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86 of 90 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Miracle with Massive Gameplay, March 28, 2003
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.
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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Poetry in Motion, September 20, 2003
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.
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22 of 24 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful, yet insanely challenging, September 8, 2003
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.
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