It was announced by Nicalis that they will be releasing Treasure’s Ikaruga for the Nintendo Switch on May 29! The game originally released in Japanese arcades in 2001 and was released on the Sega Dreamcast in 2002. The game received a port to the Nintendo Gamecube in 2003 and an Xbox Live Arcade release for the Xbox 360 in 2008. The game would wait until 2014 to make its way to the PC platform via Steam, marking the last known release of the title in the U.S.
Ikaruga is a “bullet hell” style game where players take control of a ship which black and white polarity shields. You can absorb bullets of the same color as your shield and need to use this strategically to defeat enemies and bosses through the game’s challenging levels. The game’s enemies will also take double damage if they are the color opposite of your shield.
Ikaruga’s story is described as follows:
Several years prior, one of the most powerful men in the small island nation of Horai, Tenro Horai, discovered an incredible magical power deep within the ground that gave him god-like strength, the Ubusunagami Okinokai. Tenro and his followers used this power to conquer other nations. A rebel federation called Tenkaku emerged to challenge the Horai. They fought to free the world of Horai’s conquests, but lost battle after battle. Eventually, they were almost completely wiped out, except one young man survived named Shinra. Shinra set off to battle Horai again, but he was shot down and crashed in a remote village called Ikaruga. The village was inhabited by people exiled due to the Horai expansion.The village inhabitants saved Shinra from the plane wreckage and nursed him back to health. After healing, Shinra stated that he was still determined to continue the battle against Horai. The villagers entrusted him with a fighter plane they had built themselves called the Ikaruga. The ship was specially designed and hidden away in a secret underground location beneath the village. It was the first ship built to utilize and switch between two energy polarities, black and white.
A reveal trailer was released and can be seen below.
