What it is
Ikaruga is a vertical shoot 'em up from Treasure built around switching the player's ship between black and white polarity. Enemies and bullets also have one of those two polarities: your ship can absorb bullets that match its current setting, while absorbed energy powers homing lasers. Defeating three enemies of the same polarity in a row earns a chain bonus. The game has five levels, boss battles and three difficulty settings: Easy, Normal and Hard. Its modes include Arcade and Prototype, and saved replay data can be downloaded from leaderboards. There is also local two-player play and a Double Play mode that lets one person play both players with one controller. The Steam listing includes shared or split-screen play, full controller support, Steam Cloud and Remote Play Together. Ikaruga is listed for Windows on Steam, with Nintendo GameCube also included in its broader platform listing.
What players like, and what they don't
- Polarity switching shapes combat
- Five levels with boss battles
- Three difficulty settings
- Local two-player mode
- Replay data can be saved
- Steam listing is Windows only
- Only five levels are listed
Who it suits
Ikaruga suits shoot 'em up players who enjoy managing polarity as part of dodging and attacking. Local two-player play and Double Play offer options for shared play.
Ikaruga makes polarity switching central to its shooting and scoring, adding a tactical layer to enemy encounters. Its Arcade and Prototype modes, difficulty choices and local multiplayer give players several ways to play.
