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 Best Japanese Import A lot of terrific games are released in territories outside of the United States each year but never see the light of day here. Historically, this has especially been true of Japan, which has its own thriving gaming scene. Sometimes, a foreign game can be so good that it's absolutely worth one's while to look into getting that game by whatever means necessary. For example, take the winner of our award for Best Japanese Import:
 Publisher: Treasure Developer: Treasure 
The last great game for the Dreamcast, Ikaruga is a finely crafted traditional shooter developed by longtime Sega supporter and former Sega subsidiary Treasure. But to call Ikaruga a traditional top-down arcade shooter is not doing it justice. This blisteringly fast game revolves around your ship's ability to switch between two different settings, light and dark. When the ship is light, it can absorb white enemy projectiles, and when it's dark, it can be absorb black enemy projectiles. In addition, the ship does much more damage to enemies when it's the opposite color of the foes in question, so there's quite a bit of strategy involved in learning when to switch between the two as you feverishly try to dodge or absorb the mesmerizing patterns of bullets that are constantly flying your way.Other aspects of Ikaruga are just as polished as its gameplay. The graphics are rendered in full 3D, and there are some truly spectacular visual moments, such as when you come soaring down from the skies, breaking through a cloud cover, only to see a massive forest appear in front of your eyes. In addition, the soundtrack to Ikaruga is one of the best featured in any game released this year, as it seems to fit perfectly with every situation in the game. The game may eventually make it to these shores, but why wait? Fans of old-school shooters would be doing themselves a grave disservice if they let this one slip by.
Other Nominees:
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