Radiant Silvergun

1998 · Vertical Shooter · Sega Saturn

Overview

Radiant Silvergun (1998) is Treasure's vertical shooter with seven weapons that level up permanently through colour-chained kills — the Japan-only Saturn game that became a byword for rare and expensive.

Deep Dive

The ship starts with three weapons — a forward laser, homing shots and a spread gun — each on its own button. Pressing two at once fires three more attacks: a rear laser, a homing plasma beam and short-range missiles. All three together swing a sword that absorbs certain enemy bullets and charges a screen-clearing attack. Enemies come in red, blue and yellow, and destroying the same colour in a row builds chains that score heavily and level up whichever weapon made the kill, with upgrades kept for the rest of the game. The story, set in 2520 after an ancient robot triggers a catastrophe, is told through animated scenes and loops back on itself.

Developer Story

Hiroshi Iuchi directed a team of about ten at Treasure, a studio known for console action games, with music by Hitoshi Sakimoto. It appeared in Japanese arcades on 28 May 1998 and on the Saturn that July, selling around 50,000 copies; it did not get a Western release until the Xbox 360 version in 2011.

Did You Know?

Hidden dogs throughout the game give bonus points and unlock options when shot.
Its spiritual successor, Ikaruga (2001), was originally subtitled Radiant Silvergun 2.