Radiant Silvergun

The best thing in the space shooters genre, or – to be precise – the 'bullet hell' subgenre. [November 2011, p.83]

A perfect opportunity to enjoy one of the best classic shoot'em ups. A game with a gameplay that hasn't aged, a great soundtrack and an extreme level of difficulty that results very rare today. Maybe its difficulty will become a hurdle for some gamers, but it is a must-have for those who consider themselves proud fans of the genre.

You play Ikaruga if you want a great example of where the shoot-em-up was going at the start of the century. You play Radiant Silvergun for a great example of where it was at the end of the last.

Radiant Silvergun is a triumph and arguably one of the best (if not the best) game of its type available - on any platform.

Unless you absolutely despise the genre, Radiant Silvergun is a game that needs to be in your collection. It's just as much a landmark in game design as it is a joy to play.

Quotation forthcoming.

Radiant Silvergun doesn't just hold its own against the contemporary competition, but offers the classic game with different graphical skins and a host of options to reach a far wider audience than ever had the chance to experience its excellence before.

A hugely imaginative take on a deeply conservative genre, which shows one of 2D gaming's best developers at the very height of their talents.

It may not have the visual class of its younger cousin Ikaruga, but there is no other 32-bit era game that shines like this today; a true classic that is available to the world at last. And the scoffers? Well, the joke is finally on them.

Radiant Silvergun is one of the best shoot 'em ups that we've seen in the so-called next-gen. The co-op and the new online functions are welcome, and they just make better one of the most intriguing games of the late 90 decade.

The gameplay is both intuitive and entertaining, while the presentation goes head and shoulders over most other shooters out there. You might have missed it the first time around on the Saturn – but whatever you do, don't miss it this time.

Radiant Silvergun has a lot to offer: you can play it like a manic shooter and enjoy the weapons and skillful dodging, or you can make it more cerebral and go for the ridiculous color combos. Either way, you're getting one of the very best 2D shooters ever made.

Radiant Silvergun is bewilderment and frustration at the same time. With excessive amount of weapons, breathtaking boss rushes, killer difficulty and a complicated combo system Radiant Silvergun is just too much - and awesome for that reason. [Nov 2011]

More than a decade after its original release, Radiant Silvergun can still be considered a great classic. Its incredibly solid gameplay en depth create an unmatched experience. Casual and younger gamers should watch out though, since the game is just as hard as back in the day and can demand some serious grinding.

As with any vertical shooter, there's no escape from the laborious memorization of unforgiving patterns. That fact alone means that not everyone can fall in love with Radiant Silvergun's unique mix of frenetic combat and fast-paced puzzle-solving. But if you don't mind working for every inch of progress and using your noodle more than usual, you'll happily spent innumerable hours perfecting your patrols through enemy space.

Be warned, this is definitely not an easy game, and dying comes naturally (just check out our Breaking the Seal above for reference), but it is immensely rewarding and a reminder of when games were about scores and challenge instead of cut scenes and movie-like narratives.

The XBLA port of Radiant Silvergun is pretty close to identical in content with what the Saturn port contained.

The best shooter ever...simply isn't. But it's still bloody brilliant fun, even if it's beyond the skills of most gamers. [Christmas 2011, p.111]

It's impressive to see how thirteen years later, Radiant Silvergun is still among the finest shoot 'em ups ever made.

A classic 2D shooter from the Dreamcast era. Radiant Silvergun is fast, colorful, extremely difficult and surely not your casual, everyday shooter.

The conversion work is a bit rough, but Radiant Silvergun is still one of the best shmups ever published. Considering the prohibitive price the original Saturn game has on eBay, 1200MSP for it can be considered the bargain of the year.

Like most games by developer Treasure, Radiant Silvergun is an acquired taste, but this version is a fantastic port of a classic shooter. It's still worth experiencing today – especially now that you don't have to sell a kidney to afford it.

Radiant Silvergun proves that great core mechanics stand the test of time, though its severe difficulty could derail the unprepared.