Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Hi and welcome everybody for this special episode of Ushuaïa.
Today we will explore the abyss of Shoot them up games
with one of the last representatives of a genre doomed to disappear.
Of course, i'm speaking about Ikaruga, one of the scarce surviving specimen of Shoot them up games.
But is it going to last? that is the point!
- I have a sore throat with all these bloody stupid things-
Hi everyone, it's Hooper and as you understood i propose you a video of Ikaruga, on Gamecube.
The game was supposed to be released on arcade in 2001 and on the Dreamcast in 2002.
It was one of the great games on the Dreamcast, at the time.
Unfortunately, it released only in Japan as many of the old Shoot them up that were on old game consoles such as Neo-geo and co.
Probably because Japanese people are Shoot them up's fan, contrary to the europeans, who are not really professionnals of the genre.
The game released again in 2003 on Gamecube and, this time, the editor (i don't know who) decided to release it in the entire world.
That's a great thing because according to the professionnals of the genre, it is the best Shoot them up ever created.
So, let's go! Concerning the options, i guess they are as i want them to be...
As you can see it, we could change what they call the monitor type, that is to say the dimension of the HUD
We can even put it vertically.
i never understood why because either you turn your head at 90° and you catch a stiff neck
or you put your TV screen on its side and take the risk of damaging it.
We'll use the "Horizontal 2" mod to have a normal view. Difficulty: easy, for sure!
We'll start now and i'll try to explain you the game system, based on two polarities and which makes of this Game an original Shoot them up.
Watch, there i am throwing white bullets and i'll change and throw black bullets.
We are going to have only these 2 different shots; there are no other types of shots except the Berserk which is filled by the balls i absorb
as you can see on the left of the screen.
but except the berserk we just have one shot. actually this system of polarity... how to explain it clearly?
There are roughly 2 types of ennemies: the whites and the blacks.
White ennemies shoot in white and black ennemies shoot in black.
For example, these ennemies are shooting me black bullets.
you'll see the next - what is it going to throw me?-
They don't throw anything but nevermind, you understood.
You also see that i have a shield.
When i throw white bullets i have a white shield and if i change my attack system in black, i throw black bullets and have a black shield.
Actually, with the white shield i can absorb white bullets and with the black shield - i'll change now - i can now absorb black bullets
and i have to avoid the white ones.
Now, i'm taking back the white shield and i have to absorb white bullets - if i want, i'm not obliged - and to avoid the black ones.
i wish i succeeded at explaining you this system.
There, for example, there is no risk for me because i have the white shield.
If i would have had the black shield, as i have now, i should have been more cautious.
You also have to know that ennemies can be killed whatever the polarity
but you will make twice more damages if you shoot them with the opposite polarity.
We already reached the first boss.
I wish you understood this system of polarity, of opposite color because this is the essence of the game, its originality.
Here, it's throwing me white bullets and some blacks so i use my white shield so that i can't be hurt by white bullets
and i just have to avoid the few black bullets. it is easier this way because there are much more white bullets than black bullets.
Once again, it is quite simple because i choose the easy mode but if you chose the hard mode, there are three times more bullets.
Hop, it is going to shot with black bullets so i'll change my shield by pressing a single button and
i'll just have to avoid white bullets and i can absorb the blacks.
There i used the Berserk; as you can see on the left of the screen, when we absorb bullets which color is the same as our shield,
The Berserk gauge is increasing and i can unleash it with a kind of multi-attack.
White bullets, black bullets; there i have to juggle with the 2 shields: i take the white, i concentrate a little
i think you understood the principle. Hop, i'll throw my Berserk... i take the black shield... There, you probably understood the principle
That's all the genius, all the interest of Ikaruga. It's really excellent.
The principle of opposite shield is simply awesome, even if there is only one kind of shot.
Another thing can be considered as a defect: it is only possible to shot ahead, not on the sides or behind the vessel.
But it's not really a defect because developpers of Treisure are not at their first shot.
For example they already made the great Radiant SilverGun, on Saturn. In fact, they are at the origin of most the mythic Shoot them up games.
it's a genre really well-known in Japan. Actually, i have explain you the most important principle of the game: this system of polarity.
you just have to press a single button to switch from one system to the other... black, white, white, black, black,white...
That's really awesome. all the essence of the game lies in this system and it's really fun to play.
Even me, who is not a fan of Shoot them up games, i really have fun. you have to know that the game is really difficult.
I chose the easy mode but the game difficulty is simply fearsome.
You can also remark that we don't have any gauge of life. if you are touched by anything, like a wall, you lose a life
So you really have to be careful. so wait, i don't remember what i must do here... it's impossible to destroy these red boxes.
I have to take care of the scrolling, which is moving alone. ho no, i'm an ***... i say we can't destroy it and i speed on them.
What an idiot! i'll change the polarity so that i can pass through this wall; you understood the principle, that's really awesome.
The main problem is the extreme difficulty of the game. Once again, i'm in easy, i have the maximum number of life.
