I’ve loved space shooters / shoot ‘em ups / shmups / whatever you want to call them for a long time now — probably since it was discovered that the Contra code worked in Life Force, the latter perhaps the best of a good bunch of NES shooters. The 16-bit era cemented that love with games like U.N. Squadron and Gaiares, and I’ve followed and defended the genre ever since.

What I’ve never done in all the time I’ve been playing these games, however, is call a shmup “beautiful”, with one notable exception: Ikaruga. Ikaruga is a beautiful game, from its simple-yet-innovative light-vs.-dark gameplay mechanic that allows you, at all times, to absorb a subset of the bullets in the game, to its unobtrusive-yet-epic soundtrack, to the smooth-as-silk graphic style. It’s a shooter that takes its cues from the modern “bullet-hell” style of shmup that delights in throwing millions of things at you at once and daring you to find the on-screen pixel in which you won’t die, but it twists the concept by encouraging you to run into half of those bullets at once.

I owned Ikaruga on the GameCube and I now own it on Xbox Live Arcade, on which I have the privilege of playing it in all its HD glory; I’ve beaten the game (thanks mostly to the ever-expanding arsenal of continues you get as you keep dying), but I’ve never scored an A or better on a level. Despite my long history with the genre, I’m still an amateur, though I can’t remember ever playing a shmup (save perhaps the Sega CD’s Silpheed) that I wanted to come back to over and over again like Ikaruga.

Why would I come back? For the punishment? For the achievements? Well, sure, those two things are fine, but it’s mostly because the true beauty in Ikaruga is in watching a master play. When you find someone who has unraveled the intricacies of Ikaruga’s gameplay, you realize just how complex and well-designed the game truly is.

The fourth level, really, is the game’s shining moment, a stage in which you hardly travel at all; instead of moving forward, as in most games of this type, you spend your time chipping away at a circular structure as bullets literally rain around you. It looks impossible when you see it; it feels impossible the first time you play it, but somewhere around the 15th time you play it…the pattern clicks. It’s still difficult, but you realize just how navigable it is, if only you take constant advantage of the ability to shift from light to dark and back again.

And then you lose two more lives as you stare at the game in quiet awe. It’s that good.

by xeroxeroxero

Revving your engines at traffic lights, burping the alphabet and downing pints of lager. Three things secretly all members of the fairer sex are impressed by. The same is true of feats of gaming prowess… when done right! The problem of course is finding which games to play, as the average non-gaming lady doesn’t care about achievements, unlocks or high scores, as they’re just meaningless neologisms when not observed within a very specific context… don’t you know. Presented herein then are my picks to impress…

Ikaruga – Everyone understands skill. No matter whether you have any interest in the sport / hobby / sexual activity being performed in front of you, when you see raw talent, it’s obvious. This is no more true than with Ikaruga, even to an observer unfamiliar with the difference between black and white in the game, it’s evident just how much skill is needed to play, as the title requires accuracy, a calm head on your shoulders and patience by the bucket load. If you can make it past the first level or two without losing a life, you’re a hero. And the ladies will recognise that.

Flower – Men are thoughtful, sensitive creatures, it’s just not easy for us to eloquently express our feelings all that often. Thank fuck then for Flower! A flight game at its heart, but on the surface an exploration of man’s desire to enforce regularity and order to a wild, biological world he can’t possibly tame, this art piece will have the ladies thinking you’re in touch with your feelings and comfortable with your own sexual identity enough to play a game about flower petals. When you’re rolling in vagina your mates won’t dare think about taking the piss, and they might just fire up this contender for GOTY 2009.

RockBand / Guitar Hero: World Tour – Most men are so close to genius here but they make one fatal flaw; a real man knows that singing is the way to a ladies heart and not the frankly annoying ‘click clack’ sound of plastic buttons on make believe guitars. Whilst your friends think getting a 500 odd streak on that DragonForce track is awesome, the ladies will be all over the bloke growling through Smells Like Teen Spirit. Take a leaf out of Uncle Fista’s book and sing like a gravelly angel.

Silent Hill 2 – Much like horror movies, horror games come with a certain element of ‘bravery’ to watch. Humanity’s willingness to suspend its disbelief and become enraptured in a world of harmless entertainment is incredible, and boys, you should be using this to your advantage. ‘What’s that love, you’re scared? Cuddle up next to me…’ – BOOM! See also BioShock, Fatal Frame, Dead Space, or anything with a psychological edge that manages to rise above the usual schlock. It’s all well and good you being scared at Resident Evil, but it’s mainly the fear of losing progress that is frightening and if the lady of your affections is watching, her investment won’t be nearly as much as yours.

Metal Gear Solid 4 – A complex narrative, a confusing, bizarre plot, meta game elements and philosophical musings on the nature of war; in the same way as Lost or Heroes is something to share with a partner, as is one of Kojima’s finest hours. Why? Knowledge is power, and as we all know, power is the best aphrodisiac. You’ll need to know about political subtext, have a few fancy phrases like ‘breaking the fourth wall’ to hand and be intimate with the entire series inside out, but MGS4 is an excellent way to display intelligence and passion for a subject in one title.

There we are then, five sure fire games to impress the ladies, or your money back. Have I missed any out? Any game that you know of more potent to woo the women off their feet? Well don’t keep it a secret, let the world know in the comment box below…



If you have a PS3 and are a hardcore gamer, you have to try Demon’s Souls. It is a dungeon crawler that does not take you by the hand every step of the way. Dying and trying again is part of the game. And it is also the reason this game feels so rewarding.

