Ikaruga Review

By Kristan Reed Published 17 June, 2003

The hardest game you'll play all year.

Version tested: GameCube

There's barely a rarer game on the Dreamcast than Treasure's uber hardcore 2D vertical shooter Ikaruga, so Treasure fans can count themselves lucky that they don't have to get embroiled in eBay bidding wars to be able to play its latest twitch gaming masterpiece. For the benefit of the perennially ignored European gamer, Infogrames has picked up the rights to the functionally identical GameCube port - arguably the perfect game to demonstrate its rebirth under the Atari moniker.

But while Ikaruga may well be the modern day equivalent of all those old school arcade gaming experiences, it's a game that will frighten the life out of anyone not used to such unforgiving and exacting games.

2D? In the noughties? Pah!

1

For a start the idea of playing yet another 2D shooter will have graphic snobs everywhere snorting with derision, while the almost vertical learning curve will have the 'save anywhere', and 'unlimited continues' generation blubbing at the outrageous difficulty level.

If you find the concept of playing through a small number of levels repeatedly a tiring, taxing one, then it's probably wise to move along at this point. Ikaruga is a true hardcore gamer's game, and only the strongest will survive. Make no mistake, this is rock hard, and you're going to have to be the gaming equivalent of the Pinball Wizard to get anywhere at all.

But, if you fancy a test of hand-eye co-ordination, there's barely a game that we've played in five years or more that comes close to matching the true twitch gaming thrills on offer here.

The black and white blasting show

2

At its core, Treasure has somehow managed to devise a cunning gameplay concept that freshens up the whole blastathon. Basically, you can switch the polarity of your ship between black and white; if you're facing an enemy of the same colour you can absorb the energy of their bullets and activate up to a maximum of 12 homing lasers back at them, but the downside is that it takes longer to kill them.

However, switch to the opposite polarity and you can deal double the amount of damage, but run the risk of being destroyed instantly, in true shoot 'em up tradition. With the screen constantly awash with enemies and their projectiles, unless you're exceptionally talented, you'll be all out of ships in no time at all, and gasping at the immensity of the task ahead.

You can, mercifully, tweak the difficulty level (Easy, Medium, Hard), or bump up the number of ships available to you to a maximum of five, but in truth, thanks to the miserable number of continues you start off with, you'll be struggling to get any further than Chapter 3 unless you're prepared to firm those flaccid gameplay muscles back into life.

One... more... go... nuuuugh!

3

But get back into the groove of the 'try and try again' old school arcade mechanics, and necessarily repetitive gameplay, and you'll soon be dragged back for one more go by the same cable all good games of the past had you strung to. Persist, though, and you'll make minor advancements with every go, as you gradually devise more effective attack strategies, as well as memorising the layout of the more evil sections.

At first you'll maybe clear the first chapter without having to use up any of your credits, then the second, then eventually you'll be rewarded for each hour of gameplay time with an extra credit, or better still, unlock new advanced modes (for example when you reach 20 hours of play), such as the Prototype mode, that enables the real obsessive the chance to play Ikaruga to the design spec that existed early on in its development.

If you get really stuck, which is almost a given, you can always use the practice mode and work on particular sections that are giving you grief, with the added benefit of being able to play it slowed down if it's being a real pain in the butt. Beyond that, you can also view the pre-recorded demos of each level, which reveal how to conquer them - a major boon, and a means of stopping you from giving up altogether.

Two-player madness

4

For added strategy, the game even sports a simultaneous two-player mode, which will no doubt prove a useful means of getting past certain overwhelming sections. Or just more confusing, depending on how good your mate is.

In terms of differences from the original, we're informed that it's basically identical. Graphically it's still the same pleasing mix of swooping, stunning 3D backdrops, epic explosions and a relentless assault of highly detailed ships, although you're going to have to find a means of displaying the game vertically to ever truly do the visuals justice. The controls needed a little reconfiguring before they worked to our satisfaction on the Cube, but in all other respects it's a faithful port.

One unique feature to the Cube version is the Net Ranking Board, which enables users to post high scores on the internet, via a code based system. Only when we bothered to enter ours did we realise quite how much we suck at Ikaruga. [You. Quite how much you suck at it. -Rob and Tom]

Can you handle it?

Despite our woolly ineptitude, we enjoyed Ikaruga a great deal, and with a serious investment of time we're almost convinced we'd get good at it eventually. The limited number of chapters (five) makes the task slightly less daunting, and with so few gaming alternatives out there, this is somewhat unique in the next-gen marketplace these days.

