XBL 'Deal of the Week' has Ikaruga at a flipping nice $5

by Alexander Sliwinski { Jul 13th 2009 at 10:00AM }

Xbox Live's "Deal of the Week" has been pretty solid lately as evidenced by its latest offering: Ikaruga for a paltry 400

($5)!

The polarity flipping shmup is considered to be the thinking man's entry into the "blast everything" genre. This is about as good as an arcade deal gets, and with the prices of this year's "Summer of Arcade," we'll take all the savings we're granted.

[Add Ikaruga to your download queue]

Gallery: Ikaruga (XBLA)

Tags: deal-of-the-week, ikaruga, treasure, xbla, xbox-live

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

dark_inchworm (on Steam!) dark inchworm (on XBL!) @ Jul 13th 2009 10:04AM

Oh hells yes.

dark_inchworm (on Steam!) dark inchworm (on XBL!) @ Jul 13th 2009 10:16AM

Also, fix your tags.
:)

samfish (uses the Joystiq Comment-Kill filter!) @ Jul 13th 2009 10:11AM

No excuse not to own this game after today, people! $5 bucks for one of the best games ever is a deal that only a fool would pass up!

Storm Eagle::The Blood Edge @ Jul 13th 2009 10:14AM

Amen to that. I have an imported copy of this on my DC and I downloaded it day 1 on XBLA. Download this now! It's a better deal than when Peggle was $1 on iPhone!

bongoes @ Jul 13th 2009 12:23PM

Is not having a 360 an excuse?

joeybeast @ Jul 13th 2009 10:12AM

not 560 points?

Shadow Hog @ Jul 13th 2009 10:36AM

560? $7? Why would it be $7?

Prox @ Jul 13th 2009 11:30AM

@Shadow Hog:
That's what we've been asking about almost every Deal of the Week this year (other than N+, of course).

carmaction @ Jul 13th 2009 10:16AM

Only $5 to relive the shame I felt when I bought this game on Gamecube?

I'm terrible at this game. Absolutely terrible.

booticon @ Jul 13th 2009 11:03AM

I think you're in the majority in this case. It's a great game, but boy do I suck at it.

Neuromancer @ Jul 13th 2009 11:20AM

I had it on the 'cube too.

Great looking game but balls hard. I don't think I got past the 2nd level.

dantebk @ Jul 13th 2009 12:15PM

I'm with you. I know it's a "great game," but I don't know if I want to pay $5 to be kicked in the balls repeatedly, even if the one doing the kicking is a brilliant artist. I already went through that with Trash Panic and almost through my PS3 off the balcony.

Tom @ Jul 13th 2009 10:30AM

i just played the trial i hated it its crap

baby sea tuna @ Jul 13th 2009 10:49AM

Then you're doing it wrong.

OnToGloryReturns @ Jul 13th 2009 10:52AM

You either lack skill or taste in games - or both. How sad.

Shaun @ Jul 13th 2009 10:33AM

$5 ??? :S We pay £4.50 for that. :(

Oh well, I'll still be picking it up.

Rhamsey @ Jul 13th 2009 10:34AM

i just saw this on major nelsons blog. im excited, but this game is so hard i doubt ill get anywhere in it.

phobic99 @ Jul 13th 2009 10:35AM

This game is way too damn hard for me. I suck I'll admit. I was pretty impress though after watching that video of the guy that played the arcade version as 2-player... BY HIMSELF.

Link: http://videobomb.com/posts/show/3236

Storm Eagle::The Blood Edge @ Jul 13th 2009 10:47AM

Yeah dude, i saw that a few months ago. Shit is carazy!

Hydrophobicfish @ Jul 13th 2009 10:58AM

While that video is amazingly impressive (I can't make it through that level without dying even on single player), if he didn't die at the end, it just would have made that video jaw-droppingly amazing.

As counter intuitive as it is, to think controlling two makes it easier, I have to wonder, though. He did definitely use one as a shield to block lasers/bullets a bit. He also used them as wrecking balls (which, I didn't know you could do that, as your ship black, you could collide with black enemies and kill them, and vice versa with white).

Regardless, that video is impressive, just imagine the sheer memorization he had to do for that. Bravo to him.