I won’t make a review of the game or talk about its unique multiplayer. For those, you can check any of the reviews on the game, as they are all good. Instead I wanted to talk about how nice it is to see a truly difficult game on the shelves. Nowadays, even the so called hardcore games can be pretty easy. No one has any trouble getting to the end of GTA IV or Gears of War 2. Long gone are the days of trying the same level over and over again.

And that’s the scenario where Demon’s Souls comes in. It is a great game, it is really difficult and it does not feel broken. In a way, more than creating a real challenge, I believe the difficulty of the game has the capability of increasing immersion without any help from graphics or sound. In the case of Demon’s Souls it forces players to focus more, pay great attention to the environment, be careful about every encounter. Just like your character would do if it were a real person. And when you beat a level or major demon, the reward is also much bigger.

On a side note, I find it curious that platforms and business models created for casual games ended up as the media for some hardcore, old style games. Like Alien Hominid, Ikaruga or N+,  just to name a few. But that’s a different topic. For now, just go play Demon’s Souls.

See you space cowboys…

I augusti hade Sega och Sony ett möte, och i september läckte noteringar från det ut. Det ska mer eller mindre ha bevisats att det var sann information, och den för mig intressantaste punkten handlade om att Sega skulle ge ut Dreamcast-spel via PSN – det vill säga att vi kommer att kunna ladda ned dem till Playstation 3.

Sega följer sin vanliga mall genom att varken dementera eller tillkännage informationen, förutom att de bad flertalet sajter att ta bort posterna om detta. Med mycket stor sannolikhet kommer vi att kunna köpa Dreamcast-spel via PSN i framtiden, och jag listar de fem spel jag skulle vilja se bland urvalet. Listan presenteras utan inbördes rangordning.

Shenmue I och II

Shenmue är Segas svar på Zelda och Halo, och denna fantastiska saga kan jag bara inte få nog av. De små detaljerna ger äventyret en svårslagen känsla, och när det lanserades var det revolutionerande på många sätt. Med Shenmue introducerade Sega QTE-momentet, ni vet filmscener där det gäller att trycka på rätt knapp vid rätt tillfälle, och vädret och dygnsrotationen var dynamiskt.

Det är ändå karaktärerna, miljöerna och dialogerna som ger den där extra kryddan, och en storslagen inramning gör det till en otrolig episk resa. Det är mysigt att strosa runt i Dobuita och prata med Ryos vänner, även om de bara är bikaraktärer som inte är viktiga för att ta handlingen och den röda tråden framåt. Shenmue har en svårslagen själ som jag aldrig har sett i någon annan titel, och jag håller det fortfarande som världens bästa spel nio år efter dess lansering.

Skies of Arcadia

Striderna må dra ut på tiden, men Skies of Arcadia bjuder ändå på en underbar resa. Äventyret bland molnen ger en storslagen känsla, och variationen mellan striderna till fots och med sitt luftskepp ger en ny dimension. Dessutom fyller designen och musiken atmosfärskvoten ypperligt.

När det lanserades sträckspelade jag igenom hela spelet under fem dagar efter en solig resa till Cypern. Säga vad man vill om att spela på sommaren, men det är en solig titel som passar alldeles utmärkt till sysslolösa sommarkvällar.

Crazy Taxi

Arkadspel i allmänhet och Crazy taxi i synnerhet, passar alldeles utmärkt till nedladdningstjänster där titlarna kostar runt hundralappen. Nu är visserligen inga priser satta, men det skulle förvåna mig mycket ifall Dreamcast-titlarna skulle bli dyrare än Playstation-spelen.

Crazy Taxi bjuder på galen samt snabb underhållning, och en smått galen humor. Att köra vårdslöst, samtidigt som man håller sig ifrån att köra på andra trafikanter eller föremål utgör en skön vågskål. Det enda jag skulle sakna här är en onlinebaserad rankinglista, vilket med största sannolikhet inte lär inkluderas då det antagligen kommer att vara originalprodukterna vi får ta del av.

Sonic Adventure

Sonic Adventure är ren nostalgi hemma hos mig. Sonics Dreamcast-debut i 3D var otroligt snabb, och även om kameran är bångstyrig för en sådan fartkär igelkott som vår blåa hjälte så var det här jag förbluffades över den fantastiska grafiken som Dreamcast levererade på sin tid som nykläckt konsol.

Även om Sonic Adventures år på nacken märks vid det här laget så är det ett nostalgiknippe som jag vill återvända till. På sin tid var det fantastiskt i mina ögon, och jag återvänder gärna en gång till.

Ikaruga

Vill man ha en amerikansk version (en europeisk släpptes aldrig) av Ikaruga får man vara beredd på att öppna plånboken. Det anses av många som det bästa shot em up-spelet genom tiderna, och även om jag inte är en expert på genren är jag beredd att hålla med. Visst finns spelet både till GameCube och Xbox 360, men det gör det knappast sämre för det.

Det kräver en hiskelig reaktionsförmåga, och det ger något till alla sorters shot em up-spelare. En snabb dos underhållning till de som bara vill ägna sig åt kortare sessioner, och en kopiös mängd speltimmar till de som vill bemästra det till fullo.

Nu får vi bara hoppas på att Segas och Sonys avtal gäller, för Dreamcast-eran bjöd på mängder av fantastiska spel som många har gått miste om. Vilka är dina Dreamcast-favoriter som du skulle vilja se till Playstation 3?

