To address this confounding issue, two top minds from Internet blogging sites have agreed to debate the finer points of the conundrum, like Virgin Online Casino, and what better time than to do it on the 19^th anniversary of the Dreamcast’s release in the US? Supporting one side is avid Dreamcast collector and SEGA Nerds editor and chief Chris Powell, while the other side will be represented by gaming industry cynic and The Splintering lead writer Blake Worrell.*

Blake: First, I would like to say thank you to Chris for debating this critical topic with me today. I would like to say thank you, but his position is just so ridiculous that I just can’t do it. Chris, how can you still – with good conscience – recommend collecting for the SEGA Dreamcast? Shenmue is now available on PC and the HD consoles, as is virtually every other first-party SEGA Dreamcast title? You seem like a nice guy, but I can’t help but doubt your basic intelligence if you think the original Dreamcast is still worth keeping around. Were you dropped on your head as a kid, or what?

Chris: Before we begin, I want to thank you, Blake, for inviting to this friendly debate. To answer your question, yes … yes, I was dropped on my head several times as a child, but perhaps that’s one of the reasons I’m such a Dreamcast fanatic!

The release of Shenmue I and II HD (I know that’s not it’s official title, but c’mon!) is every SEGA Nerd’s wet dream, and despite its bugs, it’s amazing that we can finally play this masterpiece on the latest consoles. However, as great a game Shenmue is and as any Dreamcast owner will tell you, there’s much, much more that the Dreamcast has to offer than just Shenmue. In fact, there are nearly 250 commercially released Dreamcast games, many of which have never been ported elsewhere.

On the topic of collecting for the Dreamcast, most of the library is still very reasonably priced, especially compared to the likes of collecting for Nintendo consoles. Sure, there are those rare games, like Giga Wing 2 or Canon Spike, that will cost you upwards of $100, but the majority of Dreamcast games can be had for $20 or less.

Plus, thanks to the amazing work of the Dreamcast Online community, many Dreamcast games’ online connectivity features have been restored. That means, you can go back and play classics like Phantasy Star Online, Quake III Arena and Starlancer against people all over the world … just like they were meant to be.

I would argue, my pea-brained friend, that there’s never been a better time to start collecting for the Dreamcast than right now!

Blake: Playing old-ass online games is one of the Dreamcast’s best current selling points? Damn, that’s some niche-ass shit, Chris. It sounds to me like a labor of love just to get the online service up and running, much less to coordinate playing with other Dreamcast owners. Besides, the only reason PSO is even relevant at all is because SEGA refuses to release PSO2 here in the West.

You also noted two expensive-ass games and just glossed over the fact that the bulk of those cheaper games, the remaining 250, are largely available elsewhere, often in an even better form. Not only that, 250 isn’t even a very big number, and a crap-ton of those are sports titles. For comparison, that’s still less games than were on the N64 had 294 games released for it, and that is considered to be a paltry library.

If a friend of yours asked you “What is a good console to collect for?” I have a really hard time believing that you would look a friend in the eye and recommend the Dreamcast… not with a clear conscience, anyway.

Chris: The fact that the Dreamcast only has roughly a 250-game library is exactly one of the reasons why it’s attractive to collect for, my old friend. While other systems like the PlayStation 2 or Super Nintendo have a vastly larger library, I’d argue that they also have a lot more shitty games than what the Dreamcast has to offer.

There is so much quality to be had on SEGA’s 128-bit system that you can go down the list of each genre and find superb games that are immensely fun and reasonably priced. While it’s true the Dreamcast has its fair share of sports games, many of those games, especially the SEGA published ones, are exceptional offerings. Outside of the sports games, there is perhaps no other console that has such faithful arcade ports as the Dreamcast. Take, for instance, games like Marvel vs. Capcom, Crazy Taxi, Ikaruga and Soul Calibur.

My point about the online games, which you failed to comprehend apparently, is that if you purchase them today, you can still enjoy them as they were meant to be when they were originally released.

