ikaruga

An option to allow no sharing of continues when playing co-op. You really have to find another great player to do well co-op

They should''ve added cinematic elements, like Radiant Silvergun, one of the rare cases of a shmup with a visible plot.

Might have something to do with Ikaruga having a very, very tight budget, while Radiant Silvergun was a relatively big budget production, using a renowed music composer, full animated intro/ending sequences, voice acting, etc.

Maybe if they had the budget to pay more people the levels could''ve been longer.

Good point, M3d10n. Hell, even Thunder Force V had more of a plot. But I never played the original Japanese version, that could have been tweaked in later by Working Designs. In Ikaruga, I never really felt like I cared in the least bit what was going on, other than mindless killing action.

I''ve found that games which feature unlockable elements or secrets to be discovered tend to make them more replayable. Rez is a good model to use for unlockable play.

Of course, once you unlock everything then the game needs to stand on its own via gameplay. I still whip out R-Type and play it on occasion, because I like the gameplay model so much.

Ikaruga fortunately has the combo system to keep drawing you back to it. You can beat the game without really being all that good at chaining, but you can''t get those nifty scores unless you learn how to do it.

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It needs a little sound when you eat the bullets.