Official Titles: Ikaruga, 斑鳩
Platforms: Arcade (NAOMI), Dreamcast, GameCube, Xbox Live Arcade
Developers: Treasure, G.rev
Publishers: Treasure, Sega, ESP Software, Atari
Territory Availability for Arcade: Japan
Territory Availability for Dreamcast: Japan
Territory Availability for GameCube: Japan, North America, Europe
Territory Availability for Xbox Live Arcade: Japan, North America, Europe
Official Websites: Japan (Arcade), Japan (Dreamcast), Japan (XBLA), North America (XBLA)

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WORLD AND BACKGROUND STORY

Several years have passed since Tenro of the former island nation of Hourai recovered from the earth the Ubusubagami Oukinokai, an object radiant with the Power of the Gods. With the miraculous powers and military might granted him and his followers, the Divine Ones, by this object, the Hourai established a perpetually expanding empire. A freedom federation known as Tenkaku fought the Hourai with Hitekkai fighter planes, but eventually they were all but annihilated and Tenro continued his conquest of the world uninhibited.

A drawing of the Ikaruga fighter.

A young man called Shinra, shot down over the village of Ikaruga, is the last survivor of Tenkaku. After recovering from injuries suffered during the crash, the village leader Kazamori bestows upon Shinra a fighter plane that had been secretly built underground by the villagers so that he can continue his fight against the Hourai. This plane, dubbed Ikaruga after the village, is the first fighter plane ever conceived capable of switching between two opposing energy polarities.

-~-~-~-

MECHANICS

Fundamental Design

As one would most usually expect of a bullet hell shooter, Ikaruga places in the hand of the player one ship with which to fight increasingly complicated and aggressive waves of enemy fighters and machines. The Ikaruga, heedless of inertia and all other physics which might impact maneuverability, immediately responds obediently to any given directional command. The battlefield of each mission is shown from a top down view and scrolls vertically, and the Ikaruga can fire only upwards. Ikaruga is minimalist in design, lacking power-ups and providing the player with only one special weapon.

Polarity

A key element which differentiates Ikaruga from most other games in its genre is the implementation of a polarity mechanic. Enemy machines are either black or white in color and they fire bullets of matching polarity. The Ikaruga can switch between white and black color polarity at will, an ability that exerts a colossal influence on strategy available to the player. While it’s white, every white bullet which strikes its encapsulating energy field will be absorbed and contribute positively to the ship’s power bar. However, while white, all black bullets which strikes the ships hit box, which is slightly smaller than the ship itself, will immediately blow up the Ikaruga. The opposite holds true when the Ikaruga is black, bullet of like color will always be absorbed and bullets of opposite color will always spell destruction for the player. It is usually necessary to switch the ship’s polarity with great frequency during a mission, especially when black and white bullets fired by multiple different enemies comb the screen with overlapping patterns.

On the left the Ikaruga is currently of black polarity and isn't threatened by the black bullets headed its way. Similarly, the Ginkei controlled by player two on the right is immune to damage from the white bullets.

Weapons

The Ikaruga always fires bullets of the same color as its polarity. The reason for this is that white bullets will deal twice as much damage to black enemies as to white enemies, and vice versa. Switching to the opposite polarity of a given enemy enables the player to destroy it much more quickly. In addition to its default weapon, the Ikaruga can discharge its entire energy bar as a flurry of homing energy missiles. These energy missiles will be the same color as the Ikaruga at the time of firing, and they also deal twice as much damage to enemies of opposite color. The amount of energy stockpiled dictates how many such missiles can be fired, but never has any bearing whatsoever on the power of a normal shot.

The Ikaruga on the left is firing missile by discharging its power bar, now empty on the bottom left of the HUD, whereas the Ginkei on the right is shooting its standard bullets.

Allies

Ikaruga supports up to two players. The Ikaruga is player one’s default fighter and the Ginkei player two’s default fighter. Their physical designs are discrepant, but the Ikaruga and Ginkei function and handle identically.

Enemies

Waves of enemy fighters approach the player from off the screen in predesignated patterns. Most attacks are fired directly at the player’s position, but some fighters follow more rigid instructions or drop flurries of dispersing bullets. The size of an enemy craft is usually a good indication of how much damage it can sustain before being destroyed, larger enemies most usually can endure more shots than can smaller enemies. All enemies vacate the screen after a time, making it possible to beat the game without firing a shot by skillfully exploiting polarity, but destroying as many enemy fighters as possible is usually to one’s advantage because it helps to clear the screen and increases one’s score.

A drawing of the second stage boss.

Bosses have weak points of black or white polarity, although weak points may move around or toggle polarity depending on the mission. Bosses spew a myriad of both black and white bullets in overlapping patterns and streams which will oft necessitate the player switch color every couple of seconds or so.

Difficulty Modes and Scoring

Ikaruga offers three difficulty modes: easy, normal, and hard. While playing easy mode, enemies simply explode upon being destroyed. While playing normal mode, enemies of the same color as the Ikaruga is upon their death will release bullets of that color upon being destroyed. While playing hard mode, all enemies will release bullets of their own color upon being destroyed.

Firing at and eliminating enemies increases the player’s score, as does absorbing bullets which, in a way, acts as a replacement for the collection of power-ups. Akin to Ikaruga’s predecessor Radiant Silvergun, Ikaruga implements a chain system with a huge impact on scoring. Should one kill three enemies of the same color, regardless of the Ikaruga’s polarity, the player’s chain level will increment by one and the score multiplier doubled. Should the feat be repeated consecutively, the player’s chain level will continue to increment and the score multiplier doubled until the maximum chain level of nine is reached. If the chain is broken at any point, either by disruption in a series or the Ikaruga blowing up, the chain level and score multiplier will reset. Even though the chain level caps at nine, player’s aiming to achieve a high score would do well to retain their chain level for as long as possible in order to maintain the score multiplier. The chain level is suspended during boss fights and does not carry over between missions. At the end of each level, the player is awarded a letter grade from C to S++ dependent on the accumulated score.

