Happy Wednesday, everyone. Today I’m going to move closer to modern times and talk about a game on the GameCube. This is another explosion-filled extravaganza from the people behind Sin and Punishment: Ikaruga.
Developed by Treasure and published by Sega, Ikaruga was first released in the arcades in 2001 and was soon after ported to the Dreamcast in Japan only. However, it would see several oversea releases, beginning with the GameCube in 2003.
Ikaruga was the follow-up to Treasure’s Radiant Silvergun on Sega Saturn. I’ve never played that game, so I won’t be able to make any comparisons. I do know, however, that while Ikaruga received mixed reviews during the first few years of its lifespan, it has gained a better reputation over the years and is now considered by many to be one of the greatest shoot-em-ups of all time. Does it deserve that reputation? Let’s see.
The game boots up, and the story, like its important in a game like this, is that a man with magical powers absorbs energy within the ground to gain god-like abilities. He and his followers look to take control of the earth. However, a federation known as Tenkaku challenges this group, deploying a ship called Ikaruga to fight them.
First, we’re going to talk about the basics. The visuals in Ikaruga are absolutely gorgeous. The animation is amazing, the creatures are beautifully designed, the environments are imaginative, and there’s so much detail put into them that it feels very real overall. The music is also amazing and perfectly fitting for an action game, and the sound effects during gameplay are dead-on and crystal clear.
Time to talk about the gameplay. The object is to make it through each level, destroying many ships along the way and fighting a giant robotic boss at the end. Your ship has unlimited ammo and the game’s main draw is the ability to absorb certain bullets from other ships. What’s the catch? White ships fire white bullets and black ships fire black bullets. You can rotate your ship, and if it’s on its white side, it will absorb the white bullets. If it’s on its black side, it will absorb black bullets. If they’re on the wrong side and are hit by the opposite-colored bullet, it’s an instant death (with an explosion, of course). It’s pretty easy to kill enemies, but they will die faster if they are hit by bullets of their opposite color. This is certainly a unique and innovative gameplay mechanic—one that has never been seen in a shooter before.
Sounds simple, right? Well, guess what? Ikaruga is one of those games that’s notorious for its difficulty. Ships are constantly coming in and firing bullets at you, and while it may seem easy to just stay the same color as the bullets until they fly away, sometimes both colored bullets are shot, and they tend to overlap. Because there are so many ships firing at you, the screen can sometimes become filled with bullets. This means you have to keep your eyes on the screen at all times to make sure you don’t get hit by the wrong bullets. Like I said, it’s a one-hit kill game, but you have three lives and three continues before it’s game over.
But it’s not like there wasn’t any thought put into the difficulty. The pattern of the ships and robots are fixed, meaning they don’t change every time you play the level. The enemies all fire their bullets in a fixed pattern, so Ikaruga’s difficulty really comes from memorization and reflexes rather than controls. In fact, you can’t blame the controls at all. They’re super responsive and do exactly what they’re supposed to. There will come times where you’ll have to respond to certain situations like overlapping bullets within a split second, so you’ll have to keep your eyes peeled and memorize when things like that happen. It may test your patience, but it’s very rewarding in the end.
The enemies aren’t the same either. There are many different ships and robots throughout the levels, each with their own firing methods. This further creates a challenge, because you must get creative when trying to avoid their bullets. There are giant wheels that fire streams of bullets in four directions, battleships that fire streams from their sides and move across the screen, and giant cannons that fire huge lasers across the screen. It’s complete madness.
Later levels only get harder. Not only will you have to deal with bullets, but there will also be obstacles that can only be destroyed by numerous shots of the same color. Touch them and you’re dead, so you better fire quickly.
You do have another weapon apart from your normal gun, though, and that is a cannon that will instantly destroy (or at least heavily damage) enemies on screen. However, you have to load a gauge by destroying enemies in order to use it. This can be very handy with taking out bosses, especially if you’re low on time.
Ah, yes, you do have a time limit. However, unlike Sin and Punishment, you will get an instant “game over” if it runs out. Since you’re moving at a constant speed throughout the game, it mostly relies on how fast you kill the level boss. You better destroy that boss quickly!
There are other gameplay modes in Ikaruga, but they have minimal differences. These modes allow you to play practice modes of each level, compete against other scores (only in later versions), play with a limited number of bullets, and play with no bullets at all. They’re great modes to try out if you’re looking for alternative methods to play the game.
Despite its intense difficulty, Ikaruga is a work of art. It’s the closest thing to a flawless game I’ve ever played. While the difficulty may be a turnoff to some, it would be a big mistake on their part to put away the game. The gameplay is innovative, the visuals are breathtaking, the music is awesome, the action is intense, and the replay value is high due to the difficulty. Shooter fans, GameCube fans, import gamers, and those who want a great challenge will absolutely love Ikaruga. It is also available on Switch if you don’t have a retro console handy, so buy it at your earliest convenience!
Rating: 10/10