Man, you know how to review a shmup. Chain systems, lag between versions, training mode, emulation quality… all a real player needs to know. I love your channel. Congrats!!!
We also have to mention that Treasure was made up from guys who worked on Axelay and Contra. I always saw Radiant Silvergun as a super souped up Axelay. The "you have these weapons but you can combine them to make new weapons" is a concept we also saw on Gustar Heroes. I'm not an expert at RS, as a matter of a fact I suck massively at it but always found it rather interesting. It came up to define Treasure in ways I think they didn't even expect. Great vid Mark.
thanks my dude! Yes treasure are always bringing something creative to the table with their games, I think RS is one of my favs of theirs, after sin and punishment ;-)
My biggest gripe with this otherwise brilliantly designed game was mostly my deficiency and not playing it correctly. You pretty much HAVE TO level up your weapons properly and quickly enough, and it punishes you severely late game if you played for survival favoring certain weapons or tactics. I get to a point where I just can't kill a boss due to lack of firepower and they time out and go away because I couldn't kill them in time lol. Needles to say that makes a very long game borderline intolerable, as you're just pounding away at endless bosses you can avoid but they refuse to die. You really do have to manage your weapon leveling properly like you said. And the better you do it early game the more fun and less punishing the late game is. I've only finished it legit once long ago when it came out on Saturn and not since, the only time I played it correctly due to simply replaying it a lot. Last time I just tried brute forcing it after not starting correctly and it made me suffer until I myself timed out well over an hour into the game fighting the giant turtle boss. It won that round haha.
@@soratheorangejuicemascot5809 The sword is such an important weapon in this game I don’t know if you can overuse it. I do know the better you play for chain the faster you level up, so you really have to not just play survival and try to power up your weapons as much as possible from the start. But I’ve got a lot to learn on this one myself.
Yes exactly ha. It seems strange but the positive power up system of the game is pretty unique because normally shmups will punish strong score gameplay with increasingly more difficult survival gameplay, but silvergun basically slaps the player around for not engaging in the scoring, which could be either brilliant or a nightmare ha. I think silvergun pulls this design decision off though, because treasure is cool like that and seem to have been gifted by the shmup gods. You would think with all the creative directions they take their games at least one of them would be a complete disaster ha, but I'm not aware of one being that way (so far).
Radiant Silvergun is an extremely well polished diamond. Absolutely everything in the game is brilliantly thought out, studied and well executed. It is a game to analyze in great depth because it contains elements of a thousand different things... it is overwhelmingly impressive in every way. And the different patterns of bosses... something unique. All types of STG have their pattern types more or less established (Danmaku, Compile style, Konami...), but Radiant Silvergun has them all together in a single game with a creativity never seen before... and I would say neither later. It is a unique and incomparable game. I keep my original copy for Sega Saturn as if it were a treasure , never better said :D And another digital one from Xbox 360 ^^ Treasure forever! ❤️❤️❤️
Thank you for putting into words how I feel about this game. It truly is a work of art, the perfection of gameplay is something I have been in awe of ever since I imported the Saturn version upon its release in the dying days of my beloved Saturn. There has not been a game that has come close in my opinion, there is so much depth and room for improvement that I still play Radiant Silvergun to this day. People rightfully talk of Battle Garegga being a great game for scoring but it doesn’t come close to what’s on offer in Radiant Silvergun - chaining, secret chains, hidden dogs, grazing, weapon level up bonuses, points for every shot that hits an enemy. The point system can be pushed to the very extreme. I simply cannot get over how deep and beautiful this game is.
What's kinda sad, is after radiant silvergun, it feels after that maxima-list era, Treasure later on would do more minimalist type designs, and other than maybe Bangaio, they'd never go full on choatic again.
It's worth giving very hard mode a shot on this game. Unlike most shmups the difficulty dip switch changes bullet patterns pretty drastically. Do that on story/saturn mode with its additional bosses + stages + harder weapon leveling and you get a kind of ultimate mode.
