Radiant Silvergun

[John845]

Finally got the chance to play this beast. First off, took me over a year from first learning of this game to then buying a modded Saturn to be able to play it. So after watching countless crappy quality youtube videos and reading several articles and reviews the past year or so, I popped the disc in and I began...

First thing I notice is how smooth the game seems to run. After all the youtube videos I've seen none felt like it did when playing, which is butter smooth. Secondly is the look of the game. Couple this game along with a S-Video cable and the details are incredible. I remember reading somewhere around here about how one of creative directors (?) of the game painstakingly did all the backgrounds for the game by hand, every little detail. I can definitely see where all this man's hard work has gone into. Stage 2A is the biggest testament to this because the bluish color scheme of the level along with the cityscape below looks amazing. The way the ground looks actually reminds me of the surface of the Death Star from Star Wars. The enemy sprites all look fantastic too, a lot of love went into every aspect it seems.

The bosses (of which there are many!) in this game are nothing short of imaginative as well. Most bosses have multiple "pieces" that you can blow off before you actually decide to start concentrating on the "main" piece. Several bosses in the game are also animalistic in nature. The "snake" boss is simply awesome the way it moves and just its overall look.

I love the weapon system and its a breath of fresh air (11 year old air?) in the shmup genre. I find myself switching between weapons every second on some boss fights because some of them move around so much. At first its a bit confusing to use but you get used to it. The Radiant Sword is a visually appealing and devastating move to use. Eat some pink bullets and you can dish out a mega double sword attack on your enemies. Oh how the Radiant Sword would be useful on Mushihimesama... The games difficulty can be punishingly difficult in some parts, and in that regard it holds its own against other big names such as Dodonpachi and Mushi Futari.

So in conclusion, does this game live up to the hype? In my opinion... yes it does. For a vertical shmup, this game is just epic. The music and the pace of the game makes it feel more than just a shmup, but an adventure almost. Sounds cheesy but that's the impression I get after a good long session of this game. Worth $200+? I don't think so. No game in my opinion should cost that much. If this game nowadays where to sell for $60 it would definitely be worth it without a doubt.

This game is a must play for videogame and shmup fans alike.

[SamIAm]

I was just thinking of this game today. It still holds its position as my favorite shooter, a good 6 years after I first played it.

I'll say straight away that I don't think RS is perfect as a whole. However, the fundamental systems in the game have achieved, in my opinion, their own special kind of perfection. The size and speed of your ship, as well as those of the the enemies and the bullets, along with the general approach to enemy formations and attack patterns, are all flawless. It's not just that I can't name a single thing I would improve, either; I actually don't think that there is even space for evolution. Ikaruga reinterpreted it, but as it is, RS is like the end of a road. It's the Taj Mahal of shmups.

The things I don't like about it are less related to the game's moment-to-moment gameplay. Primarily, RS's length in Saturn mode bothers me, and the splitting of the paths in Arcade mode is a bit ridiculous. Having about 1/3 of the total possible points available during one pain-in-the-ass boss fight is frustrating as well. Finally, the one flaw which ties more closely to the gameplay system: I can't stand the boss milking. It's only for people trying to get a super high score, but it's boring, and it turns the aforementioned issue with length into a very poisonous flaw. Of course, having to score decently in the first half to have a good shot at the last half is an understandable turn-off for a lot of people, even though it wasn't for me.

Anyway, the look and sound of RS is incredible. I remember playing it once immediately after a Star Wars original trilogy marathon, and I remember honestly feeling that RS was more impressive stylistically.

It's hard to say what's worth $200 and what's not. Naturally, individual preference is a huge component. However, if I were to divide $200 by the number of hours of gaming bliss I've gotten out of RS, I'd be looking at no more than $1 per hour. What else gives you that kind of return on your investment? Not to mention, you can sell it later if you want to.

[kengou]

I like it, but the difficulty and length can drag it down a little. Also I still don't quite understand the scoring system. Even so, most of the bosses are fantastic and the weapons and overall design is great.

[Koa Zo]

Nice write-up John845.
YES, Radiant Silvergun is awesome!

A year or two ago I sold my copy (with original store reciept for $59.99) to a forum member here for $150.
At the time I was thinking Treasure was going to release it for X-Box360. Within 6 months I was regreting it.
Thankfully I was able to re-purchase a copy (lightly scratched) for $135 earlier this year.

Something I often wonder is if people playing RS for the first time have any idea how awesome it was to boot up that game back in 1998? Besides the awesome graphics and designs, gameplay like that had never been experienced before. And like you say John845, it is more than a shoot-em-up, it is an adventure!

[ROBOTRON]

Besides the aforementioned greatness of RSG, hook your Saturn up to a decent home theater and its like playing through an epic movie!

