Why is Ikaruga so Damn Popular with Western Reviewers?

[njiska]

I know this has come up in nearly every thread that talks about a shmup released outside japan, but why the hell do the western media cling to Ikaruga like it's the second coming of Jesus Christ? It seems to be a requirement that sites like IGN and Gamespot mention it at least 2-3 times in any shmup or shmup like game review even if they have nothing in common and I can't for the life of me think of a good reason why. Yes it's kind of a known title here, but so are many others including recent releases like RFA, Raiden IV, Soldner-X, and Gradius Rebrith and they never get any love.

Is it just because they think it's the pinnacle of the genre and don't realize how wrong they are?

[ROBOTRON]

I have no idea, perhaps its the puzzle aspects of the game. Other than it being eye candy, I don't care for it either. It's certainly no RSG 2!

[Ebbo]

Maybe because it just is a good game and has a fresh, easily comprehensible gimmick (polarity system).

[Drum]

It stands out as being different in a genre that can seem pretty homogenous from the outside looking in. Treasure made it. It was released on an 'underdog' platform. General perception of being a standout game in a 'dying' genre. Huge fan support (that later created inevitable backlash). Right time, right place I guess. Not everybody loves it but it's good at what it does. Not that mystifying really.

Rez, on the other hand ...

[Skykid]

I have no idea, perhaps its the puzzle aspects of the game. Other than it being eye candy, I don't care for it either. It's certainly no RSG 2!

What he said.

[MR_Soren]

Because none of the western reviewers actually like any 2D Shooters, but Ikaruga caught their attention due to it's polarity gimmick. Now they feel they need to name drop it when badly describing any other 2D shooting game because they feel it gives them cred.

[Observer]

I thought Ketsui was the Second Coming of Christ...

Anyway, for many Ikaruga was the "last" great shooter prior to the 10 bucks digital downloads on XBLA trend. And it was reconfirmed when the game was released there. But none of them sit to chain past stage 2 (or even 1), they are there for the epic value and camera swirling. The magic of 3D, browned bloomed realities and such buys people.

Name dropping Ikaruga gives you Shooting Game l33t points and it makes you more gam3r, like announcing DMC or playing F3ar.

[brentsg]

They love Treasure for their other works, so this gets unwarranted attention. Plus it looks "next gen" which they drool over.

[kengou]

Maybe because it just is a good game and has a fresh, easily comprehensible gimmick (polarity system).

Because none of the western reviewers actually like any 2D Shooters, but Ikaruga caught their attention due to it's polarity gimmick. Now they feel they need to name drop it when badly describing any other 2D shooting game because they feel it gives them cred.

It stands out as being different in a genre that can seem pretty homogenous from the outside looking in. Treasure made it. It was released on an 'underdog' platform. General perception of being a standout game in a 'dying' genre. Huge fan support (that later created inevitable backlash). Right time, right place I guess. Not everybody loves it but it's good at what it does. Not that mystifying really.

Hit the nail on the head, really.

Not singling out anyone specific, but in general it annoys me just as much when people blindly hate something because it's popular as when people blindly love something because it gives them 'gamer cred.' There's plenty of gamers out there who LOVE Ikaruga despite not playing it for longer than the 30 minutes it takes to clear the game on XBLA, or people who think Radiant Silvergun is the best shmup ever despite never playing it. But there are also far too many people who see that Ikaruga is popular while their favorite obscure shmup isn't, and will just hate it. I'd prefer people to like or dislike something for the right reasons.

To the people who hate Ikaruga (I'd say a very vocal minority on here, if the top shmups polls every year are any indication): if the memorization or polarity mechanic don't suit your tastes, great, more power to you. That doesn't make it a BAD game. It seems clear that as a memorization-heavy game with a unique mechanic, it's incredibly well-designed. This happens for probably any game under the sun, of course, but I don't get why people have to trash so vehemently on a game that simply doesn't suit their tastes. I can think of dozens of games that I personally hate, but recognize as great games for what they do. Of course, there's bad games that fail at what they do, as well, and shmups have their fair share of these, but I don't see how anyone can reasonably say Ikaruga, Silvergun, or Cave games fall into this category.

