Value: $200 Japan sure loves its superfast top-down aircraft shooters, otherwise known as shmups. But I always suspected that these games never caught on in this west because the western gamer simply lacks the finger agility of the Japanese gamer - trained through a culture where fast-paced arcade games still flourish. Ignore the orgiastic and hyper-sexual cover pictured above, Ibara is very much a traditional shmup, and a rare example of an entirely pixellated game for the PS2. That's not to say that its graphics are poor, as the levels are packed with rich details and the whole game runs at a beautiful, buttery-smooth framerate. Sealed copies of Ibara are virtually non-existent now, but even a mint-quality used version will set you back upwards of $200. If you want to see whether you can handle the relentless pace of this archetypally Japanese game, then you can probably find a cheaper way to do it. Or maybe paying this much and obsessing about getting your money's worth is just the motivation you need to get you to play it...
Gamer, Researcher of strange things.
I'm a writer-editor hybrid whose writings on video games, technology and movies can be found across the internet. I've even ventured into the realm of current affairs on occasion but, unable to face reality, have retreated into expatiating on things on screens instead.
