Ikaruga Devolved is my entry for Ludum Dare 24. It shows what I imagine the Dreamcast classic Ikaruga looked like, before it evolved into the best shmup ever. Think of it as Treasure's original prototype.
I imagine they didn't reach the winning formula immediatly, so the mechanics in my game differ from the original. Your ship has a black and a white state. As do the enemies. Bullets of the opposite color do more damage. Use the shield to absorb same color bullets into hit points. Game gets harder each round and your spaceship evolves depending on how you use it - if you shoot a lot, it gets better at shooting. If you move a lot, it gets better at moving. And the other way around - it will get slow, if you don't move it.
Controls: WASD for movement, SPACE for color changing, UP arrow to shoot, DOWN arrow to activate the shield and LEFT and RIGHT arrow to thrust in either direction.
Have fun, and please let me know your highscore!
Contact:
Twitter: @ChronoDK