Ikaruga

Black vs white – it’s either the ultimate dichotomy of life, or just a massive race war.

But black and white is the essential element of Ikaruga, an incredible vertical shoot-em-up where the two create a fantastic game mechanic which still remains interesting so many years later.

1001 No.90: ‘Ikaruga’ (2001)

Vertical shoot-em-ups (like 1943, Aero Fighters, or a million other clones) are much the same – but Ikaruga introduces a unique aspect – enemies come in two shades, and you can flip your ship to either match them or oppose them. For example – you choose white, and white enemies power you up – but black ones are deadly. However, destroying your opposite colour yields bonuses – at a much greater risk.

Overall, an incredible game, developed by Treasure (the masters behind the awesome Gunstar Heroes) – but sadly now more of cult classic than a blockbuster. Like many of us, it was big in Japan, but took a long time to get to these shores. It was on Arcades over there, then on Dreamcast – but tragically never released in Europe on that system.

It’s been on Xbox Live Arcade relatively recently, but now listen up! Here’s your best chance to play the game you should have played almost 15 years ago. The ingenious system of Steam Greenlight has helped bring it to PC – grab it now and blast through one of the most fun (and most difficult) 2D shooters of all time.