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Radiant Silvergun (レイディアント シルバーガン, Reideianto Shirubagan?) is a vertically scrolling shooter video game, developed by Treasure Co. Ltd. It was released in arcades on the ST-V platform in 1998 and subsequently ported to the Sega Saturn, with added cutscenes by noted animation studio GONZO. The game was not released outside of Japan. Image File history File links Radiant_silvergun. ...
A video game developer is a software developer (a business or an individual) that creates video games. ...
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Entertainment Software Publishing (エンターテインメント・ソフトウェア・パブリッシング), or ESP, is a computer game publisher. ...
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1998 1998 in games 1997 in video gaming 1999 in video gaming Notable events of 1998 in video gaming. ...
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is the 204th day of the year (205th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ...
1998 1998 in games 1997 in video gaming 1999 in video gaming Notable events of 1998 in video gaming. ...
Video games are categorized into genres based on their gameplay. ...
Scrolling shooters are a type of video game, a subgenre of shoot em up . ...
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In computer games and video games, single-player refers to the variant of a particular game where input from only one player is expected throughout the course of the gaming session. ...
Doom popularised co-op on the PC. Cooperative gameplay (often abbreviated as co-op) primarily refers to a feature in video games that allows players to work together as teammates with the absence of player-controlled competitors. ...
Centipede by Atari is a typical example of a 1980s era arcade game. ...
The Sega Saturn ) is a 32-bit video game console, first released on November 22, 1994 in Japan, May 11, 1995 in North America and July 8, 1995 in Europe. ...
Joystick elements: 1. ...
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This arcade cabinet, containing Centipede, is an upright. ...
An arcade system board is a standardized printed circuit board or group of printed circuit boards that are used as the basis for multiple arcade games with very similar hardware requirements. ...
The Sega Titan Video or ST-V was an arcade system board released by Sega in 1994. ...
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A palette, in computer graphics, is a designated subset of the total range of colors supported by a computer graphics system. ...
Scrolling shooters are a type of video game, a subgenre of shoot em up . ...
Namcos Pac-Man was a hit, and became a universal phenomenon. ...
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arcade, see Arcade. ...
The Sega Titan Video or ST-V was an arcade system board released by Sega in 1994. ...
1998 1998 in games 1997 in video gaming 1999 in video gaming Notable events of 1998 in video gaming. ...
The Sega Saturn ) is a 32-bit video game console, first released on November 22, 1994 in Japan, May 11, 1995 in North America and July 8, 1995 in Europe. ...
It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Gonzo journalism. ...
The game is considered by many to be the pinnacle of the 'maximalist' school of vertical shooter design. (Contrast this with Ikaruga's studied minimalism.) It features a unique and innovative weapons system, with seven weapons available at any time. The player has three buttons to control the weapons; the weapon fired depends on the combination of buttons pressed. According to producer Hiroshi Iuchi, the main inspiration for the game's design was Image Fight, an arcade game by Irem from 1988. [1] Maximalism is a term used in literature, art, multimedia and graphical design, and music to apply to post-minimalist movements or works, named in analogy with minimalism. ...
Ikaruga lit. ...
Minimalism describes movements in various forms of art and design, especially visual art and music, where the work is stripped down to its most fundamental features. ...
Image Fight is a vertically-scrolling shoot em up arcade game produced by Irem in 1988. ...
Gameplay
The weapons scheme is as follows. Saturn-only button configurations are in italics.
- A: Vulcan: the regular forward gun. A single beam can be fired by tapping A.
- B: Homing: green discs fire at angles and aggressively track the closest enemies.
- C: Spread: two bombs fire out from wide angles and explode on contact. The resultant explosion damages anything within its range.
- BC or X: Lock On Spread: eight probes extend from the ship and move in circles around it. Any enemies that contact a probe are met with a high-speed homing projectile from the ship.
- AC or Y: Back Wide: a variant of the Vulcan, this fires one beam forward and several wide shots toward the back.
- AB or Z: Homing Plasma: two laser beams swing side-by-side from the front of the ship and lock-on to any enemies it connects to, subjecting them to a constant lightning beam attack as long as it is in range. The lasers are not stopped by physical barriers.
- ABC or R: Radiant Sword: a small sword is brandished from the ship and is introduced by moving in a full circle. The player can drag it around and control its direction by moving backward from the desired direction. The sword constantly damages anything it touches.
The sword can also absorb any pink shots enemies fire, absorbing the energy in them to charge up a powerful, screen-clearing attack called Hyper Sword. This strategy is used a good deal in the game to avoid dying and quickly kill bosses. If a player does not kill a boss in a certain amount of time, the boss self-destructs and the player earns no points. This forces the player to level up their weapons quickly.
Unlike in most other shoot 'em ups, there are no power-ups. All weapons are available from the start. Weapons can 'level up', however, becoming more powerful as the player uses them to score points (failure to properly level up the weapons in the early stages leads to a very frustrating, and even impossible, later game). The game is designed so that there is almost always a 'right' weapon for any situation. Indiscriminate firing is severely punished. Galaga, a famous shoot-em-up from 1981. ...
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The game rewards players for "chaining" enemies of just one of three colors (red, blue or yellow). Whenever the player kills enemies that are the same color, while ignoring the other two colors, they get faster upgrades and large score bonuses. This also facilitates faster upgrading of weapons used to do so. The levels are designed so usually, the player can go as far as possible on one color, hit one of another color, and then have the rest of the level as the third color. As such, the game highly rewards memorization.