Moreover, if gamers dip their toes into collecting for the Dreamcast, they’ll also have the option of buying the dozens and dozens of new indie games released each year for the system. These past few years have been some of the busiest in the indie Dreamcast scene since SEGA stopped officially supporting the system with some excellent releases.

One other thing I’d like to add that helps my cause is that North American Dreamcast games were shipped in standard CD cases, unlike other systems of the time and those that came before it, like the Nintendo 64, which had cardboard boxes. These old boxes are nightmares for collectors because they’re so flimsy and many gamers threw them away. With the Dreamcast, if you have a broken front cover, you can just swap it out with one of your grandmother’s copies of Kenny Loggins’ Greatest Hits and be set!

C’mon, man, I don’t see how you can say the Dreamcast isn’t highly collectible for today’s gamer!

Blake: How dare you bring my Grandmother into this, sir! You know she just died in August!

Besides, the fact that Dreamcast games came packaged in the cheapest, most generic packaging ever isn’t a selling point to me. I think hardcore collectors prefer more unique cases, such as those of SEGA’s earlier consoles. Finding a copy of Splatterhouse 2 on SEGA Genesis with an original case branded with the Namco logo on the inside makes the art of the retro game hunt that much more fun, as opposed to Frankensteining random cases together from your local Goodwill.

You seem convinced that the Dreamcast’s smaller library as though it’s a positive thing, but that is only true in that it would be easier for a completionist to get a complete set of games. That’s a somewhat niche type of collector. The rest of us are still here to play the very best games of yesteryear.

Speaking of the best games, you even made my own point when you specifically listed Marvel vs. Capcom, Crazy Taxi, Ikaruga and Soulcalibur as reasons to buy a Dreamcast. The latter three of those four games are readily available on modern HD consoles. In fact, with an Xbox 360 alone, you can play Crazy Taxi, Soulcalibur, Jet Set Radio, Sonic Adventure 1 and 2, Resident Evil Code Veronica, Ikaruga, SEGA Bass Fishing, Bangai-O, Rez, Garou: Mark of the Wolves, Marvel vs. Capcom 2, Hydro Thunder… Jesus, I could probably keep going, and that’s just one of the modern consoles. Wrap in Steam and both Nintendo and PlayStation console libraries since the Dreamcast went belly-up, and you can’t even claim exclusives for Grandia 2, Skies of Arcadia, The House of the Dead 2, Headhunter, Ecco Defender of the Future, 18 Wheeler, Silent Scope, Dead or Alive 2, and now, Shenmue I and II HD.

I suppose the Dreamcast still has a healthy independent scene built around it, though several of the more successful indie titles also find their way onto mainstream platforms eventually (i.e. Volgarr the Viking and Pier Solar). I guess the Dreamcast is still the only place to find Blue Stinger, but I’m not about suggest to someone looking to get into console collecting that they get a Dreamcast for the likes of that particular game.

SEGA’s little white box had a great run, with a great library of games, but even for those collectors who stick to strictly legal means of playing retro games, the Dreamcast is painfully redundant.

Chris: I’m sure Grandma wouldn’t mind me bringing her or her love of Mr. Loggins into this discussion!

You keep bringing up the fact that because of some of the Dreamcast’s games have been ported to newer platforms somehow makes the system less desirable to collect for, and that’s just silly. Most mainstream consoles of yesteryear have their games ported to other systems, and they have very little impact on the value of the original games.

Besides if you’re a true collector, you have a deeper appreciation of the console you’re collecting for, and it doesn’t matter if those games are later ported to other consoles. Going with your line of thinking, the Super Nintendo somehow became less desirable to collect for when Secret of Mana was released on current-gen systems earlier this year. I reckon Super Nintendo collectors didn’t care all that much.

