Going to play Radiant Silvergun for the first time

[SheSaidDutch]

Hey, the megadrive cart of slapfight is going on Ebay for only $200 right now...

The Radiant SilverGun of the Megadrive

a few weeks ago, the Slapfight PCB went for €16 (!) on ebay

Thats better

[LoneSage]

Played more than 30 minutes of it this time.


It rocks now.

[jp]

Played more than 30 minutes of it this time.


It rocks now.

Radiant Silvergun takes some getting used to... thats for sure.


At first its just like "This game is too fucking hard, this chaining seems like it will be a pain in the ass, my weapons suck, damn you!"


But once you get the hang of it and start playing it "for reals" it gets infinitely better.

[VicViper_Mk2]

im a big shooter fan myself, and i was surprised at first when i learned RS is the shooter equvialent of FF7. looking through screenshots, the graphic do look outdated, while i do admit the sound is amazing. so i wondered what captured people to brand this game as the king of shump. is it because:

1. they were swayed by the anime cut-scene (that rarely appear in shooters)

2. the idea that you have all the weapon in the beginning.

3. the stylish but powerful bosses

now people told me to play it and then judge, and i like to. but this is on a SS, an decade outdated system, finding a copy of the game (much less a working system) is like needle in a haystack. sigh, you think a game titled the king of shooter would be on a brand new system, but no (then again FF7 was on the PS, so i guess RS applies in this situation too, the best game doesn't need to appear on the newest system)

please add any reason i might have missed, or correct me if im wrong in anywhere. much appreciated

Note: if RS is so good, why didn't they make a sequel? don't tell me Ikaruga is the sequel?

[cody]

On the off chance this reply to a several year old thread isn't a joke . . .

The game is highly regarded by some, because it incorporates ideas from RPGs / puzzle games into a shooter with a finely tuned difficulty curve. Haters dislike it because it's popular and they like to delude themselves into thinking it's all about memorization (as opposed to all other shmups which are, of course, purely random).

There are 11 copies of the game on Ebay right now. There are 5 times that many sega saturn systems on Ebay right now. Neither the game nor the system are rare. Buy it and decide for yourself.

[Mortificator]

RS is the shooter equvialent of FF7.

No.

RSG is a good game. But it didn't give a boost to the whole genre like FFVII did, it wasn't the most widely played of its time like FFVII was, and it's no where near being universally (or even widely) considered the king of shooters.

When mainstream game sites actually find time to talk about shooters, it's Treasure's games that they heap all their praise on. But most of the people who write for those sites have played only a limited number of shooters (hell, with dozens of shooters under my belt I've still played just a small portion of what's out there). Sites also tend to get into this monkey see monkey do mentality (Kid Icarus!), so after one says "Radiant Silvergun and Ikaruga are the best!" another's sure to follow "Ikaruga and Radiant Silvergun are the best!"

Note: if RS is so good, why didn't they make a sequel? don't tell me Ikaruga is the sequel?

Aside from a few handheld cash-ins, Treasure doesn't really go for sequels.

now people told me to play it and then judge, and i like to. but this is on a SS, an decade outdated system, finding a copy of the game (much less a working system) is like needle in a haystack.

Anyone know how the emulation in MAME's going nowadays? It had issues running last time I tried, but my PC doesn't like rendering system of newer MAME versions.

[CMoon]

My major problem with RSG is that it isn't the sort of game you just pick up and play casually. For a shooter the learning curve is really high. You basically have to leave it in your saturn and say 'this is the game I'm playing for the next' however many months! The time will come when I'm ready to sit down and play RSG that way, but it certainly isn't what I play for a short burst of fun!

[Rob]

finding a copy of the game (much less a working system) is like needle in a haystack.

"This haystack has a search engine... and takes PayPal!"

[Frederik]

On the off chance this reply to a several year old thread isn't a joke . . .

If he made a new one people would have pointed him to the old one. This is exactly how it should be done - I myself am not afraid posting in very old threads if the subject is fitting. Also, pretty good behaviour for the first post. Most people just start doing new threads for PS2 shmups or something similar. (And welcome to the forums, btw )

[Dave_K.]

My thoughts exactly Fred.