What an enterataining review, very interesting takes and top notch editing! You enjoying RSG so much was a surprise, I really did not see that coming. What will be supremely interesting to me is how grinding RSG will (or will not) change your consideration of Ikaruga. In many ways the two Treasure's STG are different, but in many other ways you can see how much they are inter-connected and how much Iuchi-san worked on some RSG's ideas, both good and bad ones, while crafting Ika
You have nicely summarized while I love the game so much. RSG is so deep and generous, unlike most other great shmups which excel in one specific aspect of the genre, it can be appreciated in so many different ways. If you like shmups casually, RSG is a cool spectacle with nice set pieces, good rhythm progression and many cool bosses. If you like the puzzling aspect of Ikaruga's level design, RSG lets you aim for the color chain. If you like old school shmups from Compile and their huge variety of weapons, RSG provides you with seven different weapons at any moment. If you want to be rewarded for your efforts (like Mars Matrix's unlock system), RSG's weapon level up does that. If you enjoyed stories and weirdly convoluted settings in PC Engine shmups like Spriggan, RSG was heavily impacted by Evangelion (as the video astutely pointed out). If you are into Psyvariar, RSG has grazing. If you are not too good, RSG is actually quite merciful in its easier difficulties. If you are a veteran that likes challenges, RSG's hardest mode is incredibly challenging... This game has everything. I recommend Ben Shinobi's old superplays, by the way.
Wow, I was really thinking you wouldn't click with it, for the reasons you referenced. Great video, really thorough. I actually have the Saturn version, just because I felt like it's the crown jewel of any good Saturn collection. But while I quite like it, I haven't been captivated by it yet. But I can tell it's one of those things I just have to approach in the right mood on the right day for it to really sink in.
Yeah, I was thinking the same. And I'm happy to see it got the love. RS is not for everybody, but if you do love it, it has so much to offer. When you get fluid with the weapon system it becomes a joy and you'll wish every shooter gave you such expressive controls. Also notable, there's no pickups, no fiddly weapon cycling of any kind, and no penalty for dying either apart from your chain breaking (I think?)
To be honest, i really wish there are more shumps that have scores as EXP, i think it's very very cool idea when score is not just showing how good you are, it's also very important for survival as well. With this, i'm sure that it will encourage players to do more scores.
Man I need to play this game. I fired it up but those crazy button combinations made me shelve it immediately 🤣🤣 I'll get back to it when I have a LOT more time. Great review!
An old favorite. I recommend the Saturn port as it has a progression of sorts. The more you play, the more powerful your weapons permanently become, even after turning the console off and coming back to it to start a new playthrough. This was created to be a maximal shooter, so tons of guns and ways to use them, and Ikaruga was made to be a minimal shooter. I still feel like RSG is the better game of the two though. I never really enjoyed Ikaruga all that much, the puzzle element zapped the fun for me.
Good job on the review I also expected more harsh criticism because of you Cave/DDP preferences but I'm glad you enjoy it, it seems like there's always something more to practice and learn in this game. By the way there are extra options too unlock on Saturn, you have to 1cc or play for 50 hours to unlock everything. As someone that has a 1CC on Normal Saturn Story mode (no save) you can get by if you just only focus on the main forward shot and get full destruction whenever you can, but getting those secret chains in the right places makes the game a lot more enjoyable while really boosting your firepower. 10 years later I'm still practicing Hard runs it took about a year to get a Very easy 1CC. Yeah that's something Ikaruga has in common too, complexity that shooter enthusiasts can really get into but can intimidate new or casual players. I think RS also has a bit of a stigma in the stg community and there's always players that either don't have the time to learn it and write it of as overrated (similar to Ikaruga) or assume it's only liked because of the presentation or music.
Oh that s great there are more unlocks on the Saturn! Thanks for the tip on the forward shot, I ll give that a try :-) and yes I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it as well, it managed to hit a soft spot in my usual ire ha.
@@TheElectricUnderground I was wrong about something, it turns out you have to beat story mode. It doesn't matter how many continues are used, just beating it once unlocks an extra category in the options.
Great review dude! I don't think I've seen such a detailed break down of this game before. I've also been meaning to play it for years but it all seemed sort of opaque, so it was hard to really get into. But this video really helped me to understand the systems alot more, thanks!
