Ikaruga is a vertical shmup published and developed by Treasure. It was first released on arcade and Dreamcast, then on a series of other platforms (GameCube, XBLA, Android, Steam). Its gameplay and scoring system uses a polarity mechanic. The present TAS uses the GameCube version as it features the most accurate emulated console. The goal is to get the highest score possible.

Game objectives

  • 2 players
  • Hard difficulty
  • Aims for maximum score
  • Emulator: Dolphin 4.0-4091

Gameplay

Ikaruga's gameplay centers primarily around the polarity mechanic. Only bullets of an opposite polarity can kill the player. Same-color bullets are absorbed and converted into energy for the game's special weapon, a homing laser. Switching the ship's polarity also changes the color of the ship's bullets, and shooting an enemy using opposite-polarity bullets will cause double damage. Killing an enemy using same-polarity bullets triggers suicide bullets toward the player.

Difficulty differences

In hard mode, killing an enemy using opposite-polarity bullets also triggers suicide bullets, but in half quantity. Moreover, some enemies fire bullets only in hard mode, and bosses have tougher bullet patterns. Overall, hard mode features more bullets, so eventually a higher score.

Scoring system

Chains

Ikaruga scoring system relies mainly on its chain system. A chain is completed when three enemies of the same color are shot in a row. The first chain gives the player 100 points, and each subsequent chain gives double points (200, 400, etc.) until the 9th chain (called max chain) which gives 25600 points. After that, each following chain gives 25600 points. If a chain is broken, the chain value starts at 100 points again. The chain status restarts at the beginning of each stage.
On a 2 players mode, each player has its own chain status. Because of this incremental chain value, it is theoretically better to give all chains to one player. For exemple, 20 chains on 1 player is 100+200+...+12800+25600*12=332700 points, but giving 10 chains to player 1 and 10 chains to player 2 yields 2*(100+200+...+12800+25600*2)=153400 points. However, in most chapters, having 2 players allows to get more chains that is possible with one player, so that both players must kill a minimum number of enemies anyway. Only in chapter 5, player 2 gets all possible chains without lowering the total number of chains.

Bullets

Players can absorb bullets of the same color, and it yields 100 points for almost every type of bullet. Exceptions are the big spheres in the beginning of chapter 4 (500 points), electrical-type bullets in the chapter 4 mid-boss and end of chapter 5 (300 points) and homing lasers of the chapter 5 boss (1000 points). Also, lasers on chapter 3 gives 100 points per frame, making a very good source of points.

Damage

Points are granted for firing enemies, and the amount is directly linked to the quantity of health removed. So whatever the way you killed the enemy, you will get the same amount of points. As (almost) every enemy is killed in the present TAS, this scoring part is rarely important. This is used during boss fights mainly, as for example the two pods on chapter 1 boss are vulnerable a few seconds before the main target, so they can be scored.

Bosses

Points are given at the end of a boss. Each player is given 10,000 times the number of seconds remaining. For chapters with mid-bosses, the number of seconds remaining of each mid-boss/boss are summed up. Because only the integer part of the second is considered, the last second of the fight can be leeched by waiting the last frame of the second before killing the boss. Except for the chapter 5 boss, it gives a higher score to kill the boss as fast as possible.

Extends

Each player receives an extend after 3,000,000 points, then every 5,000,000 points. At the end of the game, 500,000 points are given for every extend remaining for each player.

Comparison

Here is a comparison against the best known 2 players unassisted scores. All the best scores are on the normal difficulty as it is the most popular one. Being on hard difficulty instead of normal only makes a significant difference in chapter 5, during the leeching of the boss. Also, XBLA scores were not incorporated because a few differences in the level design in this version allow higher scores (in chapter 2 and 3 at least). As a side note, scores done by VTF-INO are actually double play (one person controlling the two ships)!
ChapterTAS scoreBest known unassisted scorePlayersLink
Chapter 15,398,660 (144 chains)5,116,860 (138 chains)CVM & luchttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i2EoYVCijO0
Chapter 28,132,820 (230 chains)7,361,540 (220 chains)VTF-INOhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Pkhuk-amL4
Chapter 310,469,400 (305 chains)9,284,120 (287 chains)VTF-INOhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lbfPBI3QPw0
Chapter 410,172,780 (243 chains)9,325,360 (239 chains)CVM & luchttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fN8vwjej1wE
Chapter 58,879,740 (131 chains)7,427,280 (117 chains)CVM & luchttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoYYFMdohYY
All50,230,20042,580,370VTF-INOhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XUDd2ZdRlOE

