Ikaruga [DC, GC, XBLA, PC]

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but, no, games like DDP daioujou and ikaruga get ever more obscured by insane difficulty and obscure mechanics to the point that devotees are the only ones who can understand -- let alone appreciate -- them.

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I'll give you DDP (since you have to actually pay attention to a meter on-screen in order to grasp the chaining), but don't they tell you how to play Ikaruga in the manual (I haven't picked up the US version yet)?

As for the difficulty, it doesn't really pick up until the later stages, if you merely concentrate on surviving it's pretty easy to pick white and hang around white enemies/blocks/shots until that switches in great numbers. Some areas will be hangups (the continuous switching during the middle of stage 2 is the first problem area), but I wouldn't call it insane difficulty just for beating. Hard? Sure.

But I watched someone who normally couldn't stand shooters try out Ikaruga (because he wanted to see what my heated anticipation during the DC release was about) and found that he loved the idea and execution of the game. He is what would be considered a purely casual gamer that doesn't ever play very many games, but he absolutely adored Ikaruga and didn't mind the difficulty at all.

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Originally posted by Aurora
Would Virtual Fighter 4 be so great if the CPU stood in one place and jumped the whole time? No.

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Actually, yes it would. Single-player modes in fighting games are almost always totally useless since they generally only help to dull your skill and technique.

My views on reviews- We're reading the reviewer's opinion of the game, not the reviewer's opinions of what he thinks other people will think of the game. If the difficulty aggravated him, a point or so off is perfectly fair. If the reviewer didn't mind the difficulty but thought others might, then maybe he ought to buy free copies of the game for others to review. I'm reading a review to find this person's opinion on a game, not what this person thinks other people will think of the game. It's the only thing that bugged me in the EGM review, actually.

We got in 5-ish (I didn't open so I'm not sure) copies, we have 1 left. One of them was mine. :)

James

We had six, sold 3, and I'm saving one to buy later today (now being 4/17 at 3:00 am).

So yeah. Cool. And don't forget your $5 rebate for buying a Cube game!

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Originally posted by MechDeus
yes it would. Single-player modes in fighting games are almost always totally useless since they generally only help to dull your skill and technique.

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Eh, I don't agree. It's almost the same as completely leaving an "arcade" mode out, and I'm sure reviews would reduct points for such. I sure would. I don't always have a friend to play games with me. And especially not VF4.

Sooooooo....how's the GC version stack up? I really don't want to spend 40 on a game I already have, but...I really do, too.

You guys will make or break it for me.

Ikaruga GC is like my penis as I get head from my grandmother on a Sunday night. It's got old-school all around it, and it's hard as hell.

Oh, and it's just like the Dreamcast one pretty much.

The GC's D-pad sucks, but you can get used to it. Everything else is pretty much perfect. The selling point in my case is the conquest mode. You can practice the levels in chunks, practice in half speed to learn the patterns, & watch a pro make perfect chain runs in half speed. So cool. Worht the price of admission, if you really want to improve your game.

JM

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Originally posted by JM
watch a pro make perfect chain runs in half speed. So cool.

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The demo doesn't show "perfect chain runs". Well, they are perfect in that it doesn't mess up any chains, but they are NOT the optimal chain runs. On nearly every part of the level demos, there is a much better way to chain or get a higher chain count/score. Also, with the bosses, I usually beat most of the bosses faster than any of the demos show. So I'd say it's a "good" demo showing off a "good" run, but FAR from perfect, and you'd be about 5-10 million down from the top Japanese scores if you just imitated those demo runs perfectly (the top Japanese players chain much more elaborately).

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Originally posted by Hero
Sooooooo....how's the GC version stack up? I really don't want to spend 40 on a game I already have, but...I really do, too.

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Originally posted by sleeveboy
The Official TNL Ikaruga FAQ has been updated. Information pertaining to the new US GameCube release has been added.

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Just picked up my copy today, got one of the two remaining at the store. Looks like they're playing it safe with the number of copies they put out there, so be warned.

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Originally posted by sleeveboy
The Official TNL Ikaruga FAQ has been updated. Information pertaining to the new US GameCube release has been added.

Those of you who have the GC rev may want to look it over and suggest anything that needs to be added or changed. I think I got all the major stuff.

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Nice work. I added some formatting so it's easier to read, added the US release date (under the "Is it coming to the US?" question) and fixed some messed up URLs.

Everything I read seems accurate, though I've only played the GC version for about 20 minutes so far :)

-Kevin