Radiant Silvergun

Release Date - May 28, 1998 (JP)

Developer - Treasure

Publisher - Treasure

Platform - Arcade (ST-V), Sega Saturn

Treasure and Sega shared a great track record on the Mega Drive, with Treasure making some of the most highly regarded games on the platform, including Gunstar Heroes (1993), Dynamite Headdy (1994) and Alien Soldier (1995).

Their reputation for making creative and extremely fun titles extended to the Sega Saturn with Guardian Heroes (1996) and even extended to the Nintendo 64 with Mischief Makers (1997) and even appearing on the PlayStation with the cross-platform Silhouette Mirage (1997). With a history of games like the above, it’s understandable the gaming press was excited when Treasure revealed their next title, a shoot-em-up for the Sega Saturn-based arcade hardware, ST-V. Would it carry the Treasure trademarks of stunning graphics, fast paced action and tremendous boss fights?

There’s a lot going on at any given time, but colour coding helps a great deal in navigating the level.

(All screenshots are taken from https://youtu.be/fxQS9iGNjYE)

Radiant Silvergun is Treasure’s first attempt at a traditional vertical-scrolling shooter. Any concerns that might have been had about Treasure taking on a new genre were quickly dismissed when the game was seen in action and experienced; it was a visual feast and gameplay was unique and tight, holding some time honoured traditions and introducing new gameplay elements.

The first thing players might notice is that bullets move just a tad slower than might have been expected compared to contemporary shooters of the time. The trade off was that it didn’t take long at all for the entire screen to be covered in bullets to avoid. ‘Bullet Hell’ is a term often used for these games, and Radiant Silvergun takes the express elevator right to it.

Not only do you have to avoid bullets, in many cases you’ll be enveloped by super-structures too.

The game can be played in both single-player or co-op two player mode. In both, players have access to three different attack buttons; each one is a specialised weapon for their ship. The three base weapons are Vulcan, Homing and Spread shot. In a new twist for the genre (and reminiscent of Treasure’s previous title Gunstar Heroes), by pressing two buttons at once, you can combine the effects of the two! Different stages will require use of all your tools to get the best result, so it becomes important to learn the strengths of each type of attack, especially if the goal is the lofty ‘no damage’ run!

The weapons on your craft also can be levelled up to more powerful versions, but unlike most shoot-em-up games that require you to pick up power-ups to get better versions of your weapon, Radiant Silvergun is centered around an RPG-like experience points system. You’ll gain experience for every enemy you destroy with that particular weapon. It pays to vary up weapon usage to get them all some additional experience and power levels (There are 33 levels available for each of your three weapons). Higher levels of gameplay and strategy reveal themselves when you realise that you get additional experience bonuses for chaining enemy kills of the same colour. Each enemy has an assigned colour, and by killing enemies of the same colour consecutively you get a much higher bonus. Making it through an entire level by shooting only one colour type is difficult, but yields the highest rewards! There are more ways to gain bonuses too that will affect how you play, such as destroying every segment of a boss before finishing it off (more on the bosses later!).

This is the first boss, but damn it’s already an impressive sight to see. The way it animates and falls apart as you surgically blast it is beautiful carnage.

The most impressive weapon has to be the one that is the namesake of the game; the Radiant Sword. Using this weapon swings a ‘sword’ around your ship, which in turn can absorb any pink coloured bullets in the path of it’s swing. By absorbing enough of them, you can then turn that energy against the enemy, unleashing a hugely powerful attack!

Treasure is well known for their spectacular boss fights, and Radiant Silvergun lives up to the tradition. The bosses are huge, polygonal monstrosities that dwarf the regular, sprite based enemies. Technically, these bosses are a showcase of the arcade board (and Sega Saturn’s) power, with multiple moving parts and fluid animations as they unload unique attacks on your ship. Radiant Silvergun in general takes advantage of the ST-V and Saturn’s hardware to create a brilliant mix of 2D and 3D graphics that stand out from the crowd.

A moment to catch your breath as you start a new level.

Plotlines and story aren’t usually a big focus for arcade shoot-em-up games, and Radiant Silvergun is no exception. There are some nice elements of story and characters that help drive things along though, with a tale set far in the future where Earth has been destroyed after humans make contact with mysterious artifact. Thankfully a small group of humans were out of the Earth’s orbit, and all their talents will be tested as they try to travel back in time and prevent the catastrophe. While the arcade version was quite light on the cinematic elements, with only some basic still images and text to convey the story, the Sega Saturn version (developed in tandem and released only a few months later in 1998) featured much more elaborate anime-styled cut-scenes and dialogue for the characters.

On the topic of the Sega Saturn version, it received some cool console-exclusive gameplay features too; mostly centering around attaining the bizarrely named ‘Dog Master’ rank! Through finding dogs in the game (yes, really) or completing various challenges, you’ll unlock extra gameplay modes with features like level select or slow-motion mode through the main menu. These challenges provide even more content to an already rich and challenging game.

You need to see this boss in motion to truly appreciate it…

Despite concerns from Treasure about how well the game would be received, being their first attempt at a vertical shooter in a time when the genre was starting to become more niche, the game would be an overwhelming critical success. The game is even considered by some to be partially responsible for reviving the shoot-em-up genre with its innovative gameplay and gorgeous presentation. Radiant Silvergun is still considered one of the finest shoot-em-up games ever created, as well as one of the best games to grace the Sega Saturn. It would receive an equally (if not more so) praised spiritual successor, Ikaruga in 2001 and Radiant Silvergun itself would be re-released on Xbox 360 in 2011, proving the game’s enduring legacy and opening the game up to a much larger audience.

Even despite many followups and imitators, there’s still nothing quite like Radiant Silvergun out there…