The game's first level is stage 3. At the end of stage 3, the player can choose to continue at stage 2 or stage 4. Both stages lead to stage 5, then stage 6, and the finale at stage 1. This is true to the story's chronology; for example, the events of stage 2 occurred a year before stage 3. In the Saturn version, the player is forced to play all of the stages, starting at stage 3, to stage 2, then 4 through 6 and 1.
Trivia The Saturn release of the game is not particularly rare (unlike Panzer Dragoon Saga), but demand for the game is so high that the title has become the archetypal "eBay darling", with copies changing hands for over £100/$200 on a regular basis. Because prices are so high, emulation of the game is also highly popular. While not as valuable or rare as some Neo-Geo titles, the acclaimed gameplay makes Radiant Silvergun one of the most sought-after and prized titles in gaming history. Panzer Dragoon Saga (titled Azel: Panzer Dragoon RPG in Japan) is a role-playing video game (RPG) released exclusively for the Sega Saturn in 1998. ...
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Neo-Geo is the name of a cartridge-based arcade and home video game system released in 1990 by Japanese game company SNK. The system offered comparatively colorful 2D graphics and high-quality sound. ...
Story An artifact called the Stone-Like, along with a non-functioning robot, has been unearthed. Earth's secretary of defense, Chief Igarashi, orders the Stone-Like to be examined. Meanwhile, up in Earth's atmosphere, inside the spaceship Tetra, Commander Tengai issues Buster, Reana and Gai to test out the three new Silvergun prototype fighter crafts. Back on Earth, Igarashi relays information on the Stone-Like and the robot, claiming it has the serial number 00104, the exact same number of the robot aboard the Tetra, CREATOR 00104. Tengai cannot believe this be just a coincidence (partly due to Igarashi proving that it is, indeed the same robot), and has the three Silvergun pilots on standby. Suddenly, the Stone-Like starts to act up and destroys the facility containing it. As it overwhelms the Earth defense forces, the Stone-Like wipes out all life on Earth in a magnificent flash. Only the crew of the Tetra remain unharmed, as they were in satellite orbit. One year after the Stone-Like destroyed Earth, the Tetra, running low on supplies, makes its return to Earth.
The story is now told non-linearly, beginning with the third stage of the game, entitled Return. The Tetra flies back to Earth, and the three pilots, in their respective Silverguns, are sent out to investigate. Stage 2, Reminiscence, is actually a flashback sequence, where the Tetra and the Silverguns head to the Earth defense headquarters, where Chief Igarashi is, prior to the Stone-Like's attack. Knowing it's impossible to stop the Stone-Like, Igarashi has the Tetra and the Silverguns to make for satellite orbit, and evade the Stone-Like. The escape is successful, but the same cannot be said for Earth and its inhabitants.
Back in the present, the Stone-Like, now aware of the Tetra and Silverguns' presence, uses its power and commands its own manufactured weapons to destroy them. Stage 4, known as Evasion, now takes place. Seeing a need to know more about the Stone-Like, Tengai has Creator, the robot aboard the Tetra, to head for the Earth defense headquarters and gather information about it, while the Tetra and the Silverguns hold off the Stone-Like's forces. However, the Stone-Like sees through their plan and heads straight for the headquarters as well. Stage 5, Victim, begins, as two towering battleships lumber over the headquarters, intending to prevent Creator from succeeding its mission. The Silverguns hastily destroys the cruisers, but the Stone-Like appears and levels the headquarters. Just before the building collapses, Tengai pilots the Tetra and holds up the structure from falling, allowing Creator to board Reana's Silvergun to safety. Catching the Stone-Like off-guard, Gai goes on a suicidal run and attempts to destroy the artifact, but fails to do so, as his Silvergun vanishes upon contact with it. Tengai orders Buster and Reana to head for space, while he makes a last ditch effort and attempt to stall the Stone-Like, just as Gai did. With all seemingly lost, Buster persuades Reana to join him and try to destroy the Stone-Like. Before they head out into the space, Creator asks that they leave it one thing from them...
The Stone-Like, having located Buster and Reana, engages them in space combat, while briefly explaining that because of humanity's constant nature to war and destroy, it had to bring about the apocalypse. Stage 6, Origin, concludes with the Stone-Like, having been defeated, now transports the two Silverguns and its pilots back in time, to the year 100000 BC. Stage 1, Link, has the Stone-Like unleash its power in a cataclysmic explosion. As Buster and Reana make an attempt to escape the blast, they are swallowed up in the blinding light, seemingly destroyed. The ending concludes with Creator, 20 years into the future, having secluded itself inside an underground facility on Earth, now brimming with life again, creating a clone of Buster and Reana, from their strands of hair, the thing that he asked from both of them. The Stone-Like is now deactivated, its power exhausted from the last battle.
In its last moments before its energy fades, Creator explains that the Stone-Like is the guardian of Earth, and sees to it the advancement of the planet, its inhabitants and their way of living. If it deems that things must start over, the Stone-Like will destroy Earth and recreate it again, until humanity realizes their nature and change before the Stone-Like delivers the consequences. Creator's purpose was always to ensure that mankind will survive, through their clones, and with these words, Creator stops functioning. As the story ends, the Buster and Reana clone start to wake from their cloning tubes.
It should be noted that the story of Radiant Silvergun is only available in the Saturn Mode of the Sega Saturn version of the game. Arcade Mode and the original arcade version of Radiant Silvergun does not include any cutscenes or dialogue save for a slideshow at the end of the game.
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