Object of the Game:
The story originates in the land of Horai, which used to be just a small island nation. But several years ago, one of the most powerful men of the nation, Tenro Horai, discovered the Ubusunagami Okinokai – the Power of the Gods. This energy emanated from an object he dig up from deep within the earth and gave him powers of unimaginable strength. Soon after, Tenro and his followers, who called themselves the “Divine Ones,” began to conquer other nations one by one. They saw themselves as “The Chosen People” and carried out their conquests in, “the name of peace”.
Meanwhile, a freedom federation called Tenkaku emerged to challenge the Horai. By using fighter planes called Hitekkai, they fought with the hope of freeing the world from the Horai’s conquests. But all their efforts were in vain. They lost battle after battle and were eventually wiped out completely. Miraculously, however, one young man survived. His name was Shinra.
Refusing to accept defeat, Shinra set off again for Horai to wage another battle. This time he was shot down. He crashed in a remote village called Ikaruga, inhabited by a group of aged people who had been forced into exile there as by Horai’s conquests.
Kazamori, the village leader, and the other inhabitants pulled Shinra from the wreckage of his plane and nursed him back to health. Once he regained his strength, Shinra announced that he was determined to continue battling Horai. The villagers entrusted him with a fighter plane that they had built themselves called the Ikaruga.