Ikaruga

A few weeks ago, some of the XBLA Era staff of XBLA Fans took to Skype to debate the merits of the Backwards Compatible XBLA Games. We wanted a pound …
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On booting up Steredenn, I was immediately reminded of R-Type, which is definitely not a bad thing. This is a classic, two-dimensional scrolling shooter set in space and featuring a single ship …
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The next bundle to land on Xbox Live Arcade launches today. Dubbed the Space Shooter Bundle, the package sends four titles into a modest orbit around 1600 MSP, saving you …
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Only one XBLA release this Wednesday. Guilty Gear XX Accent Core Plus, the 2D fighter from Arc System Works, is available from today for 1200 MSP. Players can choose …
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More Sales and Specials for all you schmup lovers.
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Radiant Silvergun was developed by Treasure. It was released September 14, 2011 and retails for 1200 MSP. A copy of the game was provided for review purposes.

Way back in 1998 a little game called Radiant Silvergun was released in Japanese arcades. Shortly thereafter it was ported to the Sega Saturn, but again only in Japan. But a funny thing happened that really doesn’t happen all that often. Somehow through word of mouth and game magazine hype this little game developed a following in the rest of the world. People started importing the game so they could play it. The only problem was that RSG was a limited release even by Japanese standards. Prices skyrocketed. Even today a copy for the Saturn could fetch between $150 – $200. Out of the reach of most gamers, this game continued to have great word of mouth for the last decade. It was, in truth, one of the most popular games that no one had ever played. But that is all behind us now. Finally the rest of the world gets to see what Radiant Silvergun is all about.

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Triggerheart Exelica was developed by Warashi and retails for 800 MSP. It was released on February 27, 2008.

Shoot em’ up (shmup) fans are an interesting crew. Most of them are not interested in fresh gameplay mechanics but simply the hunt for a high score and notoriously difficult challenges. Triggerheart Exelica attempts to throw a new concept into the genre—a hook mechanic—but the draw for hardcore fans will continue to be an immeasurable difficulty level that has them perfecting their skills and memorizing bullet patterns. If Triggerheart Exelica were to be judged by its challenge level, it would exceed expectations, but upon extraction it simply lacks the bells and whistles of better titles in the genre.

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Develop is a game design website that focuses on developers in the gaming industry and with their Develop 100, they rank the top 100 game developers in the industry …
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With E3 just around the corner and rumors of a new Xbox peeking out from under the bed, questions are popping up on whether or not the inevitable new generation of Xbox consoles will include backwards compatibility with the 360’s hundreds of Xbox Live Arcade titles. Will it happen, and does it have to happen for players to take the new system seriously?

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Ikaruga is a vertical shooter developed by Treasure and released on Xbox Live Arcade April 9, 2008. The game is a port of the arcade original that was released 2001. It also received a Japan-only port to the Dreamcast and a much later port to the GameCube in the US. With so many versions, why should we be concerned about yet another one? The answer is simple – this is the definitive version of the game.

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