Bah. Some people are so angry and snobbish around here. Seems like a lot more over the last year or two, also. I think that phenomena warrants more investigation than ANOTHER Ikaruga topic.

[brentsg]

I like ikaruga but it doesn't deserve to be the mainstream shmup poster child.

I picked up this and RSG when new, as preorders. Given what I paid, both are great. They just aren't the end all be all that some think.

[E. Randy Dupre]

Did anybody stop to think that maybe, just *maybe*, it might have something to do with Ikaruga getting a western release, and therefore being up for review in western mags/sites and a point of comparison that they can make that their readership can understand?

No, of course not.

[SFKhoa]

Treasure Hype™

[njiska]

Not singling out anyone specific, but in general it annoys me just as much when people blindly hate something because it's popular as when people blindly love something because it gives them 'gamer cred.' There's plenty of gamers out there who LOVE Ikaruga despite not playing it for longer than the 30 minutes it takes to clear the game on XBLA, or people who think Radiant Silvergun is the best shmup ever despite never playing it. But there are also far too many people who see that Ikaruga is popular while their favorite obscure shmup isn't, and will just hate it. I'd prefer people to like or dislike something for the right reasons.

I couldn't agree more. I hate Ikaruga because its chaining system frustrates me and to me is very uninviting. But I recognize that some people like that so power to them. It certainly was a unique experience and is still one of the better looking 3D shmups, despite it's bland colour palette. Certainly not a bad game by any means.

The real problem I have is how the mainstream community have attached themselves to it. It's a disturbingly common name drop and while the reasons listed above certainly were true, that is no longer the case. Ikaruga has a gimmick, but that was a decade ago. It was a game that did well on two dying consoles in a genre that has been stagnating, but it's not any more. XBLA has had strong sales for other shmups like R-Type Dimensions, Triggerheart Excelica and Omega Five. Retail has seen the release of two Raiden games. Hell even the PSN has two Soldner games and Gundemonium. Yet Ikaruga is still the de facto "see i know shmups" reference.

Did anybody stop to think that maybe, just *maybe*, it might have something to do with Ikaruga getting a western release, and therefore being up for review in western mags/sites and a point of comparison that they can make that their readership can understand?

No, of course not.

No i did stop to think about that. But this is 2010, there's a lot more out there in the mainstream to reference. Titles that have been recently release and may still be in the minds of the mainstream.

[spadgy]

I admit this meekly as a games journalist by trade, but there is a trend in the games media globally to jump on critical bandwagons.

Once one high-profile journalist berates/praises a game, the opinion ball gets rolling, and with each new review that follows suit it seems that many find it harder to counter popular opinion. I was certainly guilty on occasion during my very early local newspaper days, which is why I learned not to read anything about a game I'm reviewing whenever possible.

Not every journalist does it, but many do; a particularly so with 'cult' games.

Once it's popular opinion that Ikaruga is the champion of the 2D shooter, it seems to become set in stone, and what is the hardcore but non-shmupping gamer expected to think but what they read time and time again. It's almost like the way an urban myth permeates the consciousness of the public until it is understood as irrefutable fact.

[Acid King]

I think it's because it's the spiritual sequel to Radiant Silvergun, aka the greatest shooter of all time. Silvergun was released at the right time, when Saturn imports were accessible and shooting games still received a modicum of respect from mainstream reviewers, to really build up a legendary status. When Ikaruga was announced as Project RS-2, they immediately started referencing Silvergun as the greatest shooter of all time and Ikaruga was the followup. The gimmick helps, but without the frothing demand created by the connection to Silvergun, I don't know that it would have been as well received.

[Limbrooke]

Did anybody stop to think that maybe, just *maybe*, it might have something to do with Ikaruga getting a western release, and therefore being up for review in western mags/sites and a point of comparison that they can make that their readership can understand?

No, of course not.

There you go assuming again, not surprising though.

