4 - Ikaruga - GameCube
Unless you're one of the superhuman few who can pull off the deadliest enemy-obliterating chains and constant back-and-forth switching that it takes to master Ikaruga, the game is vastly more entertaining to watch than it is to play. YouTube is littered with videos of gamers who have the memorization skills and steady hands to turn this unforgiving shooter into a perfect monochrome dance of death. We aren't even bothering to try to take our own. Do you really want to see us stink up the game just to prove our point?
Above: Not content with merely astounding you, this guy plays two ships at once
Ikaruga is a short game. With shooters, longevity comes not from a long game, but from making the game so punishing that you have to play it over and over again to master it. People rarely want to put up with this sort of thing anymore, but to the few who adore it, it's an unsurpassable addiction. But that's hardly the end of it. Ikaruga 's black vs. white gameplay - which forces you to flip your ship from one color to the other to take out enemies of the opposite shade if you want to play the game right - can be more taxing than entertaining. In fact, it's about as much fun as doing your taxes - unless you have that special gene that makes it addictive.
So why not let the gaming supermen handle it while you play more contemporary games? The game is so entertaining to watch when played well that the game's developer, released a DVD entitled Ikaruga: Appreciate simply to showcase the best players owning it. Can you argue with that?
