Import Paradise: Ikaruga (Dreamcast)

Posted by Tom in Frontpage, Gaming, Retro | 0 comments

I know, I know. You’re wondering why the hell you’d want to import a Dreamcast game when you can already play it on the Nintendo Gamecube. Truth be told, nothing I say can probably convince you to import this, but that’s not what this series is for. This series is to tell you if you CAN play it after you spend about $100 like a chump on an import copy (Alcohol + Anime Con = -$800).

So, pretending I’m a lot more sensible person than I actually am, let us talk about Ikaruga. First of all, this is probably the most beautiful shooter I’ve ever had the pleasure of playing. If you are one of those people yelling from the high heavens that games are art, you owe it to yourself to play Ikaruga. I will not throw out a bunch of analysis about the game’s mechanics, but you’ll appreciate that you can analyze it.

As far as importing this game is concerned, if you want to play it, you can. Every menu is in English, as well as most of the onscreen information. There is literally NOTHING preventing you from fully enjoying the shooter part of this game. The story, you may need to get the Gamecube version if you want to figure that out.

So why should you play it on the Dreamcast? The D-pad on the Dreamcast controller is PERFECT for Ikaruga. The pad’s design allows you to fly through complicated bullet patterns like butter. In fact, I would go as far as to say if you want to play a great shooter, you’re going to want to play it on the Dreamcast.