[jpj]

nice thread man

i wrote some stuff about silvergun in this thread here:
http://shmups.system11.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=23899

it was off the top of my head, so there are a couple of typos and whatnot, but hopefully it mostly makes sense

it kinda frustrates me when certain people talk about their dislike of the game because they'll raise a point, but wont explain why they think that it's a negative (sometimes it's even a positive when you look at it properly), or just talk falsehoods. i can usually come up with more bad points about the game, and i'm one of it's fans! in fact there's one or two other things that bug me which i forgot to write about, like the direction of the radiant sword is only affected by holding a direction (ie if you held left, but then tapped right repeatedly, the sword still swings anti-clockwise until you press and hold in the right direction - very frustrating to remember on sections where you need to be precise with your sword to chain, such as 5A). if you ever have any specific questions related to the gameplay or scoring, post something in the strat section and i'll help you if i know. one big trouble with this game is that it's only gonna be fun once you know what you're doing, and a lot of people get frustrated and give up before they get into the real meat of it - i know i was that way for the first year i owned it

but you really need to look at it in context. what i always say is that silvergun was a phenomenal achievement because it was their first foray into the genre. what other company has released such an amazing shmup on their first try? and as for the faults, when you look at all the differences between ikaruga and silvergun, you can see how they recognised their own mistakes and rectified them. i still think silvergun has a sense of scale and theatre which ikaruga lacks, but ikaruga - because of silvergun before it - turned out to be nothing short of a work of genius. and then their 3rd shmup was gradius 5, one of the best hori's ever. it might be years between each treasure game, but it's worth the wait. hell, even if they never released another shmup their legacy is strong enough already

my only bugbear is when people start arguing over whether it's worth the money or not - it's much better to talk purely about the gameplay and aesthetics. a game is worth whatever someone will pay for it, and some folks have more disposable income than others. to me, a truly great game is priceless

[Rob]

what other company has released such an amazing shmup on their first try?

You had to ask. Square. The big difference to me is that Einhander feels like it was developed by veterans of the genre (maybe it was), and RSG does feel like a first time project with lots of unrefined ideas. Also, they took the sword from Einhander and turned it into a windshield wiper.

[Matsunaga]

Too bad Square didn't make more, and Treasure did. I think RS is ok, at best, but Ikaruga's popularity baffles me.

[kengou]

Too bad Square didn't make more, and Treasure did. I think RS is ok, at best, but Ikaruga's popularity baffles me.

Because it did something very different to the genre, and it executed it very well? It's not for everyone but you can't deny there's an appeal there for many people.

[The Coop]

And cue the "RS is OVarRated!" brigade in 3... 2... 1...

[headcaseGames]

i got my hands on RSG over a year ago, plunked it in once, futzed with it for a few moments, and then forgot about it. I have always been a shmup lover (hell, i am READING THIS BOARD) but a lot of the post-16bit era games never really cinched with me. Still, I like weird/unusual things and this sounded like it fit the bill pretty good. Anyway, when you pick up RSG you sorta expect you can probably sell it back to close what you paid for it, likely.

Guess I will pull it out once more and give a more earnest attempt, this post makes it sound pretty rad...!

[Enhasa]

what other company has released such an amazing shmup on their first try?

You had to ask. Square.

I dunno about you, but personally I think King's Knight, 3D Worldrunner, and JJ are really poor.


I imagine jpj is excluding situations where the people working on a company's first shmup had known prior shooter-making experience, or else there would be a ton of good answers. Even so, there should be a fair number of examples. I'd go with Skonec. Still, it's hard to track that stuff like which individual team members did what, or what counts as experience (e.g. earlier Treasure games had shmup stages in them).

I don't think it matters much at all in the end. It's relatively easy to create a technically proficient shmup compared to other genres. All you really need is to take a good idea and run with it. I'd say if anything, it's more likely for a company's first shmup to be their best work than say, their 8th.

Too bad Square didn't make more, and Treasure did.

You serious? They have a terrible track record when making more of stuff if you haven't noticed. You should rather go with devs leaving and forming their own shmup studio, although to be fair the track record there is probably even worse.

[John845]

I've played Einhander and all the main shmups from that console era but Radiant Silvergun just blows them all out of the water. Graphically and gameplay wise its brilliant. My second favorite would have to be G-Darius but that's for another thread.

[Rob]

I dunno about you, but personally I think King's Knight, 3D Worldrunner, and JJ are really poor.
...
I don't think it matters much at all in the end. It's relatively easy to create a technically proficient shmup compared to other genres. All you really need is to take a good idea and run with it. I'd say if anything, it's more likely for a company's first shmup to be their best work than say, their 8th.

King's Knight was developed by Workss and I guess you forgot that on-rails shooters aren't shmups because they blow.

Technical proficiency is a nice goal for a decent game that few people like. It's easier to create a technically proficient sequel than a great first game. Improvements through sequels are what the genre is better than others for. The 8th revision is going to be better than the first attempt, if they get that far.

The music and the pace of the game makes it feel more than just a shmup, but an adventure almost.

This is a bad thing, right?

Radiant Silvergun just blows

[John845]

The music and the pace of the game makes it feel more than just a shmup, but an adventure almost.

This is a bad thing, right?

No.

[Rob]

Yes, I want to wander and level up in my arcade game. Action is not what they're best at. I want my barber to sell me life insurance, too.

[Matsunaga]

Too bad Square didn't make more, and Treasure did.

You serious? They have a terrible track record when making more of stuff if you haven't noticed.

So you're saying every Final Fantasy game has gotten progressively worse?

[John845]

Yes, I want to wander and level up in my arcade game. Action is not what they're best at. I want my barber to sell me life insurance, too.

Okay.

Edit: Your sarcasm is getting pretty annoying btw.

[headcaseGames]

picked it up today and played with some renewed zeal, i get why people like this game - it is different, i'll give it that! it's kind of like a script, that you have to learn-- the game looked sloppier than i remembered, not bad but just something funny about it. i stuck souky in after and was relatively blown away by how crisply that game is rendered - though it's more "boring" than RS..