Radiant Silvergun — Arcade, Saturn, XBLA

[moozooh]

Radiant Silvergun (1998) is Treasure's first shmup, and the famed predecessor to even more famed Ikaruga, both produced by Hiroshi Iuchi. Disliked by many players for its extremely hardcore-oriented gameplay that ties scoring to survival, and liked by equally as many for its audiovisual flare and epic (although somewhat JRPG-ish) feel, today the game finds itself on three distinct platforms: arcade (Sega's ST-V hardware), Saturn, and XBLA. Let the traffic light chaining begin!

Strategy threads:
RQ: Levelling weapons in Radiant Silvergun
RQ: Need good Radiant Silvergun strat source.
RQ: Radiant Silvergun 1cc
RQ: RSG's last boss?

Rules:
- single credit, no continues;
- all gameplay settings (difficulty, extends, etc.) on defaults;
- in Saturn & Story modes, the game must be played from a clean state, starting with default weapon levels;

XBLA version will be entirely separate from the original game and Saturn's modes until more is known about its accuracy. Arcade board is truncated at 15 entries per route, others at 10.

Score submission format:

Code: Select all

version - route
name - score - stage - weapon levels - chaining type (for XBLA version)

Examples:

Code: Select all

Saturn mode
John Doe - 14,876,240 - ALL - A25 B15 C18

XBLA - Arcade (stage 2)
John Doe - 2,123,230 - 2B - A05 B03 C07 - Ikaruga

Note: write stage names as they appear in the game to avoid confusion. The gameplay sequence is as follows: 3-(2-4)-5-6-1 (numbers signify chronological order of events in RSG story timeline). Arcade mode forces you to choose between 2 and 4 (make sure to specify which route you have chosen), but Story/Saturn mode allows both to be played. For version, you can (and ought to) specify the emulator you're using if you're playing on your computer.


Arcade

Code: Select all

          ============ Stage 4 route ============
##  Name               Score        Stg   Weapon lvls   Version
WR  T3-CYR-WIZ       - 27,550,780 - ALL - A33 B33 C33

01. ben.shinobi      - 26,488,150 - ALL - A33 B33 C33 - XBLA
02. Zerst            - 21,703,770 - ALL - A33 B29 C33 - XBLA
03. jpj              - 20,671,690 - ALL - A33 B30 C33 - Saturn
04. T-hawk           - 20,217,450 - ALL - A33 B25 C33 - Saturn
05. Kenchan          - 12,678,390 - ALL - A23 B18 C33 - Saturn
06. Erppo            - 10,569,970 - ALL - A30 B16 C25 - XBLA
07. Zaarock          - 10,539,390 -  5A - A?? B?? C?? - XBLA
08. Fogelmir         -  8,471,450 -  5A - A25 B16 C21 - XBLA


          ============ Stage 2 route ============
##  Name               Score        Stg   Weapon lvls   Version
WR  T3-CYR-WIZ       - 23,101,650 - ALL - A33 B3? C33

01. ben.shinobi      - 21,629,580 - ALL - A33 B30 C33 - STV
02. CRI              - 12,391,060 - ALL - A33 B20 C26
03. Plasmo           -  9,568,980 - ALL - A26 B17 C23 - Saturn
04. Erppo            -  8,848,960 - ALL - A26 B16 C21 - XBLA
05. man9child        -  8,616,720 -  6  - A25 B15 C23
06. Guigui           -  7,947,860 - ALL - A?? B?? C??
07. STG              -  7,436,320 - ALL - A25 B14 C19
08. Kaede            -  7,410,500 -  6  - A22 B16 C18
09. AST-POW          -  7,325,390 -  5  - A20 B16 C20 
10. Nereid           -  7,268,440 - ALL - A21 B17 C19 - XBLA
11. sky-13           -  7,200,440 - ALL - A22 B13 C20 - Saturn
12. MJR              -  5,781,620 -  2  - A19 B11 C19 - Saturn
13. Enigma           -  5,248,480 -  2D - A17 B14 C15 - XBLA

