Ikaruga
Vertical shoot-'em-up where switching colors turns bullets into energy
TREASURE · Released Feb 18, 2014
- Reviews
- Very Positive
- 94% of 2,368
- Recent reviews
- Very Positive
- 90% of 11 in 30 days
- Players
- 5
- daily peak, Nov 7, 2026
- Steam Deck
- Verified
- Last update on Steam
- Unknown
- no patch notes on Steam
Metacritic: 84/100 (critic reviews)
What is Ikaruga?
Ikaruga is a sci-fi vertical shoot-'em-up with five stages and boss fights. You steer a ship through enemy fire, switch between black and white to absorb matching bullets and charge homing lasers, and defeat same-colored enemies in sequence for score bonuses.
For you if...
- +you like learning bullet patterns to improve your score
- +you enjoy switching colors while dodging enemy fire
- +you want local two-player arcade shooting
Not for you if...
- −you prefer shooting without managing color switches
- −you want a forgiving introduction to bullet-hell games
What players say
94% of 2,368 reviews are positive · 90% of 11 in the last 30 days
Players praise the color-switching mechanic, score chains, and soundtrack. The most common complaint is the steep learning curve, which some players find frustrating from the start.
How many players finish Ikaruga?
11% of Steam players have unlocked «Tageri», the achievement for finishing the main story.
Share of everyone who owns the game on Steam, including those who barely played it. Updated weekly.
Screenshots and trailer
Ikaruga system requirements
Minimum: DirectX 9 GPU, 1 GB RAM, 0.5 GB of disk space.
As published by the developer.
Can my PC run Ikaruga?
Tell us your graphics card once and every game page will answer this for you.
Set up my PC →Minimum
- OS
- Windows 8 / 7 / Vista / XP
- Processor
- Intel Core2 Duo / Athron64 X2
- Graphics
- DirectX 9.0c support (256 MB VRAM)
- Memory
- 1 GB RAM
- Storage
- 512 MB available space
- DirectX
- Version 9.0c
Recommended
- OS
- Windows 7
- Processor
- Intel or AMD multicore processor recently 5 years
- Graphics
- NVIDIA or AMD in recently 5 years
- Memory
- 2 GB RAM
- Storage
- 512 MB available space
- DirectX
- Version 9.0c
Does Ikaruga have co-op or multiplayer?
Yes: multiplayer (mode not specified). It also has a single-player mode. With Remote Play Together, one copy is enough to play the local modes online with friends.
Does Ikaruga run on Steam Deck?
Verified Yes, Verified by Valve: it works on Steam Deck out of the box.
- All functionality is accessible with the default controller configuration
- In-game text is legible on Steam Deck
- Default graphics settings perform well on Steam Deck
- External controllers are not supported for the primary player
PC version details
- DRM
- None declared on Steam
- Controller
- Full controller support
- Platforms
- Windows
- Achievements
- 25
- Steam features
- Cloud saves, Family Sharing, Trading cards
- Languages
- Full audio: English. Text only: Japanese.
Does Ikaruga use AI-generated content?
No AI-generated content is disclosed on the game's Steam page.
Self-reported by the developer under Steam rules: it covers AI content that ships in the game, not tools used to make it. Steam page checked on Oct 25, 2026. How to filter AI games on Steam
