Ikaruga's pretty overrated...

[SineSwiper]

I bought it used for about $35, thinking that it's Treasure and it's supposed to be one of the best shooters out there. I played it, and it was alright, but it was hard, and well, there wasn't much to it. The whole black/white switching was kinda cool, but I was expecting something with a lot of different types of weapons and shit.

Gradius and R-Type are still the best shooter series out there.

[Zeus]

I bought it used for about $35, thinking that it's Treasure and it's supposed to be one of the best shooters out there. I played it, and it was alright, but it was hard, and well, there wasn't much to it. The whole black/white switching was kinda cool, but I was expecting something with a lot of different types of weapons and shit.

Gradius and R-Type are still the best shooter series out there.

Ikaruga and Radiant Silvergun are the class of the shooters. Everything else pales in comparison IMO. As much as I loved Gradius and G-Darius and R-Type Final, they just don't touch these ones (Mars Matrix was fun too). Both games have a large learning curve and you end up using what's at your disposal far more than any other shooter. They're intense, hard, tons of bosses and mini-bosses, great for multiplayer, beating the game requires strategy over dodging ability. Really, you don't get any better.

Radiant is still better, but not by much. Get past the learning curve and then you'll see how amazing it truly is

[Julius Seeker]

I like them because of their difficulty. I hate games that are easy, it usually just means that I will finish playing them in a few days instead of months or years. R-Type is a lot of fun though. R-Type 3 for SNES just got released as well =)