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Ikaruga
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Console: Nintendo GameCube
Region:U
Year: 2003
RFG ID #: U-076-S-01210-A
Part #: DL-DOL-GIKE-USA
UPC: 722242519781
Developer: Treasure
Publisher: Atari
Rating:
E (ESRB): Violence

Genre: Classic Shooter
Sub-genre:
Players: 1-2
Controller: Standard Controller
Media Format: GameCube Optical Disc
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Collection Stats:

  • 260 of 7628 collectors (3.4%) have this game in their collection
  • 24 of 7628 collectors (0.3%) have this game in their wishlist.
  • 0 of 7628 collectors (0%) have this game for sale or trade.
Overview:

From the back of the box: Amid the turmoil and tumult of battle, there may be seeming disorder and yet no real disorder at all... -Sun Tzu, The Art of War He is Shinra, the lone survivor of a ragaved people. He mus battle fiercely, move swiftly and act rationally in a new war -- one of frighteningly intense firepower and hypnotic beauty. Find calm amid the chaos and reap the rewards, in this beautiful combination of manga-style storytelling and ultra-challenging arcade heroics. Key features:
  • Experience battle in 18 different stages
  • Select a display: vertical or horizontal, letterbox, or full screen
  • Execute the "Bullet Eater" technique and other advanced strategies
  • Post high scores on the Ikaruga website
  • Mount cooperative attacks in two-player mode
www.ikaruga-atari.net
Review:

Treasure does it again! A brilliant and challenging shooter with an extra layer of interaction through the dual polarities of the Ikaruga and Ginkei Fighters. While punishing to begin with, masters can always find places to improve. Execute perfect combos, where all enemies are destroyed in the proper order, or move on to perform more advanced techniques like the "dot eater" strategy, or even play as two players and operate two fighters at once. Only three difficulty levels exist, but the formations are the same. The difference is whether the enemies shoot back as they are destroyed. To some, this makes the Easy difficulty level harder than Normal. A punishing level of difficulty, short length, and the simple nature of gameplay in this type of shooter reinforces the niche appeal of the shmup genre. Still, this game is one of the best with full 3D backgrounds and actually having a decent story and manga-style art; something rare for a shooter. My only complaint (other than no more official website or scoreboards) is that the screen is small and things are difficult to see, especially on smaller televisions. Here's a little secret is that helps a lot. You can flip the screen position from the horizontal aspect (Yoko) to a vertical aspect (Tate). This allows you to make full use of the screen, and it still maintains its original, slightly elongated aspect. You may choose to leave the controls the same or flip them. If you flip the screen and not the controls you can play it like a horizontal shooter similar to Gradius. WARNING: Flipping a television on its side may cause permanent damage to the unit, and due to the internal workings of "tube" displays, may be considered DANGEROUS. You have been advised. Infogrames did an excellent job when they ported this one over from the Japanese Dreamcast to share with the North American and European markets on the GameCube, and the quality of the arcade is consistently maintained across all three platforms.

RF Generation Review Score


85%

Extra Media:

Precautions Booklet (PM-DOL-USA-2)
Variations:

Console Reg. Type Title Publisher Year Genre
Nintendo GameCube FR, DE, IT, ES, GB S Ikaruga Atari 2003 Classic Shooter
Nintendo GameCube J S Ikaruga Atari 2003 Classic Shooter
Related Games:

Console Reg. Type Title Publisher Year Genre
Sega Dreamcast U S Bangai-O Conspiracy Entertainment 2001 Shooter
Sony PlayStation 2 U S Gradius V Konami 2004 Shooter
Nintendo GameCube FR, DE, IT, ES, GB S Ikaruga Atari 2003 Classic Shooter
Sega Dreamcast J S Ikaruga ESP Software 2002 Classic Shooter
Sega Saturn J S Radiant Silvergun ESP 1998 Shooter
Sony PlayStation 2 U S Silpheed: The Lost Planet Working Designs 2000 Shooter
Game Trivia:

  • Part of the game's introduction says Project RS-2 (below the Treasure logo), which is generally considered to mean "Radiant Silvergun 2".
  • The name "Ikaruga" is taken from the local name for a black and white bird native to East Asia.
FAQ's/External Links:

Instructions:

Controls:
AChange Polarity (White/Black)
BFire
A+BRelease Power
RRelease Power
StartPause
Your fighter can be either black or white, and the enemies (and their fire) is also either black or white. Your ship will absorb any enemy fire of the same color, and build up your energy. Also, your fighter will do increased damage to fighters of the opposite color. One hit from the fire of the opposite color will destroy your ship, and you will lose a life. Bumping into an enemy ship will also cause you to lose a life. Combos are achieved as you hit three fighters of the same color in a row. Destroy all enemies in pairs of three without missing any to build up a higher combo and a higher score multiplier.
Easter Eggs:

  • To execute the "Bullet Eater" strategy, simply do not fire any shots. A bonus will be added to the score at the end of the level. Note that it is possible to fly between the crates in Chapter 2-2
Page Credits:

Michael Collins: Page design, HTML code.
Dennis Gruchala: screenshots
Eddie Herrmann: Perl script.
tholly: scans
Rick Johnson: Miscellaneous information
IamtheHBOMB: UPC, Players, Media Quantity, Game Rating, Rating Content Descriptor, Subgenre
OatBob: overview, review, trivia,
ApolloBoy: Publisher
Shadow Kisuragi: UPC Standardization
raffa1985: Variation Tie-In
Hobie-wan: upc fix
Bear78: Photos
Flee: Genre

Last Updated: 2018-07-16 00:23:48
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