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The Miracle with Massive Gameplay

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 84 / 88
Date: March 28, 2003
Author: Amazon User

If you'd have told me a year ago that Treasure's Ikaruga, the unofficial sequel to Radiant Silvergun, Grand Opera Master of Shooters, would make it to the States on Nintendo's Gamecube, I'd have called 1-800-LOONEYBIN personally and asked them to take you away quickly and quietly. This kind of thing just isn't supposed to happen these days, right? And least of all on the Gamecube - the seeming last place for a 2D Japanese old-school shooter.

But here it is - it's a small miracle that it's happened at all.

Treasure's opus Radiant Silvergun was released for the Sega Saturn in Japan only, and is widely regarded as one of the greatest shooters ever created. Ikaruga was released for the Japanese Dreamcast last year (a miracle in itself whose authenticity was the matter of message-board debate for months before it finally happened). Rumors then started about a Playstation 2 and/or Xbox port. But to have it finally arrive not only for Nintendo's Gamecube, but also to be released domestically, is quite an event.

Especially when you consider that the game itself is practically as legendary as its predecessor.

Ikaruga uses a color-swapping mechanic very similar to Treasure's PSX game Silhouette Mirage. Your ship can change color from black to white with the press of a button. There are a couple reasons for this. All enemies in the game - from swarms of drones to massive multi-form bosses - are black or white as well. Like any good shooter, they flood the screen with bullets, which are also black or white. If your ship is white and is hit by a black bullet, you're dead. However, if your ship is white and is hit by a white bullet, your ship absorbs the energy, and your super weapon is charged. Also, when white, your ship fires its own white bullets, which do double damage to black-colored enemies. (The opposite goes if you have a black ship).

It may sound a little complicated, but the rules of the Ikaruga universe will quickly become ingrained in your head - mostly because it's an exceedingly difficult game which you'll need to play many times in order to finish. Add to this the fact that you get a score multiplier for each same-colored enemy you destroy in a row - most of the enemy craft approach in formation that allow the skilled player to ring up impressive chains of consecutive kills.

Non-shooter fans who want to give Ikaruga a try are in for one of the steepest challenges in modern gaming. The game may only be a handful of stages long, but shooters have always been designed for replay value rather than length. Extra continues are unlocked as you progress, but it will still take many hours of gameplay to clear Ikaruga on a single credit (generally considered the ultimate goal in shooters). Those who have played shooters in the past are also in for a unique challenge, because you'll have to learn to let bullets hit you, for one. But the payoffs are more than worth it: Ikaruga can give you quite a rush as you dance through the almost puzzle-like levels, avoiding and absorbing fire, and knocking down 40-hit chains. This kind of old-school rush has almost vanished from gaming nowadays, and Ikaruga is one of the most demanding yet rewarding games you could ask for. Beating your high score has become a largely ignored technique these days, but that's the entire focus here. You'll get quite a feeling of accomplishment, because you'll have to earn it.

Supporting the amazing gameplay are some pretty impressive visuals. Ikaruga was developed for the Dreamcast-based NAOMI arcade board, so it may be a little behind the times, but for a shooter, the graphics are marvelous. Enemy designs are inspired (although many resemble craft from Radiant Silvergun), and explosions are beautiful. A stirring orchestral soundtrack and perfect sound effects sweeten the audio, and the control is as pinpoint accurate as you could want. Ikaruga is an extremely impressive technical achievement.

Ikaruga seems almost out of place on a Nintendo console, but better that than nothing at all. And who knows - maybe this is the start of a new trend of Japanese shooters crossing the ocean. Gradius V and R-Type Final are in development, and will probably make it to the US as well. Shooters are rare enough as it is these days, and it's even rarer for one as innovative and excellent as Ikaruga to come along. Kudos to Nintendo for having the guts to release it on their system, and major thumbs-up to Infogrames for picking it up for the US.

Highly recommended - an absolute must-buy for shooter fans, and anyone else up for a serious challenge should definitely give it a try.

Beautiful, yet insanely challenging

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 21 / 23
Date: September 08, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Ikaruga, if you haven't heard of it (and many of you probably haven't) is a rare breed these days -- an old-school 2D scrolling shooter, in the same vein as Raiden (or, going back further, Life Force, Gradius, and in some sense all the way back to Galaga/Galaxian). However, this is the 21st-century version.

