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The gameplay consists of shooting enemies who come in one of two polarities: either black(/red) or white(/blue). The player's ship can be either polarity, and can be switched at will.
One unique feature of this game is the way in which only opposing bullets (i.e. a black bullet if the player's ship is white and vice versa) can kill the player. If the player is hit by a bullet of the same color, that bullet is absorbed and stored - if enough energy is stored, homing lasers can be released by the player, the number determined by the energy stored up to a maximum of 12. Correspondingly, if a player shoots an enemy that is a different polarity than he or she is, the enemy will take double damage. Players also can perform "chains" for points. A chain occurs when three enemies of the same polarity are destroyed consecutively. The more sets of three enemies that are dispatched in a row, the more points are acquired.
The game also departs from other scrolling shooters in that most of its graphics are not bitmaps but full three-dimensional landscapes. It also has a number of unconventional features, most notably its TATE mode - the ability to rotate the game's display by ninety degrees while the player's monitor rests on its left side. When the game is played with the display in a normal orientation, the sides of the screen are blank because the game field itself is taller than it is wide. If it is turned on its side, it can take up the whole screen and still be taller than it is wide.
Ikaruga is a reasonably difficult game on it's Easy gameplay level, but can become exceedingly frustrating on Normal and Expert modes. Some have criticized it as requiring more of a player's memory than his/her reflexes in order to gain the most points, because all of the enemies and chains appear exactly in the same place and time every time the game is played. Still others prefer to recognize it as a work of art in videogame form: Simple in design, brilliant in execution, easy to learn, difficult to master, etc. An interesting feature of the arcade release (which is also included in the home formats) is the 'Trial Game' mode, where infinite lives are awarded for a single credit, but only the first two chapters of the game can be played, offering a good deal of practice for only one credit.
It is sometimes compared to Team 17's Project X for the Amiga.
IkarugaIkaruga (; -cho) is a town located in Ikoma District, Nara, Japan. As of 2003, the town has an estimated population of 28,287 and a density of 1,982. 27 persons per kmē. The total area is 14. See also Ikaruga for the arcade and home video game that shares (斑鳩町; -cho) is also the name of a townA town ( cho is a local administrative unit in Japan. It is a local public body along with prefecture ken or other equivalents), city shi , and village mura . Geographically, a town's extent is contained within a prefecture. Note that the same word ( mach located in Ikoma DistrictIkoma (; -gun) is a district located in Nara, Japan. As of 2003, the district has an estimated population of 80,507 and a density of 1,569. 34 persons per kmē. The total area is 51. Towns and villages Ando Heguri Ikaruga Sango., NaraNara Prefecture ( Nara prefectural symbol Capital Nara Region: Kinki Island: Honshu Area Total % water Ranked 40th 3,691. 5% Population Total (????) Density Ranked 29th 1,445,508 391/kmē Districts:8 Municipalities:47 ISO 3166-2:JP-29 Symbols Pref. Flower, JapanJapan (, Nippon/Nihon literally "the origin of the sun") is a country in East Asia situated on a chain of islands east of the Asian continent on the western edge of the Pacific Ocean. The largest of these islands are, from north to south, Hokkaido , Honsh. The Horyu-jiHoryu-ji (, "Temple of the Flourishing Law") is a Buddhist temple near Ikaruga, Nara prefecture, Japan. The temple claims to have some of the oldest wooden buildings existing in the world. The temple was originally set up in 607 on Prince Shotoku's instru, a UNESCO World Heritage site, is located there.