Nach: Extremely impressive run, doing the impossible. Despite being hard to always follow the action (at least for me), the two players shielding each other was a pleasure to behold. Very nice precision showing off what TASing is all about. This run can be improved slightly by skipping the Battle Reports, but in any case, the in-game play was terrific, and the feedback was fantastic. Accepting to stars.
RGamma: Publishing...

Joined: 2/27/2011
Posts: 69
Location: Calgary, Alberta
Thanks for the comparison links. I reviewed chapter one of each and did have a better appreciation for the TAS because of it. I also had a better appreciation for how insane human players are at this game too :P I'll check out the other videos you posted too :)
Player (227)
Joined: 4/25/2012
Posts: 73
Absolutely beautiful. I loved the careful management of homing lasers in chapter 4, so as to chain the enemies behind you outside of the central chamber without having to ever stop eating that delicious bullet spam. Gorgeous!
Editor, Skilled player (1936)
Joined: 6/15/2005
Posts: 3239
I also liked it a lot even though I have never played it before. Adding another yes vote. By the way, the TAS makes almost timing out the final boss look much easier than it actually is. This is how hard it is in real-time. Actually, that was on the Dreamcast version which had slowdown because of so many bullets; this version doesn't have any! I also wonder how much bitrate is required to encode this just to make it look passable. Probably over 2000kbps.
Joined: 2/27/2011
Posts: 69
Location: Calgary, Alberta
FractalFusion wrote:
By the way, the TAS makes almost timing out the final boss look much easier than it actually is. This is how hard it is in real-time. Actually, that was on the Dreamcast version which had slowdown because of so many bullets; this version doesn't have any!
Well maybe my reluctant support behind this TAS is just me being bitter about the game being beaten in an optimal way when it is very hard and takes hours to get good enough to beat levels :P I don't get mad at Mario TASes in the same way (or any way :P) so I don't know what that's about. I might have played the game on DC once or twice, but every other play was on GC anyway so I never knew about the slowdown which is interesting. I suppose having this run where death is eliminated as an obstacle allows the concept of the high score goal to become within reach and where a maximum is possible. Which is an interesting thought looking at it that way :)
Joe
Joined: 6/10/2006
Posts: 152
Location: Wisconsin
Sir VG wrote:
Voting yes and hoping that the XBLA or PC versions will be emulated someday to replace the GC version, because I'm always sad that the story was removed from the GC version.
Aww, really? All the contemporary reviews at the time dodged that omission in praising the game on GC. I owned this game since it came out and never knew!
N._Harmonik
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Joined: 8/27/2006
Posts: 502
Location: Canada
I wonder what other games a "maximum score" or "highest score possible" run can be done on...
Why, oh, why do I even <i>try</i> to understand my own species?
Joined: 7/23/2012
Posts: 5
N. Harmonik wrote:
I wonder what other games a "maximum score" or "highest score possible" run can be done on...
You mean, interestingly, for submission and acceptance? Every arcade game and many others give you a score, and many are in a format in which fastest completion time is not interesting and/or the majority of action takes the same duration no matter what you do. For most shmups, it seems like maximum score would be the most natural TAS objective. The real question is what makes a good shmup to TAS. Dodging bullets is a given and is not much interesting. It's probably going to be something where (1) actions are usually not wasted because there is something else to be done that will increase points, (2) TAS execution doesn't look like how a human player with the same strategy and goal would play, (3) big movements are favored over small ones. TAS precision for grazing bullets all day long just wouldn't look all that interesting, in my opinion. The more targets to kill, and with higher precision (bonus if with hard-to-control weapons) for higher score, the better. What really works in this run is all of the moving around to eat bullets combined with the restriction of killing all the enemies on time without breaking the chains. There are only two weapons, but the homing lasers make for some good tension with maintaining the chains.
AntyMew
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Joined: 10/22/2014
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cwizkim wrote:
