A mere thirteen years after its original release on the Sega Saturn, the two-player shmup Ikaruga blazes an alternating black and white trail onto Steam today for $9.99. Now, those underprivileged folks who never knew the magic of the Saturn can squeal with glee at the high flying, polarity-based gameplay Ikaruga offers up. "What's a Sega Saturn?" is also an acceptable response.
Unlike most top-down shooters where you and a friend pilot extremely squishy vehicles in an ocean of glowing doom bullets, Ikaruga encourages you to meet ordinance head-on. By changing the polarity of your ship from black to white or vice-versa, bullets which match your current color are absorbed and improve your ship. Bullets of opposite color still send your vessel to the big scrap heap in the sky, so when a boss is tossing out alternating black and white bullets, be prepared to palate swap as quickly as your fingers can hit the button. We've got a review from a few years ago, but the experience should remain the same.
There is one new feature for co-op in the form of "double play." Do you feel there are simply too many buttons on one controller? Don't worry, friend. All that space need not go to waste. Instead, convince your buddy to hold the other end, and the two of you may fly your respective ships to victory using one controller!
That sounds like a really great way to ruin whatever relationship you might have with that person, but is probably good for a few laughs, too.