Saturn mode & XBLA Story mode

Code: Select all

##  Name               Score        Stg   Weapon lvls   Version
WR  ben.shinobi      - 38,371,380 - ALL - A32 B24 C32 - XBLA

01. ben.shinobi      - 38,371,380 - ALL - A32 B24 C32 - XBLA
02. Zerst            - 28,972,480 - ALL - A28 B21 C30 - XBLA
03. T-hawk           - 27,285,080 -  6  - A31 B21 C27 - Saturn
04. SamIAm           - 13,676,420 -  5  - A22 B14 C18 - Saturn
05. Kenchan          -  8,493,450 -  4B - A?? B?? C?? - XBLA
06. Erppo            -  7,969,980 -  4B - A17 B10 C14 - XBLA
07. Zaarock          -  5,158,620 -  2E - A?? B?? C?? - XBLA

XBLA Arcade mode — Ikaruga chaining

Code: Select all

          ============ Stage 4 route ============
##  Name               Score        Stg   Weapon levels
WR

01. Kenchan          -  8,869,730 -  5A - A?? B?? C??


          ============ Stage 2 route ============
##  Name               Score        Stg   Weapon levels
WR

01. Enigma           -  4,242,410 -  2C - A24 B11 C15

XBLA Story mode — Ikaruga chaining

Code: Select all

##  Name               Score        Stg   Weapon levels
WR  

01. Kenchan          - 12,611,450 -  5A - A?? B?? C??

Saturn Practice mode

Code: Select all

##  Name               Score

01. ben.shinobi      - 50,117,420
02. jpj              - 50,106,280
03. Kenchan          - 50,087,060
04. Plasmo           - 50,086,010
05. MJR              - 50,083,590

Previous score threads: Plasmo's, jp's, ben.shinobi's.

[Chaos Phoenixma]

XBLA(Arcade) - 2
Enigma- 2,217,060- 2A- A17 B07 C09- Ikaruga Style

Finally got past the first stage. Still had all sorts of stupid deaths during it. Also wasn't paying attention during 2A boss. If I was, maybe I would have gotten to 2B. Anyway, I've been playing this a lot today, so I won't continue on playing till tomorrow. 3D is so simple to full chain, yet I always mess it up somehow.

[Zaarock]

XBLA - Arcade - Score Attack (stage 4)
Zaarock - 4,499,390 - 4B - A?? B?? C?? - Original

Second day of playing. Fun game, I thought I wouldn't like it but luckily I was wrong :p Guess it makes sense since I like Strania though.. quite similar.

First time getting to spring trap stage lol. was trying to dodge all the pink bullets from the boss instead of using the hyper sword I had and blew up.

Is there some easy way to check weapon levels instead of watching through a whole replay?

[Nereid]

XBLA Arcade (Score Attack) - Stage 2
Nereid - 7,268,440 - ALL - A21 B17 C19 - Original

First 1cc.

how do i chain stage 5


Zaarock: you can fast forward through a replay using RB/LB (or hold RT).

[moozooh]

Updated. Based on Kiken's testimony, I'm most likely going to combine XBLA's Single Player mode with Arcde, and leave out only Score Attack, which has altered weapon level requirements, and can thus be considered an easier version. So starting from now state if you're playing Single Player or Score Attack.

[Chaos Phoenixma]

XBLA Arcade- Stage 2
Enigma- 3,405,410- 2B- A20 B11 C14 - Ikaruga

Was played on Score Attack since I want to upload scores to the leaderboards as well as save replays. And so was my other runs. Since it doesn't seem like you can save replays on Normal Play. Also, I figured out how to no miss all of stage 3, but I completely messed things up as usual. I know I can get to stage 5 at the moment, but I haven't practiced it yet. I can't 100% the first boss unless I enter with a full Hyper Sword charge, which doesn't happen every run. And I'm not good with 100% on the 3C or 3D bosses.

[guigui]

Here comes my latest score.

XBLA - Arcade (stage 2)
Guigui - 6,054,980 - Stage 5 - A?? B?? C?? - Normal

[Zaarock]

you can fast forward through a replay using RB/LB (or hold RT).

Wow that's fast. Well made feature.

-

Fourth day..

