Ikaruga
In this vertical scrolling spaceship shooter, you control a ship that can change its polarity at will. As blue/white, the ship can easily destroy red/black enemies, and visa versa. Bullets of your polarity can…
Ikaruga is an arcade developed by Treasure, released 5 September 2002 on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360 and Dreamcast.
What Ikaruga is
Ikaruga is an arcade game developed by Treasure and released in 2002. It was published by Atari, Inc.. It is available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Dreamcast, Nintendo GameCube, Android, Arcade and PC (Microsoft Windows).
The premise, in the publisher's words
In this vertical scrolling spaceship shooter, you control a ship that can change its polarity at will. As blue/white, the ship can easily destroy red/black enemies, and visa versa. Bullets of your polarity can be collected to fuel your missile gauge, but those opposite will kill you. Destroying an enemy ship will make them drop points for you to pick up, but they are polarized, too. Different difficulties exist to change exactly how you interact with polarized points, or how they appear. Ikaruga is a balls-hard shmup with lots of difficulty even at the easiest level, and lots of replay value for those willing to face the challenge.
How it plays
It is played from a bird view / isometric perspective. Its themes are action and science fiction. It is a single-player game with no multiplayer component. Available modes: Multiplayer, Single player and Split screen.
How it was received
Ikaruga holds a critic score of 90 out of 100. That places it above 95% of the 2,164 rated arcade games in our database, which average 70. Games released in 2002 averaged 68, so it scored 22 points above the year average.
What it launched against
Ikaruga launched on 5 September 2002, within three weeks of Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven, Battlefield 1942, Kingdom Hearts and Mafia. It reviewed better than 3 of the 4. It was a PlayStation 4 launch-window title.
Released around the same time: Mafia: The City of Lost Heaven, Battlefield 1942, Kingdom Hearts, Mafia.
Cheats and codes
We have not confirmed any working cheat codes for Ikaruga yet. Rather than reprint a list we have not tested, this section stays empty until one is verified.
Official trailer
Sourced from the publisher’s YouTube channel.
Screenshots
All media
Parents
Quick answers
Ikaruga — frequently asked questions
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