So I played Ikaruga for the first time...

[legendnthamaking]

Let me just say I recently am getting back into shmups recently after a long lull. I love the Gradius series. I fell out of Shmups because they got beyond my level and I moved on to other genres. Recently, I had my Hori VLX modded with a PS1 dongle which opens up use for my Saturn and Wii using adapters and decided to get back into shooters.

I picked up two games Batsugun for the Saturn and Ikaruga for the Gamecube. Batsugun is awesome. It reminds me of Truxton with a little bit of Raiden thrown in. However, Ikaruga is what I wanna talk about. I have never played the game ever. Only heard the heaps of praise leveled on it by fans and journalists. Some said it was the best shooter ever made. I decided to buy the game to see if the praise was warranted. Would it surprise me?

It not only surprised me but surpassed my expectations. Treasure took new school and old school shooting mechanics and merged them beautifully. I'm getting killed at the game but the game encourages you to keep playing and try new strategies to get through the game. Its hard but never cheap. Its shooting at its finest. This is an amazing game and has revived my love for the genre. I was a doubter but now I'm a believer. Ikaruga is amazing.

[Never_Scurred]

Now that you got that out of the way, go play Mars Matrix.

[Drachenherz]

Or get an Xbox and play Mushihimesama Futari 1.5 or better, Black Label.

[Rob]

Or MAME and King & Balloon.

[yosai]

Or the Bible and Jesus.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Hayao Miyazaki.

[mesh control]

Kitchenware

[Treasurance]

Now that you got that out of the way, go play Mars Matrix.

I'd rather play Starcannon

[Udderdude]

The only review of Ikaruga you'll ever need: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vAO6akjqdg

[Special World]

I was in love with Ikaruga for a good while, too. It's a damn good game, but the scoring really leaves a lot to be desired. Since moving on to Cave, I haven't really looked back. Futari, Ketsui, Deathsmiles, etc are all a lot more fun imo, as is Takumi's Mars Matrix.

[Kollision]

overrated

[drunkninja24]

Despite some of the reactions you might get from a few folks here, Ikaruga really is a great game. As mentioned earlier, it does tend to get tedious when you start going for score because it's highly dependent on knowing not only bullet patterns, but enemy formations as well. However, as a purely survival game, it is quite fun. If you have a 360, definitely check out some of the games available there.

[Sumez]

Yeah, Ikaruga is getting a lot of hate, but I guess it's easier to hate on something everybody else loves.
Especially hardcore Cave fans tend to have a thing against Ikaruga, which is funny considering both Ikeda and Yagawa supposedly really love the game.


Personally I love it, not enough games like this.

[Paradigm]

Ikaruga's a brilliant game, great atmosphere and the level design is fantastic. The scoring system might not be to everyone's taste, but that will always be the case with any game. I think the main reason it gets hated on around here is simply because it became popular with the mainstream and people are sick of hearing about it.

[z0mbie90]

overrated

In some point I must agree.

Yeah, Ikaruga is getting a lot of hate, but I guess it's easier to hate on something everybody else loves.
Especially hardcore Cave fans tend to have a thing against Ikaruga, which is funny considering both Ikeda and Yagawa supposedly really love the game.


Personally I love it, not enough games like this.

but also need to agree with this to. Ikaruga isn't a bad game. But to many people (including people who don't ever played the game or shmup. Some of my friends also.) say they love the game and that it is the best shmup ever. Not true

[Never_Scurred]

Or get an asian or Jpn Xbox and play Dodonpachi Daifukkatsu 1.5 or better, Black Label.

Fixed
As much as Ikaruga is a great game to look at, it pretty much lacks any sort of discernible character outside of its scoring system/gimmick.
I can't hate on the game since it was the first shmup purchase I made way back in '06, but IMO, Ikaruga, while beautiful to look at, isn't a very fun or engaging game to play for me anymore.
I don't knock the OP for the way he felt as I felt the same way playing Ikaruga the first time through, but what rubs me (and many people on this forum) the wrong way is mainstream gaming journalism's (and its faithful follower's) tendency to blindly throw hyperbole after hyperbole at some token game thereby setting unjust expectations for anything else within its genre. I've shown non-shmup players, who have spent months mastering Ikaruga, some touhou, psikyo, or mushihimesama and DDP, and they're let down because of the impression they have had drilled into them that Ikaruga is the best of/most synonymous with its genre when its clearly just a different game for the most part.
In conclusion, many people here won't argue that it isn't deserving of its status amongst the shmup community as a great game, but we hope people realize that the genre, though small, has much diversity to offer.

[mesh control]

At least there's walls.

[apple arcade]

Ikaruga opened the door to CAVE for me. I still like the game, although now when I play it I simply get frustrated with it's scoring system. I find it funner to dodge the bullets on the opposite polarity than to absorb them.

[Age of Kings]

As much as Ikaruga is a great game to look at, it pretty much lacks any sort of discernible character outside of its scoring system/gimmick.
I can't hate on the game since it was the first shmup purchase I made way back in '06, but IMO, Ikaruga, while beautiful to look at, isn't a very fun or engaging game to play for me anymore.

