Some promos come cheap, and some are readily available at every corner
video game shop. Unfortunately for me (and moreso for just about everybody
else), the Ikaruga sake set was neither. Distributed by Atari
(Infogrames) early last year to promote the stateside release of Treasure's
celebrated shooter, a limited number of sets were given out to employees,
the press, and a number of game sites (including ours) as contest prizes. If
not for fellow editor and forum member Paul Bistoff (thanks, PBMax!), I
would not have had the opportunity to acquire this set.
The set comes packed in a translucent plastic box, cubic in shape and
perhaps a touch bigger than GameCube tricked out with a GB Player. Affixed
behind the front and back panels are white sheets of paper marked simply
with the Ikaruga (with a changed font from the Japanese releases) and Atari logos. Opening the box from the top and digging through some black
tissue paper, you find the wrapped bottle (emblazoned with the game's logo)
nesting in some straw. I would assume this is the traditional
way sake sets are stored, but I really have no idea. Beneath, a second
layer of straw holds the pair of matching plain white porcelain cups.
Personally, I think a sake set is an odd gift to give away for a game I suck
at stone sober. Plus, I don't even like sake, and there's no way this
bottle's ever seeing the inside of a microwave. Still, it's a very elegant
piece, and probably the best Ikaruga schwag anyone without
inhuman
shooter skills and a time machine is going to find.