The first impression you get when you fire up Ikaruga is how polished it is. Everything -- from the title screen, to how the ships move, to the zen-like fractal beauty of the bosses' energy blasts -- is flat-out gorgeous. Although the game is a top-down 2D shooter, almost everything is rendered in real-time 3D, which allows for some fantastic special effects.

The second impression you get is how insanely difficult this game is. The first level isn't hard to survive, although you'll probably get a terrible score ranking your first few [hundred] times through it. Level two is difficult. Levels three through five are crazy. The game is short -- very short -- but it's the kind of experience that video game junkies will play again and again (and again), trying to eke out a few more points each time.

Finally, you may come to realize how ingenious this game is. They've stripped away all the extra stuff that's crept into shooters over the years -- there are no powerups, no "bombs", no bonus point items to pick up, and not much of a storyline (there was a bit more in the version released a few years back on the Dreamcast, but they dropped it on the GCN instead of translating it). The only "gimmick" they have is the polarity system -- every enemy ship and projectile in the game is either "white" or "black", and you can toggle your ship back and forth nearly instantly. Projectiles of the same color are harmless (and in fact give you points and energy to power your devastating homing laser attack), while ones of the opposite color mean instant death. Furthermore, you deal twice as much damage to enemies of the opposite color. This adds incredible complexity and depth to the gameplay, as you'll have to choose between playing the same color as the enemies (thus gaining immunity to their shots and extra use of your homing laser), or the opposite (allowing you to kill them faster, which usually causes more enemies to appear, earning you bonus points). In the later levels, enemies of both colors will regularly flood the screen with bullets, forcing you to frantically switch colors while blasting anything that moves. The scoring system is based upon destroying "chains" of similarly-colored enemies -- for maximum points, you need to kill enemies in groups of three. It all comes together to produce something that's, at times, more of a puzzle game than a shooter, and that's truly unique.

This game is *not* for everybody -- if you have a short attention span, don't like games that will kick your...for weeks, or don't have lightning-fast reflexes, great hand-eye coordination, and an intuitive ability to read 2D shooter patterns, *stay away*. Just find someone who's good at it, watch them play, and marvel at the pretty graphics.

Poetry in Motion

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 15 / 15
Date: September 21, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Ikaruga is one of those games, Like Disgaea or Wario Ware Inc., that seemed unlikely to ever get a release outside of Japan.

So, let's all take this as a sign that someone up there still cares about the good things in gaming culture, because Ikaruga is downright legendary, and was saved from becoming "the best game that nobody will ever get to play" by the quick thinking (and remarkably tasteful) folks at Atari.

Here's a fast history of Ikaruga. Treasure, a company that has a devoted cult following won with classic 16 and 32 bit titles (Silhouette Mirage, Gunstar Heroes, Guardian Heroes, Radiant Silvergun, MC Kids, Dynamite Heddy, et al.) makes a truly stunning arcade title named Ikaruga and releases it in Japan for the Namoi board, which is essentially a variant of the Sega Dreamcast. The game rapidly generates a buzz as being one of the most well-constructed and finely-tuned arcade titles ever made, and the clamor begins for a home port in the Japanese market.

Treasure, who originally had zero intentions of releasing the game in a home console format, responded with a quizzical statement that informed the public that, while they didn't plan on releasing the game, acknowledged that it wouldn't be very hard to put it out for the Dreamcast system, as Namoi and Dreamcast are really the same thing.

The second this hit the internet, it became "Treasure is releasing Ikaruga for the Dreamcast!!"

The game pre-sold a remarkable amount of copies before it was even announced. Hype was off and running, and there was no stopping it.

So, if you're Treasure, you do the smart thing and give the public what they want; Ikaruga was released for the Japanese Sega Dreamcast system, and went on to sell far beyond even the most optimistic of expectations placed on it.

Where it gets interesting is where those copies actually wound up. By some accounts, nearly half of the sales went not to the Japanese market, but to import stores in the U.S. and U.K. These things are hard to track for certain, but it became quite obvious that the Dreamcast market was alive and well in the underground, despite being a "dead" system. Not only that, but Ikaruga became a bona-fide hit among the hardcore, one of the rare games that absolutely lived up to the hype surrounding it. The fact that it was an "expert" title, and therefore only playable by the elite few, just made it sweeter.

However, the video game market has become far more dynamic in the past few years, and it didn't take long for the import scene to make an impact on a very well-known company: Atari. They picked up the rights to Ikaruga for the US, and picked the GameCube over the Dreamcast for the release (which is perfectly understandable.) So, the game that never even saw United States arcades was ported to home consoles coast to coast, with the box itself proudly proclaiming that the hit "import" title was now available everywhere.

