Ikaruga for the DC

Was released today -- a perfect port. Just goes to show that the DC is a mean machine, and can hang w/ some of the best. This is a beautiful shooter if you're into those games.

 

I've heard nothing but great things about this game...

Should I just wait for the GameCube version? My Dreamcast isn't modded or anything.

 

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Depends on your preferences. I have doubts the GC version will make it to the US (though it is possible). So if you are going to import, you can either mod you GC or get a boot disk for you DC. If you want to play it safe, you can pass on the DC version, hold out for the GC while keeping an ear open for word on a US release. Personally, I'm going with the DC.

Does anyone know for sure whether the GC version will have extras? I heard something, but I couldn't say if it was a rumor or not (I guess it is kinda early to know for sure).

 

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I belive it was announced Infogrames would punlish it in the U.S..

Current rumor also has it that the Gamecube rev will not have any additional play modes or levels, but may have other unlockable extras.

 

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Damn, I didn't know they were making a GC version....
From what the page said, Infogram Japan is doing the distribution, but Treasure is handling the conversion. He says they're looking for 'extras' to put in the GC version, but there's no play to have extra stages or bosses -- mainly just to have perfect conversion.

 

DC Ikaruga supports the VGA box, giving you essentially the identical NAOMI experience - pure high-res, non-interlaced, including 2 separate vertical modes; it should be pretty safe to tilt VGA monitors on their side, at least newer ones that have a manual degauss switch.

I'm doing exactly that, and can assure you that playing Ikaruga on a vertically-aligned VGA monitor with an arcade stick is as close to the arcade experience as anything is ever going to get.

The only way the GC version could ever come close to that is if you were to play it on a HDTV (considering the port even has a progressive scan option, which isn't a certainty); even then, I doubt anyone would consider it healthy to tilt an HDTV on its side for any period of time, so they'd have to deal with any of 2 letterboxed modes (75% and 80%, respectively, but the latter means you compromise some vertical visibility as the frame is more zoomed in); and you definitely lose a lot of the visual crispness by playing a panned-out resolution, not to mention chain precision.

All in all, it's an incredibly impressive and visceral shooter. Don't let the all-too-common comparisons to Radiant Silvergun sway your opinion either way; Ikaruga is a much more focused effort, and outside the stage presentation, which is similar, they are two completely distinct games.