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Far Cry 3 And The Stranger In A Strange Land 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]
YouTuber shizuhohattori is recorder girl. She specializes in playing retro game tunes on her recorder. For that, and that alone, we adore her. Above, she tackles the IKARUGA theme for the first level, “Ideal.” Think about that: This person liked IKARUGA enough to do a version on a recorder. So cool.
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.
Treasure’s legendary shooter IKARUGA has recently appeared on Xbox Live’s Partner Net (the “insider’s” version of XBL). Previously, the 49MB game appeared on Partner Net, but it wouldn’t load. This time around, it’s downloadable and playable. The game will support both 16:9 and 16:10 widescreen. It’s appearance on Partner Net doesn’t mean it’s going to be out anytime soon. Fingers gently crossed that it be, however. Ikaruga Coming Soon? [Shmups Forum via Arcade Renaissance]
A four-kiosk attack of Xbox Live Arcade games was nestled in the middle of Microsoft’s Xbox 360 booth at TGS, showing off dozens of titles old and new. Only one contained the XBLA remake of Treasure’s black and white shmup Ikaruga in playable demo form. Featuring the first level of the game, the demo station at Tokyo Game Show may not have shown the remake in the best light. While Ikaruga for XBLA looks spectacular in screenshots—and according to Flynn, “really sharp” on a 42″ HDTV—seeing it in non-tate mode on a 22″ LCD doesn’t show off the game’s graphical upgrades in the proper light.
Think Rez was the only too-good-to-be-true announcement for Xbox Live Arcade at the Microsoft Japan presser? Hah. WRONG. Not only are we getting Rez, we are also getting another Dreamcast favourite. Ikaruga. For real. Same colour-crossing, same perfect shooter, just with shinier new graphics. Please, begin pinching yourselves. We need to make sure this isn’t some mysterious, mass hallucination.
