually challenging. I love the fact that this game is hard. It has been a while since I have played a game where it made sense for continues to be at hand and believe me, right now I am using them all. Being a fan of 2-D shooters helps also.

I am not familiar with the history of this game and how phenominal it may be that it was ported to the states let alone on the Gamecube. That aside, this game is worth the money you will spend on it. No game will teach you or challenge you more in a legitimate way than this one. (when I say legitimate, I mean the tasks that appear impossible in this game are achievable with persistance, unlike some games that are just designed poorly.)

I did not rent this game, but I would recommend renting it for those who might be a little more weary about spending money. If you like it, then buy it, then invite your friends over and have them play it. This game is great.

Fun Old School Challenge

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 8
Date: April 21, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I really had no clue as to what Ikaruga was until recently.

I instantly fell in love with this game.

Granted, the graphics are not quite modern day, as this game is a Dreamcast port, but they certainly hold their own.

This game is a vertical shooter with massive bosses and insurmountable baddies filling your screen at one time.

This game will test your reflexes like none other! Which brings me to the best part of the game - the sheer challenge. Most games of today are beautiful, large, and quite simple to play. Ikaruga is the anti-friendly game. True, its easy to pick up, but not easy to master, and this makes the game very replayable.

The only gripe I have is that the game is relatively short.

But no matter, my friends will be crying trying to match my hire scores!

Hahah...oh and one last thing - the music is great.

Frantic yet fun! One of my favorite GameCube games!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 4 / 6
Date: May 21, 2003
Author: Amazon User

First of all let me say this, I never played the Japanese Dreamcast version of this game so I cannot speak on how good or bad the transition was. What I can say is how much fun this game is.

I always liked Galaga and this is a super frantic, hard hitting, skill intensive, stunning variation on that classic game (at least I think it is).

There are only five levels (despite what the box says), but you will NOT be able to have this game beaten an hour after you first open the box. This game takes one thing more than anything: practice. It takes practice to learn the patterns of the enemies. Practice to know where the obstacles are. Practice to perfect your "polarity" switching. Just practice all around. I have yet to beat the whole game, but I have loved every moment of the nearly 6 hours I've put into it up until this point.

If you are interested in a fast paced space shooter for your Gamecube, your only choice is Ikaruga...and it is certainly a good choice.

Do note though...if you want to play this game you will likely have to either buy it and hope you like it, or play a friend's copy. The reason is that you will not likely be able to rent it anywhere. In fact, you might be hard pressed to buy it anywhere. Not very many people now about this title. It's a shame too, because this is a fabulous game.

Radiant Silvergun 2

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: April 28, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Top-down and side-scrolling shooters are an acquired taste. They don't rely on complex stories, variety of gameplay, or complex controls. They give you pretty much one kind of gameplay (destroy everything and don't die) and stick with it. But when you stop and think about it, these games are really gameplay in its purest form. Like breakout, light cycles, or tetris, they're a game of reflexes. One false move and you're dead. Or as a friend of mine said while watching me play Ikaruga through a level litterally swarming with blue and red firepower, "How are you doing this without dying?!?"

Ikaruga is a long-awaited game. It's a Treasure game, and they don't make a lot of games. And when they do, they usually have a limited release. Their gamous Saturn import Radiant Silvergun was long considered the greatest shooter ever made by many. Ikaruga is a sequel of sorts to that game. How does it stack up?

A friend of mine who plays shooters like there's no tomorrow told me after zillions of play hours on Ikaruga that he had played Radiant Silvergun and in his opinion Ikaruga absolutely demolishes it. Now whether or not this is true I don't know. What I do know is that Ikaruga is one heck of a game. This same friend told me that in his opinion Ikaruga is the hardest shooter he has ever played.

Ikaruga is a short game, having only five levels. But the levels are pure genius. Just trying not to die will undoubtedly be an exercise in futility for you the first few times you play this game. But as you figure out the patterns of enemies, and memorize the dangers...you start to see the enemies before they appear (dodge bullets before they are fired if you will). And that, my friends, is a great feeling. You keep coming back for more, because every time you play you get better. And just in case you start to get cocky about not dying, there's always the combo system (what, you never tried to rack up combos?!?). Every time you destroy three enemies of the same color, you get a combo bonus, keep doing this and the combo bonus will get higher and higher till it reaches maximum. Of course if you destroy an enemy out of sequence the bonus is lost. Trying to do this while everyone is trying to kill you is difficult to say the least.

Notice I haven't touches on the way the game looks or sounds yet? I'm saving the best for last. The orchestrated music in this game is perhaps the best in any modern shooter. Not since Thunder Force, Raiden, and Gradius have I heard such cool music in a shooter. And the sound effects? I've never heard a more satisfying crunch when enemies explode. I have never heard a cooler menu confirmation sound. And the sound bosses make when they explode....

Speaking of bosses exploding, this game has possibly the nicest graphics of any shooter ever. Everyone who says the graphics are lousy is clearly either blind or playing this game on a bad television. I actually bought a new TV when I got this game and was amazed by how good it looked (imagine that, a game that requires upgrading your television to experience its full majesty). The glow effects on enemies are gorgeous. And when the bosses explode the whole screen is filled with an explosion that so bright and beautiful that mere words fail to describe it.