So, knowing all that, the question that still remains is, would the game be right for you? Well, that depends on what kind of gamer you are.

The idea behind Ikaruga is simple. You pilot a small ship and fire at incoming enemy ships that descend from the top of the screen. The catch with Ikaruga is that the enemies are divided into two colors: Black and White. Black ships fire red/black energy shots, and white ships fire white/blue energy shots. The player's ship can cycle between the two colors, and is immune to shots of the same color. So, if there's a cloud of white bullets on the screen, the player can shift to white and wade through them without getting hurt. A single black shot, however, is fatal. Like the older shooters of the same genre, there is no life bar in Ikaruga. It's one shot and you're out.

Once you commit yourself to the game, however, you realize just how well it actually works. Players who wish to live through the first stage will quickly teach themselves to visually tune out shots of the same color. Later stages of the game are absolutely covered with shots of both colors, and the only way to survive is to adapt to the situation every second.

In one of the better (and most difficult) stages of the game, the player is orbiting a satellite that's spewing out waves of light and black energy in opposing spirals. To survive, you have to pick a color and "ride" the waves from one end of the screen to the other, where you then flip and ride the other color back, all while defending yourself from enemies (and their bullets) that are flying at you from all sides.

And there's what makes the game so downright addicting. Unlike many games of a similar nature, Ikaruga isn't impossibly hard. In fact, it's usually pretty obvious what the player could have done at any point in time to avoid dying. It might be difficult to pull off, but it's never impossible, and with practice the player begins to learn patterns and strategies for survival that makes every playthrough a thrilling experience for both the player and any observers. The two most likely phrases you'll hear while playing Ikaruga is "That's impossible!" and then "Oh my God, how did you do that!?"

If this sounds intriguing, then chances are Ikaruga is right up your alley, and it'll quickly become a favorite game. If you're more prone to slower games, or don't like to have games that seriously challenge you (and that can be harshly unforgiving to a newcomer) then I'd recommend a rental first. You'll know within 10 minutes if the game is right for you.

Speaking for myself, this game epitomizes challenging fun, and I wouldn't trade it in for anything else.

Made Me Laugh Out Loud at the Learning Curve

4 Rating: 4, Useful: 10 / 11
Date: July 03, 2004
Author: Amazon User

I've always been a fan of the horizontal/vertical space shooter genre, and "Ikaruga" manages to roll up all the best stuff about each entry in that genre, and then, do it one better.

Made by the geniuses at Treasure, the team behind the legendary "Gunstar Heroes" (Genesis), "Ikaruga" is not your typical shoot-fest. The story is negligible, because you won't be seeing anything even vaguely related to it, and it's cut-and-dry, anyway. The meat of this game is definitely the hardcore, old-school-feeling gameplay. There can be hundreds of bullets on the screen at a time. However, the twist that "Ikaruga" introduces is that you don't necessarily have to dodge them all.

Your ship is unique in that it can change its magnetic alignment at any time with a press of the A button, from Black to White and back again, on the fly. If you are hit by a bullet of your ship's current color, you'll absorb the bullet and it will power up a set of special homing laser shots, and these homing lasers do ten times the damage of your normal cannon. Also, if you fire upon an opposite-colored ship, it will do twice the damage, but you will be vulnerable to its hostile fire.

The beauty is that no enemy is immune, really. Each one is colored black or white accordingly, and the bosses like to switch between the two periodically. Speaking of the bosses, they're very inventive and challenging, and will teach you how to die in many, many ways.

And you will die. A lot. Believe you me. I do consider myself something of an elite gamer, and this title continuously schools me; with only 3 credits at the start of the game, that makes this a very fun, very cool, but very, very hard title. Recommended? You better believe it.

Inventiveness: 8 (out of 10)
The extra black-and-white twist on a classic genre helps "Ikaruga" define itself as not just another difficult face.

Sound: 7.5
The sound effects are all mostly spot-on, but the music, while uplifting and appropo, seems to all carry the same hooks and themes, like one long continuous track.

Graphics: 7
While not the prettiest title out there, the graphical stylings do get their point across. However, exclusively considering this genre, Ikaruga's graphics are stellar.

Control: 9
While you may be wishing you had a "kill everything on the screen" button every now and again, Ikaruga handles almost flawlessly. It's mastering your little ship that will test your patience, not mastering the controls.