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PRESENTATION

Graphics

All the machines and backgrounds are three dimensional, although Ikaruga is played strictly on a two dimensional plane. The Xbox Live Arcade version, while unaltered aside from the graphics, was designed to natively support 720p resolution. On all platforms on which the game is available, all crafts and bullets are stand out well enough as to not cause nasty surprises. Ikaruga plays vertically and thus has bars on the right and left of the screen, although console releases support a horizontal rendering of the game (perhaps for with a television that can be safely turned on its side?).

Music

Ikaruga’s background music, composed by the game’s director Iuchi Hiroshi, is rife with drums and synthesized instruments. I am ill equipped to describe it, so I provide here a link to the first level’s music on YouTube. Each of the five stages has its own background music, but not each boss fight.

Story Presentation

The story is better explained in the game’s manual and on Wikipedia than it is in the game. Atari didn’t bother to translate any of the minimal story details presented in the North American GameCube port. Dialogue is virtually nonexistent, the only focus of the game is battling through its missions.

Extras

Official leader boards once existed for the GameCube version, but they are now defunct. An on-line leader board is integrated into the XBLA version. Artwork can be unlocked in the GameCube release, I will expound on this section after conducting further research.

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POTENTIAL CONCERNS

GameCube cover.

Ikaruga is an overall difficult game. It’s unforgiving, and becoming comfortable with its unique polarity system requires some practice. Anyone who doesn’t return to games after running into one too many Game Over screens will probably not enjoy Ikaruga.

Neither the Dreamcast or GameCube release of Ikaruga are coveted quite as much as Radiant Silvergun of which sealed copies can sell for many hundreds of dollars but, relevant to those without an Xbox 360, used copies of Ikaruga are usually difficult to come by at any price lower than $40USD. In addition to being Japan only, the Dreamcast version suffers from small frame rate dips when the screen is at its most cluttered.

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AUTHOR’S OPINION

Dreamcast cover.

I own Ikaruga for the GameCube and on the XBLA, and the shooter I’ve put more time into is Touhou: Imperishable Night. My sister and I beat the game on easy mode in two player cooperative play, but I’ve never beaten it in single player mode. I have, however, at least reached the third stage in hard mode and I achieve, again in hard mode, an A- on the first level. Reaching a semi-decent like this after many hours of practice is inspirational for someone like me because I am terrible at shooters. Ikaruga isn’t the most difficult game out there, for anyone with a trace of masochism in his or her blood its worth having on the game shelf.

I would like to remind anyone of the mind to respond with "TLDR" that Ikaruga has giant robots and lasers.

All of the drawings uploaded for this article I downloaded from Propeller Planet. All of the screen shots for this article were taken from the Xbox Live Arcade version of Ikaruga on the Xbox 360.

2009年09月25日

△古墳から朱（しゅ）ぬりの石棺（せきかん）

奈良県（ならけん）斑鳩（いかるが）町にある藤ノ木（ふじのき）古墳から外側を朱色にぬっためずらしい家形石棺がみつかりました。1985年のこの日、斑鳩町教育委員会などが発表しました。この古墳は法隆寺（ほうりゅうじ）の西どなりにあり、たいへん貴重（きちょう）な発見でした。

“Today in 1985, a team led by the Ikaruga Board of Education announced the discovery of a rare, red-painted stone coffin in the shape of a house at the Fujinoki tomb in Ikaruga city, Nara prefecture.  The tomb, westward of Horyuji temple, is a very valuable finding.”

Yowza, this was kind of a tough one!  Lots of place names = hard kanji.  Some difficult grammar, too.  First is など used to modify the Board of Education.  This means “and so forth; and the like; and others.”  I found it kind of hard to translate in this instance.  I’m assuming that the archaeological expedition was under the authority of the Board, but that others were involved and hence the など.  It’s hard to tell without knowing more than what is written.  Anyway, the “team led by” bit isn’t literally in the Japanese; I created the phrase based on the など and my assumption.

The second bit of interesting grammar is どなりにあり.  となり means “next to,” so I took the whole phrase to mean “in the direction of.”  Since it is modifying 西, west, I translated the whole deal as “westward.”  Hope I’m right!

Finally, I wasn’t sure what to make of  家形.  It didn’t come up in the online dictionary I use.  Well, a family name did, “Yakata.”  Was it the coffin of someone named Yakata?  No.  On further investigation (see the second link on Fujinoki tomb below), I found that the coffin itself was house-shaped.  家形…the first kanji means house and the second means form or shape.  Clever!

古墳 【こふん】 (n) ancient (mound) tomb

赤; 紅; 朱 【あか】 (n) (1) red; crimson; scarlet

朱塗 【しゅぬり】 (n,adj-no,vs) painting something vermillion; lacquering something vermillion; vermillion-lacquered object

石棺 【せっかん(P); せきかん】 (n) sarcophagus; stone coffin

藤ノ木 – Fujinoki tomb; see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fujinoki_Tomb or http://www.town.ikaruga.nara.jp/ikaho/e/kouza/f41.html

外側 【そとがわ(P); がいそく】 (n,adj-no) exterior; outside

朱色 【しゅいろ】 (n,adj-no) vermilion; scarlet

珍しい 【めずらしい】 (adj-i) unusual; rare;

家形 【やかた】 house-shaped

教育委員会 【きょういくいいんかい】 (n) Board of Education

発表 【はっぴょう】 (n,vs) announcement; publication;

法隆寺 【ほうりゅうじ】 Houryuuji (temple in Nara; see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Horyuji)

貴重 【きちょう】 (adj-na,n) precious; valuable

発見 【はっけん】 (n) finding; (vs) to find;

From Kodomo Asahi.

