Ikaruga Help

[SoulBlazer]

I would'nt normaly ask this here, but I know there are a lot of fans of the game here. I've checked the walkthroughs on GameFAQ's and tried the help there but it's not much.

I'm having BIG problems with the boss at the end of Stage 4. Basicaly, I can't find ANYWAY to cause damage to him. As if the stage itself is'nt enough of a problem -- still losing numerous ships -- nothing I try seems to help with the boss. All I can do is try to hide in a corner and lose less then 20 ships in 99 seconds. :o

And I thought the 'flaming wheel of death' boss at the end of Stage 3 was bad enough!

Help? :embarrassed:

[Perkar]

the 'shaft' things leading to the center of the boss open every now and then, and that's how you damage it. honestly, i've personally only destroyed the thing once... it's one tough MFer. but with enough practice, you can wait out the 99 second timer while losing a minimum of lives... i think the best i've done is 2 lives lost.

[JLukas]

Shoot at the doors to the core. After you shoot down the 3 layers of the door, you can actaully sit inside that middle part and blast away at the core.

[Perkar]

hmm, i didn't know you shoot the doors to open them... makes sense tho. wow... i'm retarded. that will probably help =)

[GaijinPunch]

He drove me nuts too. The bad part is that the only place he won't crush you is between the things that shoot beams (on the outer wall). I suck so bad at Ikaruga. The only way I beat the guy was when I had enough credits to rush up to the middle and shoot it that way. :)

[ManekiNeko]

Shoot at the doors to the core. After you shoot down the 3 layers of the door, you can actaully sit inside that middle part and blast away at the core.

As they used to say in Gradius, "SHOOT THE CORE!"

JR

[SoulBlazer]

Doors, huh? Don't recall seeing any doors -- of course, it's hard to look since I spend so much time dodging those damn rotating 'arms' and all the fire of both colors..... :hmm:

Anyone got a pic or anything that they could throw up as a illustration? :D

Yeah, I love Gradius, have all the games, can't wait for V in two months....it's why I decided to buy this game. Of course, it's a lot more difficult.

[Sylentwulf]

I'm STILL stuck at boss 4, had the game for months now and it's the only game still out on my "playing" stack for more than 2 weeks. I didn't know about the core either, but with 3 or 4 continues with max lives on each continue, I've never been able to wait out the 99 seconds.

Maybe I'll try rushing the middle sometime, but I'm sure I'm so damn rusty now, that I'd never get in there :)

Best. Shooter. Ever.

[Sotenga]

The satellite core boss IS a real pain up the arse, I must admit. Its core cannot be damaged at all until you open all doors in one of the three passages leading to the core. Even then, it's still very difficult to do some decent damage on the core, so what I do is after opening all doors, I go kamikaze and just fly right into the core, blasting it while taking advantage of my window of opportunity. This is, by no means, the most practical strategy, but if you've still got several credits to spare, give it a try.

Of course, you COULD just wait 100 seconds until the boss goes away... but what type of shmupper are you if you let that happen on purpose?!? ;)

[FF6]

Damn, I can't wait to receive my copy of Ikaruga. I bought one for 19.99 on ebay. Great deal.
Im excited to hear how hard this game is since I love good shooters.
Still can't believe someone can beat this on 1 ship....but it's been done.

Oh, just saw some screen shots of Gradius V and it looks steller. It even looks better than R-type final. Which I think is out now?

By the way is Gradius the sequel to "life force"??? the nes game?

[Sotenga]

By the way is Gradius the sequel to "life force"??? the nes game?

No, Gradius came before LF. However, if you were to ask if LF is the sequel to Gradius... yes and no. There is a Gradius II, but stupidly enough, it NEVER came out to America! A blatant crime, as it's one of the best Gradius games, let alone one of the greatest shmups ever! Damn Konami of America and their supposed anti-Gradius policy! :angry:

Whoops, off-track there. Heh... anyway, on the NES and in America, yes, Life Force would be the sequel to Gradius. LF is actually an upgraded version of the arcade game Salamander, which I consider to be a Gradius game. Salamander can also be referred to as a "Gradius side story." But that's it's Japanese title, it's only known as Life Force over here in America, regardless of the system it's on...

x_x

If that didn't confuse you at all, please accept this medal made out of tin as a reward. :D

If I did a poor job explaning the whole Gradius/Salamander/Life Force chronology up there, just follow this link:

http://www.classicgaming.com/gradius/games.html

You should be able to find more info on almost every Gradius game there. Enjoy! :)

[SoulBlazer]

Actually, Gradius II DID get released in the States -- just not for the NES. It was bundled with Gradius as a port for the IBM PC.

I had that as a youth after I discovered how much fun that Gradius was. Years later, when I got into emulation, I played Gradius II for the Famicon and discovered the PC port was pretty good.

And yeah, Konami considers Salamander (Life Force) as part of the series. There actually WAS a Gradius Gaiden game released in Japan -- that's another one that never got released in the States either.

I'll give Ikraruga another try later on. I'm not sure I've seen these 'doors' but it's very hard to look with so much crap going on the screen. :)

[JLukas]

Check this link:

http://www.gamershell.com/hellzone_Gamecube_Ikaruga.shtml

that last screenshot in the lower right Screenshot 11/39kb is a great pic of some core desctruction after opening the doors.

[bargora]

Ikaruga is very hard. I have not yet even arrived at the level 3 boss. More practice will be required (or else a resort to using continues).

On the side rail, Gradius and Gradius II are also available on the Gradius Deluxe Pack for the Japanese Saturn. The Salamander Deluxe Pack (also JP SS) has Salamander, Life Force, and Salamander II (I think--I'll have to dig it out again for another look). Life Force is a port of the arcade version, however, not the NES version.

[FF6]

Wow, so much info on LF and gradius and Salomandor (Which i never heard of). But its good to know.

Just purchased R-type Final last night. Has anyone played this? Very hard. I looks good and can't wait to pass. Theres also so many level add ons, and ships to unlock.