My main interest in RS was always the sword, because swords in SHMUPS is always cool lol. I personally don't really dig the RPG-like elements as much, but this game always draws me in with the fun enemy patterns and set pieces.
Great review, Mark! Love your enthusiasm-always makes me want to fire up whatever it is you’re playing. Don’t think I’ve played RS since the early ‘00s, but this review makes me want to revisit it. Never had much want to try and chain the game, but a simple 1CC seems like it’d be goal to shoot for.
I just watched this today, then I saw on steam that it had released! I don't know the technical aspects of it, but I'm enjoying the game a lot and bought it because of your video. Thank you!
Top notch review, I could really feel your excitement for the game. I like the parallels to ZR and how you broke it down, this game has always seemed to be a bit of a beast to me but this got me more excited to try it. I also really like the focus cam on tight moments in the gameplay. Even as a more experienced player when you aren't the one playing the game it can be hard to know where to look and zooming in like really brings the action front and center.
Glad you enjoyed the review! Yes I ve been working really hard on my video editing skills and trying to keep the visuals more engaging, the full screen zooms was a lightbulb moment for me :-)
There is a Stage Select on the Saturn version if you play 3 hours or beat Arcade mode. It's one of the bonus Options you unlock. Also I'd test it on other emulators. I've been playing it alright on SSF.
Really nice to get your full thoughts on this game. I really love it, my favorite shmup that I’ve tried. I was surprised you had it lumped in with Ikaruga at #9 on your GOAT shmup list. Would you rate it higher now? Please do Soukyugurentai next! another great game that Zeroranger calls back to.
I would rate it higher on my personal list, but I think I would keep it tied with ikaruga in a more objective sense, ikaruga is still a very influential game with a better scoring system. But I do like silvergun more gameplay wise
I enjoyed this review a ton! I cleared the game before but I needed all my accumulated credits to do so. I had no idea how its systems worked. Will there be more Treasure game reviews?
It's funny, the second I started playing ZeroRanger, I immediately thought back to this game, and just felt like ZeroRanger did everything RS did, but just a little better, at least for me. I like how in ZR, you get introduced to all of the weapons slowly, one at a time. It always felt like RS had a big learning curve that I just couldn't put in enough time for
Yes though having all the weapons does really help with replayability, so staggering out the weapons like in zr does have a drawback, both work for their own games though :-)
I have RSG on Saturn ODE but I haven't managed to get my head around it and die super quick, I really need to properly learn how the weapons work. There's some reminders of an earlier game called JP:Layer Section US:Galactic Attack (which is also on Saturn with tate mode and is the first instalment in Taito's "Ray" series) in RSG . Check that out if you haven't, one of my fave shmups and has the epic feel of RSG in spades, with the nice stage and music transitions etc (stage 1 boss even goes wire frame briefly). Plus you're gonna love it if you like RSG's chunky pixel look.
@@TheElectricUnderground That's the one. It's also known as Gunlock in some regions making for no less than four different names for the same game. Not confusing at all....
One of my favorites. RSG punishes the brute force player. It's approach is methodical. One of the greatest shmups ever in my opinion. Treasure has a catalog of great shooters. My favorites are : Radiant silvergun, Ikaruga, Gradius V, Sin and Punishment 2, Gun Star heroes and super heroes, mischief makers. They always nail the gameplay and music. I'm new to your channel so if you've covered any of the shmups above I'll definitely check your reviews.
I grabbed it on the Xbox one 🤣. We got brutalised in local co-op. Had no idea about targeting one colour enemies. Might have to give that another try. I really like the premise of this game. I like the system of weapons getting stronger without being like overly grindy or anything. Soon as I 1cc death smiles I think I will get back to this one.
Hahaha not sure if showing the "final" boss of zero ranger after recommending it was the best decision, but awesome review nonetheless! Really want to try this game but I don't have a 360 :(
Great in depth review. I've got to say I prefer Ikaruga mode, it just mean you get to shoot more stuff! Btw, 'I've sent you a pm over on shmups forum, not sure how else to contact you.