Link to review

’It doesn’t matter if you’re black or white…’’

Those of you who had seen the review I recently wrote on Triggerheart Excelica will know that I’m not the biggest fan of scrolling shooters from Japan that hardly make no sense at all and the ‘easiest’ difficulty falls between Veteran COD3 and Ninja Gaiden. So a lot of you may have guessed by now I’m not going to be giving this one a 10/10. However with Ikaruga there’s something about it, which I actually enjoyed. Now, pick yourself up off the floor and read why.

Now, having said that, the game still comes with some flaws, a game which only uses about a third of the playing screen and any form of text to explain your story and situation so small, by the time you’ve figured out the first sentence its gone and your in the action. For those interested, I took the time to get a general idea story-wise for the beginning of the game.

The Ikaruga is a plane, however no ordinary plane, designed by former engineering genius Amanai with the help of Kazamori and the village leaders. It was hidden in a secret underground bunker and launched via the transportation device called the “Sword of Acala”, its the first fighter built that integrates both energy polarities, and is capable of switching between the two. Polarities you ask? More will be revealed about that below. Visually the game is clean and very smooth running with its fast pace, the only thing that might slip up is you trying to keep up with everything.

With most scrolling shooting games the idea is simple. Let the computer guide you, as you avoid and shoot down as many enemies as you can. Sorted. Though a slight difference is being that all your enemies are black and white, not the old school sense however. You’ll soon realize that with the tap of a button you too can switch from white or black. This in the game is known as switching polarities, and makes the game a lot more fun than first expected.

This creates a lot more strategy within the game, as you can absorb shots from enemies the same colour as you. Meaning if there’s two giant robots in front of you, one black, firing a big plasma beam at you, and the other white. If your polarity is white, you can freely pass through the beam, absorb the energy and happily shoot away. Then switch the black and take out the other guy, obviously, white enemies are weaker to black polarity and vise versa. Absorbing the energy allows you to perform large attacks with a press of the trigger.

Its also possible to play 2 player throughout the levels to give you a hand to make it through those tough sections, or if you just wanna play it with a mate.

Other than the shooting and explosions the sound in the game wont be testing out your surround sound speakers any time soon, however the sounds fit well with the game and don’t sound out of place. As with most arcade titles and retail games, Ikaruga is custom soundtrack enabled.

The game itself is extremely short but increasingly difficult. With only 4 levels, each featuring a boss at the end, the only thing making the game longer is the desire for someone to want to make it through all 4 levels with all their continues and lives intact.

As a surprise this scrolling shooter is a nice little game, but the coin op style credits and life’s in the game severely limits as to how big this game could actually have been. Had it been longer and less restricted it could have been much better.

Rating: 5.2

Published by: Treasure
Developed by: Treasure
Genre: Shooter
Number of Players: 1-2
Features: 720p Support, Xbox Live, Mic/Headset Voice Support

I love hard games. For me a challenge is always better than an easy ride. I’d rather lose than win easily. What’s the point in being a passenger? Where’s the challenge in that? Where’s the sense of victory?

Now we talk about ‘finishing a game’, or ‘completing’ a game. I’m not interested in completing a game, I want to BEAT it. Sometimes a game should be something that really doesn’t want you to win, something that you can feel working against you every step of the way. Then it’s personal. It’s me versus that team of developers.

Of course, it can be frustrating. Losing isn’t fun in itself, but it’s an integral part of a satisfying learning process.You should always lose for a reason. Sloppy control schemes, unfair enemies and too much chance can ruin the fine balance required to make a hard game satisfying.

Here’s a good hard game: Devil May Cry 3. Here it is in a line: Trenchcoat wearing, pizza eating, sarcy megahero with a sword as big as a bus slays demons for shits and giggles while terrible thrash metal plays endlessly in the background. It’s as shallow as a premise gets, and it’s all fine and entertaining stuff. But underneath it’s a masterfully crafted and intelligent third person brawler.

A typical scene will see about five or six enemies teleport into existence right next to you, and try and their level best chop you up in an extremely confined space. A hit sees about a quarter of your health bar disappear. Oh, and there’s no block button. Sorry.

It’s a recipe for disaster. Everything is stacked against you. You’ve got a sword and some guns, and the ability to dodge. No magic, no area of effect attacks, no breathing space. What you do have on your side is blindingly fast and responsive controls, and just enough visual cues to give you a chance to negotiate the violence unscathed. Up close, attack is the best form of defense. Your sword strikes are swift enough to interrupt enemies as they wind up. Your foes can charge into you from outside the combat area as well. As you fight off immediate dangers your peripheral vision is trained for a signal: the sight of a demon raising their weapon in preperation. A roll as they charge sees them sail past you, a few strokes to the back and they explode into dust, and you immediately resume close combat with the crowd surrounding you.

You’ll die the first few times. It’ll seem impossible at first, but when you start to get it it’s fucking zen.

Some games are even harder to the point of alienating most gamers. I wouldn’t advise making your game so hard that it’s effectively unplayable to most of your audience, but I kind of appreciate the guts it takes to make something as impossible but beautifully crafted as, say, Ikaruga.

It’s five levels long. The game can be beaten in about 25 minutes.

You won’t beat it.

Ikaruga requires minute knowledge of every wave of bullets and for the player to be in a compeltely focussed and trance like state of competence to win. Even then, at certain points death is just inevitable as the cost of reaching a certain section (Unless you’re this guy: http://snipurl.com/pinnz) It’s going to take a lot of time and concentration to even get close to making it through.