If you're an old school arcade veteran looking to prove yourself again, then this is perhaps the purest gameplay experience you'll find for a long time. Even if you're a rookie looking for something 'new', you can't go wrong, but you might well find the barriers to entry a little harsh to say the least. No one ever said it would be easy though, did they?

8 / 10

Read the Eurogamer.net scoring policy
Picture of Kristan.

About Kristan Reed

Kristan is a former editor of Eurogamer, dad, Stone Roses bore and Norwich City supporter who sometimes mutters optimistically about Team Silent getting back together.

Read more articles from Kristan by visiting the Kristan Reed archive page.

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Comments (61) Latest comment 9 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Alastair #1 9 years ago

    It's now 12:58

    EDIT: Your system clock is fast!
    Edited by Alastair at 17/06/03 @ 14:10

  • FWB #2 9 years ago

    12.59 by my count.

  • FWB #3 9 years ago

    Now its 13.00.

  • Alastair #4 9 years ago

    'Also, with the release of the legendary action replay for gamecube, don't expect the online score rankings to bear any truth of real skill. '

    Expect to see Otto's name at the top of the listing any time soon!

    ;o)

  • Razz #5 9 years ago

    I picked this up for the Dreamcast. Is it any reason why I should get it fro the GC too?

  • Eldritch #6 9 years ago

    This was an essential and instant buy for me. After all, I spent months on Thunder Force III on the Mega Drive. (C;

    Play it in horizontal, anamorphic mode on a widescreen telly and you'll have a blast. Or two.

  • Eldritch #7 9 years ago

    "Anyone really interested in it will have already imported it on Dreamcast (which incidentally isn’t very rare at all, £40-£50 from a lot of online retailers)."

    Mine was 45 Euros, by the way...

  • st3ph3n #8 9 years ago

    Hehe, the Naughties. More people need to be using that.

    I might buy this, now that i'm no longer studenting, and are now claiming free holiday pay/job seekers allowance from the job centre.

  • Eldritch #9 9 years ago

    Way to go st3ph3n. Nothing better than to burn 40 bob on this one!

  • rare_uk #10 9 years ago

    I got this last week, haven't played it much yet due to my lost save games problem, coupled with the fact that Burnout 2 is taking all of my GC time. But I did manage to play it for about 1 hour and found it well hard, and it looks and plays beautifully. I managed to beat the first boss.

  • shirubagan #11 9 years ago

    "Play it in horizontal, anamorphic mode on a widescreen telly and you'll have a blast. Or two. "

    Pah. Turn your telly on it's side, THEN you'll know how great this game is.

    Buy it, buy it, buy it!

  • Cyhwuhx #12 9 years ago

    .::: I'm in the free play zone although I still have to 'complete' it. usually I keep track of the amount of credits and quit at 9. Unlimited is too cheap. :p

  • Eldritch #13 9 years ago

    "Turn your telly on its side"

    I would, but I'm kinda scared. You know, I still have this day job and bills to pay. Oh, and the telly might not like it either. (C;

  • LaundroMat #14 9 years ago

    Ikaruga was heavily warez0red and imported at the time of its DC release. I wonder how many GC owners have
    a) a DC
    b) a copy (beit legit or not) of the game on their DC

    Substract this number from the number of potential buyers, and I fear there's not a lot left.

  • lost_soul #15 9 years ago

    Think I'll wait for this to appear in a sale before I buy, £40 on an old skool shooter just seems too expensive.

    How does it compare against Capcoms more recent shooters? (such as Mars Matrix, Gigawing, 194x)

  • Killerbee #16 9 years ago

    If you do fancy more of this kind of thing you can download Xenon 2000: Project PCF from the Bitmap Brothers website here - and it's free!

  • Tricky #17 9 years ago

    "Turn your telly on its side"

    Not a good idea - a few people have knackered their tellys doing this. Unless the tube is designed to be orientated that way, it will break.

  • Pirotic #18 9 years ago

    no mention of the awful pal conversion i see,

    basically if you want this game, get it imported with freeloader for the same price, the PAL version doesn't suffer to badly from borders - but the frameskip is ugly, basically instead of speeding everything up so the PAL (50hz only) version matchs the 60hz game, they've just hacked it so it doesn't display every 6th frame, this makes the game 'jump' along and is sadly very noticeable

    (exactly the same as what happens when you try to play halo with the dash set to 60hz, displays at 50hz but jumps frames to speed it up)

    dont get!