-----------------

Overall Score: 8
The bottom line: a game that will make you laugh with joy at the gimmick and groan with pain at the difficulty.

I am hopelessly addicted

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 11 / 14
Date: May 03, 2003
Author: Amazon User

Let me start off by saying that I've never been a fan of the overhead space shooter genre. However, I have been a fan of games developed by Treasure, such as Silhouette Mirage or Bangai-O. With Treasure's reputation in mind and the somewhat lower price mark influencing my decision as well, I decided to pick up Ikaruga somewhat on a whim.

I have become hopelessly addicted. My view of life around me for the past two weeks has been that everything not pertaining to my Gamecube is simply a hindrance to my Ikaruga game playing time. Even now, I feel that I am sacrificing my Ikaruga time by writing this review.

Ikaruga's gameplay has an interesting gimmick based on color and polarity. There are two different colors of laser fire in this game, each of which correspond to a certain polarity: white and black. You can change the polarity, or color, of your ship at any time during game play between white and black by pressing the A button. When your ship is white, you can absorb white shots. When your ship is black, you can absorb black shots. If a shot of the opposite color/polarity hits you, then you die. You'll oftentimes find yourself navigating a sea of white and black fire, constantly having to switch back and forth while destroying enemies around you in order to maintain your life.

Ikaruga is one of the hardest games that I've played in a long while, but also one of the most rewarding. There are only five stages; an experienced gamer could probably beat the game in about 20 minutes. However, you will not be that good at the game until you know each level like the back of your hand. Expect to invest several hours to claim even the mildest degree of mastery over a given level (e.g. getting through the level). However, this game was certainly developed with replay value in mind, even after playing the same levels over and over, hour upon hour, they never get old.

By continuously playing the game, you begin to notice patterns in the enemy fire, or when, where, and how many enemies appear on-screen at any given time. At that point you form strategies, you begin to see visual patterns in enemy fire and you begin to see easy ways to dodge it, and you find ways to kill each enemy more efficiently while expending less lives. You notice your own skill increase each time you play, and there are few things more rewarding than slowly getting better at, and eventually defeating, such a game as Ikaruga.

Graphically, the combination of the black and white fire along with tons of on-screen enemies creates a presense that is as visually mesmerizing as it is visually overwhelming. The music and controls are simple and effective; it's clear that Treasure spent a lot of time, care, and planning into this game.

Get this game while you can. Treasure developed software is notorious for having limited appeal, and thus, limited releases.

Old School Fun

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 7 / 7
Date: April 23, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This game is one of the most artistic, invigorating, and just plain addictive games to be ported to a next gen console.

Ikaruga is simply an old fashioned designed shooter where hundreds of bullets and enemies fill your screen at one time. The twist is that you can absorb the bullets of the same color that your ship happens to be.

The levels are pretty short, and there are not too many to begin with (five total). However, they are not a walk in the park! Most games today are expansive, beautiful, filled with depth, but ultimately too easy. Ikaruga is the opposite of most of today's games. Yes, the graphics are outstanding considering its a Dreamcast port, but at the same time, they are not spectacular.

So why, do you ask, do I come back for more? Why did I buy this game? The sheer challenge keeps me coming back for more! Each level brings about a new challenge, and the boss fights are memorable ones at that - only the first boss will go down without much of a fret. The unique thing is that you can actually beat a level without destroying the boss, but you will not get the tremendous points bonus if you avoid doing so.

Despite the wonderful challenge and gameplay, Ikaruga is not for everyone. Most probably expect a grand, sprawling story within their games, but you wont find one here. The frenetic, fast paced levels are not for everyone. The game will test your reflexes like none other..., so I would advise having extra controllers on hand for the ones you damage...

The absolute thrill of the high score system and bragging to your friends is worth it.

Lastly, the music alone is captivating and hardly ever becomes monotonous despite how many times you'll be playing each level over and over again. The music expertly captures the feeling of each moment in the game.

Buy this game if you are interested in a steep challenge and replayability over a twenty hour game that is hard to pick up once you beat it.

Ikaruga raped my mind...

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 8 / 11
Date: July 28, 2004
Author: Amazon User

This game is hard. Prepare to have your brain raped and eyeballs spanked. If you love old-school twitch goodness that puts hair on your chest, buy this game, take it home, and be abused by gameplay. This game serves as a lesson to all you casual gamers (who I hate SO MUCH,) as to what a real gamer looks like. 3D graphics and exploration is great, (however, sports games are inexcusable...) but every once in a while, you need to bring it all back home. Take my advice, if you want your kids to grow up knowing what a VIDEO GAME!, (not a video game, but a VIDEO GAME!) looks like, then force them to play this along with all those great SNES games. It's a good thing.

