Ikaruga

6,424,700 - Chapter 3 - Max Chain 103
Never did play this game as much as I wanted to when I was on the DC version. I got my GC version this week, and it's really great practice. I'd recommend it to anyone having trouble with the game. It won't tell you everything, but the demo movies are solid basic advice on how to at least stay alive.

Picked it up yesterday, probably because of Valgar's prize pics(I will never win anything but there was still a part of me that wanted to put up a good fight). Though I feel like the good ole days are gone somehow, maybe it's because I have forgotten so much. And there isn't any time for a third shooter in my rotation.

Just though I'd add my score to the list:

ChrisM-UK / 28,905,770 / A / 183

A breakdown for those that are interested:

Chapter 1: 3,944,340 (126)
Chapter 2: 5,339,840 (174)
Chapter 3: 5,602,890 (183)
Chapter 4: 5,880,040 (081) <--- 2 chain breaks
Chapter 5: 5,064,060 (109)

Only death occurred at crystal with 1 second remaining.

I have since improved my Chapter 4 vastly... I can now get around 6.8 million. A 30 million total is within reach... just need to make it happen.

:)

Mind if I just ask a question?

On the Ikaruga Appreciate DVD, the guy on the normal demonstration uses his energy release to hit Eboshidori in his final form (After the sword and shield) to eventually get a time of 74 seconds. However, whenever I fire an energy release at him on the GC version it always hits the small pods to the left and right and never Eboshidori himself.

Is there a modification to the GC version that doesnt allow you to energy release his final form or am I missing something? Thankya. :)

EDIT: Nice score by the way Chris, the big 30 awaits. :P

I know exactly what you're talking about. There's a glitch in the PAL version that prevents you from using homing missiles on the boss. Thus, the chapter 1 boss time you can get on the PAL version will differ from all other versions by a few seconds. The best I can manage (going into the boss with no energy stored) is 70 seconds, but I suspect I could be faster if I absorbed some energy from the shield and release as white during that phase... might gain an extra second or two.

Damnit, that means the NTSC players could get an extra 30-40,000pts.... damn them. :P

Ive managed 71 seconds by absorbing the shield attack and returning fire with white, but I did have about 3 quarters of a bar of energy release to begin with. Starting with no energy release, I usually get 69.

Hmmm... sounds like your shield absorption / return strategy isn't netting you any extra time. My overall method is to maintain a steady stream of opposite-coloured bullets throughout (so black, white, black through the 3 phases). On the third form (no shield), I find that if you swerve to the left to avoid those 5 big homing ball things, you can often swing wide of the hit area, costing you a second. I prefer to play it risky and dodge these balls not by going between the outermost and second one in, but between the second and middle. It's a tighter gap, but you won't lose out on any time. Should get you 70 seconds.

I'll have a go today to see if absorbing and releasing on the shield gets a better time. I suspect there may be an extra second here... 2 seconds, tops.

I just managed a 71 (with no energy release to begin with) by sort of mixing the two strategies together. I started by absorbing from the shield, releasing as white, then staying as white and just finishing him off with the normal laser.

Heres an excessively low quality, crappy sound video of how I did it if you're interested. ;) http://www.angelfire.com/anime5/jx2wo/IkarugaVid.zip

With a full energy release bar to begin with I think I could hit 72/73.

Heh... you beat me to it! I also managed 71 seconds using pretty much exactly the same method as in your video earlier this morning. 72 might be possible, but it's definitely pushing it.

Indeed. 72 may be possible, but its not something I would go for every time I have a challenge game... 69 or 70 is good for me. :)

Im trying to break a 121 chain on Stage 1 at the moment, and improve my time for beating Buppousou (81 seconds) so I can crush the competition in NGC magazines Ikaruga challenges. :P

It might just be me, but I really don't like the way they're handling the Ikaruga challenges in NGC. They seem somewhat over-simplified. The emphasis in Ikaruga is all about scores, really... chains and boss times contribute to the score, of course, but I would have preferred some league tables (Arcade, individual chapters, whatever).

On the downside, they'd probably want video evidence for scores, whereas for the chains and boss times they're accepting photos. Meh... nevermind. I never enter their competitions anyway. I just compare myself to the league tables and get either a smug or upsetting feeling...