Storm Eagle::The Blood Edge @ Jul 13th 2009 11:09AM

You can't collide with enemies of the same polarity. You can merely absorb their bullets to increase your super-gauge. And shooting an enemy of the opposite polarity does more damage. So there's a trade off there. And yes, he did use one as a shield and there were even times when he would hide one of the ships off in a corner just to control the 1 ship solo. But there are several sections in that stage where he's steering both ships out of harm's way and it's just incredible.

Spartan @ Jul 13th 2009 11:26AM

As a gamer, that guy has my utmost respect and awe.

MLS @ Jul 13th 2009 10:35AM

I've hated shmups for a long time, but as of late I've been playing Retro Game Challenge, Rez HD, and bit.trip... I think I'm ready for this one.

OnToGloryReturns @ Jul 13th 2009 10:41AM

Love, Love, Love this game. Never got thru it w/out firing a shot though - THAT is really hard.

Anyone who doesn't like Ikaruga hates games. And is a bad person.

Hydrophobicfish @ Jul 13th 2009 10:50AM

If you hate yourself, pick up this game. Its punishing difficulty will break your spirit, and leave you a crying husk of a man (or woman) that you once were.

However, if you hate yourself, another option is to not pick up this game, as it is truly a masterpiece of a game.

So really, if you hate yourself, do whatever you want.

Storm Eagle::The Blood Edge @ Jul 13th 2009 10:55AM

It really is a challenge (unlike a lot of other games out there.) The concept and the concentration involved to master it is matches by a few. The one thing that stands out most for me about the game though, is the music. I just think the game has an epic soundtrack.

Snowblind @ Jul 13th 2009 11:07AM

Nice to see these deal of the weeks picking up, they seem to have learned offering something nobody cares about for slightly cheaper isn't going to achieve anything.

Ujn Hunter @ Jul 13th 2009 11:32AM

This is a deal! A steal! Thanks MS! Bought!

Access Granted @ Jul 13th 2009 11:52AM

Fuck Yeah! MS is finally doing it right! :) insta-buy.

Max Headroom @ Jul 13th 2009 12:14PM

This was the first game I bought on XBLA. The demo was great, but I feel I should mention that the full game is buggy. Often times, I cannot continue past the first level. I beat the boss at the end and then the game returns to the title screen instead of going to the second level. It is very frustrating to get a good run of chains and then lose it all to a glitch. I have come to believe this has something to do with my laggy internet connection. If you have a slow or laggy connection, I would expect trouble, even if you are not playing online with this game. I don't think they've fixed this, but it has been a long time since I've played, so I don't know for sure.

Otherwise, yeah, the game is incredible and totally insane at points.

Stevetrop @ Jul 13th 2009 12:23PM

Great deal for a great game. I'm a die hard shump fan and ikaruga can put it on you, But if you keep an open mind and practice at the game and remember where the to go when you see the stream of red and white blasts coming at you, you can have fun with the game.

Metal Gear!? @ Jul 13th 2009 12:55PM

Unfortunately, I'm one of those people that really dislikes Ikaruga. I really like shmups too. Bought N+ dotw only because of the 4-player co-op and some of my friends buying it, but will not bother with this.

Bowser Rogozhin: Death of a Ladies Man @ Jul 13th 2009 1:20PM

The Xbox virtual marketplace is something I really can't knock. It really is glorious. It's not because of this game in particular, but, rather, it's one of the few venues where true shoot em ups are allowed to thrive. Disc releases are no longer viable, considering the crowded shelves, the Wii/PSN interfaces are a joke, and the PC, with its abundance of shovelware, is a non-starter. With games like this, Triggerheart, that R-Type remake, the genre is in a better state of health, better than a few years ago, at least.

I'm rambling. I like Xbox virtual marketplace. I like Ikaruga. That is all.

bemaggg @ Jul 13th 2009 1:54PM

I highly recommend you pick up a Dreamcast seeing as both Trigger Heart and Ikaruga are on that platform. Not to mention many others like bangai-o, rez, gigawing, shikigami no shiro , gunbird, border down, psyvariar, under defeat, lost hope, radilgy, dux (release a few weeks ago i believe) and more!