As I said before, this game is short, and this game is hard. But it has TONS of replay value (especially if you're going to play it in two player mode). If you love shooters, BUY IT NOW! If you love great games, BUY IT NOW! If you're just got some money to spend on a game....you guessed it. BUY IT NOW!

Great Game

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 3 / 4
Date: May 27, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I found out about this game trolling GameFAQ's and I must say I am blown away. The formula couldn't be more perfect a simple control system, a simple concept, and one amazingly difficult game to master. Quite possibly the most fun I've had behind a controller in a long time.

Play this game and take two aspirins and have fun.

3 Rating: 3, Useful: 4 / 7
Date: April 16, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This game is quite good in graphics and sounds. Gameplay, however, is absolutely hard. I can't make it past the second boss and that is on easy mode. I must say that it is not your conventional shoot and evade kind of game. You must also change polarities(change the color of your ship between white and black) to be able to survive. This technique requires precission. I still think that you have to be a Jedi to play this game. Overall is a good game but only if you have the patience.

SO MUCH CHAOS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: February 15, 2004
Author: Amazon User

In an age where so many games end up realying on the gimmick of the week, Ikaruga is sort of an oddity. It's a top down perspective 2-D shooter that has sort of a back to basics feel. How well you do depends entirely on your reflexes.

What Keeps Ikaruga from being like every other shooter in the past ten years is the polarity system. basically at a touch of the A button you can change from white to black. You absorb the energy from the bullets that are the same color as yourself and deal double damage to foes of the opposite color. While this sounds simple and easy to understand when the screen starts filling up with both colors of bullets things get hectic fast.

This game is legetimitly hard. while only five levels long, each level ups the difficulty quite a bit. The good news is(or bad news depending on how much varity your looking for) that all the enemies fallow a set course. At no point does a level change from what it was in previous game. Things do become alot easier when you get a feel for each level.

My favorite part about Ikaruga is that it can be played Co-op with another person. However there are a couple of restrictions. Continues become shared, and it actully takes one to get the second player into the game. since you only have three to start that limits you too one apiece. But the problem that I really like is that your ships will actully edge eachother out for space. this may not sound like a big deal but space at times becomes really limited. you really need teamwork if you expect to survive past the second stage.

only five levels with three difficulty settings. while each one provides another level of insanity Ikuruga probably isn't a game that will hold intrest for those all night gaming sessions. but if your looking for some frantic fast paced fun for an hour or two (prefrebly with a cohort) then you could do much worse

Best Scrolling-Shooter on Gamecube

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: October 08, 2006
Author: Amazon User

Ikaruga is one of the best games for the Gamecube

It is a scrolling-shooter with a top-down perspective. You use a plane that has two types of weapons/shields. All enemies are also of the two basic types as far as their weapon type goes. Your ship doesn't take any damage if it is hit by any bullet etc of the same type and in fact this is how your missile attack power meter increases (by absorbing the enemy bullets). If you get hit by the opposite bullet type then you get destroyed (or if you crash into any enemy regardless of their weapon type).

The game has Easy, Normal, and Hard setting which changes the gameplay pretty significantly rather than just making enemies stronger etc like other games.

The basic difference between the difficult levels is simple but it has a big impact on the challenge level

On easy when you destroy enemies they don't release any dots - dots are one of the bullet types that you can absorb or get destroyed from depending on teh setting of your shield. This is a good setting to get in the game but really not that much harder than normal once you get into the game.

On normal when you destroy enemies of the same polarity as your weapon then they release dots while the opposite polarity don't. This is the level that most players will want to play on because destroyed ships releasing the dots gives you more points and missile power when you collect.

On hard when you destroy enemies of either polarity the dots are released. If you destroy them with same polarity as your weapon they release more dots then if they are the opposite polarity. I find this one difficult because you actually have to take your hand of the firing trigger and be more careful about what you shoot and when. This level is great for anybody that gets too good at normal mode to still find normal mode challenging.

Even though this game can start players finding it extrememly challenging it has a lot of things designed to help players get the most out of the game. For for every hour you have put in the game it will increase the number of continues you have... after just six hours in the game it will give you unlimited continues. Also the unlockables which require completing tutorial mode, easy mode, normal mode... then without using continue etc... still get unlocked based on time played rather than one actually being able to pull it off. Also there are modes where you can try any of the stages you have already played in slow motion... cutting straight to a hard boss battle where in slow mode you can understand the patterns a lot better.

The game supports two player co-op play. It is a great game. Get it

You think you have what it takes?

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 2 / 2
Date: April 18, 2007
Author: Amazon User

It is becoming more and more known that shooters are dropping off the earth. Why? I'll tell you why, because people are forgetting what geat games are all about.
If you think you are good at games, think again. Ikaruga will blow you away!! We live in a world today where everything is fast paced. Ikaruga will deliver it to ya ten fold. Let's get to specifics:

Frame rate- Excellent, not once in the gameplay will you experience the action slowdown due to the emmense amount of action on the screen. Warning! Keep your eyes open at all times.

Graphic- Unbelieveable STUNNING! Everthing is detailed. You must see for yourself.

Sound- Most shooters have mediocre music, Ikaruga is way above average. From the explosions to the music. Atari did superb on this title! Man, the music is intense.

Difficulty- I doubt highly that you can beat it with one credit. The game is so addictive, you will keep trying though.

To sum it all up, Ikaruga is a must have. I'll bet your eye-hand coordination isn't what you thought it was. Like one of the other reviews said, "Prepare to have your brain raped"!

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