;)

Agreed. The NGC competitions really pass off some of the more competetive sides of Ikaruga.... boss times arent that hard to beat either, especially considering they didn't say you can't use prototype mode. ;)

On the upside, I just had an excellent run in challenge mode! My hands were shaking at the end... maybe I should see a doctor. :P

Anyway, I got myself a nice Jx2 / 21,693,820 / Chapter 5 / 104 Max chain (can you believe it?!). Im now 46th in the net-ranking. :)

The Diamond thing killed me twice on his last attack... :\

Didn't Doctor Ian from the gamefaqs fame have a video of Pal/BossCh1/74 seconds? It might have been with close to full homing though.
Oh, and Chris, post that 6.8 mil score! You're still at 6.2 mil on those charts.
Btw, Jx2, nice to meet you! Nice to see new people enjoying that game too.

I think you're right, Saffran. You'd definitely need full homing to get a time of 74.

I haven't posted a 6.8 million score for the charts because I got it in practice mode. I have this unwritten rule whereby I refuse to post scores I aquire in practice mode. The highest I have got in a run is 6.6 (I think), and I may post it soon. Besides, I didn't actually take much note of what the full score was. Just that it was about 6.8 million with a 203 chain.

:)

EDIT: Forgot about Jx2! Nice run, mate. Keep plugging away at it!

;)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Jx2

...The NGC competitions...

---

What and where is this NGC competition exactly? ^_^

Sorry to dissapoint you Sikraiken, but NGC is a British Gamecube magazine. ^.^;;

They have a few competitions in there for Ikaruga, and the other scores are somewhat... lacking. :P So I thought I would send in some much better scores to scare away everyone else. ;)

Chris: Cheers for compliment, im sure i'll be up there with you in the next 50-60 years. ;)

And chapter 4... what a horribly hard stage. :) I can chain most of it in Conquest mode now (except for the enemies on the outside in 4-2), but I can never string it all together in a single run. However, for some reason, I love the stage to bits. :P

Saffran: Nice to meet you too. ^.^

ah, alright. Thanks for the info. :D

50-60 years? No way, mate... I've had the game since May. It won't take you that long to catch me.

;)

Chapter 4 has got to be my favourite level. To the uninitiated, it looks intimidatingly hard, and this makes it a great party piece. My friends still can't understand how I make it through Chapter 1 alive, so Chapter 4 is off the scale of the Jaw-Dropping Chart™ (a 44 chain on 2-1 also achieves a similar effect).

:D

EDIT: Extra brownie points are awarded for wowing onlookers with the 44 chain and then doing it again, but with the WIZ method of energy management!

Hopefully so, it'd be healthy for you to have some more close competition to play with. ;)

44 chain in 2-1 :O Ive seen the entire lot destroyed on the Appreciate DVD, but ive never managed it myself... I always settle with a nice and simple 38 chain. ;)

The section that pleases the crowd for me is usually bullet eating the Yin-Yang Stage 5 boss (not sure of his name). I can only keep it up for about 20-30 seconds before I die though, or before my eyes explode. =P

just thought i'd weigh in with my stunningly mediocre score:

treble / 8296820 / 88 chain / chapter 3

Jx2, I like a bit of healthy competition: it's more than welcome! By way of a side note, I hope to soon be number 1 in the rankings for GBR... 30 million will cement this for sure. For a time, anyway, until you surpass me...

I used to be content with 38 chain too, until I realised that 44 nets roughly 150,000 extra points. Putting that in perspective, that's 0.15 million. Taking a few extra chains like this from various sections of the game quickly adds up, and becomes readily evident in your final score.

I forgot about Tageri! Silly me... that is also mightily impressive. My success rate on that feels very much 50/50. I've tried it in a few Arcade runs before, sometimes successfully. You just have to decide whether the 0.4 million-ish extra points you get from doing it are worth the potential -0.9 million-ish you'd get from dying (-0.5 million for life loss and -0.4 for not doing it). It should be noted that to REALLY impress people, bullet-eating Tageri successfully on Hard Mode is perfect.

But that is insanely hard. I haven't even unlocked Chapter 4 or 5 on Hard Mode yet...