Looking at the time prior to Ikaruga release, there were plenty of good shooters in the west. G-Darius, Einhander, & R-Type Delta all approximately 5 years before the GC release were and are still good games.
Average ratings:
G-Darius - 80%, Einhander - 85%, R-Type Delta - 83%

Further ahead, around 2000 a few more western releases came out although the reviews weren't as favourable:

RayCrisis - 65.5%, Strikers 1945 (Agetec) - 47.9%, Gunbird 2 - 71.8%, GigaWing 2 - 58%, Mars Matrix - 74.7%, Silpheed:TLP - 76%, Gradius 3 & 4 - 68%

I'm shocked that at the time Silpheed had the better overall reviews, as I'm sure most would agree it's the least fun of that group if not vying for the title. Meaning prior to Ikaruga, the game reporting on shooting games was not with a high confidence or interest.


Ikaruga - 85.6%

Ikaruga arguably saw more coverage than most of the previous games mentioned and seemed to really wow at that years trade shows. It's only marginally higher than the next game, Einhander, but 1/2 decade later when Einhander was a distant memory to most. Needless to say, Ikaruga didn't have much competition at this time:

R-Type Final - 80.8%, Mobile Light Force 2 - 60%

I'm not presenting my opinion, merely the the opinion that gaming media presented to those who followed such reviews at the given times. It wasn't until over year and a half later that games like Castle Shikigami 2 (67.5%) and Gradius 5 (84.8%) came out so Ikaruga pretty much had the market cornered on western shooting games.

Games don't become favourable by accident. Good timing, getting the best review scores, and the fact it's a well made game in general speak to how well it sat with the gaming community. As such, it's hard to remember anything else if nothing else seems to standout over a 7 year period.
Note: Averages were taken from multiple game sites (see: IGN, Gamespot, etc..) and were taken only from reviews of the time, not of reviews long after. It's not an exact science or definitive gauge for these games and as mentioned, it's not my opinion and was done without bias.

Treasure Hype™

Diehard GameFan stopped the presses in 2000, so the hype monger was long dead when Ikaruga reached our shores. I'm not saying people weren't Treasure crazy, but the main proponent wasn't around to rally the troops so to speak. I didn't quite care about video games at the time so I don't know if media was taking the bit on the entire 'Project RS2' methodology. I do know that with inaccesibility, Radiant Silvergun was still held in very high regard, so perhaps it did help the cause.

[DietSoap]

First and foremost simply because it was made by Treasure, then the beautiful graphics and readily discernible polarity gimmick.

Certainly it's a great game, but personally just not my cup of tea. For whatever reason I simply can't stomach the game.

[clp]

First and foremost simply because it was made by Treasure, then the beautiful graphics and readily discernible polarity gimmick.

Certainly it's a great game, but personally just not my cup of tea. For whatever reason I simply can't stomach the game.

Honestly your not alone there , i actually dont know hardly any shmuppers who care about playing ikaruga at all .

[emphatic]

I think it is because it's like a "gateway" game for many shmups fans (because of the worldwide availability, ports for several systems etc). If this was the first shmup you played, you probably wanted to try more shmups, as while the game admittedly is very pretty it is also frustrating. You then seek out titles that satisfy YOUR OWN taste (CAVE, Psikyo etc), but if it wasn't because of that one game that turned you onto shmups, you might have been playing some other games entirely. That's why this game, or perhaps Raiden (for another generation of shmups fans) is brought up in reviews, because it'll give the review/reviewer some much wanted genre-fan attention. The CAVE/Psikyo ports aren't as well known, that's why you don't see DeathSmiles, Ketsui or Strikers 1999 mentioned in reviews of new shmups, even though these titles might have more in common with the new game being reviewed. At least this is what I think.

I never bought/played Ikaruga myself, so for me it isn't more than a very polished game that I feel I don't want to play. I did get the demo from XBLA, but never got the full game even though it isn't expensive. I just don't have the time fully enjoy it.

[Snake]

Slick presentation and nice graphics. Also, the injection of some Buddhist blurbs before each level goes a long way with Westerners, who are generally sympathetic to "Eastern philosophy."


