IKARUGA

Released: 2002
Japan
Treasure

The highly anticipated sequel from hardcore developers Treasure to Radiant Silvergun - arguablely the best shoot'em up of all time. Rather than being an actual sequel the game is regarded as being a spiritual sequel in that it follows the same sort of design and story.

The game is a vertical shooter - 2D gameplay with 3D graphics. The gameplay is that of any typical vertical shooter. However, the simple rule of shoot everything you can on the screen and not get shot is only the basis of Ikaruga.

Your ship has 2 polarities (or colours) - white and black. As either one of those polarities incoming fire from enemies can not harm your ship if it is the same polarity. The energy will be absorbed. However, being hit with an opposite polarity will cause your ship to explode.

However, hitting enemies with the opposite colour does double the damage at greater risk to you. Collisions with ships and other objects will cause you to explode.

In normal mode when you destroying an enemy a cluster of shots of the same polarity will approach your ship.

For destroying the enemies your ship is equipped with a Vulcan canon and a homing laser pulse which is powered by the energy you have absorbed.

The action is intense all the way. There are sections where the screen filled with enemy fire and moves at a very fast pace (excellent!) with round 4 being almost impossible. Almost...

For earning the most points you need to master the shooting of Chains. The Chain system earns you increasing amounts of points by shooting the same coloured enemies and objects in groups of three. The more chains you shoot the more points you will earn which doubles each time to a maximum of 25600 points per chain.

There are 5 chapters in total each with huge bosses at the end. You will be alerted when a boss is approaching.

Chapter 1 - Ideal
Chapter 2 - Trial
Chapter 3 - Faith
Chapter 4 - Reality
Chapter 5 - Transmetapsygnosis

At the end of each chapter you are given a ranking depending on how many chains you gave been able to shoot. You need +75 chains to achieve the rank of S which is Super.

Ikaruga is tough even if only 5 chapters long. Normal mode will take a while to beat especially if you only have the default 3 credits. There is also a trial game for practice though the normal game has difficulty setting of easy, normal and hard. The more you play the game the more credits you earn and various features become unlocked especially if you complete the game.

The graphics are utterly superb. All the ships are smoothly animated polygons and the backgrounds are highly detailed.

Ikaruga is also a game that has an Appreciate DVD. Basically a movie showing how some ultra professional gamers play the game because it's difficulty can make it inaccessible to some.

At the time of release in 2002 it was looking like Ikaruga was going to be last ever Dreamcast title. However, because of it's popularity other releases have since followed with these being mostly shooters also. Perhaps Treasure will develop another title and make sure they have the distinction of having the last Dreamcast release ever...

The game was also released on the Nintendo Gamecube in 2003 with an English translation and then on Xbox Live Arcade in 2011 which features HD visuals and online co-op play.

In December 2012, it was made available to mobile phone users running the Android OS.

For more information on Ikaruga see some of the links below.

SCREENSHOTS

Chapter 1 Ordeal	Chapter 2 Trial
Chapter 3 Faith	Chapter 4 Reality
Chapter 5 Transmetapsgynosis

CHEATS AND TIPS

Hidden artwork

Place the game disc in a PC compatible CD-ROM drive to find BMP images from the game.

Sound test option

Successfully complete the game under the easy difficulty setting without using any continues to unlock the "Sound Test" option at the "Appendix" menu. Alternately, accumulate at least fifteen hours of total game play.

Unlimited continues

Accumulate at least six hours of total game play to unlock free play mode.

Gallery 1 option

Successfully complete trial mode without using any continues to unlock the "Gallery 1" option at the "Appendix" menu. Alternately, accumulate at least five hours of total game play.

Gallery 2 option

Successfully complete the game under any difficulty setting to unlock the "Gallery 2" option at the "Appendix" menu. Alternately, accumulate at least ten hours of total game play.

Game Mode Option

Successfully complete the game under the normal difficulty setting without using any continues to unlock the "Game Mode" option at the "Appendix" menu. Alternately, accumulate at least twenty hours of total game play.

Radiant Silvergun Games of the Month Archive (July 2004)