Ikaruga

Ikaruga is a vertically scrolling shoot 'em up. The game features five stages, three levels of difficulty, and supports single-player or two-player cooperative modes. The player pilots the Ikaruga fighter, moving to avoid obstacles and other danger. A key gameplay feature to Ikaruga is its polarity system.

The player can press a button at any time to switch the polarity of their ship between black and white. When white, the ship will absorb white bullets fired by enemies and store their power until released with a special attack. However, if the ship is white and hit by black bullets, it will be destroyed. The opposite is true when the ship is black.

Many years ago on the island nation of Horai, leader of the nation, Tenro Horai, discovered the Ubusunagami Okinokai (lit. The Power of the Gods). This energy emanated from an object she dug up from deep underground, which granted her unimaginable powers. Soon after, Tenro and her followers, who call themselves "The Divine Ones", began conquering nations one after another. "The Divine Ones" carried out these conquests in "The name of peace".

A freedom federation known as The Tenkaku emerged to challenge Horai. Using fighter planes called Hitekkai, they fought with the hope of freeing the world from the Horai's grips, but their efforts were in vain, as they were no match for The Horai and were almost completely wiped out. Miraculously, however, one young man called Shinra (森羅) survived the battle.

Development of Ikaruga began while Treasure's Sin and Punishment (2000) was still in development. Ikaruga was self-funded (and later self-published). Since company resources were allocated for Sin and Punishment, director Hiroshi Iuchi worked on Ikaruga at home on his spare time and developed a prototype with help from programmer Atsutomo Nakagawa. Ikaruga shares basic shooter gameplay elements with an earlier Treasure shooter, Radiant Silvergun (1998).

Additionally, the polarity elements are similar to those in their earlier game Silhouette Mirage (1997). Another source of inspiration was the defense system in Shinrei Jusatsushi Taromaru (1997) for the Sega Saturn. Iuchi reused sprites from Radiant Silvergun so he could finish the prototype quickly. A unique feature to the original design was a limited ammo supply.

Initial reception of Ikaruga in Japan was mixed. Players praised the visuals and music, but opinions were divided on the gameplay system. ” Both Iuchi and producer Masoto Maegawa stated that this mixed reception was due to players expecting a more standard shooter offering. They both felt Ikaruga was a brand new type of shooter and that bringing variety was important to the growth of game centers.

In February 2002, Game Machine listed the game as being the fifth most popular arcade game in Japan at the time. The original Dreamcast port of Ikaruga was well received by Greg Kasavin of GameSpot. He praised the game for its visuals, sound, and challenging difficulty. for the sake of making a game that's both familiar and utterly unique."