I agree with whoever said it doesn't deserve to be the shmup poster-child to the rest of the gaming world. If I had to pick a game for that it would probably be DDP.

[Avatar Ignis]

It's easy to impress people not familiar with the genre with all the bright colors and epic soundtrack. I remember playing a superplay as background entertainment for a party at my house, and needless to say all the drunk guests were in awe.

I like the game honestly. the scoring and mechanics, though as frustrating as it can be at times, really helped peel back a layer of shmups and easily presented the deeper level of them. I used to play them for 1cc attempts, but Ikargua made it simple to understand the scoring aspect of them (for me at least). It was also the final deciding factor that had me choose an xbox360 over a PS3, and for that i am eternally grateful towards ikaruga.

[PsychoGun]

Ikaruga sucks, and I'm western

[MachineAres 1CC]

I think most people here have already nailed it, but I'll summarize my experience with it. It basically became internet-popular in the pre-YouTube era because like some people said, a few random reviewers reviewed it as an OMGJAPAN type game with some "eastern sentiments" with really high praise and it was honestly one of the only vertical danmaku shooters released around it's time in the US, when it came out on Gamecube.

Also, the internet-popular-blogger-before-internet-blogging-was-cool guy named "Maddox" posted a large editorial review of the game basically saying that shooters were the genre that real gamers played and if you wanted to be a real man and face a real challenge, you should play Ikaruga. I already had the game well before that article came out, but the article and his site in general was pretty damn funny for its time and was way ahead of the whole internet blog culture that followed. His site was ragingly popular with the college-age people like myself and well, everyone else I went to college with who played video games, so I remember half of my college dorm knocking on my door wanting to play Ikaruga after dinner on a weekly basis around the time that article was written.

It really was a kind of underground hype thing in the US, and its pretty hard to pinpoint how those things really take off, but those are the factors that seemed to do it for me. One of my friends in high school who was into anime and lots of OMGJAPAN stuff gave me a copy for Dreamcast around the time it came out and since I loved shmups anyway, since I somehow hadn't heard of the game yet. I really don't like the game that much, but it is enjoyable to a degree and it is well-made and stylish, etc., there's just other shmups that I enjoy a lot more.

[cul]

Ikaruga sucks, and I'm western

Wow so deep bro, I think you've gained instant street credibility around here by saying that.


On topic there are many reasons why Ikaruga is so popular among western reviewers, one of the main one being that it's a very good shmup, the soundtrack is top notch, the graphics didn't get old at all 8 years later, and the gaming system is easy and quickly enjoyable.

No matter what, when Ikaruga was released, it stood out from all the other games, it was in its own category. It had instant appeal for the western market during an era where shmups were labeled as "oldschool/outdated/for nerds only" games, because it wasn't trying to be another niche shmup. And it was a period of time when the internet wasn't as much developped as it is today (youtube didn't even exist), most forums like this one where very niche forums, actually this forum didn't even exist. During these times (pre 2002), the only way to know about a japanese game's release was through niche japan games oriented magazines, that only very few people were reading. If you were living outside of a major city your chance to buy, play or even know that one of those games existed was close to zero, and if you had the chance to know about it, you weren't able to buy the PCB with your 12 years old pocket money.

And suddenly, you have a very great game like Ikaruga that get a western release and good publicity on major mainstream magazines.

If you are under 18, there's 90% chances that you discovered maniac shmups with Ikaruga.
If you played DDP before 2002 and aren't japanese, good for you, you're part of a very smal minority.


EDIT:

The same parallel could be drawn with King of Fighters, every one today knows it, but before 2002, if you weren't interested in 2D japanese fighting game, if you weren't already an arcade/neogeo nuts, weren't living in a major city or in japan, and weren't reading anime and japan oriented magazines/fanzines, you just didn't KNOW about it.

[Ghegs]

most forums like this one where very niche forums, actually this forum didn't even exist.

Have to correct this one: This forum did exist back then and even before - just not in this form. The forum has migrated several times over the years, there's been different service providers, different forum software, but the community got started over 10 years ago.

[cul]

most forums like this one where very niche forums, actually this forum didn't even exist.

