Oh, shmups. What a love-hate relationship we have. So many thrilling moments peppered by those of sheer frustration. I remember the good old days of playing Gradius on the NES, Zaxxon’s Motherbase 2000 on the 32X (judge all you want, that game rocked), and in later years, the amazing Einhänder on the PS1, made by Square before they met Enix. I admittedly haven’t subjected myself to any shoot ‘em ups since my 32-bit days, but I hate my jaded older self for never having played Treasure’s Ikaruga, the much loved pseudo-sequel to Radiant Silvergun that hit GameCube and XBLA here in the US after its rounds in the arcades and on Dreamcast in Japan.

Looks like all that will change, as its currently the Xbox Live Deal of the Week, dropping its price from 800 to 400 MP. After having a quick go at the trial version for the sake of this write-up, I can confirm what everyone and their mum has probably told you already by saying yes, the game is hard as nails, but you won’t find a better shoot ‘em up for five bucks on XBLA this week. The deal ends Monday, July 20th if you feel like kickin’ it old school.