It’s a vertical scrolling shooter, as old school as they come, with one genius conceit. With a button press your ship can switch between light and dark shields. Light and dark bullets are fired at you from all angles. If one single bullet of the opposite polarity touches you then you die instantly. Bullets of the same polarity are absorbed and can be unleashed as homing missile attacks to get through difficult spots.

The full potential of this rule is realised perfectly by the levels, which are some of the best examples of level design I can think to name. The variation in the nature of the challenge from section to section shifts Ikaruga from a shooter to a puzzle game, then back to a shooter in minutes. Certain sections see you negotiating tight enclosed spaces, plotting the most effictient route through while absorbing as many bullets as possible to aid you when you’re thrown into that indescribably difficult next section. At other times Ikaruga is a game about patterns, beautiful intricate paterns of light and dark through which you thread your ship. for a while, Ikaruga was my obsession.

The day I finally beat Ikaruga was a good one. It was almost a relief. I was never going to approach hard mode and I would always, always need continues. But I felt like I had done something almost superhuman. I looked back at the levels and thought: how? How in hell did I do that? I came away with a sense of achievement unmatched by most other games I’ve finished. There are not many gaming victories you can really take pride in, but this was certainly one of them.

I went back to Ikaruga recently. I remembered a lot, but all of the intricate knowledge I had built up of those levels was lost. It was opaque again, as surely impossible as the first time I sat down with it.

Hard games are a dying breed. The onus in game design now is on accesibility. This makes financial sense. A game doesn’t want to alienate its audience, it wants to appeal to as many people as possible. Ikaruga is years old now, Devil May Cry 3 was back on the PS2, and its sequel is a much more forgiving, if still challenging, fighter.

So let’s hear it for hard games. A dying breed that’s given me memories of immense success and unbearable frustration in almost equal measure.

Ludo out

The Indy you once knew and loved is now dead. Like, A LOT of times.

For all the things that Indiana Jones’ Greatest Adventures gets right, it gets something fundamentally wrong.  It looks like Indy, albeit with the help of a Han Solo head-swap from Super Star Wars.  It even sounds like Indy, from the satisfying crack of the whip to Han Solo’s high-bit-rate voice samples, to loops of John Williams’ classic theme.  But it doesn’t feel like Indy.

Booby-rigged-tomb-raiding is the name of the game (or at least it was until Ms. Croft brought all new meaning to that phrase) – stealing treasure for The Museum [read: The White Man] and whipping natives and animals full of ill will (more on that later).  This videogame has all that.  Grappling and swinging across ravines with your whip?  No worries, you can tick that box as well.  What about running away from giant boulders?  Has it in spades (more on that later, too).

“Well, that’s all there is to Indiana Jones!”, you may say.

WRONG!

You’ve never been more wrong!  There’s one crucial ingredient to the Indiana Jones formula that is missing from this videogame, and I’m sure even George Lucas in his post-quality-filmmaking phase knows what it is.  In fact, given his repeated failure to emulate the success of Star Wars, Empire and Raiders in recent years, he especially would know.  The secret ingredient to Indiana Jones, my friends, is exactly this:

Dumb Luck.

Know this: for all of the unfortunate situations Indy finds himself in – situations that, need I remind you, he himself went looking for – he is incredibly, nay incredulously, fortunate.  He goes out looking for trouble, and instead he finds luck.  The man survived an atomic blast by hiding in the refrigerator – need I say more?

See?! Lucky!

See, Han Solo’s head isn’t the only thing Indy borrows from Super Star Wars.  It also borrows the series’ notoriously excruciating difficulty.  There is no luck to be had in his Greatest Adventures, dumb or otherwise.  Indy’s future tomb-raiding career (or indeed, his very life) rests solely on your near-Ikaruga-level-ability to memorise booby trap sequences with less than a third of the screen’s x-axis available to you to respond to said sequences.  Which brings me back to the giant boulders.  You’ll be seeing a lot of them.  As in the same single boulder, over and over again.  In fact, this one boulder will be all you see and no further.  Hit a trap and it’ll knock you back into the boulder.  Hit the boulder and you die instantly.  Rinse and repeat until you run out of lives, then use a continue, and complete the first level all over again to reach the boulder and die some more.  Yes, this is just the second level.

Referred to as the 'Infamous Boulder Chase' for more reasons than one.

Okay, so I exaggerate a little on the difficulty.  I *did* get past the boulder eventually.  I switched the difficulty to ‘easy’ – which, as far as I can tell, merely increases the number of lives at your disposal – jumped like crazy, and finally, a few continues later, made it out of the Peruvian temple, MacGuffin in hand.

It's like those bastards knew!

Still, it requires a masochistic spirit and an iron will to push on through, and you will come upon similarly frustrating situations on a regular basis (like, every second level).  Case in point: Marion’s tavern, which, true to the film, is burning to the ground.  Unlike the film, however, Indy must climb to the rafters, instead of, say, just getting out of the damn building, in what must be the tallest tavern in the known world.  Meanwhile a wall of fire climbs beneath you, ready to welcome you into its fiery embrace should you run into a rat and fall through the floorboards.

Indiana Jones in the hit movie, Firewall.

None of this feels as effortless as Harrison Ford made it look all those years ago, and that’s the problem!  Videogame Indy is decidedly unlucky, with no-one to aid him save for a handful of stubborn nerds with walkthroughs.

One thing they *do* get right, however, is the racial stereotyping inherent in the films.  It’s an interesting dichotomy having a white protagonist with a whip against anything other than white vampires.  A whip denotes mastery over the whip-ee, whereas being whipped denotes slavery.  Throw in several non-white antagonists, and immediately there’s a dichotomy of class and race.  Throw in a few animals, and you’ve got a whole bag of issues.  How did this go unnoticed by PETA, or N’Gai Croal?  Now, we all know that Indy hates rats, and Nazis.  Well, turns out he hates a whole lot more.  If you thought RE5 was bad, wait until you get a load of this Montage of Hate:

"I hate rats!"