I pretty much agree with this. I actually did not play Ikaruga until after I was (relatively) well acquainted with stgs and played a few Cave/Psikyo games for score, and when I actually played it I was rather disappointed. It's not a bad game at all, but it doesn't interest me and I have no idea why it's placed on a high pedestal that imho isn't really deserved. And it's not just because it's "the only shooting game that matters to the mainstream gamer", it's hyped in this forum as well. I don't see how some of you can claim Ikaruga is getting a lot of hate just because some like myself don't agree with the "OMG IT'S SO AMAZING" sentiment. No one here has claimed that it's a bad game, but it really isn't engaging in the long term.

[RNGmaster]

Good, you've shown your ability to handle pretentious games. You are now on the verge of an important choice - you can continue on the path of Pretentiousness, and move to Braid, or you can continue on the path of Shmups, and choose Hellsinker.

Treasure took new school and old school shooting mechanics and merged them beautifully. I'm getting killed at the game, but it encourages you to keep playing and try new strategies to get through. It's hard but never cheap. It's shooting at its finest.

You can say that about any good shmup, not just Ikaruga, and difference here is that most good shmups don't have a scoring system tailor-made for severely OCD mental-hospital patients.

That said, if you like it don't let my sour words get you down. It's not my taste, given that the gimmick never really got me interested, but I don't let my taste dictate anyone else's opinion.

[Special World]

Good, you've shown your ability to handle pretentious games. You are now on the verge of an important choice - you can continue on the path of Pretentiousness, and move to Braid, or you can continue on the path of Shmups, and choose Hellsinker.

Treasure took new school and old school shooting mechanics and merged them beautifully. I'm getting killed at the game, but it encourages you to keep playing and try new strategies to get through. It's hard but never cheap. It's shooting at its finest.

You can say that about any good shmup, not just Ikaruga, and difference here is that most good shmups don't have a scoring system tailor-made for severely OCD mental-hospital patients.

That said, if you like it don't let my sour words get you down. It's not my taste, given that the gimmick never really got me interested, but I don't let my taste dictate anyone else's opinion.

You must be playing a lot of Braid after a post like that.

[Trevor spencer]

I think Cave made DOJ to compete with Ikaruga , IMO DDP DOJ is a much better game

[Muchi Muchi Spork]

Kanye said he would let Treasure finish but Cave had the best games of all time.

[farewell]

I must be the only person who thought that Ika's polarized bullet mechanic was fucking brilliant...

I bet the opinion of this game would be way different around these parts if it hadn't become the one modern shooter everyone knows. The fact that the blind ass-kissing by uneducated press even matters around here is ridicu-

Go play Mars Matrix.

[TrevHead (TVR)]

Just like bullet hell shmup fans love to hate Touhou, classic / manic shmup fans love to hate Ikaruga

To OP: Check out some other DC, SAT & PS1 & 2 shmups aswell, Theres some great guides by BulletMagnet on Racket Boy just google (system) Shmups.

I dont know what you like about Ikarga but if its shooters which have some wierd mechanic then try out Mars Matrix & the GigaWing series, Psyvariar series, XiiStag, Triggerheart Exelica (xbla), Rayforce.

Also check out the other Treasure shmups plus Strania (XBLA) and Gradius 5. As for the black and white mechanic a few doujin shooters use it. The best been Exceed 2nd Vampire Rex.

[Udderdude]

I must be the only person who thought that Ika's polarized bullet mechanic was fucking brilliant...

I bet the opinion of this game would be way different around these parts if it hadn't become the one modern shooter everyone knows. The fact that the blind ass-kissing by uneducated press even matters around here is ridicu-

Go play Mars Matrix.

Decent concept, poor exec-

Go play Mars Matrix.

[Obiwanshinobi]

Good, you've shown your ability to handle pretentious games. You are now on the verge of an important choice - you can continue on the path of Pretentiousness, and move to Braid, or you can continue on the path of Shmups, and choose Hellsinker.

Treasure took new school and old school shooting mechanics and merged them beautifully. I'm getting killed at the game, but it encourages you to keep playing and try new strategies to get through. It's hard but never cheap. It's shooting at its finest.

You can say that about any good shmup, not just Ikaruga, and difference here is that most good shmups don't have a scoring system tailor-made for severely OCD mental-hospital patients.

That said, if you like it don't let my sour words get you down. It's not my taste, given that the gimmick never really got me interested, but I don't let my taste dictate anyone else's opinion.

You must be playing a lot of Braid after a post like that.

Literally.

[RNGmaster]

Literally.

No, that's just how I normally speak. It's nothing to do with pretensiousness.

[Despatche]

I think Cave made DOJ to compete with Ikaruga , IMO DDP DOJ is a much better game

They did. IKD is convinced that Ikaruga is a masterpiece and he was originally a little scared to make DOJ because of it.

[evil_ash_xero]

Rob has had too much sway on your minds, I think.