Game Debate #32: Ikaruga

[Reed Rothchild | 9,550]

 

 

[Gloves | 11,800]

Fuck yeah.

[Sumez | 2,968]

Decent shooter. Revenge bullets are annoying as hell, and the combo based scoring system is a pain. The polarity based puzzle gimmick is pretty fun though.

As much as I do enjoy playing it, it's kind of crazy how famous (some may say overrated) it's become specifically in "non-shooter fan" circles. Better Ikaruga than some euroshmup though, and I'll admit I'm definitely looking forward to Ubusuna if that ever does come out. If I had to choose, I'd prefer Radiant Silvergun to this, too.

Edited January 14, 2021 by Sumez

[Webhead123 | 679]

Haven't played Ikaruga, although it's been on my radar for years now. However, bullet-hell shmups aren't my favorite category and I'm not great at them, so I haven't been in a rush to play it either. I'd like to play it but I'm also not terribly concerned if it turns out the stars just never align.

[TDIRunner | 2,744]

It's a fun game for me.  I enjoy the polarity gimmick.  I've been playing it for years on a gdemu in my Dreamcast, but recently bought the Switch version.  I'm not great at it by any means, but I still enjoy it.  With that said, I enjoyed Radiant Silvergun on the Saturn a little more.  I just liked the idea of having so many different weapon types mapped to each button.  

[docile tapeworm | 4,204]

puzzle game!

radiants cousin

[Nintegageo | 582]

I voted 10. This is my #1 shooter game. It is awesome.

[AstralSoul | 502]

I'll be the first to admit I don't really like shmups and I suck tremendously at them but I like the idea of them. I just get too frustrated with them. Ikaruga was one of the best ones I've played though, and one of the hardest. But I could tell it's quality, but the genre as a whole is not really for me. So 7/10.

[JamesRobot | 5,808]

Never heard of it. 

[Bearcat-Doug | 5,105]

Never played it.

[noiseredux | 232]

I put 5/10. It's a game I've played every few years since release, and always *think* it'll grab me, but it doesn't. Same goes for Radiant Silvergun. TBH, I don't think I'm much of a Treasure fan at all. On the flip, I do love other shmups - namely stuff Cave put out.

[DefaultGen | 5,414]

10 for me, love everything about it, style, music, etc. You can focus on chains when you're comfortable or just stay alive if it's hard. It feels super rhythmic to play, which is the best aspect to me.

I think it's popular specifically because it's so gimmicky and it's easy for a noob to ignore everything else but staying alive and still get into the rhythmic flow of the game. If you're a noob who can't keep up with Dodonpachi or whatever, you're just spray and praying and adding credits without really "getting it". I get why people wouldn't like Ikaruga though for exactly the same reason, because all the gimmicky polarity management makes it less of a straight shooting game.

[CMR | 521]

It's a cool game with an interesting gimmick, but ultimately the gimmick kind of overshadows and shows how lack luster the rest of the gameplay is.  I like it, especially the GameCube version with the tight analogue stick control.  To me Dodonpachi was the height of the genre, though.

[Homer | 17]

The music is so good it always gets me ready to do battle.  And it crushes me with difficultly not to long after starting.  But I still think it's awesome.

 

 

[DarkTone | 986]

9/10 to the most racist game that exists. 

[Reed Rothchild | 9,550]

Bumpage

[asmikace | 68]

One of those games I love for what it is even though I am awful at it.

[Andy_Bogomil | 815]

I really like it but find scoring combo chains incredibly hard. I like the polarity aspect more for defense than for offensive if that makes any sense. I find focusing on score somewhat annoying as when you're just trying to stay alive you know you're missing tons of points... Kind of frustrating for me. 

[TDIRunner | 2,744]

An interesting aspect to the game that I've read about, but never tried is the fact that you can play through most of the game (I think all of it, but not sure) without shooting anything.  It can be used as a high score strategy because you score points for absorbing bullets that you are immune to.  Like I said, I haven't tried it, but my understanding is that all boss battles will eventually flee after enough time has passed.

[Sumez | 2,968]

Not killing anything definitely isn't a high score strategy, since the scoring system is based on chaining the correct polarity kills endlessly. I could see it resulting in some boss milking though.