Sequel to Radiant Silvergun????????

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: December 27, 2003
Author: Amazon User

I am a shooter fan. Always have been always will be, so it gives me great pleasure to recommend my game of the year. But first we need background on this game. In 1998 a legendary software engineering company (Treasure) released a title on Sega Saturn when the console was on its last legs and because Sega scraped the console and support the game never made it state side and remained a Japan exclusive title, this game was ----- Radiant Silvergun (RS). This game quickly became the greatest reviewed shooter of all time. It's name has become legendary alongside the likes of Metal Slug 3 on the Neo-Geo. It offered unmatched play (forget Gradius or R-Type)Few gamershave probably had the luxury of playing RS. The title commands upwards of $175+ on ebay and requires an imported Sega Saturn system to play it. That was a shame because every gamer should have the opportunity to play RS. It was one of the first vertical shooters, it used transperencies, and offered rotating Boss weaponary. The RS ship offered first ever weaponary types. The graphics where unparalled at that time and still hold up extremely well today. RS also had one of the best neo-classical soundtracks ever on a game. All in all RS is one of the best games ever made. In 2000, Treasure began work on Project RS-2. Many felt it was the sequel to Silvergun but Treasure has always stated they don't make sequels. So born was IKARUGA (Project RS-2) and our scrolling shooter prayers have been answered. IKARUGA is an experience. It is extremely difficult and will take MANY MANY hours to master, but believe me when I tell you that there is no greater viewing pleasure or feat to watch then when you witness an experienced IKARUGA master play this game. The screens are filled with such chaotic action its unbelievable. Red and White shots fill the screen as the pilot dodges and changes polarity to match shots to avoid destruction and releases the gathered energy in a beautiful display of homing lasers. The bosses are huge and colorful with some of the best designs I seen yet. The gaming backgrounds are gorgeous. There are many playing options. As you complete levels you can play certain parts or bosses or go on missions. With each hour played you gain a continue eventually making it to free play. You can play a rated game and when completed get a password to post your score on the Ikaruga internet site. Bottom line is Ikaruga plays better than Silvergun in many respects, its challenging (thinking mans game),Graphics are bright colorful and excellent, has unlimited replay value. You probably haven't heard of this game but it has a harcore following and is GAME OF THE YEAR!!!! On a side issue for all of us gamers who also own the Playstation 2 console. Treasure is about to release Gradius V in April (Unreal screenshots can be found on internet) also Irem will release R-Type Final......its great to be a shooter fan right now....we have suffered a long time...

IKARUGA IS PURE OPTICAL INSANITY!!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 5
Date: May 28, 2003
Author: Amazon User

This is the greatest game hands down i have ever played in my entire life. And just because im 13 doesnt mean i havent played some really good games. Ikaruga is amazing - it is classic vertical scrolling arcade madness with more decisions and strategy than any other game. The point of the game is to discover things about life through two major polarities: black and white. You are a prototype spacecraft used against the armies of the evil Horai. The catch is that Horai has an enormous and somewhat endless fleet of weaker ships, and a handful of boss ships. By the way, when you kill a boss, your screen will be engulfed with a beautifully destructive explosion.

Your ship can switch between black and white, where black hits double the damage on white enemies and vice versa. You can absorb same color enemy fire for a charge laser that destroys most enemies on the screen. However, when you get hit by an opposite color bullet, your ship explodes. Just like the arcade, man.

The desicion in this game is entirely yours. You will notice once in a while that you sometimes end up fighting yourself which way to go next, to switch or not, to fire rapidly or fire single shots... This can sometimes be nullified by the two player option where teamwork is the key. Yes, i said there's two player.

In conclusion, buy Ikaruga NOW.

IkaRawkNRoll!

5 Rating: 5, Useful: 5 / 6
Date: October 15, 2003
Author: Amazon User

So, I was finally playing level 3 after a few failed attempts. I got towards the end and the walls started caving in on me. Nimbly, I dodged the walls and made it safely out of the area unscathed. Suddenly, I flashed back to games of 20 years ago, remembering such titles as Life-Force and R-Type... Then I thought "I forgot that games used to be like this!" Then a smile came to my face. This was Ikaruga! This was what I loved about gaming!

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