Tom-Massey

Nicely timed reminiscence! I regularly get SCIV nostalgia pangs, but this being forever on my bucket list of 1CCs to get before I die, I finally whipped this one over the summer. What a feeling!

Don’t really care about what people say regarding pacing or difficulty, I love every moment of the journey; it’s one of
the most atmospheric and Stoker-aesthetically-accurate Videogames ever. And anyone who thinks it’s too easy, try for a 1CC and get ready for hell when you hit the Torture Chamber - It tightens up harder than the bolts in Frankenstein’s bonce.

And, hands down one of the finest video game soundtracks ever. Most certainly top 5.

@The_Nintend_Pedant My pleasure!

@The_Nintend_Pedant Well you've read plenty of my work before and I'm quite confident I've used "for some" whenever I deemed necessary. In my opinion, it's very much a clear statement. Not everything in every game will be appreciated the same way by all people. Sensibilities and dispositions vary, so it's a reasonable disclaimer if you're not, say, a shmup aficionado, or perhaps have a particular dislike for painfully difficult games.

@The_Nintend_Pedant

I don't see a problem there at all, that's a con that makes sense. The password is nostalgic, sure, but it's lengthy and cumbersome in 2025. Games like Radiant Silvergun have been saving your shmup progress character-free since 1998 and before.

It's not a massive issue, of course, but if you're following the path of maintaining your gains on each new playthrough, it's a minor slog, and if it wasn't to be included in the Mega Drive cart for battery backup cost reasons, an auto save can still easily be included in the PC and console versions. In fact, I'd request an update to append it!

Great review Damien! Playing it now. Aside from booting up with a really insufficient screen filter (and suffering wild stick drift in bluetooth mode when it's set to steam input) the game itself once it gets going is kind of a beautiful thing. Who doesn't melt over a Mega Drive shmup in 2025!

I'm going to stubbornly ignore those passwords and plough on.

@RootsGenoa
The trains were increased to four Euro for a single journey, and when hopping about centrally the Uber cost isn’t far off that now for shorter distances. Was generally more convenient for places without a Metro stop nearby.

@farrgazer Sorry for the late reply. Word count limits are a thing and I aimed to focus on the mainline series of arcade releases. Maximum is an awesome amalgam of bits from the whole series, but as with all the other DDP games adapted for mobiles, I didn’t want to start moving into that territory.

@romanista Ikaruga simply landed right with the mainstream press. Timing was a thing, because they had pretty much ignored Treasure until they sort of became a cult name, and Ikaruga arrived just at the point where their status was piquing. It was kind of a breakthrough moment for Treasure, hence the game won a lot of attention. It helped that it was available in the EU on two different consoles, of course, and that it’s a great game.

In terms of the STG scene, though, CAVE remained very underground and only occasionally made it to mainstream presses thanks to Rising Star Games’ work on X360 localisations.

@Moroboshi876 I heard that the compiled collection is very well hidden. I noticed someone on Twitter who was sharing the link stating that it was almost impossible to find. Perhaps they're trying to push the individual releases first, which would be a bit of a disingenuous tactic. It is on there somewhere, however.

@SonOfDracula It's still there!

@Diogmites My pleasure, thanks so much for reading. From what I understand it was at the time of the Iraq war, when literally anything even vaguely suggestive of hostility could be mistaken for a threat in the US. There are various articles about it. Apparently seven people were arrested over the signs.

@Dracula_on_a_bike Isn't it patched already? I was under the impression it was due to be patched before launch. Kind of disappointing that it wasn't in there otherwise I would have mentioned it. :/

@-wc- Oh it is, I adore it. Not too punishing and great fun to wade into.

@-wc- Yes, that was the intended message, and yes, it’s arguable that Ikaruga did make shmups more visible. But it was fleeting. There were so many titles before and after that were summarily overlooked. I think it was because of Treasure’s pedigree that the press highlighted it - not because of an real interest in the genre. After Ikaruga had been and gone the media blackout sadly reverted back to its original state for a very long time!

@Diogmites @TotalHenshin @-wc-

Good morning and many thanks (to all of you) for having a read of my article. Really appreciate that!

In answer to your question, to be oblivious isn’t a slight - that’s just how it was at the time. Ikaruga was the darling of the mainstream press, and however good Treasure’s game was, very little else in the genre managed to generate any interest or coverage. However, you’ve highlighted a slight error on my part there, I think I mistakenly said “the west” rather than “western media”. It was actually more about the gaming mags and whatnot than the players, so I’ll have the line amended to be reflect that.

Thanks again!

I was there. I got something signed. How I got something signed is the greatest story never told.

Maybe I should write an article about it!