Ikaruga: Gameplay, Platforms and Key Facts

Ikaruga (2001) is a shooter, puzzle, indie, arcade video game developed by Treasure, available on Arcade. It holds an aggregated critic and player score of 89/100 on IGDB.

What is Ikaruga about?

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 vice versa. Bullets of your polarity can be collected to fuel your energy gauge, but those opposite will kill you. Destroying an enemy ship causes them to fire revenge bullets which can be absorbed and fired back by the player. Different difficulties exist to change exactly how you interact with polarized points, or how they appear.

It is the spiritual successor to Radiant Silvergun, featuring similar level and boss design, as well as it's buddhism inspired themes and aesthetics. Both are directed by Hiroshi Iuchi, who also composed Ikaruga's soundtrack.

Key details

Ikaruga was released in 2001 and supports single player, multiplayer, split screen. Platforms: Arcade. Developer: Treasure.

Should you play Ikaruga?

With a 89/100 aggregate score, Ikaruga ranks among the best-reviewed games in its genre and is widely considered a must-play.