In the end, I think we can both agree that the Dreamcast was an amazing system that saw its life end far too early. It would have been awesome to see the impact it would have had if SEGA didn’t discontinue it after only a couple years. I’m sure its library would have been far bigger and better than it is now.

Today, we celebrate another birthday of our dear Dreamcast, and whether or not gamers decide they want to go for a complete collection or just buy a few choice games to enjoy the system, I think it’s certainly worth their time and money.

How about we fire up an online game of Ooga Booga so I can kick your butt!

There you have it! What say you, devout readers? One of these two is an unabashed moron, but which one is it? Let us know your comments below, and be sure to visit The Splintering for a girthy helping of gaming and comic-related goodness!

*It’s fair to say that one of these fine fellows is taking a “Devil’s advocacy” approach to the debate!

Following a surprise outing on the Gamecube, it’s also been made available on Steam, Xbox 360 and even Android, although the latter isn’t compatible with newer versions of the mobile OS and is no longer available on Google Play.

Even Though The Ideal Is High, I Never Give In

For the benefit of the uninitiated, Ikaruga is a shooter in the classic Treasure tradition, albeit with an ingenious twist. Your ship can alternate between black and white polarities, and enemies likewise come in one of two monochrome flavours.

You’re impervious to attacks from enemies of the same colour,  absorbing their bullets to fill your special gauge, but do bonus damage to those of the opposite colour. While a very basic risk/reward trade-off at its core, this easy-to-learn-difficult-to-master mechanics gels brilliantly with Ikaruga’s expertly honed fundamentals, resulting in a truly remarkable SHMUP that is as great today as it ever was.

From a technical point of view, this Switch port is based on the more recent PC, Xbox 360 and Android reissues, sporting a ton of customisation options. It trucks along at an all but constant 60fps in both docked and undocked modes, with nary a jagged edge in sight. Models and effects hold up well, even if backgrounds are somewhat sparsely detailed.

With what appears to be a full 1080p resolution when docked and the Switch screen’s native 720p undocked, it’s a massive step up from the Dreamcast original, which tops out at just 480p in VGA mode, but very much in line with the aforementioned more modern PC, Xbox 360 and Android ports.

Ikaruga works brilliantly as a portable game. As we’ve seen with other Switch SHMUP updates (see our review of Zero Gunner 2- in Mega Visions issue 6), the myriad difficulty and gameplay options on offer here go hand in glove with the Switch’s casual, pick up and play premise.

You can approach the game however you want, and engage in anything from a hardcore single credit score attack to a brief, laid back firework show, where enemies don’t even fire back and continues are unlimited. You can even give one of the Joy-Cons to a friend and play cooperatively in both docked and undocked modes.

I Never Die With Regrets

Perhaps the most appealing addition here for genre devotees is Tate mode. In short, it’s possible to play the game with your Switch placed vertically, mimicking the screen orientation of the original arcade cabinet and doing away most of the otherwise necessary onscreen borders. Which is a good thing too, because they do take up a lot of screen real estate.

But would it were that simple. While hardly the fault of Ikaruga, Treasure or Nicalis (this version’s publisher), the Switch is actually quite impractical to use longways, because the kickstand doesn’t work that way.

Indeed, you have little choice but to perch the console on your knee, and you can’t even attach one of the Joy-Cons to the bottom, as the console just keeps prompting you to attach a second. That is, unless you use some kind of third party solution: we found an old iPad stand just the ticket for keeping the Switch safely held at a favourable angle, while using the Pro Controller for input.

Elsewhere there’s also a pretty cool gallery of artwork and renders, plus the ability to browse and listen to the game’s soundtrack at your leisure. You can even upload your high scores to an online leader board – assuming you don’t touch the difficulty setting, of course – or choose to tackle the main game with Geikei, the ship originally reserved for player 2.

While these features themselves aren’t new, they still round out the overall package nicely, and ensure that Ikaruga for Switch really is the definitive experience, whether on the go or at home sat in front of your TV.

