Not necessarily done playing this entirely but I can't help but wanna write about it having seen the credits and unlocked all the levels for practicing.

Ikaruga is a fuckin ride of the senses man. Sleek and slick presentation that dumps ya right in, the kinda gameplay systems that encourage ya to REALLY dig into those mechanics and really learn how to space your ship, when to switch colors, how to maneuver around all of the chaos. I sucked total ass at this game (I switched to Free Play after I hit a few walls) but I still wanted to persevere and at bare minimum unlock the rest of the levels in order to practice!

Sitting here and writing this I'm really just thinking about flipping it back on and practicing each level until I can at least learn it and do alright at it, slowly easing away from Free Play in order to really more-so challenge myself.

I really love difficult games that have ways to just like learn them like this, letting you essentially slowly submerge yourself in the waters of this game and its mechanics. Especially in a game so beautiful, so lean, so to the point ya know? Each level prefaced by a quote of some kind, spurring ya further onwards to your ultimate goal of killing everything in sight.

What a way to start getting into SCHMUPs!

That music too oh my GOD dude fUCK.