"I hate Nazis!"

"Hate Arabs!"

"Hate Gyppos!"

"Hate Natives!"

"Hate monkeys!"

Indiana Jones hates you, and this game exists as proof of that hate.

Another week has passed and once again it’s time to take a look at which Arcade games you bought, plus which ones you played, in the last week. As per usual, the purchase list doesn’t include free items. That wouldn’t be apples and apples. The played list is determined by the number of unique users who played the game while connected to LIVE. Single-player vs multiplayer isn’t differentiated.

Caveats all out of the way? Awesome. Let’s have some fun with top 10 lists!

ANZ Top Purchased Arcade games

1. Battlefield 1943
2. The Secret of Monkey Island: SE
3. Ikaruga
4. Worms 2: Armageddon
5. Wolfenstein 3D
6. Madballs in… Babo: Invasion
7. Magic: The Gathering
8. Castle Crashers
9. Bankshot Billiards 2
10. UNO

Ok, Battlefield is superb, it’s true. But I’m disappointed that Monkey Island, one of the all-time classic games EVER, didn’t take the #1 spot on its debut week. It still did well, but I’m secretly hoping it sells gazillions so all the Monkey Island games come to the Arcade. Also… what with the Bankshot Billiards 2? That’s an odd one to see pop up.

GLOBAL Top Purchased Arcade Games

1. Battlefield 1943
2. The Secret of Monkey Island: SE
3. Ikaruga
4. Worms 2: Armageddon
5. Magic: The Gathering
6. Castle Crashers
7. UNO
8. Tour de France 2009
9. Sonic the Hedgehog 3
10. Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1989 Classic

Is Bankshot Billiards our way of rebelling over the lack of Tour de France?

ANZ Top Played Arcade Games

1. Battlefield 1943
2. The Secret of Monkey Island: SE
3. Worms 2: Armageddon
4. Madballs in… Babo: Invasion
5. UNO
6. Castle Crashers
7. Magic: The Gathering
8. N+
9. Hexic HD
10. Ikaruga

And so Feeding Frenzy drops from the list. It’s been on there a while! But in its place the deserving Monkey Island!

GLOBAL Top Played Arcade Games

1. Battlefield 1943
2. The Secret of Monkey Island: SE
3. Castle Crashers
4. UNO
5. Worms 2: Armageddon
6. Magic: The Gathering
7. Tour de France 2009
8. N+
9. Ikaruga
10. Hasbro Family Game Night*

* Includes all Hasbro Family Game Night titles

We’ve had a good run of Arcade titles recently. The vast majority of titles on the lists are new!

Are you responsible for any of these being on the list?

- jinx

God damned Ikaruga.

Oh, boy is this game great.  This week’s Xbox Live Arcade Deal-of-the-Week brings Treasure’s legendary shooter down to a very reasonable 400 Microsoft Points – or just five bucks.  Before I go into why purchasing this game is a good idea, let me give you a stern warning:

Ikaruga is so difficult, that playing it might cause any of the following side effects:  Bloody urine, Migraine Headache, Divorce,  Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder,  Shingles,  Explosive Diarrhea,  Aneurism, Catatonia, and Spontaneous Combustion.  It is also possible that playing Ikaruga may contribute to feelings of depression and suicide.  Do not play Ikaruga if you are pregnant, or are planning on becoming pregnant, or if you value your self-esteem.  Talk to your doctor before playing Ikaruga.

Now, taking the above warning into account, Ikaruga really is a game that’s worth checking out – if, and only if, you are the type of gamer who enjoys pushing through a frustrating experience to master a craft.  In this case, the craft of shooting the shit out of a lot of enemy fighters. Thanks to the dual polarity system that Treasure has built into this masterpiece, Ikaruga really stands out from its shmup brethren as both a unique and challenging experience that is really unmatched.  For the price of a greasy value meal, you can get your hands on one of the most legendary games ever created – but only this weekend.  So what are you waiting for?  Pick up the full game now, or at least check out the trial game.

Gameplay video after the break.  Have a great weekend!

Stage 1:

And the unreasonably difficult final stage:

It’s that time of the week again–time for the top Arcade games for the last week! As per usual, we’ll look at the top purchased games first, then see what you spent all your time playing.

One new development for top purchased games–I’m now cutting out the free offers, since it’s not apples to apples to compare free games with those that cost.

ANZ Top Arcade Games by Purchases

1. Battlefield 1943
2. Worms 2: Armageddon
3. N+
4. Magic: The Gathering
5. Castle Crashers
6. Bankshot Billiards 2
7. UNO
8. Ikaruga
9. Sonic the Hedgehog 3
10. Marble Blast Ultra

GLOBAL Top Arcade Games by Purchases

1. Battlefield 1943
2. N+
3. Worms 2: Armageddon
4. Magic: The Gathering
5. Castle Crashers
6. Ikaruga
7. UNO
8. Sonic the Hedgehog 3
9. TMNT 1989
10. King of Fighters XII

I see we locally got into the N+ Deal of the Week in a big way, and even Ikaruga, which was only DOTW for a day or 2 during this reporting period, has already broken top 10. I’m glad to see you all liking it so much! Also, Worms 2 mania is in full swing, and in the last week the original Worms has finally dropped out of the top 10, after being there pretty much every week.

Otherwise, looks like we still have a greater obsession with balls. That is, billiards and marbles. Obviously. Ahem.

