Ikaruga

Shoot! Dodge! and... Get Hit!? "Ikaruga" is a vertical shoot 'em up that features an unique polarity-switching gameplay. Switch the ship's polarity and "get hit and absorb" enemy bullets! Achieve High Score with the chain bonus!

Ikaruga is a shoot 'em up, bullet hell and arcade game developed by and published by Treasure.
Released on February 18th 2014 is available only on Windows in 2 languages: English and Japanese.

It has received 2,193 reviews of which 2,078 were positive and 115 were negative resulting in an impressive rating of 9.0 out of 10. 😍

The game is currently priced at 8.99€ on Steam.

The Steam community has classified Ikaruga into these genres:

Shoot 'Em Up Bullet Hell Arcade Classic Action Great Soundtrack Shooter Sci-fi Difficult Indie Local Co-Op Addictive 2D Singleplayer Retro Space Co-op Controller Local Multiplayer Puzzle

Media & Screenshots

Get an in-depth look at Ikaruga through various videos and screenshots.

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Requirements

These are the minimum specifications needed to play the game. For the best experience, we recommend that you verify them.

Windows

OS *: Windows 8 / 7 / Vista / XP
Processor: Intel Core2 Duo / Athron64 X2
Memory: 1 GB RAM
Graphics: DirectX 9.0c support (256 MB VRAM)
DirectX: Version 9.0c
Storage: 512 MB available space
Sound Card: DirectX 9.0c support

Reviews

Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.

Jan. 2025

Ikaruga is simply beautiful. Yes, it's unforgiving, relentless, resolutely old-school and even brutal at times - but for those who succumb to its bite, punishment never felt so good.

Jan. 2025

---Is this what we wished for? ---Don't worry. We'll understand each other some day. ---And the life is succeed into the distant future.

Dec. 2024

I will not die until I achieve something. Even though the ideal is high, I never give in. Therefore, I never die with regrets

Oct. 2024

"Don't worry, we will understand each other someday." I felt like this was the game talking to me, after dying for what felt like hundreds of times on my first playthrough. I took this comment to heart. I thought, maybe, if I kept playing, the game and I would end up understanding each other. Because we didn't really click at first, I misunderstood how the Energy gauge worked, I didn't even realize I could release it for an attack, I didn't interact with the chain system, I didn't bother reading about the story, didn't know the extent of the polarity mechanic; we were still strangers to each other, but I was intrigued. I'm not exaggerating when I say that I became obsessed after that first playthrough and started learning everything I could about this game. I read the story, learned about the characters, I learned about the different buddhist themes and references this game has, read up about Treasure, the connection to Radiant Silvergun, watched superplays, looked at the beautiful art (really, look at it, it's some of the best video game art out there imo). I just became enamored with how much soul this game radiated. Going from clueless to understanding the game inside and out was a transcendent experience. I have a hard time thinking about gaming experiences that were as satisfying as realizing that I could, after a few attempts of failing miserably, /survive/ and get a bunch of chains in Chapter 4, when I thought beforehand that this was utterly impossible for me. I understood what the game wanted to tell me, I understood what it asked of me, and knowing that, I was able to give it what it wanted. I finally felt in sync with Ikaruga, as if the game and I were working together, rather than against each other. I had never even enjoyed a shmup before playing this game, but it's quickly become one of my favorite games of all time. It's an infinitely replayable masterpiece, and I can't see myself getting tired of it anytime soon. It will always have a place in my heart.

Feb. 2024

I'm terrible at this game, one of the hardest shmups ever made, but the graphics are amazing and the music/sound design is fantastic, great port of a Dreamcast classic, runs at silky smooth 60 FPS in almost any potato. Love to play it once every year or so.

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