What caused this massive flashback? In a word: Ikaruga. Ikaruga is hands-down the most faithful reproduction of an arcade shooter I’ve ever played on the next-gen consoles. If you thought Panzer Dragoon Orta on the Xbox was an arcade shooter, you ain’t seen nothing yet. And you’re obviously younger than I am. I think "arcade shooter" and envision that classic games mentioned above. But hey, if you call that "old," then so be it. I don’t care. Because Ponce de Leon has nothing on this game.

How arcadey is Ikaruga? Let’s review. Does it have a top-down view? Yup. Ikaruga has the 1943-esque viewpoint we all fell in love with while spending our hard-earned newspaper-delivery money in the dark arcades of the 80s. Rather than just an homage to the classic games, though, Ikaruga actually requires this viewpoint to fit on the screen the dozens of enemies you’ll face at once. Think back (about a year) to the number of enemies in Hunter: The Reckoning, and you’ll have an idea of the number of flying enemies you encounter in Ikaruga. Fortunately, just like the classic shooters, you can fight through the enemies in the game’s five missions co-operatively with a friend.

OK, then does Ikaruga have the basic controls requisite for an arcade shooter? Yup. There’s a button to fire and a thumbstick to move your ship. That’s just about it, except for one incredibly intriguing addition: the polarity-shifter. Your ship in Ikaruga has two sides, a top and a bottom, each of which is colored differently (black or white). While this may sound both obvious and mundane, the ability to shift polarities adds a new level of gameplay depth that truly makes Ikaruga shine. It also makes the game more frantic than any next-gen shooter out there.

The enemies you’ll run into, including end-level bosses, come in two different colors, just like your ship. If you’re currently in "white" mode, black enemies will take twice as much damage from your lasers as the white ones. Likewise, if you’re in black mode, white enemies will crumble at your feet twice as quickly as like-colored black ones. But it’s not as simple as switching colors to rapidly take down the different enemies. Why? Because Ikaruga’s only version of a power-up is an energy weapon that charges by absorbing bullets from like-colored enemies.

For example, if you’re in white mode and go into battle against white enemies, you won’t kill them as quickly, but you’ll also never take any damage, and you can absorb their fire to charge up your uber-missiles. Depending on how many bullets you absorb, your attack will be more powerful. It’s not like the game makes it easy for you, though, because waves of enemies of both colors will come flying (and firing) your way simultaneously. As a result, you’ll find yourself switching your polarity at least as rapidly as you hit the fire button, and all the while you’ll have to watch your enemies for their color and firing patterns. In a sense, then, Ikaruga’s polarity-shifting introduces a small level of strategy, because you constantly have to determine whether you’ll switch colors to do more damage or stay the same color to absorb enemies’ fire and charge your "power up."

It may be frantic and surprisingly deep in gameplay technique, but the ultimate test of an arcade game is how many quarters you would’ve lost just for the experience. So is Ikaruga fun? Well, usually. Since this is a family-oriented site, I’m not at liberty to repeat what we at DailyGame called Ikaruga in terms of difficulty, but let’s just say it’s hard like the hardest of arcade shooters. You will most definitely NOT be cruising through this game on a single life. The problem with this, though, is that as true to the genre as the game may be, Ikaruga is still a console game. And you can’t add any quarters. Once your lives and continues are up, that’s it. Game over. No change machine or generous parent can come to your rescue.

To say this aspect of the game is at times sadistic would be an understatement. And while this is one of only a couple of gameplay "issues," it’s a pretty major one for a console game. Think about it: once you’re playing the game, the publisher already has your money. The added difficulty won’t get them any more quarters; it’ll just make you more frustrated with your apparent ineptitude. You probably loved that feeling in the arcade, when you could add as many quarters as it took you to beat the game. But you’ll grow discontent with this feeling in Ikaruga after 25 "Game Over" screens.

For a "two-dimensional" arcade shooter, Ikaruga manages to fit in some amazing three-dimensional models. The ships, the enemies, the destructible barriers, even the environments themselves are all modeled in full 3D, despite their appearance from a top-down, 2D vantage point. What’s most impressive about the graphics, though, is the sheer amount of "stuff" going on at any given time. And no, the game never stutters or skips a frame.

Amid all the enemies, gunfire, polarity-shifting and maneuvering, the backgrounds speed by at a blazing pace, and on occasion you’ll find yourself flying "into" the backgrounds a la the feeling in Murakumo. At times this is a bit distracting, given that you need to focus so intently on the color of enemies and their gunfire, but gamers with ADHD will have a great time finding new and exciting things to look at. In all honesty, though, it’s hard to appreciate all that Ikaruga has to offer in the graphics department while you’re actually playing the game, so make sure you have a friend around to play the game while you just sit back and watch it all unfold.

Unfortunately, like the classic arcade shooters, Ikaruga doesn’t have too much to write home about in the sound department. The soundtrack is appropriately techno and loud, and it’s done very well. The gunfire and explosions are appropriately Gradius, and the limited sound effects when you change your polarity are all suitable to a game of this genre. There’s really nothing here that hampers the game’s overall score, but nothing that really cranks it up, either.

Unless you grew up tossing your allowance into the classic stand-up shooters, you’re probably not going to be able to get past the difficulty of Ikaruga. Even if you did grow up on those classic arcade games, though, the chances are great that the limited continues and sheer difficulty of the Ikaruga will reduce the number of times you pop the game into your GameCube.

With all that said, though, I found Ikaruga somewhat of an obsession. Until the later stages, anyway. There’s just something in the challenge of the game, the way it dares you to see whether you can get farther than before, even though you know death is just around the corner. It’s a trait you generally only find in the most linear of games, but also a trait that’s hard to engineer correctly. Ikaruga’s is engineered perfectly.

The game’s cooperative mode definitely adds to the appeal of Ikaruga, and in a nice touch, you don’t share lives or continues with your teammate. Of course, given the few continues you have, that "nice touch" does double-duty as a "thank the gaming gods" feature. But at least when you both die horrible deaths, you can complain to one another about the lack of support you got from your teammate.

Talk about breathing next-gen life into a classic genre. I never expected to see an arcade shooter translate so well to a console, but Ikaruga blew my mind from the first time I changed polarity. I also never knew I had a masochistic side, but the way this game draws you back again and again for more punishment is a feat in and of itself.

Of course, because of that punishment, this game isn’t going to be for everyone. I had a fantastic time, both because Ikaruga polished rather than tarnished my 80s-arcade memories and delivered somewhat-strategic action amid what is, ultimately, an on-rails game. You might not have the same experience, particularly if your first trip to the arcade came after or during the release of the first Mortal Kombat. If you dig the classic space-shooters from the 80s, you need to play this game. Otherwise, I suggest renting it first to see whether you will become part of what will surely turn into an under-the-radar cult classic.