Forgive a noob question but how do you play this game?

[SenMithrarin85]

I mean the *right * way to play it. Do you match colours to enemies or hit them with opposite? I ask because my scores always suck. Best I've managed is a C++ in chapter 1. Thanks in advance.

[Aletheia]

Hit them with the opposite colour and you will do double damage.
You have to kill Three enemies from the same colour to do One chain (so 3,3,3,3,3 etc for max points).
When you are in the same color as one enemy, the enemy can't hit you and you absorb his bullets. With that, you can charge and release your powered shot (there is a bar on the screen to tell you how many charges you have)

The game is hard. I'm new to Ikaruga but I'm used to Bullet game, danmaku.
But I need to practice how the patterns are, in order to make points (if you hit 2 whites and one black, you'll break your chain combo, so be careful with that.)

You can learn the game by putting credits (disabling highscore so you won't be in the leaderboards). Do not focus on scoring if you don't know the game yet.

[Faolchu]

There's only one right way to play this game and that's this way;

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ZEGyrEnXrk

[HEL(L)ICOPRION]

Originally posted by Yaksha:

There's only one right way to play this game and that's this way;

no please, tell me that is NOT a single person playing coop at the same time

[Pirx90]

You can also download replays of other players to see how a "S++" run looks like.

[AwesamLinux]

Watching a skilled replay is indeed a good way to learn some tricks and see how it is done. This is one of the shmups I truly suck at, need to practise a lot :)

[McNum]

The problem for a newbie wathcing an S++ run is that the people who can do that are such much further ahead in skill that it's nearly imossible to learn anything immediately useful from it.

When the problem is "How do I stop dying all the time?" being shown, without comments how to get an S++ rank doesn't actually answer the question. What I'd like to know is just how not to die. I'll worry about ranks when I can clear the game without having to resort to unlimited continues.

[kupocake]

I don't know. I got plenty from watching pro players - you learn all about position on screen, pre-emptive strikes that prevent shots being fired and boss patterns. Best of all, they give you something to aspire to, while keeping your expectations measured.

Sure, I've never been incredible at the game, but I wouldn't say I'm *utterly* terrible either.

[WakiMiko]

Originally posted by 8037:

Just don't commit too much and save bombs as a panic button..

Ikaruga doesn't have bombs. It only has the energy release and that doesn't clear the screen of bullets. On the contrary, it might actually produce more bullets, depending on the difficulty.

[Be Preying]

learn where your hit box is, which is precicely the middle vertical line of your ship ONLY. Makes dodging a lot easier when you aren't wildly panicing about your wings brushing against bullets.

If it all gets too manic, the easiest thing to do is stop shooting and focus on the incoming patterns for a moment.

[Yeet Kune Do]

Originally posted by Lews Therin Telamon:

Originally posted by 8037:

Just don't commit too much and save bombs as a panic button..

Ikaruga doesn't have bombs. It only has the energy release and that doesn't clear the screen of bullets. On the contrary, it might actually produce more bullets, depending on the difficulty.

Which can become a saving grace in and of itself, since those bullets will power the homing laser, provided you are absorbing them when you use the polarity shift appropriately.

Also, the chain system is the key to scores in this game, and only those who know how to survive the game in the first place have any business going for score runs.

[Faolchu]

Originally posted by BlackMambo:

Originally posted by Yaksha:

There's only one right way to play this game and that's this way;

no please, tell me that is NOT a single person playing coop at the same time

It is :) he has several videos. But hey it's Japan, they even have a person who can play Tetris 'blind'. As in not knowing where the blocks will fall and calculating everything in head before the blocks appear.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8kqKOlcaZuI

[Mugi]

VTF-INO is insane. It always fills me with awe watching his RSG Sword-only play and Ikaruga Double-Play.

But yeah, one of the main polarizing things about this game is that, as Yaksha put it, there is only one way to play the game (for score at least).