SUMMARY

There’s a ton more SHMUPS slated for release on Switch in the coming months, and our hope is that Ikaruga and the aforementioned Zero Gunner 2- will be the first of many Dreamcast ports. A Psyvariar redux is already confirmed, so here’s hoping Psyvariar 2: The Will To Fabricate, which came to Dreamcast first back in the day, isn’t far behind. And while we’re at it, what about Mars Matrix, Zero Wing or Border Down? If Ikaruga does the business, who knows?

While far from the first Ikaruga re-release, this latest for Switch is undoutedly the best yet. The ability to play on the go, in co-op with one set of Joy-Cons and in Tate mode, plus the myriad additional bells and whistles make Ikaruga for Switch easy to recommend unreservedly, and worthwhile even for die-hard Dreamcast fans that still have the original GD-ROM kicking around.

PROS

+ Timeless, polarity-shifting gameplay
+ Tate mode (some assembly required)
+ Local co-op with one set of Joy-Cons

CONS

– Most of the extras aren’t new
– Dull backgrounds
– Punishing difficulty unless lowered from default

Ikaruga will release digitally on the Switch on May 29 in North America and Europe for $15 (equivalent pricing for EU) and will include local co-op, online leader boards and a TATE mode, that allows you to turn the screen vertical.

The perfect shooter returns to Nintendo hardware! We’re teaming up with Treasure to bring the legendary #Ikaruga to #NintendoSwitch on May 29. Get the latest info here: https://t.co/g29ny5hGXG pic.twitter.com/yOH5VjsEH2

— Nicalis, Inc. (@nicalis) May 1, 2018

While we would have loved for a physical release, we’ll take what we can get because Ikaruga is a terrific game. Who knows, maybe Limited Run Games will come to the rescue? In any case, we’re incredibly excited to play Ikaruga again and think the Switch is a perfect system for shooters! Let us know if you’ll be picking it up later this month.

Switchは縦画面で遊べるから斑鳩を移植して欲しいという要望を頂き、DAISOの108円のスタンドで縦に置いてみた。あと3mm幅を広くしてくださいよ。横置きは完璧なのに、縦置きは少し足りない。この写真は、色々反射で写り込んでいて面白い。りんこ姫の横で、何か光輝いてたり、後ろの黒い何かも怪しい。 pic.twitter.com/TMAcIOcMfP

— 株式会社トレジャー (@TreasureCoLtd) April 10, 2018

While it is not explicitly stated that Ikaruga is coming for the Switch, the tweet seems to all but confirm the idea. Would you get Ikaruga for Nintendo Switch? Discuss in the comments below!

First off, we have Kappa Lizzy, who shares her inspiring story of overcoming a brain tumor as a child and how Sonic the Hedgehog helped her deal with bullies at school in her recovery process. Then, Tanner Bates joins us to talk about the upcoming fan-run Sonic convention, Sonic Revolution, which is taking place just a few days after E3!

We also unveil a new segment titled “Graham’s News in 60 Seconds” and discuss this week’s featured topic: Will SEGA ever have a blockbuster game the likes of Call of Duty or Halo? It’s an awesome show, and we hope you give it a listen!

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Unlike your usual top-down shooter that focuses on a variety of “options” that afford the player new weapons and thusly, new tactics, Ikaruga favours an ingenious mechanic that reverses the polarity of your shots. Your shots and your enemies are colour-coded light and dark. If you reverse your polarity to dark, your ship will absorb dark bullets and build up an energy meter while shooting an enemy of the opposite polarity, resulting in “massive damage.”

To say this kind of ingenuity in shooter design is refreshing is an understatement, and although it’s a port of a rather old game, Ikaruga’s uniqueness keeps it incredibly fresh today.