[the2bears]

Fred, Dave, I think you both miss the point... it's not replying to an old thread that's possibly a "joke", it's the content of the reply that is being questioned. Cody is wondering "On the off chance this reply ... isn't a joke . . ." and just happens to mention the age of the thread.

Bill

[Rob]

I thought the question was reasonable enough. I think its popularity is similar enough to FF7. Both games about flash/presentation. A lot of people don't really care enough for the genre to want something extremely refined and would prefer lots of retarded looking bosses. So basically dead on.

[Strider77]

yawn... more RSG hate. go pick on trizeal, it actually deserves it.

[Rob]

Trizeal is better.

(I like how I typed "enough" three times in the last post. Proofreading: )

[professor ganson]

yawn... more RSG hate. go pick on trizeal, it actually deserves it.

Trizeal is pretty impressive if you think about how it was put together mainly by one guy with three assistants. Something like that. I'm much more likely to play Trizeal these days than RSG.

[Twiddle]

Trizeal was also done by people who had at least grasped the concept of playability, something absent in RSG.

[Rob]

Radiant Silvergun is the game Compile couldn't make after Puyo Puyo.

[sven666]

1. they were swayed by the anime cut-scene (that rarely appear in shooters)

haha oh god i really hope this is someones actual reason for liking RSG XD

also: Rob you are absoluteley nuts, but i guess thats why we like you

[jp]

Radiant Silvergun is definitely NOT a pick-up-and-play shmup.

Its up there with Border Down, one of those games you have to dedicate a month or more to.

I rarely play RS (since 1CCing rather), but thats only because if I'm going to jump into RS, I know RS is going to be ALL that I play for that week AT LEAST. Whereas with Blast Wind and Hyper Duel (or hell, we'll even go with Trizeal), you can just pick those up, be almost as good at the game as you were the last time you played it (even if it was a year ago), and go about your way after making some progress. With RS, when you pick it back up after an extended period of time its going to take awhile to get back into it.

In so far as why RS is so beloved:
Because, in my opinion at least, its the best designed shooter ever. There's a great balance of bullet-spam dodging, twitch-dodging (erm, dodging attacks that aren't in a wall of bullets and are moving very quickly?) Also, the weapon/leveling up system is phenomenal, and is second to none in the genre. Also, RS is a game that FORCES you to play it right. When Ikaruga came out, I 1cc'd the week I got it. Mind you, I wasn't playing for score, so it was waaaaay easier. But there's no way in hell someone is going to 1CC RS shortly after picking it up... because you have to LEARN RS. You HAVE to score well to have weapons powerful enough to take out the later bosses. And thats why its awesome, it forces you to score well. Also, the boss fights are just phenomenal.

So yes, RS >>>>>> all. Though these days I'm more likely to play Blast Wind, just because its more accessible. Or Batsugun, if I feel like turning my TV on its side.

[aphexacid]

I agree in that RSG is sort of the shmup version of FF7, but only to the fans. Not the mainstream. It didnt give the genre a boost in the mainstream. FF7 however did. But its also considered god like by rpg fans as well.

I've got a pretty hefty shmup collection. Saturn side is complete now.
I have to say, RSG is a pretty amazing game. There isnt one thing that really makes it the be all end all. its all of its qualities as a whole.
its not rare. i would put it in the "hard to find" category. its just a great game, thats sought after.

Hyper Duel. thats fucking rare. i play it way more than RSG too. go figure.


on a side note....i think to non shmuppers, with the late generation of shmups, i think for some odd reason, Ikaruga seems to be very well known. im gonna say its becuase it came out on GC and it was reviewed by a lot of mags and sites.
I was talking to this guy the other day, and we got to the topic of shmups and he's like, 'oh yeah yeah, like that Ikaruga game with the black and white bullets....i hear that sucker is super hard!'
i couldnt believe this uber casual gamer heard of it. thats about 4 instances now...weird.

[sven666]

i dont know what youre so surprised about, Ikaruga is a great shooter, it was not only ported to two consoles but also released in all territories, on top of that the press hyped it to death.

id say Ikaruga alongside Gradius V are the two most mainstream recogniseable shooters ever.

[Frederik]

My impression of RSG without actually having played it (besides at half its speed in MAME and I don´t blame you if you stop reading at this point), is that RSG is one of the shmups that punishes you the most for not playing it in a certain way, even more than Battle Garegga. If you don´t chain, your weapons won´t power up, and since you have SEVEN of them, you´ll have a lot on your schedule while keep on dodging and shooting stuff.