XBLA - Arcade - Score Attack (stage 4)
Zaarock - 5,753,980 - 4D - A19 B13 C18 - Original

Made it up to Penta for the first time and crashed into the thruster flames
Also lost a life on Gallop as tends to happen :/

4C chaining and boss seem cool, will have to learn that.

[Chaos Phoenixma]

XBLA- Arcade- Score Attack (Stage 2)
Enigma- 4,242,410 - 2C- A24 B11 C15 -Ikaruga

Messed up the weapon leveling a little. First time no missing the entirety of stage 3. Then I completely screwed up Stage 2B. Died on the 2C boss since I suck at it. I don't even try chaining the yellow enemies during the first 2B boss as I know I wouldn't be able to handle it. Around 1 million of the score was on stage 2 and around 3.2 million on stage 3.


Edit:

XBLA- Arcade- Score Attack (Stage 2)
Enigma- 6,399,250- 6 -A29 B17 C20- Ikaruga

Another no miss of stage 3. Then I completely messed up Stage 2's bosses. Entered Stage 5 on my last life and just played it for survival and somehow no missed that. Game overed to Xiga's second phase. I should be able to get this soon, then I'm not sure if it'll be trying to learn stage 4 or trying to learn Original Chaining, or both.

What's the clear bonus for this game anyway? And is there any way to practice The Stone-Like without having to do a full run first?

[Zaarock]

XBLA - Arcade - Score Attack (stage 4)
Zaarock - 7,322,470 - 4E - A23 B13 C21 - Original

Died once on Gallop (?) and three times on Dan (!??) then rammed into a wall on 4E. Penta couldn't handle level 23 vulcan.

Been practicing 4-D and 4-E chains afterwards. Pretty brutal, but rewarding.. I'm probably going to kill myself trying 4-E many times. But with it I can level vulcan even further. edit: those went down pretty quick

-

XBLA - Story - Score Attack
Zaarock - 5,158,620 - 2E - A?? B?? C?? - Original

First try at level 2 and got up to 2E. I think I'll just play 2 on story mode, but it has some pretty awesome moments.

Note: Story score attack gives you 10 lives, but no extends. I'm pretty happy with that since I thought the game had too few extends to be so long.. I can imagine myself playing story after arcade 1cc because of this.


EDIT:


XBLA - Arcade - Score Attack (stage 4)
Zaarock - 9,976,560 - 5A - A28 B13 C28 - Original

No-missed up to stage 5, but having never played it.. got destroyed. almost reached xiga though.
I got a weird glitch on UE2A-GAL, one of the wall parts was indestructible for a couple seconds.

[Erppo]

I've also been playing this actively for a couple of days now. Planning to improve these but might as well post here to get more competition going:

XBLA - Arcade - Score Attack (stage 2)
Erppo - 7,305,370 - 5A - A23 B15 C19 - Original

XBLA - Story - Score Attack
Erppo - 7,969,980 - 4B - A17 B10 C14 - Original

[Zaarock]

XBLA - Arcade - Score Attack (stage 4)
Zaarock - 10,539,390 - 5A - A?? B?? C?? - Original

Keep failing horribly at the 5A chain and killing myself every time I reach it even though I was practicing it a lot today. I won't have a lot of time to play this anymore so posting in case I don't make progress. I'll definitely try and get the 1cc in a while though.

Surprised by the lack of activity here, you sort of have to play the game for score to survive.

[man9child]

I think in arcade as long as you can hit 6.5 mil or so (which you can do without any stage 5 chaining) and get your A and C weapons up to near level 20 or so you're more than capable of taking down the final boss.

It's always kind of bothered me that stage 5 represents such a large chunk of your overall score.

[Zaarock]

It's always kind of bothered me that stage 5 represents such a large chunk of your overall score.

Yeah, and it has a lot of randomization with the turrets. need to have lots of experience and still have great reactions to get far in the chain.. sucks when you die in the middle of a missile launch because of vertical bullets etc.

