Collection essentials #322: Radiant Silvergun (Saturn)

I’ve talked about a few Treasure games previously such as Dynamite Headdy and Gunstar Heroes. They were originally founded by former employees of my beloved Konami, so the quality of their games isn’t surprising. And this is possibly their greatest work.

Radiant Silvergun is a very unique shoot ‘em up which originated in arcades, but in some ways feels designed for home consoles. The vast majority of shoot ‘em ups involve power-ups of some form that drop from enemies or simply appear while going through the stage, which the player can pick up. But those are absent here. Instead, the player starts out with a whopping seven distinct weapons they can use right off the bat!

Enemies in this game are either red, blue or yellow. Destroying a bunch of enemies in a row of the same color creates what’s called a “chain” which not only gives you a lot of points, but also powers up your weapons. Three of the game’s weapons are considered “primary” weapons, as the other four weapons are used when you press different combinations of the three weapon buttons together (though with the Saturn controller’s amount of buttons, the “secondary” weapons have their own buttons too). When you make chains with a given weapon, it will give “experience points” based on the weapon used, a certain amount of which will level it up. Using one of the “secondary” weapons splits these points between whatever primary weapon buttons combine to use it. You also gain experience points based on how much of a boss’s body you destroy before actually winning the fight, which is pretty neat.

You can play “Arcade mode” or “Saturn mode” when starting a new game. In arcade mode, your weapon levels start at 0 every time. But in Saturn mode, whenever you get a game over, you save to a file, and when you choose that file next time, you start from the beginning of the game with the weapon levels you had at your last game over, so the game will get progressively easier the more you play. This is a fantastic addition, because it allows the game to be played more casually and makes it much easier to get into. In order to actually beat the game in arcade mode, one has to truly understand and master the chain system to even have a chance. 

The variety of the weapons makes the game so much fun. You of course have your basic forward-facing shot like in any shoot ‘em up. You have a homing attack which means you never have to aim, but it doesn’t do much damage. You have a laser attack that shoots out two beams, one to either side of you. There’s another type of homing attack that’s a little hard to describe; it creates a large circle around your ship, and any enemy that touches it will get a laser to the face (and this circle can also detect hidden dogs in the levels which grant extra points). There’s a rear shot, which shoots a lot of bullets behind you but one stream forward as well. There’s a weapon which has your ship emitting sweeping beams in front of you which will lock onto and zap enemies that touch them. Finally, there’s the sword, which can only be used at close range, but deals a lot of damage. The sword can also absorb pink bullets, which there are many of. Once it has absorbed 10 bullets, it will be charged up, and the next time you press the sword button, it will unleash a huge attack that will strike most of the screen. It’s epic! And importantly, the level and boss designs are also creative and brilliant in providing you fun opportunities to use those weapons.

Radiant Silvergun is also story-driven, complete with an introductory anime cutscene. Of course, the game is in Japanese, so playing this version, you kinda miss out on it. But that’s not a big deal because you really don’t need to understand the story to have fun with this great game.

My main complaint is that I’m not the biggest fan of the color chain system. It kinda forces you to play the game in a very specific way (at least in arcade mode) which makes you feel like you really have to memorize an awful lot. 

Radiant Silvergun was one of the first games I ever imported from Japan, as I got it in January of 2005, the very copy shown in the photo. I didn’t know much about it, but I did know it was lauded as one of the Saturn’s best games, and I wasn’t disappointed. What’s kinda funny is that I was oblivious to how the game’s color chain system works, but it didn’t matter because Saturn mode exists. 

Radiant Silvergun has been remade on a few modern platforms, including PC and Nintendo Switch, and released in English too. That’s great, but the Saturn version is still probably the best way to play it, due to minimal input lag. I also remember not being content with a change they made to the newer version’s equivalent of Saturn mode. Regardless, if you like shoot ‘em ups at all, this is one you have to seek out in whatever way you can. It’s a true quintessential essential.