How did you get RSG working in xenia? Even working with people on the official discord, none of us could get it to work properly. Also a shame we're probably never getting another Treasure port again with the state of the company being what it is
@@TheElectricUnderground oh, alright lol. Yeah, there's a line in the config under Content that's "license_mask". You want to set the value of that to 1 to run the full versions of xbla titles. But yeah, I've only ever gotten a black play window under directx and just the stage 1 fog under vulkan. At any rate, my local arcade has an RSG, so I might as well stick to the saturn version if I want to practice it
This game frustrates me...did you play with your shmup fightstick or a controller? Im interested in what button config is the most advantageous to you. Thanks for the in depth review.
Thanks bro ..I'm gonna use this exact layout and see what happens.. I'm in the middle of this review where you explain the layout. Lol my bad and thanks again
Probably worth mentioning that you can play this on real hardware relatively cheaply. There's a Darksoft ST-V cart and ST-V motherboards are easy to find.
@@TheElectricUnderground around the same pricepoint as a PGM and 3 clone carts of the Cave games. There's a few other Shmups on the system too, Sheinryu, Cotton Boomerang and Guardian Force.
@@TheElectricUnderground Nobody knows, right? If i remember right, the last interview was from 2018 or something and their boss was pretty tight lipped, but he said that they wanted to continue create classic action games for a core audience. Since then i heard nothing. And the studio was never officially closed. Iuchi-san, the creator of Radiant Silvergun, Ikaruga and Gradius V however, works at M2 now and he has a new project in the works, Ubusuna.
Nice, I was just playing this last week. It’s my favorite Treasure game, and I feel like it’s infinitely better than Ikaruga. I can’t stand that game. Another reason why the Saturn is the #1 shmup console.
I'm a total newbie to shmups but I had heard Ikaruga recommended so often I thought I had to try it out as my first shmup. It was not a great choice for many reasons. I've instead started again with Batsugun on Saturn and I'm having a much better time. Do you think Radiant Silvergun is a good choice for a beginner to the genre? It looks very complicated like Ikaruga
@@CrossingRover Batsugun is a great choice, not too hard to beat the first loop. Radiant is fun but pretty complicated. Dodonpachi is great for beginners, also if your playing Saturn you can’t go wrong with Soukyugurentai.
@@ps3inquisition441 Thanks so much, I'm going to check those out. I do love playing on Saturn as I have a nice CRT and an Svideo cable so the games look fantastic.
@@CrossingRover - Radiant Silvergun IS complicated, but it's still lots of fun, and unlike Ikaruga the complicated parts are optional and you can learn at your own pace. Ikaruga makes my brain hurt and is probably the worst shooter of all time for beginners. Or anyone with a normal human brain. Don't feel bad about that one. Dodonpachi is great fun for beginners, I agree. Similar deal - the complicated stuff is all optional. Saturn port is so-so. But if you have a Saturn you have got to try Radiant Silvergun, absolutely for sure. It's definitely one of the best-looking Saturn games and it will look killer on your CRT.
God I super wanna get this. The fact that it's held hostage on one of the most expensive systems to collect for at the best of times, with only one country's worth of copies to go round for the entire world, is criminal. M2 need to port this lickety split!
What I really loved about RSG is that it felt more like an action adventure game than a shmup Almost the same feeling I get when playing Guardian Heroes There's a story that is told and the presentation is very cinematic I love how creative the stages and boss fights are. Not your typical shmup and I can't think of another like it that I have played. Glad your enjoying it and looking forward to that 1CC Going to be a long 1CC as I found the game longer than most shmups I've played :p
@@TheElectricUnderground Saturn Mode has I believe 3 more stages than Arcade Mode That could be why some runs are shorter than others 😋 In Saturn Mode we get 3 extra Bosses Turtle Shark Phoenix bosses [I think... beem a while]
Any plans to review the just-released Steam version? Unfortunately it does just seem identical to the Xbox 360 port, so there might not be much to say beyond what you've already mentioned here.
so you can emulate it pretty well on mednafen or you can go with the 360 port which is good because it has a training mode (though it's a tougher clear with the missing slowdown)
@@TheElectricUnderground I might get roasted for saying some examples of this offense but here goes: 1. Walk and talk - Witcher 3, Legend of Heroes series and most modern western rpg 2. Slap in visual novel banters and simple talk that leads to nothing - Persona, Summon Night, Neptunia series, Legend of Heroes series 3. Too much dialogue - Persona, Legend of Heroes series. . Ok thats it. Those are the games that got these terrible offense.