  • krudster #19 9 years ago

    Ah here we go, the old PAL conversion moans. It's a fine game, PAL 50 or not. Sure, by all means go to the hassle of importing, but it's by no means a bad port, and certainly isn't noticeable.

  • Eldritch #20 9 years ago

    "awful pal conversion", "the frameskip is ugly", "they've just hacked it so it doesn't display every 6th frame, this makes the game 'jump' along and is sadly very noticeable", "dont get!"

    I didn't notice anything of that kind at all. Call me low-tech, but this game is utterly playable as it is sold over here in Germany.

    It's just like complaining about "missing lines" in US DVDs. Sure, technically that may be true, but how many people actually do notice these things?

    Don't miss such a fine game, just because some things you may not even notice may be missing.
    Edited by Eldritch at 17/06/03 @ 16:33

  • Nemesis #21 9 years ago

    Bloody hell, look at all you lot vying for hardcore status in the Ik' thread! Bless ;-)

    I stink at this sort of game, years of Xenon/1942 and R-Type confirmed the fact. Like to play it, but have to be realistic. Maybe I can nick someone else's copy when they get pissed off with it and realise they ain't that hardcore after all. /gets ready to email Alastair

  • Pirotic #22 9 years ago

    wasn't slating the review, just letting people know.. while most gamers dont even remember the borders on final fantasy im sure a few of us would be pretty let down with the conversion, i've had the jap version to compare it to and the FMV at the start, and the ingame action is awfully jumpy. either that or my cube is playing up :p

  • Eldritch #23 9 years ago

    "either that or my cube is playing up"

    I never noticed any slowdowns in the entire game or the FMV except for the boss explosions (but let's mercifully assume that this was a conscious decision on part of the developers... (C;).

    Come to think of it, the FMV intro of Extreme G-3 is very choppy indeed...

  • Eldritch #24 9 years ago

    "european gamers should be chuffed that they are getting the game at all"

    I'm glad they released it over here at all. So sue me. (C:

  • Pirotic #25 9 years ago

    that was sorta my point :) its a great game and im glad they've decided to release it - and im not against 50hz, if done properly 50hz is perfect, slightly lower frame-rate but sharper picture. my problem is that it skips every 6th frame which means anything moving appears to suddenly jerk.

    but then again, if you cannot notice it there is nothing to worry about. just figured ppl might want to know certain sites are doing a deal where you get the US version AND freeloader for £5 less than the english RRP.

  • Eldritch #26 9 years ago

    "why not include this?"

    Maybe, on a niche title such as this one, they can't be arsed?

  • Pirotic #27 9 years ago

    well, i suppose the main question is can anybody else notice it? i thought it was pretty apparent, but then again hardly anybody noticed the 60hz halo fault until i posted about it. (xbox magazine still deny it, dispite bungie actually issuing an public apology)

    what i dont want is a big 60/50/moan/debate thing, we've been there too often,

  • krudster #28 9 years ago

    By all means bitch and moan if it is a dodgy conversion, but this really isn't even a noticeable issue. I agree publishers should include 60Hz, but in this case it's such a niche game they probably realised it wasn't worth it.

  • Eldritch #29 9 years ago

    Well, I second that motion, no doubt.

    People in Germany buy German release DVDs which lack extra features and look like shit. 'cos they don't have a choice.

    Importing things is still something many people won't do or are unaware of.

    I think the more games are sold over here in Europe the sooner we will have proper versions of them.

    In the meantime, I'm grateful for every playable shooter I can get.
    But I appreciate people having strong views about this. In the long run, that will improve things for sure.

    Have a look at Driver 2. Now that's a fucked-up game and it wasn't even a 60 Hz/PAL/can't be arsed issue. (C;

  • Eldritch #30 9 years ago

    "what i dont want is a big 60/50/moan/debate thing, we've been there too often"

    Too late, I guess. (C:

  • Blerk #31 9 years ago

    I agree publishers should include 60Hz, but in this case it's such a niche game they probably realised it wasn't worth it.

    The trouble is, this is a niche game. And the type of people who would buy such a title are exactly the type of people who would make a big fuss about the lack of a 60hz mode. They should have known better.

  • Pirotic #32 9 years ago

    i can't really get my head around it, i could understand if they had rushed it out, and sold it cheaper so maybe the casual gamer may pick up a game which would probably get overlooked otherwise. but releasing a hardcore game, without advertising, and a dodgy conversion, for more money, why not just put a few posters up saying "Import it Now!" or something.

    they'll end up just bitching about how the sales are crap and then not bother releasing the big-guns as they are too 'japanese'

  • Eldritch #33 9 years ago

    Maybe they know that their target audience would buy it anyway, be it an import or a retail version. Shooters are few and far between these days. You want one, you buy what's there.