:wtf:

Treble: Thats not terrible. Im sure you'll improve it soon enough... ive improved by over 7 million in just 2 weeks. ;)

Chris: Exactly! The odd chain here and there doesn't seem that much until you realise they're worth 26,000 each. :\ I often lose high scores by trying to chain an entire level fully, but dying or breaking my chain because of it... sometimes its just easier to retain your max chain and pick up your strategy where you can. :)

Of course, chapter 1 is an exception... I never leave chapter 1 with less than 3.5mil. =P

The only thing that gets me about 2-1, is the fact that the 44 chain looks like random confusion to me... the 38 is a matter of staying in the middle and periodically destroying 3 enemies (for me). But saying that, the entire section seemed like random confusion the first time I got there. =P

Yeah, you just need to find a nice balance. Though if you're going for 30+ million, you can't really afford to leave much of anything behind.

The 44 chain isn't as bad as you might think. Beside the bit at the end on the left with some mad swerving that somehow picks up chains, you can still pretty much do most of it in the middle. The trick is that when picking off your threes, which ones you do take out are important. It's difficult to describe, but check your Appreciate DVD. If you forget about WIZ's energy releases (that's beyond most humans) and just stay white, you don't need to memorise a great deal. Give it a try in Conquest Mode for 30 minutes, and you'll be well on the way. The main thing to take note of from the DVD is what cluster of three he takes out at each pass.

Give it a go! If you manage it, another video would be mucho cool...

;)

Indeed I will! I had a go at it earlier but to no avail, I got about half way through then things went a bit cock-eyed and I broke the chain. :\ Still, try and try again.

I did something stupid today also... I was having a great run with about 19.5 mil by the start of chapter 5... then I died 4 times before I even got to the boss. :\ I don't think I died that many times when I got there for the first time! I think your nerves throw you off when you're onto a good score... maybe I should put some insulating tape over the score area. :-P

Same thing happened to me yesterday, but I was at 22 mil at the beginning of Chapter 5. I was like "woot! 30 Millions, here I come!" and then I died 5 times or so in Chapter 5. Quite lame...

Bullet eating Hard Mode Tageri is close to impossible. I managed it once in Practice Mode, but most of the times I don't survive it. SWY's steel nerves are impressive.

Wey-hey! Just updated my score again. ;)

Jx2 / 23,615,340 / Chapter ALL (finally :D) / 172 max chain - 39th in the net-ranking.

I lost a bunch of lives on the last chapter, so I only got a 500,000 bonus for one life remaining... but its all good. :) I can stop playing Ikaruga for a few hours now. :P

Nice score, Jx2! I've just been playing, but my result is not so fruitful. Y'know how my record is 28,905,770? Check out this breakdown of a 28,486,730 I just got...

Chapter 1: 3,943,180 (126)
Chapter 2: 5,455,900 (178) [New personal best!]
Chapter 3: 5,652,540 (137) <--- 1 chain break
Chapter 4: 6,810,720 (205) [New personal best!]
Chapter 5: 5,041,290 (109)

Only difference between this run and my previous best was that I lost 1 life on my previous best. On this run, I lost FOUR! This was the best potential 30 million I've ever had. I went into 5-2 at least hoping for a 29 million. I suppose I should be pleased at scored 2 new individual chapter records, but...

*sigh*

Ikaruga is a harsh mistress...

:cry:

6.8 million on Chapter 4. :O That is something to be proud of! I managed a 5 million-ish on it today by leaving a lot of the enemies out to retain my max-chain... I just can't seem to chain the enemies on the outside in 4-2, and the criss-crossing enemies in 4-3... I know how to do it, but pulling it off is a different matter. ;)

I did, however, manage to beat Misago before he finished firing his white beam. ^.^

And yes, except for a few exceptions that seems to be basic law for Ikaruga - If Player is doing well, increase loss of life 10-fold. ;)


EDIT: I just got myself a nice 21,269,780 in Prototype mode, 19th in the net-ranking. Just thought you'd like to know. :) Anyone else play Prototype much?

that http://www.the-nextlevel.com/board/i...ine=1065552043 is fricking awesome.

Why thankya. ^.^

I was wondering when someone would notice it. =P