Ikaruga Two-Player Playthrough (GameCube - Progressive Scan Mode)

This is a capture of me and a friend playing through Ikaruga for the GameCube. We're playing the game in progressive scan mode using an actual GameCube (not the Wii). I'm player one and Drew is player two. We're playing on normal difficulty.

I picked up Ikaruga in 2003 shortly after hearing about it from a friend. I've always been a big fan of vertical-scrolling 2D shooters, so I didn't hesitate to buy this one. When I eventually played the game, I was instantly blown away by the insane polarity-switching mechanic, the crazy bosses and the sheer amount of bullets on screen. The game forced me to think and react in new ways, such as learning to filter out or ignore certain colors while dodging incoming shots. I believe this game was my first introduction to the bullet-hell genre.

I don't know if this is true with the other console versions of Ikaruga, but with the GameCube version, you can eventually unlock unlimited continues, which you’ll see here. This is quite helpful since Drew and I can't beat the game with a limited number of lives. Ikaruga is probably one of the hardest games I've ever played.

There are some really amazing Ikaruga videos out there, but this is just some footage of two normal gamers playing through the game the best they can. We hadn’t played this game in years, and this was our first and only recording attempt, so we didn’t do too impressive, but I mostly just wanted to show how the game runs on the GameCube. Enjoy.

Recorded with the Hauppauge HD PVR and the GameCube's component cables at 60 frames per second.