For the imaginative amongst us, the polarity mechanic creates opportunities for players to carefully consider their approach to battles. Will you hang back and absorb bullets until enemies disperse? Will you risk your ship engaging in high stakes polarity swapped combat? How will you overcome these energy waves of a different polarity screaming towards you? Ikaruga constantly provides new and interesting twists on the mechanic throughout the game it carries it very well.

Ikaruga’s control is fantastic and its combat remains frenetic and satisfying as ever.

Beyond the polarity mechanic, Ikaruga remains a very, very challenging shooter. It’s the good kind of challenge that pushes you forward and forces you to think.

With that said, I did find a few moments a little unfair, and, occasionally, I found myself coming to a jarring halt because a wall or stabbing column appeared out of thin air, but, generally ,the game rewards careful thought about what tactics you will use to engage your enemy. Boss patterns, for instance, are forgiving and although these encounters remain quite challenging by forcing yourself to focus and master the polarity swapping mechanic, you will find yourself becoming more and more adept at winding in and out of their reaching energy beams.

Ikaruga’s control is fantastic and its combat remains frenetic and satisfying as ever. Ikaruga is an adrenaline rush, and the slick control does not disappoint in maintaining that level of energy and engaging gameplay that kept me glued to my keyboard and mouse.

Speaking of which, the game using a keyboard and mouse combo with the keyboard used for movement and your mouse used to control your weapons and polarity shifting. This is an incredibly satisfying combination of control as you find that movement is generally very instinctive and natural, while having your weapon and polarity mapped to the mouse allows you to focus on that one simple input device for your crucial strategizing.

To make control more challenging, players can engage the PC’s “double play mode,” which essentially just adds another ship to the game playable with one control device. It’s an interesting gimmick and one that could spice up the game for jaded players.

Presentation is great on PC with a lightning fast frame rate and beautiful graphics. I was often distracted by the beautifully rendered 3D backdrops and elegant, dancing enemy designs. Sometimes, it actually does become a bit of an issue as I found myself dying a couple of times due to accidentally focusing on the environments. That said, the text is sharp, and every artistic element of the game seems to have had a lot of care put into it, providing players with a stunning game.

The variety in art design is something I really appreciated as a lot of shooters tend to focus on somewhat bland, military style environments or simple space station backdrops, but the gorgeous landscapes, cloudy skies and installations of Ikaruga all look and feel unique and are quite lovely at times.

Players can also indulge in an added side-scrolling mode if they feel the need to enjoy another twist on Ikaruga’s standard gameplay, which tilts the screen 90 degrees. It’s not purely cosmetic, as it really does add a new dimension to the gameplay.

Summary

Ikaruga is a beautiful, challenging game that effectively showcases how brilliant Treasure are at developing a sublime, unique gameplay experience that will fight you at every turn but keep pushing you forward to accomplish your goals. Varied level design, an innovative polarity mechanic and intelligent boss designs marry with stunning presentation and a bevy of PC enhancements, including Steam achievements.

Gamers not used to shooters may find Ikaruga far too unwieldy to enjoy, and, at times, it is a little unbalanced and unforgiving, but those of us who appreciate a good shmup-fest will love to come back to Ikaruga to fall in love all over again.

As we previously reported, the game only supports two-player local play at launch, and there’s no online co-op like on the Xbox 360 version, but it will support the Xbox 360 controller. You can also choose between Ikaruga’s default vertical screen setting or switch it to a horizontal view.

So why are you still reading this? Go buy and play this game, but come back to tell us how much it kicked your ass!

You can buy it here.

No price is listed on the Steam page, but according to Treasure’s Twitter, they’re aiming for about $9.99, although that hasn’t been finalized as of yet.

At launch, Ikaruga will only support two-player, local co-op, but online co-op is apparently promised at some point in the future, and it will support an Xbox 360 controller.