    *sigh*

  • Eldritch #34 9 years ago

    "If developers and publishers don't take pride in their games they don't deserve to be in the industry."

    Wrong, I fear. They're here to make money with the least amount of trouble and work.

    Idealism rarely pays these days.
    Edited by Eldritch at 17/06/03 @ 17:20

  • Pirotic #35 9 years ago

    now lets start complainig about the measly 4 levels!

    just kidding ;) bloody cool game. Treasure have a knack of making games unique - well, apart from Wario which looks pretty bollocks.

    i'd like to be a git however and annouce this ISNT the hardest shooter ever, i have somewhere this NeoGeo game, its like a horizontal shooter and its bloody impossible!.. and you can't even get a ActionReply for the CDZ :(

    am i the only person who didnt like the whole Black/White gameplay system? i think its a bit gimicky (for the record i think Silvergun is the better game)

  • Eldritch #36 9 years ago

    NeoGeo: Last Resort?

    I agree, the b/w system is somewhat gimmicky. I prefer old school systems (Gradius, R-Type, Parodius etc.). Still, it's a refreshing change in a world bereft of innovations. (C;

  • Eldritch #37 9 years ago

    I like the idea of being able to absorb the enemies' fire, even the fire of those capital ships - and then being able to switch and give them a taste of their own medicine. (C:

  • gravity0 #38 9 years ago

    Pirotic: Pulstar? That wasn't too hard. Viewpoint - now there was a rock hard game.

    As for Ikaruga, I imported the DC version last year, and never really clicked with the rigid gameplay system. There seemed to be a perfect way to beat a level, and once you've figured out the correct route, that was it. In that respect, the game is alot more like a puzzler than a shmup.

    Personally, I prefer the more traditional shooters with a little more freedom in the way you approach a level. DoDonPachi Dai-Ou-Jou on the PS2 is a good example. What a game!

  • Eldritch #39 9 years ago

    "DoDonPachi Dai-Ou-Jou"

    Is there an English, less vowel-heavy name for that one?

  • Eldritch #40 9 years ago

    Just found it. Looks nice. (C:

  • gravity0 #41 9 years ago

    It's an absolutely incredible game - I'm totally hooked on it at the mo'.

    If you like your Japanese manic shmups, and you own a JPN/chipped PS2, you *have* to get this.

  • Eldritch #42 9 years ago

    I don't have a PS2, but I'll keep it in mind for the PSP. (C:

  • Alastair #43 9 years ago

    'Maybe I can nick someone else's copy when they get pissed off with it and realise they ain't that hardcore after all. /gets ready to email Alastair '

    Watch it, Shorty!

    I'm hardcore enough to know that I'm not *that* hardcore. And even if I wasn't, do you think I'd let you lot know about it.

  • Eldritch #44 9 years ago

    In other nerdism news:

    http://www.viaarena.com/?PageID=271

  • ray #45 9 years ago

    gravity0: "Pirotic: Pulstar? That wasn't too hard. Viewpoint - now there was a rock hard game. "

    Try blazing Star (the Pulstar's sequel). It is DESIGNED so you can't play it. Shame, cos it looks so superb.

    I always had difficulties with Viewpoint mainly because of controls. I could never figure out how am I supposed to avoid bullets. Looks nice, though.

  • ssuellid #46 9 years ago

    I reckon that the 50hz version has been hacked up purely for the online stats - not really fair for us Europeans to be playing at a slowed down 50hz. Still not an excuse for the lack of a true 60hz mode tho - but from reading various reviews the juddering is not supposed to be that noticable except in the non shooting parts - i.e ship swooping etc.

  • [$mooth] EcToX #47 9 years ago

    amazin game on da dc i think im gonna have to get it!

  • reto #48 9 years ago

    For a start the idea of playing yet another 2D shooter will have graphic snobs everywhere snorting with derision

    Rubbish, maybe 3d snobs but not graphic snobs, this is one of the best looking games ever. (Through VGA on DC)

  • Cyhwuhx #49 9 years ago

    I reckon that the 50hz version has been hacked up purely for the online stats - not really fair for us Europeans to be playing at a slowed down 50hz. Still not an excuse for the lack of a true 60hz mode tho - but from reading various reviews the juddering is not supposed to be that noticable except in the non shooting parts - i.e ship swooping etc.

