The Sweet Pain of Ikaruga

Some games are about more than winning and losing.

I'm sure there are people for whom the ability to finish Ikaruga is a defining element of their identity. And that's fine for them--I'm sure if I could ever find it within myself to beat the game, I would never miss an opportunity to tell people about it. But experiences can vary, and the experience I have always looked for in Ikaruga is more like looking into the face of God. I will never be better than Ikaruga, and I know it. But I can spend fleeting moments with it, basking in its glory. Perhaps I can't put it more succinctly than this: Ikaruga is one of the few games that can, literally, bring a tear to my eye. Not through Final Fantasy-esque melodrama or controller-throwing frustration, but simply because it is so perfect. Not just its control mechanics, but its level design, its music, its presentation, its crushing difficulty; every aspect of Ikaruga is a work of art.

The religious terms in which I have so far described the game are not accidental. Ikaruga's director, Hiroshi Iuchi, fully intended the game's Buddhist connotations. Ikaruga is a pure bullet-hell shooter, but its central gameplay mechanic is the player's ability to "flip" the polarity of the Ikaruga ship (or the Ginkei, for player 2), enabling it to absorb same-color (light or dark) enemy fire. The player does not collect power-ups, and in fact the ship's primary gun never changes; but by absorbing same-color firepower from enemies until a guage a the bottom of the screen fills, the player can unleash a flurry of homing missiles which can cut a swath through the enemies which fill the screen at all times. The polarity-changing mechanic is more than a brilliant gameplay concept, though; it also symbolizes the Buddhist concept of Yin and Yang. There are other references to Buddhism throughout the game, but there is also something of an inspirational message conveyed to the player through poetic Engrish (and I hesitate to use that word for fear of sounding demeaning) text that appears onscreen at the beginning of each stage. Playing through Ikaruga is not just playing through a video game; it is a journey toward enlightenment.

As for the greater whole of Ikaruga's gameplay, while from the outside it might appear to be another entry in the seemingly infinite 2D shooter genre, appearances can be deceiving. At times, Ikaruga feels like a pure puzzle game, with the player having to concentrate more on split-second polarity changes to navigate bullet-filled passages than on shooting down any enemy fighters. But there is no denying that the game is at the very least a shooter-puzzle hybrid, a paradox that fits in neatly with the game's Buddhist theme: a shooter that exercises your brain as much as your trigger finger.

Enough cannot be said about Ikaruga's music, either. Simultaneously majestic and ominous, the game's orchestral score provides a perfect, sombre backdrop to the non-stop action. Unlike other shooters, which rely on hair-metal and synth-rock to set the stage for the onscreen fireworks, Ikaruga's music is every bit as deep and serious as its gameplay. And while this might make the game start to sound pretentious, one should not forget that pretense really describes something that pretends to a greater status than it can actually claim. Ikaruga is every bit as great and awe-inspiring as I have so far made it out to be.

Of course this is all leaving aside the one factor that drives many people away from the game: its unbelievable difficulty. While I have spent many hours with both the Gamecube and Xbox Live Arcade versions of Ikaruga, I am not ashamed to say I've never passed the third stage. While of course there are savants who can beat the game on a single life or play a two player simultaneous game by themselves, even a lot of hardcore gamers will be humbled by Ikaruga's challenge. But that does not mean that it is not worth playing. The game's beauty can be appreciated over and over even by players who can't progress very far, and in my experience, frustration has never been a factor. As I said at the beginning, some games are about more than winning and losing, and Ikaruga is one of them.

Ikaurga is a spiritual experience, and one that should not be missed by anyone.