Just about the greatest videogame tech demo ever made. But the difficulty is so far off the charts that I need new words for “impossible.” But maybe that’s just me.
Hey Mark, or anyone else, have you had any luck getting this to run on retroarch with runahead enabled? I can get it to run with Mednafen but I don't have enough cpu/gpu to get it to run with runahead. I heard that the Yabusa core is less cpu/gpu demanding but I couldn't get that core to work.
So here is the answer and it s kinda messy ha. So you basically need both ports of the game, 360 and Saturn. You need the 360 version for the stage practice mode to practice the various sections and chaining and then to actually play out the runs the Saturn version is best because it has less input lag and more accurate slowdown
I don't know how to feel about the color system. It seems like a cool idea but it purposely makes you try to not shoot units on screen which kind of defeats the purpose of a shmup lol. Everything else seems amazing though.
This game is very much a love letter to classic mecha anime from Getter Robo to Space Runaway Ideon to Neon Genesis Evangelion and it's absolutely awesome.
I'm sure you have seen them by now but the swordplay runs by VTF-INO will show you just how much grazing you can pull out of the stages ua-cam.com/users/results?search_query=vtf-ino
it seems Treasure games have their aestethic that got my attention into their game. but sadly the level design seems like not for me. my hand already trumbling when im in the 3rd-4th boss. and the stages is even longer than that. even already credit feeding with 2 credits with easy mode and lower score extend. and. i hate Kotetsu since my first play
I can get Ikaruga on my toaster, so why is the 360 remaster the last place Radiant Silvergun was released? Don't get me wrong, I love Ikaruga, but RS needs to be experienced by more possible new fans! Obviously anybody can play it on PC, but a PlayStation and Switch port could bring in a bunch of new players.
Man, you know how to review a shmup. Chain systems, lag between versions, training mode, emulation quality… all a real player needs to know. I love your channel. Congrats!!!
I'm really happy to hear that! Yes I try to go in depth for sure!
We also have to mention that Treasure was made up from guys who worked on Axelay and Contra. I always saw Radiant Silvergun as a super souped up Axelay. The "you have these weapons but you can combine them to make new weapons" is a concept we also saw on Gustar Heroes. I'm not an expert at RS, as a matter of a fact I suck massively at it but always found it rather interesting. It came up to define Treasure in ways I think they didn't even expect. Great vid Mark.
thanks my dude! Yes treasure are always bringing something creative to the table with their games, I think RS is one of my favs of theirs, after sin and punishment ;-)
More that that, it was made up of the team that made Gradius.
My biggest gripe with this otherwise brilliantly designed game was mostly my deficiency and not playing it correctly. You pretty much HAVE TO level up your weapons properly and quickly enough, and it punishes you severely late game if you played for survival favoring certain weapons or tactics. I get to a point where I just can't kill a boss due to lack of firepower and they time out and go away because I couldn't kill them in time lol. Needles to say that makes a very long game borderline intolerable, as you're just pounding away at endless bosses you can avoid but they refuse to die. You really do have to manage your weapon leveling properly like you said. And the better you do it early game the more fun and less punishing the late game is. I've only finished it legit once long ago when it came out on Saturn and not since, the only time I played it correctly due to simply replaying it a lot. Last time I just tried brute forcing it after not starting correctly and it made me suffer until I myself timed out well over an hour into the game fighting the giant turtle boss. It won that round haha.
If I use my swords too much, does that mean my shots wont be strong enough for late game? So I expect bosses in this game are very bulky aswell.
@@soratheorangejuicemascot5809 The sword is such an important weapon in this game I don’t know if you can overuse it. I do know the better you play for chain the faster you level up, so you really have to not just play survival and try to power up your weapons as much as possible from the start. But I’ve got a lot to learn on this one myself.