But when you play in normal it's really hard, in hard...-Wow, it's hot here... that's ok... it's hot again...Oh damn it, i died.
I lost all my life; luckily, i have a "continue". actually with the easy mode there are 3 continue.
If i had chosen the hard mode, i assure you that there would be bullets everywhere. another thing with the hard mode is that
as soon as you kill an ennemy, it will throw 3 bullets in all the directions in addition of the bullets already present on the screen.
I don't know how i succeeded at passing, i really don't know how. It was a master's hand, i'll applause myself.
It seems easier when you watch it but try it and you'll understand that it's not easy at all.
you also have to know that technically it's probably one of the most beautiful Shoot them up ever realised.
oh, it's hot. I don't know how i did... Die ***!
It's really one of the most beautiful Shoot them up ever created. i say it, once again, it was created by Treisure: a very big
and well known company. i reached the boss. it is very difficult to kill. each time i try, i use ten lives before killing it.
I probably did not find the trick; i think that i have to throw him a berserk attack and to switch shields all the time.
Hop, i switch, go to the other side, switch, go to the other side, switch - that's really hard -
The aim in fact is to touch what is there but it's hard. I manage it not so bad now...really not so bad.
I don't know how i am doing, i only lost one life for the moment; that's quite incredible.
Oh, that's it. This boss is really hard to kill. The aim is to bypass its shields. that's too hot.
There are so many bullets arriving from everywhere. i'll try to finish the game; i think it will be Ok because i have so many lives and continue.
if i would have try in normal mode, with a restricted number of life, i would have probably die here.
Thats is to say that it is a very difficult game and that you have to concentrate to play to it.
There are only five levels and there i finished level number 2 and i'll start level 3 so the lifetime is ridiculous.
Actually the aim of the game is not to finish it because it's clear that it is quite easy to finish it.
Here the ennemies are waiting in the same spindle as me before speeding on me. Oh la la, it nearly touched me!
i have to change my polarity at the very last moment. there, i filled my Berserk gauge and i'll throw it.
In any case, the gameplay is very good; the vessel responds correctly to the commands. its the top of the top!
it's a real pleasure to play this game. Oh i'll crash... yeah, i died. I should have overtake this block before he blocked me.
What else can i say? Musics are also exceptionnal for a Shoot them up. they are really really beautiful. everything is symphonic.
We remember them after having played. The musics are not here only to say that there are musics. Ha, i'm doing *** when i speak!
A great work was made for musics. It's an excellent game, really. Ikaruga is a very very good game.
If you have a gamecube, i advice you this game because i think that it should be quite difficult to find it on Dreamcast.
Really, it's a good game; there's nothing more to say... i explained you that the lifetime was very short but the interest of
the game is to explode the high score. you need to be a mutant or an alien to play this game. That's crazy.
It's maybe the reason why i don't succeed playing Shoot them up: i'm a normal man and according to me, you really need to be a mutant
to play this game. how do you want to avoid all this bullets arriving from everywhere all the time? you need to have reflexes.
Ho it's hot there, i have to pass between these ennemies... take caaare!Nice! i'm not playing very bad here...
Not that bad, i impress myself. i explained you that one of the interest was to explode the high score and for that, Ikaruga -
It's my last credit or maybe it's over, no i have five lives- has a combo system. You win points and according to the number
of combo that you do - you have to do many combos - what happens? you will have to kill the ennemies with a bullet of the
same polarity. there are 3 ennemies with a white polarity and 3 others with a black polarity and by killing them, points are doubled.
That's the end, i have no more lives. I lost. So, for combos, you will have to kill 3 ennemies with different polarities;
Each time points will be doubled and, doing this, you can win 25 000 points. For real fans, it's the best game ever.
What did i forget? i think i spoke about everything. Ikaruga is an excellent game, one of the last existing Shoot them up.
It belongs to a genre which disappears in proportion as time passes. At that time, they were numerous on PC-Engine, Neo-Geo;
a little bit less on well-known consoles as the Megadrive or the Snes but this genre was mostly known in Japan.
I have always find this genre as something impervious because it released on impervious consoles. they were very expensive: Neo-geo games
cost approximatively 250£ at that time. i let you imagine if today, games would cost this price...
The PC-Engine was also a console which was very hard to buy. Actually i have always considered Shoot them up games as mysterious.
It's very difficult, you have to be a mutant to succeed. Japanese people are really experts; i don't know how they do. Personnaly i'm not
a good shoot them up player. Nevertheless, these games remain excellent.
What a pity that there are no more many games like this because Ikaruga is one of the last specimen. in a sense,
it is the continuation of Radiant Silvergun, the myth, the great Radiant Silvergun on Saturn.
I never played to it; i say "myth" because it is very well-known but i never played to Radiant Silvergun on Saturn.
I just know that it is known to be the best Shoot them up game ever.
We'll stop here. I explained you the most of the game especially the system of polarity, which gives to the game all its charm.
These 2 colors: white and black for the vessel or the ennemies; it's a remarquable idea.
So, we stop here. Bye bye and see you the next time.