Treasure and the bullet hell genre feel like a match made in heaven. A company known for going overboard on every level making shmups that go overboard with the bullets just feels so natural. Treasure has made two major bullet hell games with polar opposite design philosophies. Ikaruga is an uncharacteristically simple game focused entirely around its polarity mechanic, with no wild gimmicks and very simple enemy designs, and a lack of that classic Treasure excess. On the other hand, there's Radient Silvergun, the most excessive bullet hell ever made with a massive weapon arsenal, tons of bosses and weird gimmicks, and a sense of complete and utter bombast. Ikaruga is brilliant, but I like Radiant Silvergun even more.
So most shmups give you one or two weapons at a time, right? You got your standard shot, and maybe also a bomb. Some games will let you pick one of several shot types at the start of the game, and others may let you swap between the shot types by grabbing pick-ups. But most of the time, you're usually stuck with a single shot-type, likely to keep the controls simple and not to overwhelm the player in what's otherwise an overwhelming genre. Radiant Silvergun says screw all of that and gives you a whopping seven weapons that you can all use at the same exact time:
These weapons range from your average firing and spread shots, to homing missiles, to just straight-up electricity, to a literal giant sword. I've mentioned several times that Treasure loves to give you massive movesets, but it feels especially notable here because of just how unusually it is for the genre. And while I wouldn't want every bullet hell I play to let you use seven weapons at the same time, this system works wonderfully for Radiant Silvergun because of just how much freedom in player expression it gives you. There's a puzzle element in figuring out which weapons work best for which situations, but there's also nothing stopping you from using whichever weapons you want whenever you want, and the freedom of trying out different strategies makes Radiant Silvergun an incredibly fun game to replay. On top of all that, there's a pretty brilliant color chaining system where your score increases if you can hit multiple enemies of the same color, which in turn powers up your weapons, and it all leads to the game feeling super mechanically complex and interesting.
Radiant Silvergun's level design is incredibly chaotic and bombastic in a way that truly lives up to Treasure's reputation. Stages are stuffed to the brim with enemies, walls, and other obstacles and you'll need to use every weapon in your arsenal to get through unscathed, and even moreso if you want to go after a big combo. And as you'd expect from Treasure, these stages are stuffed to the brim with boss fights, at least four per stage. But even by Treasure's standards, every single boss here is unique, creative, and memorable in their own rights. It's not just Treasure's best boss lineup, it's one of the best boss lineups in a bullet hell period. Many bosses also have multiple parts that you can blow off to get more points, and multiple phases and attack patterns to keep you on your toes. But I think what makes Radiant Silvergun's bosses truly special is the game's 2.5D presentation. While your ship is a flat 2D sprite, bosses are often rendered in full 3D, and can and will manipulate the space however they see fit. Stage 2 is the best example of this, as bosses like NASU and DAIKAI-10 will trap you in enclosed spaces, while the GOLETS will blast off at full speed forcing you to chase them at a blistering fast pace, weaving around walls and making constant split second decisions. There's so much variety in the boss fights, and so many other highlights I could single out like the caterpillar-like DAN-564, the massive SBS ships, the iconic PENTA fight, and of course, one of the wildest final bosses in any shmup period:
Yes, that is in fact a giant humanoid running in the background.
Now all of this sounds like the hardest video game ever made and you may be right. Radiant Silvergun is brutal especially as an arcade game, but its home console release (specifically the Saturn version but I believe most ports keep the same features) is actually one of the most forgiving bullet hells I've played. With the Saturn version of Radiant Silvergun came the introduction of Saturn Mode, a revamped version of the original arcade version which pooled all the levels together into a single campaign (the arcade version had multiple routes), added a few more bosses, and most importantly, added a permanent leveling up system for your weapons. I mentioned that getting chains levels up your weapons but that's just in the Arcade Mode. In the Saturn Mode, your weapons' levels are saved after each playthrough, so that even when you die, you're still making progress, which can be a godsend for people new to the genre. It's a fun twist on the shmup formula that works because it has that same addictive quality that a roguelike such as Hades would have. It feels like every attempt gets you increasingly farther before you finally make it to the final boss. And if you're a purist who hates this concept, well Saturn Mode is still totally doable in a single go if you're skilled enough, and there's a port of the original Arcade version for good measure. And if you hate this idea and you suck at bullet hells? Well, you have an infinite continues option for Arcade Mode. Treasure really did think of everything here.
As far as presentation goes, this game is pretty stellar as well. Like with most of Treasure's games, there is a really fleshed-out story here with a whole bunch of cutscenes that... I sadly can't quite understand. Yeah, unfortunately, since I only played the Japan-only Saturn version of Radiant Silvergun, I wasn't able to actually form any thoughts on its story, but it is still there and I thought it was worth noting. What I can appreciate, however, is Radiant Silvergun's style. From its sick stage transitions to the aforementioned 2D/3D blend, Radiant Silvergun still looks incredibly slick and fresh to this day. If you're a fan of chunky PS1/SAT era low-poly models, you're going to love some of these bosses. I particularly love the hilariously poorly-translated warning signs before each boss, they're always a treat:
As for the soundtrack, it was done by Hitoshi Sakimoto, a composer who I'm honestly not usually big on. He's known for his grandiose orchestral and militaristic style that I always felt can sound a bit samey, but he killed it with the music for Radiant Silvergun. It's frantic, tense, bombastic, and manages to revolve most of the tracks around a single gripping leitmotif without them blending together.
Overall, Radiant Silvergun is my favorite Treasure game because it distills everything I love about them as a company. It's got a massive moveset and complex scoring system that promotes experimentation and player expression, nonstop bombastic bosses that are varied and visually-impressive while all being a ton of fun, and a great balance between high-concept ambition and both accessibility and replayability. It's a great bullet hell because of how creative it is, it takes some truly unconventional risks that all pay off wonderfully despite initially seeming like they completely oppose the genre. As I've said with Treasure, they take a lot of big swings and not all of them land for me, but with Radiant Silvergun, they knocked it out of the park and achieved their full uncompromised vision.
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