Ikaruga - Xbox Live Arcade

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Ikaruga closing in on XBLA

Hardcore color-coated shooter shows off more at TGS

Words: Tyler Nagata, GamesRadar US

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Sept 21, 2007

Microsoft showed off more of Ikaruga at this year's Tokyo Game Show. Ikaruga put the "hard" in "hardcore" when it released in arcades in 2001. Enemies and their attacks come in two different colors: white or black.

As if dodging the hundreds of bullets and kamikaze spacecrafts you'd expect from your everyday shooter wasn't hard enough, Ikaruga forces you to switch "polarities" constantly on the fly to match up your ship's color with those of your enemies and their attacks.

Use the wrong polarity for the wrong colored enemy and you'll do zero damage and die. Use the wrong polarity when the screen fills up with a bazillion bullets and you die. In fact, expect to die a lot until you get the hang of Ikaruga's unique twist on the traditional shooter gameplay mechanics. Although it felts frustrating at first, we recall that the GC version of Ikaruga winning us over once we got the hang of switching our ship's polarities.

Above: Here's a shot from the GC version of this sick shooter

According to Arcade Renaissance, further details on the XBLA version of Ikaruga can be found on the official site of the developer, Treasure-Inc. They've taken the liberty of translating the most useful information from the Japanese site below.

- 1-2 Players local (2 Player Co-op Mode over Xbox Live)
- Online Leaderboards and Rankings (with replays available for download)
- High Definition Support (Improved graphics for HD)
- When in Yoko mode, the game’s resolution will maintain a 100% faithful arcade resolution
- Vertical monitors will be supported
- Scheduled release for Winter 2007
- 80 Marketplace points