Nicalis and Treasure's vertically-scrolling shoot 'em up
Ikaruga has been officially announced to come out for the Nintendo Switch. After some
cryptic posts by the developer on social media, they have finally decided to stop playing coy and actually announced that the game is coming soon.
As posted on the official
Nicalis blog,
Ikaruga will be coming out on the
29th of May for Nintendo's hybrid console and will be able to be played vertically thanks to the Switch's ability to be used as a tablet and the game will be just as good as ever.
In
Ikaruga, players will go through 5 thumb-busting-heavy stages as they switch their ship's polarity and absorb enemy bullets of the same polarity to make their attacks even more devastating. Thanks to the Nintendo Switch's ability to dettach the Joy Cons, players will be able to enjoy Ikaruga's Co-op mode on the go or at home without even having to purchase another controller.
The game will also feature three difficulty settings and a chapter-selection option for players to get straight into the action while playing Arcade mode or the more difficult Prototype mode, where your ammunition is limited based on the bullets you've absorbed.
As of now, the game will only be able to be purchased digitally via the Nintendo eShop, but we are keeping our fingers crossed so that physical release can manage to see the light of day. Whatever the case, having
Ikaruga on the Nintendo Switch is a great news for fans of the genre and
The Big N.
Ikaruga's polarity-switching gameplay mechanic revolutionized the shooter genre when it was originally released in arcades. Instead of avoiding all enemy bullets, you can actually absorb the projectiles that are the same color as your ship. You only take damage from bullets of the opposite color - and you can toggle your ship's color at any time with the touch of a button!
Ikaruga will be available for the Nintendo Switch on the 29th of May.