(1) actions are usually not wasted because there is something else to be done that will increase points, (2) TAS execution doesn't look like how a human player with the same strategy and goal would play, (3) big movements are favored over small ones. TAS precision for grazing bullets all day long just wouldn't look all that interesting, in my opinion. The more targets to kill, and with higher precision (bonus if with hard-to-control weapons) for higher score, the better.
So basically Star Fox 64? We really need a run of that game, don't we
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Patashu
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Joined: 10/2/2005
Posts: 4000
N. Harmonik wrote:
I wonder what other games a "maximum score" or "highest score possible" run can be done on...
A maximum score TAS would be interesting on almost every arcade shmup. Battle Garegga, Dodonpachi DaiOuJou, the list goes on, anything with a scoring system beyond 'you get points when things die'. The problem with making such a TAS is having the huge amount of knowledge (and patience) needed to know how to squeeze out points, all the intricacies and exploits of the scoring system and so on. (Also the fact that a lot of these games can't be TASed properly until a new version of FBA-rr or MAME-rr is released that works well...)
My Chiptune music, made in Famitracker: http://soundcloud.com/patashu My twitch. I stream mostly shmups & rhythm games http://twitch.tv/patashu My youtube, again shmups and rhythm games and misc stuff: http://youtube.com/user/patashu
Joined: 2/3/2013
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Location: Germany
Any favourite moments/screenshot suggestions (else I get to pick)?
All syllogisms have three parts, therefore this is not a syllogism.
Patashu
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Posts: 4000
RGamma wrote:
Any favourite moments/screenshot suggestions (else I get to pick)?
The chapter 4 section with the circular battlestation that spins black and white streams of shots alternatingly is the iconic part of Ikaruga for me, so something from that would be my suggestion.
My Chiptune music, made in Famitracker: http://soundcloud.com/patashu My twitch. I stream mostly shmups & rhythm games http://twitch.tv/patashu My youtube, again shmups and rhythm games and misc stuff: http://youtube.com/user/patashu
Post subject: Movie published
TASVideoAgent
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This movie has been published. The posts before this message apply to the submission, and posts after this message apply to the published movie. ---- [2836] GC Ikaruga "2 players, maximum score" by keylie in 21:29.40
ars4326
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Joined: 12/8/2012
Posts: 706
Location: Missouri, USA
It looks like this publication is missing its Star-tier label on the front page. Amazing run :)
"But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." - 1 Corinthians 2:9
Spikestuff
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Editor, Expert player, Publisher (2254)
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Things publishers can't do. Set a run to Star Tier. Can we get this, it's like needed.
WebNations/Sabih wrote:
+fsvgm777 never censoring anything.
Disables Comments and Ratings for the YouTube account. These colours are pretty neato, and also these.
Post subject: what does this field even do
Joined: 12/16/2005
Posts: 69
Thank you so much for making this.
Joined: 5/5/2015
Posts: 1
Is it feasible to edit the TAS to enable tate mode before gameplay starts, or is it a guaranteed desync?
Joined: 2/27/2011
Posts: 69
Location: Calgary, Alberta
I would say that the Movie text is inaccurate:
As the goal is to get the highest score possible, no shots can be missed (building up a chain bonus) and as little enemies as possible may leave the screen unscathed.
Missing shots are ok, but it's that you have to destroy three ships of the same colour in a row to build the chain bonus. Suggested alt text: As the goal is to get the highest score possible, the chain bonus for destroying three same coloured enemies in a row is maximized - even allowing for a bonus at the the end of the game for remaining continues. Bosses are also taken down as quickly as possible for a large bonus. Writing prolly sucks, but whatever :P You can drop the u in coloured if you want too :P[/b]
Post subject: Speed Game feature
fsvgm777
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Link to video (note: Kilaye = keylie)
Steam Community page - Cohost profile Oh, I'm just a concerned observer.
Joined: 9/6/2005
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My friend who doesn't really understand TAS (I tried explaining, but he's kind of thick...) wondered how long this TAS took to make.
The Dj Opposite Website - My Main music site | Dj Opposite on Newgrounds - My music, mostly Game Remakes.
Dimon12321
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Check the publication text, please! "official superplay DVD" link is dead.
TASing is like making a film: only the best takes are shown in the final movie.