    .::: Ehm it's the opposite. Because of the 'hack' speeds are now actually comparable. For those of you who cannot actually see the 'frameskip' watch the title-sequence at level 2 very closely and you'll see the animation breaking up every couple of frames. It's by no means a reason NOT to get the game though. I've been playing it vividly since it's release and the skipping hasn't interfered with the gameplay at all. I was bothered by it at first as well, but it has turned out to be a fine solution to the online problem and hasn't brought up any kind of other problems.
    Just take one look at Final Fantasy X and all is forgiven.

    For a bunch of 2D-gameplay loving retro-gamers, there are a lot of graphic-whores among them... ;P

  • krudster #50 9 years ago

    Ok, "3D graphics snobs"!

  • HermitArcader #51 9 years ago

    Post deleted at 09:17:39 22-12-2011

  • mal #52 9 years ago

    .::: Ehm it's the opposite. Because of the 'hack' speeds are now actually comparable. For those of you who cannot actually see the 'frameskip' watch the title-sequence at level 2 very closely and you'll see the animation breaking up every couple of frames.

    Dat's what the man said, ain't it?

    I seem to remember there being noticable frames being dropped on the Ikaruga NGC cover-mount DVD, though I guess that would be the Japanese GC version (running at 60Hz) munged down to 50Hz for the PAL DVD. I don't recall that looking too bad except in the ship swooping about bits where it was very noticable, and I'd expect an official 50Hz conversion to be better.

    I'm getting this on PAL. Can't be arsed to mess about with boot discs.

  • lucky_jim #53 9 years ago

    I've gotta admit I got a pirate copy of this on the Dreamcast... but then I went and bought the Cube version too, simply because it's such a damn fine game that I felt Treasure more than deserved their royalties. It's hard as nails though.

  • APR #54 9 years ago

    I'd just like to add that having a big TV made that 50hz frame skipping nonsence horribly apparent on Halo.
    I'd like to get this game, seeing as there isn't much else like it around and it's something different.
    But it's a policy of mine to just not buy 50hz only games, and havn't since getting an import PS1 in '97.

  • Pirotic #55 9 years ago

    :) not just me then APR, i play games to relax, having to play say , final fantasy x and be constantly aware that its an inferior product (whopping borders and walking at a snails pace) - i just dont bother, they should be trying harder for our custom as i always find more than enough 60hz games to keep me happy.

    as for that freeloader trick, it wont help with Ikruga because its coded to ship every 6th frame, it runs 17.5% to fast when you force it to run in 60hz mode.. its hard enough how it is
    Edited by Pirotic at 17/06/03 @ 23:41

  • Umbala #56 9 years ago

    Ikaruga. Great game. I like it. Got it for the DC and GCN. I don't really mind the 50Hz, and I can't notice anything wrong with it either - but it's a matter of principle, when it comes to European games; we've been forgotten, or then we're not worthy of getting games (come to think mainly of Suikoden3 and Xenosaga).

    And... about the next topic. I like PAL over NTSC. Why? The PAL standard may have 10 frames/sec less, which is quite noticeable still, PAL image has about 100 lines more than the NTSC image - so if people'd make the games straight to PAL, we'd get games at a bigger res (720x576 instead of 720x480).

    And I just think I lost my point here.. :o)

  • Blerk #57 9 years ago

    if Blerk says it isn't noticable then I accept that

    Uh.. thanks for the vote of confidence, but I didn't say that. Someone else did. :-)

  • shirubagan #58 9 years ago

    turned a 24inch telly on it's side when I first got this and there were no problems*. Just made sure it was tilted backwards so the screen faces up (á la arcade stylee). I tell you what, though: looks farkin awesome like that!

    *DISCLAIMER: Don't blame me if you wreck your TV. I won't pay for it and I didn't say it was guaranteed to work.

  • beep #59 9 years ago

    It's funny when you add the numbers, the actual pixel number per frame in a PAL game at 25 frames (@ 50Hz), is LESS than the number for a NTSC game at 30 (60Hz).

    Using this theory, PAL games should be the best looking and smoother running versions because there is less load on the CPU/ GPU/ PooPU. Now if only developers would actually take advantage of this instead of realeasing substandard, lazy ports.

  • The Button #60 9 years ago

    Instead of turning your TV on its side, tilt your head to one side. If you live in Britain and are on the NHS, the cost of repairing your neck should be cheaper than getting a new TV, should it mess up by being put on its side.

  • ray #61 9 years ago

    Any links?