[Kenchan]

Oh I am so HYPE to start playing this again, though I doubt I'll top my previous best. I just can't play the same without the old stick I used to use, it's hard to do all the grinding and weapon bonuses anymore ):

[man9child]

What stick did you use to use? Short of hacking in a new pcb I suppose it's possible to daisy chain a Saturn->PSX adapter with a PSX->360 adapter. If they're both lagless, 0x0 is still 0.

[Erppo]

First clear, no-miss except for two deaths in a row at Xiga's second phase. Messed up the 2E chain but I think I'll move to stage 4 for now rather than trying to perfect this.

XBLA - Arcade - Score Attack (stage 2)
Erppo - 8,848,960 - ALL - A26 B16 C21 - Original

[Zerst]

definitely recommended. Stage 4 is nice because you can get by almost exclusively using variants of the C shot. I'm hitting C30-33 during 4C and it makes all the bosses die really fast.

[Erppo]

I've been going for A because I figured it was the least painful way to get past stage 5 and Xiga. Anyway starting with the other route:

XBLA - Arcade - Score Attack (stage 4)
Erppo - 10,569,970 - ALL - A30 B16 C25 - Original

Still plenty of screw ups and my routes for 4A and 4E are far from optimal. I should also eventually man up and start actually practicing 5A instead of just speedkilling the thing.

[moozooh]

You definitely aren't messing around. :D Hopefully this game will see decent competition!

[Zerst]

Played through normal arcade mode. Got the exact weapon levels I expected to compared to score attack. I believe they're the same, but I don't remember how the original/saturn port ones went.

Though I swear the hitbox sizes are bigger in Normal Play. My C shot killed shit I never worry about hitting in Score Attack.

[Zerst]

Ugh, back into xbla top10 and the replay desyncs near the start of stage 5 :<

Score attack (st4)
Zerst - 16,563,370 - ALL - A33 B21 C33 - Original

[moozooh]

Great score, Zerst!

So what is the verdict on accuracy of this port? I'm looking into merging XBLA (non-Ikaruga) with the other boards if differences aren't significant, provided that entries are marked accordingly.

Particularly:
1. What are the differences between normal play and score attack?
2. What are the differences between any of the above and the original game (in both Arcade and Saturn modes)?

[Zerst]

I'll run through the saturn version tonight to see if things play differently. I'm really consistent at stages 3 and 4 so I should be able to tell. At the very least, I can say for sure that all the slowdown is completely gone in the XBLA ver.

[Kenchan]

Though I swear the hitbox sizes are bigger in Normal Play. My C shot killed shit I never worry about hitting in Score Attack.

Everything feels just right to me from what I remember playing on the arcade version. Granted it's been years since I've been able to clear the game, just my two cents though.

Here's my XBLA runs so far, I'm still way behind my old scores.

XBLA Arcade (Stage 4)
Kenchan - 5,700,470 - 4C - A?? B?? C?? - Original
Kenchan - 4,741,160 - 4B - A?? B?? C?? - Ikaruga

XBLA Story
Kenchan - 8,493,450 - 4B - A?? B?? C?? - Original

I'll be improving these considerably now that I'm done with the achievements.

[Zerst]

Played through the Arcade mode on the saturn port. Again, I hit my weapon level benchmarks exactly as expected. Unless there's a miniscule difference, it's the same.

As far as I'm concerned, the differences are:

*Significant input delay on the xbla ver
*No slowdown on the xbla ver (holy shit this is major, stage 5 is ridiculously easier to chain when the game is crawling, I almost beat my xbla best on my first attempt while half-asleep)
*The edges of the playfield are cropped off in the saturn ver, making enemies and bullets seem to pop out way more abruptly.

[moozooh]

So do you think it would make more sense to keep XBLA version separate like they are now? Is the difference in slowdown that crippling for the new port?

[Zerst]

If it was the other way around (xbla slow, arcade full speed), maybe. All the points are there though, so since the game was made more difficult than the original, I'd vote to merge.

[Kenchan]

I'll be posting new scores soon it seems, I'm really getting into Ikaruga chaining. Almost back to my 1cc <3

[moozooh]

Boards have enjoyed a good old-fashioned merging. :) Looks neater that way, and one less thing to worry about.