Yes exactly ha. It seems strange but the positive power up system of the game is pretty unique because normally shmups will punish strong score gameplay with increasingly more difficult survival gameplay, but silvergun basically slaps the player around for not engaging in the scoring, which could be either brilliant or a nightmare ha. I think silvergun pulls this design decision off though, because treasure is cool like that and seem to have been gifted by the shmup gods. You would think with all the creative directions they take their games at least one of them would be a complete disaster ha, but I'm not aware of one being that way (so far).
Yeah the game doesn't like it when you try to brute force it. RS is looking for more of a long-term relationship.
@@TheElectricUnderground - Stretch Panic is a complete disaster I think. I've tried to like it but it's just such a mess.
Radiant Silvergun is an extremely well polished diamond.
Absolutely everything in the game is brilliantly thought out, studied and well executed.
It is a game to analyze in great depth because it contains elements of a thousand different things... it is overwhelmingly impressive in every way.
And the different patterns of bosses... something unique. All types of STG have their pattern types more or less established (Danmaku, Compile style, Konami...), but Radiant Silvergun has them all together in a single game with a creativity never seen before... and I would say neither later.
It is a unique and incomparable game.
I keep my original copy for Sega Saturn as if it were a treasure , never better said :D And another digital one from Xbox 360 ^^
Treasure forever! ❤️❤️❤️
Yes silvergun is so well-made! I still think it is under-appreciated in terms of its design.
Thank you for putting into words how I feel about this game. It truly is a work of art, the perfection of gameplay is something I have been in awe of ever since I imported the Saturn version upon its release in the dying days of my beloved Saturn. There has not been a game that has come close in my opinion, there is so much depth and room for improvement that I still play Radiant Silvergun to this day. People rightfully talk of Battle Garegga being a great game for scoring but it doesn’t come close to what’s on offer in Radiant Silvergun - chaining, secret chains, hidden dogs, grazing, weapon level up bonuses, points for every shot that hits an enemy. The point system can be pushed to the very extreme. I simply cannot get over how deep and beautiful this game is.
What's kinda sad, is after radiant silvergun, it feels after that maxima-list era, Treasure later on would do more minimalist type designs, and other than maybe Bangaio, they'd never go full on choatic again.
Oh that s a really great observation! I never realized that before but yes, the design philosophy of minimalism is what ikaruga goes for
It's worth giving very hard mode a shot on this game. Unlike most shmups the difficulty dip switch changes bullet patterns pretty drastically. Do that on story/saturn mode with its additional bosses + stages + harder weapon leveling and you get a kind of ultimate mode.
That sounds sadistic! (And awesome)
What an enterataining review, very interesting takes and top notch editing! You enjoying RSG so much was a surprise, I really did not see that coming. What will be supremely interesting to me is how grinding RSG will (or will not) change your consideration of Ikaruga.
In many ways the two Treasure's STG are different, but in many other ways you can see how much they are inter-connected and how much Iuchi-san worked on some RSG's ideas, both good and bad ones, while crafting Ika
I m glad you enjoyed the review! Yes I do wonder if this will give me a new set of eyes for when I take a look at ikaruga :-)
Hitoshi Sakimoto's music during this era was insane. Final Fantasy Tactics, this and later on Gradius V as well.
yeah great tunes!!!
You have nicely summarized while I love the game so much. RSG is so deep and generous, unlike most other great shmups which excel in one specific aspect of the genre, it can be appreciated in so many different ways. If you like shmups casually, RSG is a cool spectacle with nice set pieces, good rhythm progression and many cool bosses. If you like the puzzling aspect of Ikaruga's level design, RSG lets you aim for the color chain. If you like old school shmups from Compile and their huge variety of weapons, RSG provides you with seven different weapons at any moment. If you want to be rewarded for your efforts (like Mars Matrix's unlock system), RSG's weapon level up does that. If you enjoyed stories and weirdly convoluted settings in PC Engine shmups like Spriggan, RSG was heavily impacted by Evangelion (as the video astutely pointed out). If you are into Psyvariar, RSG has grazing. If you are not too good, RSG is actually quite merciful in its easier difficulties. If you are a veteran that likes challenges, RSG's hardest mode is incredibly challenging... This game has everything.