ANZ Top Played Arcade Games

1. Battlefield 1943
2. Worms 2: Armageddon
3. N+
4. UNO
5. Magic: The Gathering
6. Castle Crashers
7. Hexic HD
8. Worms
9. Feeding Frenzy
10. Hasbro Family Game Night*

GLOBAL Top Played Arcade Games

1. Battlefield 1943
2. Worms 2: Armageddon
3. N+
4. Castle Crashers
5. UNO
6. Magic: The Gathering
7. Hexic HD
8. Hasbro Family Game Night*
9. Worms
10. Peggle

This week is unusually in accord. Normally there are 2-3 major differences. This week? Just Peggle! Speaking of Peggle, we’re unlocking the multiplayer this weekend. What does that mean? If you’re a LIVE Silver member, you can play online against friends as if you had a Gold account. Maybe the yanks are practicing up for that.

- jinx

* All Hasbro Family Game Night titles combined

If you’re an Xbox LIVE Gold member I hope you’re familiar with Deal of the Week. Every week we discount an Xbox LIVE Arcade game, a retail game add-on, or even an Xbox Original. This is only for Gold members, so if you’re Silver, keep that in mind.

This week the game is Ikaruga, a challenging top-down shooter you can play solo or co-op with a friend over Xbox LIVE.  It’s a great game. If you don’t have it already, seriously consider this because 50% off is, well, half!

Ikaruga in the Xbox LIVE Arcade

You can learn more about Deal of the Week on the Xbox website, and if the dashboard is more your style you can also find the Deal in the Game Marketplace.

- jinx

O clássico Ikaruga, conhecido pelos belos gráficos e dificuldade de arrancar cabelos, é o Deal of the Week na Xbox Live.

Normalmente o jogo custa 800 Microsoft Points mas durante esta semana o preço cairá para 400 Microsoft Points.

Se você é fã de jogos de nave e ainda não tem Ikaruga na sua coleção, aproveite.

Clique aqui para baixar direto do Marketplace Web.

This week, you can get the excellent shooter game Ikaruga for only 400 instead of the usual 800, on XBoxLive!!

This is a must get I tell you, the game has multiplayer, beautiful HD 2D graphics, and is plain fun! Makes me think of the goold old days of Gradius…

Se trata de un juego japo, su nombre: Mushihimesama

Pero hay otros juegos, como el Ikaruga, o Touhou… imposibles de pasar para cualquier ser humano!!

De ‘Seinarukana “el segundo capítulo de la popular serie de juegos Eroge de PC ‘Eien Shinken Monogatari’ viene una figura de PVC de la heroína del juego, Satsuki Ikaruga.

Esta figura originalmente diseñada como un kit casero por el popular grupo escultor Cerberus Project, pero que a su calidad y popularidad ahora esta siendo realizada por Lilics.

Satsuki viene en una escala 1/8 (160mm), precio de 7800 yens

La figura en que Sarsuki aparece lista para la acción en una pose muy dinamica puede ser pre-ordenada en Hobby Search o su tienda favorita.

Más fotos en GA Graphic

The concluding episodes of Asu no Yoichi weren’t too shabby in my opinion, a second season might be required to tie up loose ends.

There was a fair amount of humor involved in the final episodes, from the maids who wield guns which shoot cork to the butler clones which repeat themselves. It was also amusing that Yoichi converted Saginomiya in an instant and overpowered him.

Other than that, 11 and 12 failed to further develop any relationships between the characters as they were focused on Ibuki’s rescue, hence leaving the pairings unresolved. I don’t think that Asu no Yoichi had much fanservice other than the beach episode, however, it finally dawned upon me that Tsubasa is charming in her work outfit only after the final episode. Her fighting outfit on the other hand is just plain ugly in my opinion.

Nevertheless, the series as a whole was good considering that Yoichi’s lines are interesting at times and the humor is relatively decent. I wouldn’t be sure if there would be a second season as the anime adaptation makes me think that it’s a one-shot deal with the merging of several parts of the manga.

Anyway, who’s the person who appeared shortly after Yoichi and gang fell into the lake. Does this indicate a second season? D:

This episode felt a little different from the previous ones as the focus shifts from relationship development to the the villains.

Ukyo blames Yoichi when Ibuki doesn’t recognise him and hteir promise to get married in the future. Qutie obviously Ukyo’s obsession with Ibuki is the cause of this confusion, this was probably hinted by his sister this at the end of the previous episode. The Saginomiyas play a cheap trick, hindering Yoichi’s mobility. Yoichi faces his old adversaries again to save the Ikarugas but the hired assassin who never made it to town made an appearance when Yoichi was near physical exhaustion. Ayame saves him though; I always thought she knew nothing about martial arts and merely helped out with menial chores in the dojo.

The episode basically revealed Ukyo’s intentions and showed a lengthy fight scene between Yoichi and many assassins. Though Yoichi survived through the ordeal, it didn’t seem very much convincing without bloodshed. However I’m glad some questions I had were answered. Yoichi wasn’t that airheaded as he seems to be as he was able to identify Ayame as a shy person which despite her convincing rude facade.

Now that the show’s headed into a serious conflict between the Ikaruga/Karasuma and Saginomiyas, I doubt any hope of proper relationship developments. The truth behind the Ikaruga and Saginomiya would be revealed so relationship developments would best be left for a second season, if there ever will be one.

I’ll be reading the manga when the anime is over and make comparisons of the upcoming episodes with the manga chapters since I’ve read that the anime mixed several plot events into one in this episode and omitted others like Angela being at the resort. As of now, I wouldn’t bother spoiling myself with future content as I still enjoy how the anime is.