Ikaruga is several years old, first appearing in Japanese arcades in 2001, then on the Dreamcast in 2002 and finally on the GameCube in 2003. I regard it as one of the best games available on the GameCube and as such, I present my review in retrospect.

The crew at Treasure are the sultans of swing so far as 2D shooters and especially those of a vertically scrolling nature are concerned. Though they occasionally take breaks from their orgies of destruction to create masterpieces such as Mischief Makers for the N64 and the unfortunate Wario World for the GameCube, the developers are well regarded in what has become a niche genre even within the hardcore gaming community. From my perspective as a VSS fan, it was delightful to to hear that Treasure were porting Ikaruga, which made it’s home console debut on the Dreamcast, to the GameCube and I picked up a copy at the first opportunity I had.

As with all other shooters of this ilk, Ikaruga thrusts the player into a tiny, deceptively powerful ship and fires them head first into wave after wave of enemy ships. What sets Ikaruga apart from others in this genre is the simplicity of the two systems involved in getting a top score and to a lesser extent, the graphical presentation.

Ikaruga is a 2D game that uses a 3D engine resulting in a fantastic visual feast. The explosions are huge, the sound and music is loud and perfectly suited to the theme of the game, and the enemy ships explode with a satisfying boom. Surprisingly, there is apparent slowdown when end-of-level bosses descend to their explosive deaths, although it is unclear whether this is intentional or not, as the Dreamcast version had a similar “problem”, the game is otherwise presented in as fine a manner as anyone could ask.

Weapon power-ups as seen in games such as 1942 or Xenon 2 are absent from Ikaruga, instead the game play demands the player use their craft’s shield to absorb the ensuing attacks of the enemy ships and release it later in a furious hell storm. This is achieved through the shield/bullet colour system, whereby enemy ships come in either black or white and fire black or white bullets respectively. Changing your ship’s hue to one of the aforementioned colours allows you to absorb the attack and add charge to the power bar on the left hand side of the screen. The more power you have in your attack bar, the greater the damage you’ll inflict on the surrounding ships when you fire your charge-weapon.

The other half of Ikaruga’s strategic trouser bulge is building up chains. A chain is the act of destroying three or more ships of the same colour without destroying an alternatively coloured craft. The larger the chain, the more points you get and the better your rating at the end of the game. The level design and attack formations present tactical choices throughout the game, the player must choose which creed of ship to take out first and whether a strategy of leaving one colour of ships alone will result in higher points from a larger chain or a lower final score from missing smaller chains.

It’s the simplicity of these two systems that forces the player think creatively and strategically from the very first to the climatic final instance of play. It’s not a game you’ll have much success in at the end of an evening and an intimate knowledge of each level is essential. Ikaruga is an exceptionally difficult game and even though it only features 5 levels in total, it will take a large investment in time and practice for anyone to get to the end and then score an A+ on every level. Casual gamers and those with little time or patience need not apply.

The controls and options of the game are excellent as Treasure lets you do everything you should be able to do in a vertically scrolling shooter. The options include flipping the screen sideways, giving you the option of an arcade-like vertical screen – a fantastic feature. Controls are superbly responsive and as customisable as they should be and the GameCube controller is well suited to the game play as Ikaruga is essentially a two-button affair (fire and change your ship’s colour).

The frantic strategy and memorisation required to advance through the levels make Ikaruga akin to a mixture of a puzzler such as Tetris and an accuracy game such as Kuru Kuru Kururin. It’s frantic, loud, visually stunning and a thrill to play or watch. Though it’s not for everyone, I highly recommend Ikaruga to those of you who enjoy a challenge as I regard this game as one of the best in the GameCube’s library.