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Enjoy that XBLA Ikaruga? The current top-rated numero uno player Kingoro58k totally hates it. While he seems to put up with the XBLA port enough to reclaim his spot from a Finnish gamer, Kingoro58k writes:
For the uninitiated, Treasure's Ikaruga is a vertically scrolling shoot 'em up originally released for arcades, with ports for the Dreamcast and GameCube released in 2002 and 2003 respectively. It uses a simple mechanic of polarity—your ship, the Ikaruga, can switch between black and white states; there are no traditional shooter power ups, black and white beams are your only weapon. It's a system that belies its complexity. When white, the ship can absorb all white-coloured incoming enemy fire. When black, the ship can absorb all black-coloured incoming enemy fire. However, when firing on ships of the opposite colour, the Ikaruga does double the damage. Oh, but there's more to it than that, a layer of depth that makes Ikaruga one part shooter, one part puzzler, with a dash of rhythm and strategy tossed in. How does the Xbox Live Arcade port hold up, with Ikaruga now seven years old?
Warning. The big list of love and hate is approaching at full throttle. No refuge.
The latest issue of Nintendo Power, which is in the hands of subscribers right now features an interview with Masato Maegawa, the president of the beloved action game developer, whose Bangai-O Spirits is due to hit the Nintendo DS stateside this quarter. The Xbox Live Arcade remake of Ikaruga just went live, but Nintendo Power wants to know when Maegawa and crew will get some WiiWare titles out.
Maegawa says that they're looking into it, but that they already have two unannounced Wii games in development. Details are nonexistent other than the Treasure president teasing that "both games will have a lot of impact." Who wants to make some wagers?
Treasure's classic shoot 'em up Ikaruga has a simple premise. Turn your ship white, become immune to white attacks. Turn your ship black, become immune to black attacks. The casual onlooker would say the premise sounded simple. The seasoned Ikaruga player would say the premise sounded deceptively simple.
So the question isn't should you play Ikaruga if you haven't. The question is, should you play Ikaruga on XBLA, or should you hunt down a Gamecube or Dreamcast version. Hit the jump for our Frankenreview to find out: it's Ikarugalicious.
In this week's XBLA update, we've finally gotten official confirmation that Ikaruga, the classic Japanese shoot 'em up (sorry, I despise the term "shmup") is coming to the platform this Wednesday, April 9th. Now in HD, players can enjoy standard leaderboards as well as online co-op and replay/save video support. It'll set you back 800 points.
In addition, the highly regarded newb Poker Smash will be offering two expansions. The Environment Pack (with two new action mode environments) and the Puzzle Pack (with 15 new puzzles) will each be available for 100 points.
All in all, it's a nice week of updates on XBLA. For the full, gruesome details, hit the jump.
The promise of Ikaruga for Xbox Live Arcade has been a constant tease since its official announcement in September. We know it's coming soon, but didn't know exactly when. Fortunately, the Japanese version of Xbox.com has put a date on it, pegging the release for Wednesday, April 9. That's a respectable distance from April 1, so we suspect our emotions aren't being stomped upon by cruel Japanese webmasters. Cross your fingers in hope that the world doesn't explode until at least April 10!
You know, I've actually finished Ikaruga on the Dreamcast. And I'm absolutely rubbish at shooters. So I'm proud of that. Finishing the game is one thing, though. Finishing it while also earning some of these Ikaruga achievements is something else. Something a little harder. While most of them involve just killing off a boss, which is reasonable, one involves clearing the game without using a single continue ,while another involves clearing a chapter without firing a single bullet. Miiiiiiiiiiight give those two a miss.
Ikaruga Achievements [Inside MGC, via GayGamer]
When Microsoft announced the HD remake of Ikaruga last September, it said it was "coming soon". Then nothin'. Then, back in January, we thought that the Xbox Live Arcade release of Treasure's vertically scrolling shooter was just around the bend, time-wise. We haven't heard a peep from it since, just the sound of tears hitting the floor.
Shooter specialty developer Cave is bringing two of its arcade shooters to the Xbox 360: DoDonPachi Dai Ou Jou Black Label and Ketsui. The games will be out this year and ported by 5pb. Makes sense for the games to get Xbox 360 ports and that console does seem to be favorite among hardcore Japanese otaku — not to mention it'll give Cave a crack at the US market. With these titles, plus IKARUGA and Rez, the Xbox 360 seems to be shoot'em up console.
Cave Shooters to 360 [Insert Credit]
Might want to turn down the volume on your computer as YouTube's sound quality is rather shrill. Hit the jump for her renditions of Takeshi no Chousenjou, Mega-Man 3 and Dynasty Warriors 3. Keep the comments clean. Or else.