The Saturn mode kind of remedies that, but on the other hand, it´s not a far cry from using a "all weapons at max power" cheat in MAME. It is to shmups what Bridge is to card games (I mean geez, what up with all that crap?), and all that in a genre that is generally considered NOT to be overly complicated (at least, this is what seems to get most people in the genre in the first place, it was like that for me anyways). I love watching superplays of it, but I can´t picture myself learning it.

However, seeing someone playing it right is really impressive, and my favourite part of any shmup ever is the level where you fight inside a rotating ship that shoots giant missiles. It is just a overwhelming, epic game, and the soundtrack adds a whole lot to the overall mood - it´s really more like a well-made RPG score.

[VicViper_Mk2]

well, when i first signed up i was thinking of making a new topic and ask this question, then i thought there was probably a rule against this, and there it is in the board FAQ, which happens to be nice enough to provide me the link to this one (imagine the time i'll take to search through the whole forum that dates back to the 90s) even though noone replied in two years, the topic wasn't locked, and i needed to have this answered, now i finally got that out of my system, i feed a little better

as for hating RS. no no... im just curious because i never played it. for a shooter fan like me, i wouldn't miss the chance to play something people crown the king of shooter. its just that when i learned of RS existance, and the fact that it was on SS, a system i couldn't get at the time, overwhelmed me, so i wanted to find out if RS really lived up to its name. cause not everyday you see a game with as much popularity as FF7.

As for your reasons to like RS, many of you makes good points, and even im starting to agree with them. now all thats left is to get the game and the system and try it out myself. but the idea of buying a decade old system, plus only one game to boot (even if it is a legendary shooter) gives me second thought. however if thats what it takes to try this legend out, i'll do it.

btw, a little off topic here. is Dreamcast still alive? whenever i hear someone says a shooter is coming out, someone would say: would it be a DC port? i thought: DC is still alive, the system might not be old as SS, but certainly old enough, yet people still use them? don't suppose game stores still sell DC? or e-bay is my only bet?

[Ceph]

btw, a little off topic here. is Dreamcast still alive? whenever i hear someone says a shooter is coming out, someone would say: would it be a DC port? i thought: DC is still alive, the system might not be old as SS, but certainly old enough, yet people still use them? don't suppose game stores still sell DC? or e-bay is my only bet?

Sega allegedly quit manufacturing GDR disks earlier that year, making further official Dreamcast games impossible. The final DC games were Trigger Heart Exelica and Karous.
Sega has officially stopped all support (repairs etc) for DC and Saturn on September 28th 2007. I'm suprised they supported Saturn that long.

[Shatterhand]

RSG is AMAZING. But annoying at the same time, it's a game that need RPG-alike hours so you can manage to play it well. I find it to be incredibly well-designed, the music is awesome, etc etc. Everything on it is just fucking amazing.


Except that you need to drop your job to learn to play it properly.

Only if the chaining was score-only, the game would be a lot more enjoyable for some people I guess.

[cody]

My impression. . . is that RSG is one of the shmups that punishes you the most for not playing it in a certain way

you're totally right,if you want to kill any bosses,it FORCES you to power up the appropriate weapons in the appropriate amount by chaining enemies the exact same way as everyone else, every time.

Oh wait.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzeXZJ4JPjg

The game is nowhere near as anal as, say, DOJ.

Only if the chaining was score-only, the game would be a lot more enjoyable for some people I guess.

Score-only chaining would pretty much destroy the game's design. There's certainly a place for scoring systems that don't feed back into anything else, but this game isn't it.

[Shatterhand]

how come would destroy the design? By giving decent weaponry for people who can't learn to chain ?

[KNTain]

you're totally right,if you want to kill any bosses,it FORCES you to power up the appropriate weapons in the appropriate amount by chaining enemies the exact same way as everyone else, every time.

Oh wait.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MzeXZJ4JPjg

I'm sure that learning to sword-only Xiga is way more convenient than learning to chain.

[Frederik]

I am not against chaining in general, but chaining to power up weapons is a weird concept.

[VicViper_Mk2]

i second that, as if chaining isn't hard enough already to boot.