One of the benefits of owning a Wii is that it’s 100% backward compatibility with the Game Cube. Hence once I got a Wii, there was really no need to keep a Game Cube, but there was plenty of reasons to keep the games. Going through my collection of Game Cube games the other day, I pulled out one of the more memorable ones that stuck out in my mind. Some of you may remember this game, many may not even have a clue of what it is. But for shoot ‘em ups fans, Ikaruga is the holy grail. Just look at IGN’s comment on the front of the box!

“Our frothing demand for this game Increases“

Developed by a four man company called Treasure, Ikaruga originally started as Japanese arcade game in 2001. It was later ported to Sega Dreamcast as it’s “swan song” in late 2002, then finally made its way to the Game Cube in 2003.  So aside from being a bullet-hell game, Ikaruga featured a unique polarity mechanics in which your ship has two polarity sides, black and white. Doesn’t make sense? Well its quite simple actually. All the enemies in the game also has two polarity modes and will shoot either white bullets or black bullets depending on their modes. Since you have the ability to flip modes at will, you can essentially absorb the bullets when you’re the same color as it while taking damage when you’re the opposite.  Keep in mind that your bullets also switch polarity when you change and you can only do more damage when your bullets are the opposite polarity of what the enemies is. Sounds easy right? Well not quite.

Even though there is only 5 short levels in the entire game, this is one of the most hardest game I’ve ever played and I still haven’t even beaten it yet - on normal! It could possibly be due to fact that I just plain suck, but I still beg to differ. This is one tough game and there are some very, very tense moments throughout. As with most bullet-hell shoot’em up games, you’ll need quick reaction time to dodge the barrages of bullets fired at you, but you also have to do some serious memorization of the patterns of the bullets, enemies, and the level itself. The good news is that the game has a tutorial mode that will actually show you how to pass each area. The only issue is memorizing it and reacting with enough precision to make it though. Ikaruga does supports 2 player co-op so you and a buddy can both blast your way through this insane bullet-hell.

The visual for the game is stunning and top notched for its time as it is now. Everything is rendered beautifully in 3D and it even features a “sideways” mode in which the games plays as a side scroller (but you’re control stays the same so I’m not sure if it actually wants you to flip your TV sideways :p). From my understanding, its a direct port from the arcade and the Game Cube version doesn’t suffer from some of the graphical slowdowns of the Dreamcast. The style of the graphics combined with the orchestral-like soundtrack made the game seem more “epic” than a typical shooter. Almost like what would happen if you were to take a Final Fantasy game and combine it with a shoot’em up game. The experience is definitely unlike anything you’ve played before.

So is this game worth trying out? Like I said before, if you like arcade shoot’em up games, then this is your holy grail. If you like a good challenge then this one is for you. Definitely worth it if you can actually find one around. Ikaruga is one of the more rarer Game Cube games out there so chances are you won’t be able to get one unless you check on eBay. Since it’s so rare, you can expect to pay upwards of $30 or more for a usedcopy. Now if you happen to also own an Xbox 360, good news for you guys because it’s also coming to Xbox Live Arcade in the near future.

So if you can get your hands on Ikaruga, plug in your Wave Bird controller and blast away!