Ikaruga – Recognized world’s masterpiece of arcade shooter game

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Ikaruga (??) is a revolutionary vertical scrolling shooting game, originally released for Sega NAOMI, Dreamcast and Nintendo GameCube in 2001 by Treasure (from Japan), and afterward ported to XBLA (XBox Live Arcade) in 2008 and Windows in 2014 (joined large number of new elements, shown in a brand-new face).

As an STG video game with legend of significance in the long arcade game history, Ikaruga became the king of a whole generation of flight shooting games for its designs on unique game system, stages with ultra high difficulty and the nearly perfect BGM. Until now, it is still regarded as the only top-score STG work by so many fan players.

After inherited the Radiant Silvergun‘s polarity system (fighter can switch between black & white polarities: when your fighter has the same color with the enemy’s bullets, it will not only be able to be immune to the injury, but also can absorb the enemy fire to launch a special attack; on the contrary, using the opposite color of bullets to attack can cause more damage to the enemy fighters), Ikaruga’s game system became more profound. As a result, when players are avoiding full-screen barrage from enemy fighters, they also need to quickly turn their mind to consider the balance between both polarities. Just this one point is enough to make Ikaruga to be a must-play work for players who like air war shooter game.

As one of (in fact the only one) the arcade game industry’s masterpieces, Ikaruga only released an arcade edition at the beginning. Afterwards because of countless demands from fan players, Treasure company launched its one limited edition on the DC console. In particular, thank to the releasing of Ikaruga for Windows platform, more players can got a chance to enjoy this classic shoot ’em up video game. Its snappy combat, ultra high difficulty as well as bold innovation in the game system design can still make too many players enjoy oneself to the full even in more than a decade later.

// Official Demo Video //

// Key Features //

  • The player ship, all enemies and bullets are black or white. Player’s polarity can be switched at will.
  • Your ship can absorb enemy bullets of the same polarity. Filled energy goes to fire powerful homing lasers! (Release Power)
  • Defeat 3 enemies in a row of the same polarity and get the chain bonus! Building up high scores feels like a puzzle game?
  • Spectacular 3D graphics. Fast and smooth game play.
  • 2 Players game (Local) and Double Play Mode: You can play 2 Players game with one controller.
  • 5 levels. Tactical level design and boss battles.
  • 3 difficulty levels: EASY, NORMAL, HARD. Change your tactics depending on the difficulty.
  • 2 Game modes: ARCADE, PROTOTYPE (not hidden).
  • Replay data save is available. You can also download them from the Leaderboards.
  • Vertical screen mode support. You can also play the game like a side-scrolling shooter by rotating only the game screen.
  • Xbox360 controller, Keyboard and Mouse support.

// Edition Statement //

AppNee provided everyone with Ikaruga’s original edition for DC (ROM only, use NullDC emulator to play) and remake edition for PC (portable full registered version, integrated with build 5 upgrade file, complete without rip).

// System Requirements //

// Download URLs //

Platform Release Year Type Download Size
DC 2001 ROM only 28 MB
PC 2014 Portable Full 314 MB

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