Chrono Cross is probably my second favorite soundtrack after FFVI. As for the game itself, people hated it because it's different than Chrono Trigger and to a degree they have a point. As a sequel it's not very good. But as a game it's excellent. I just wish more people would judge it on its own merits rather than on what they wanted it to be.
People are idiots. That is all.
I'm not one to wax philosophical about this stuff but it occurred to me while I was reading your piece that the sexualization of women probably isn't the goal (usually). They're being idealized too...but by men. So yeah, sexism and whatever lol.
Ikaruga is fantastic. I got it as soon as it came out for the GameCube. Yeah, no ground bad guys. No power ups either, which actually works out really well. Just you a the polarity system. Well, and and friend, hopefully. That's the best way to play 
Yo ho ho and a bottle of...potion?
That's too bad. The ending is great. One of my all-time favorites!
You really need to read Game Over by David Sheff. It's covers how Nintendo got into games and came to dominance, especially in America, as well as interesting things like the origin of Tetris. That's where I learned all about Yamauchi.
It's amazing all the things he led the company to try out before finally settling in video games. He was an incredibly determined man.
My favorite shmup of all time is a pre-OSX Mac game called BulletEx. It was made by a Japanese guy and was a ton of fun to play. Vertical scrolling, great pixel graphics and music, very challenging, and no need to bomb ground baddies 
You can still find it to download but it hasn't been updated for modern operating systems, which sucks 'cause I'd play that again in a heartbeat.
There's a GameStop close by that, according to their website, has the Reloaded collection in the store. We're gonna swing by tomorrow to see if they do, though I'll only get it if it's complete (like my copy of Remixed). You have inspired me! lol