Have to correct this one: This forum did exist back then and even before - just not in this form. The forum has migrated several times over the years, there's been different service providers, different forum software, but the community got started over 10 years ago.

I stand corrected on that one , point still holds though .

[moozooh]

I thought Ketsui was the Second Coming of Christ...

Well, it seems to me that there will always be a shmup that receives more praise than people think it deserves. People kept saying Ketsui was overrated, then the port came and suddenly everybody stopped; probably because they realized it was actually excellent. Ikaruga has received enough attention from high-tier players to relieve itself from proving anything to anybody. Which game will be the next to receive "unworthy" praise, Battle Garegga? It's controversial enough to find hundreds of ways to rag on it, time to do so!

[ncp]

Because it's a fantastic game.

Better question: why do people love to go out of their way to talk about the fact that they don't like it? *Can't be seen agreeing with the evil mainstream media, must deflect!*

[Wenchang]

Like anything else, a number of reasons go into Ikaruga's hype, but in general it boils down mostly to the combination of a lack of knowledge about the genre among mainstream reviewers and Ikaruga being visually impressive to look at for a Shmup. This combination basically led to everything about the game being overhyped, from the perception that it's the hardest game ever, or that it's so different because of the polarity system, or that no Shmups before have taken unique approaches to the genre and been visually impressive, blah, blah, blah.

Mainstream reviewers are not going to be able to pick out that the polarity system is little more than a gimmick that's barely used to actually make interesting and fun ways to deal with enemies, instead mostly being utilized for overdone, memorization driven 16-bit era Irem wannabe style obstacle avoiding gameplay(which probably helped the game if anything among Western reviewers who would better know Gradius or R-Type, I imagine trying to play say Battle Garegga would drive them out of their minds) along with yet another chaining system. And neither of these elements are even particularly memorable examples of those imo. Or that the level design is basically a half-assed Radiant Silvergun. Or that the boss designs suck and the fights are so slow and uneventful for at least the first 2 compared to basically any other arcade shooter at the time(and are also overdone, oldschool style Konami boss fights). Nevermind that the game is short even for a shooter.

To reviewers, the game represents the best of a more modern example of an oldschool genre, even though if anything from a gameplay perspective it's almost the complete opposite. I don't think it even compares to Radiant Silvergun. Aesthetically it's seriously impressive at times(just not in the boss designs or even the level design in terms of enemy placement and obstacles) but it's just boring to play. But to people who aren't going to know Image Fight or G-Darius or Battle Garegga or Dimahoo or Einhander or EspRade, this game might seem highly compelling. If only it were. I actually like the idea of a polarity system and even like Ikaruga's visual approach, if only it was done by someone more interested in twitch gaming than memorization. When Ikaruga is very demanding and fast with the polarity system, it's fun, too bad that lasts only about a few minutes of game time. I don't even mind a lot of the pattern based gameplay elements when they're done well, but the chaining, the reliance on obstacles, and half of the boss fights are just miserable.

[evil_ash_xero]

Because it's a fantastic game.

I know this has come up in nearly every thread that talks about a shmup released outside japan, but why the hell do the western media cling to Ikaruga like it's the second coming of Jesus Christ? It seems to be a requirement that sites like IGN and Gamespot mention it at least 2-3 times in any shmup or shmup like game review even if they have nothing in common and I can't for the life of me think of a good reason why. Yes it's kind of a known title here, but so are many others including recent releases like RFA, Raiden IV, Soldner-X, and Gradius Rebrith and they never get any love.

Is it just because they think it's the pinnacle of the genre and don't realize how wrong they are?

Raiden's too old-school and simple for most reviewers(and for me), I didn't think almost anyone liked Soldner X, and Gradius Rebirth is just rehash. Now if it was Gradius Gaiden, i'd sympathize more with your opinion.
Also, have you seen Famitsu's scores for Ikaruga? They're pretty sky high too. And I do believe it got it for arcade game of the year in some mag over there. So, the East recognizes that it's a great game too. Not just "Westerners who know nothing about the genre".