Below is a full list of the game’s features:

• The player ship, all enemies and bullets are black or white.
  Player’s polarity can be switched at will.
• Your ship can absorb enemy bullets of the same polarity.
  Filled energy goes to fire powerful homing lasers! (Release Power)
• Defeat 3 enemies in a row of the same polarity and get the chain bonus!
  Building up high scores feels like a puzzle game?
• Spectacular 3D graphics. Fast and smooth game play.
• 2 Players game (Local) and
  Double Play Mode: You can play 2 Players game with one controller.
• 5 levels. Tactical level design and boss battles.
• 3 difficulty levels: EASY, NORMAL, HARD.
  Change your tactics depending on the difficulty.
• 2 Game modes: ARCADE, PROTOTYPE (not hidden).
• Replay data save is available.
  You can also download them from the Leaderboards.
• Vertical screen mode support.
  You can also play the game like a side-scrolling shooter by rotating only the game screen.
• Xbox360 controller, Keyboard and Mouse support.

Japanese Dreamcast shoot ’em up Ikaruga is coming soon to Steam. Treasure Inc announced on its Twitter that the Ikaruga PC port release date will be soon and revealed on Famitsu this week, and there was also another tweet regarding the price, which will be around $9.99.

Ikaruga, the spiritual successor to Radiant Silvergun, which is another cult Saturn shoot ’em up,  was initially published by SEGA. At the time, SEGA and Treasure had a very strong bond (due to classic cult games such as Gunstar Heroes, Dynamite Headdy and Guardian Heroes, to name a few), but when Ikaruga was released on for Dreamcast, there were only 50,000 copies manufactured. Because of this, the game is one of the rarer and more expensive games on eBay these days. Previously,  American and European audiences were only able to play this game thanks to GameCube and Xbox Live Arcade port releases.

Ikaruga will be availabe now to more audiences due to the upcoming Steam release. The title was submitted at Steam Greenlight by Treasure in 2013, and approved in October. It will feature full HD, vertical screen support, local 2 player co-op, and will be based on the Xbox 360 port. I will get this one for sure.

Puyo Puyo Tetris TV spot

Puyo Puyo Tetris is about to be released on Feb. 6 in Japan, and it’s one of the few multiplatform titles by SEGA, which will be released on 3DS, Wii U, PlayStation 3 and PS Vita. The new TV ad features actress and former AKB48 member, Atsuko Maeda. The ad is just weird fun, enjoy! You can read more about the game in our previous reports.

Yakuza Ishin for PS3, PS4 at Tapei Game Show

Nagoshi (former Yakuza producer, now top exec at SEGA) and Daisuke Sato (actual Yakuza Ishin producer) appeared at the PlayStation booth during the Taipei Game Show 2014, where they presented the new features for Yakuza Ishin and the Yakuza free PS Vita app, which is called Another Life Battle Dungeon.

Since the game is taking place in feudal Japan, they announced they explained the battle modes, which includes a sword, gun and “bare knuckle” (see what I did there?). You can also switch between them, which is one of the new features and made a live demonstration on them. Each type has its pros and cons, where users will have to learn when to use each one. The game also features everyday feudal activities, such as cooking or adding elements to your weapons to make them stronger. They also made very clear that PS4 version is 10 times better than the PS3 version.

Nagoshi closed the presentation with Q&As, signing autographs, showing both PS boxes and hanging out with the Seguettes … like a boss.

GO! GO! 575 figures and anime episodes

Like we told you before, upcoming game GO! GO! 575, has spawned an anime. Nico Nico Douga has available all the episodes now for free, and you can watch them all here, it won’t matter your country as long as you are a registered user and logged in.

Pictures of the upcoming GO! GO! 575 figures are showing up, they will be posable, kinda Figma type. Here’s what they look like.

Hatsune Miku Project Diva F-end arcade controller

Horistore.com has made available a special arcade controller for Project Diva F-2nd, and it will be released the same day as the game on March 6. Price will be ¥ 9,800, which are about $96. You can see the product specs here and buy it over here. Remember, PS3 titles aren’t region locked, and this device is compatible no matter your PS3 region.