Fire up those color-coded lasers and shields, because Treasure’s cult classic top-down shooter Ikaruga is on sale for half its usual price on Xbox Live Arcade this week.
You kids don’t know how good you have it these days. Back before we had this thing called “digital distribution,” if you wanted to play a rare game you had to go to eBay and pay ridiculous prices for used copies, that or trek through fire and brimstone to go to Funcoland every other day, fingers crossed some schmuck just happened to sell the game you wanted.
Oh, we’ve come a long way. Ikaruga, the classic shmup from that most cult of cult developers, Treasure, used to fetch high prices in its single North American incarnation on the GameCube (the game was doubly valuable for the hilarious IGN blurb that appeared on its cover, which gave birth to the notion of “frothing demand“). That ended thanks to Ikaruga‘s re-release on Xbox Live Arcade, which made the game easily acquirable (and with leaderboards and achievements) for less than a fistful of spacedollars.
Now, for a limited time only, Ikaruga is getting even cheaper (and demand, I expect, will get even frothier). Usually 800 Microsoft Points, it’s now good for the getting only for a paltry 400. Act quick, though, because the game’s only the Deal of the Week, which means the discount only lasts until next Monday.
Even 800 Points was an absolute steal, so if you’ve never tried this out and are looking for one of Treasure’s best and one of the most challenging and satisfying shooters around, pick it up. It’s a top-down shmup with a twist: your ship can switch between black and white modes, during which it can absorb bullets of the same color. Stages are built for maximum challenge with brutally sequenced strings of black and white bullets, not to say anything of the epic bosses. Sounds hard, and it is, but it’s also hugely rewarding (and more flexible than you might imagine). Don’t be a wuss. Froth that demand.