I recommend Ben Shinobi's old superplays, by the way.
yes exactly! been working on the 1cc for the past week and this game iiiiissss brutal!!
Wow, I was really thinking you wouldn't click with it, for the reasons you referenced. Great video, really thorough. I actually have the Saturn version, just because I felt like it's the crown jewel of any good Saturn collection. But while I quite like it, I haven't been captivated by it yet. But I can tell it's one of those things I just have to approach in the right mood on the right day for it to really sink in.
Researching the chaining system is also really helpful too since it powers up your shot and makes survival easier
Yeah, I was thinking the same. And I'm happy to see it got the love. RS is not for everybody, but if you do love it, it has so much to offer. When you get fluid with the weapon system it becomes a joy and you'll wish every shooter gave you such expressive controls.
Also notable, there's no pickups, no fiddly weapon cycling of any kind, and no penalty for dying either apart from your chain breaking (I think?)
To be honest, i really wish there are more shumps that have scores as EXP, i think it's very very cool idea when score is not just showing how good you are, it's also very important for survival as well. With this, i'm sure that it will encourage players to do more scores.
I hadn't seen gameplay of it before and I didn't expect it to look this good. Good thing it won the Patreon poll, and good review.
Yes I m really glad you all voted it in! I probably wouldn't have reviewed it for a long time otherwise :-) now I m hooked and going for the 1cc
Man I need to play this game. I fired it up but those crazy button combinations made me shelve it immediately 🤣🤣
I'll get back to it when I have a LOT more time.
Great review!
Yeah learning the weapon combos is a bit of a chore at first, but it does feel cool to have them once you know them
Always so cool to see you so happy with a game 👏
I know it s not an easy task these days :-)
An old favorite. I recommend the Saturn port as it has a progression of sorts. The more you play, the more powerful your weapons permanently become, even after turning the console off and coming back to it to start a new playthrough. This was created to be a maximal shooter, so tons of guns and ways to use them, and Ikaruga was made to be a minimal shooter. I still feel like RSG is the better game of the two though. I never really enjoyed Ikaruga all that much, the puzzle element zapped the fun for me.
Agreed 💯 though I am going to take a 2nd look at ikaruga soon
Good job on the review I also expected more harsh criticism because of you Cave/DDP preferences but I'm glad you enjoy it, it seems like there's always something more to practice and learn in this game. By the way there are extra options too unlock on Saturn, you have to 1cc or play for 50 hours to unlock everything.
As someone that has a 1CC on Normal Saturn Story mode (no save) you can get by if you just only focus on the main forward shot and get full destruction whenever you can, but getting those secret chains in the right places makes the game a lot more enjoyable while really boosting your firepower. 10 years later I'm still practicing Hard runs it took about a year to get a Very easy 1CC.
Yeah that's something Ikaruga has in common too, complexity that shooter enthusiasts can really get into but can intimidate new or casual players. I think RS also has a bit of a stigma in the stg community and there's always players that either don't have the time to learn it and write it of as overrated (similar to Ikaruga) or assume it's only liked because of the presentation or music.
Oh that s great there are more unlocks on the Saturn! Thanks for the tip on the forward shot, I ll give that a try :-) and yes I was surprised by how much I enjoyed it as well, it managed to hit a soft spot in my usual ire ha.
@@TheElectricUnderground I was wrong about something, it turns out you have to beat story mode. It doesn't matter how many continues are used, just beating it once unlocks an extra category in the options.
Great review dude! I don't think I've seen such a detailed break down of this game before. I've also been meaning to play it for years but it all seemed sort of opaque, so it was hard to really get into. But this video really helped me to understand the systems alot more, thanks!
I'm really happy to hear that my dude! Been grinding away at the 1cc since the review, really excited to try and get it!
@@TheElectricUnderground sweet, I'll check out some of the streaming footage you posted of that process once I start trying to learn the game
My main interest in RS was always the sword, because swords in SHMUPS is always cool lol.
I personally don't really dig the RPG-like elements as much, but this game always draws me in with the fun enemy patterns and set pieces.
yes you gotta love the sword mechanic! It's very well done :-)
Great review, Mark! Love your enthusiasm-always makes me want to fire up whatever it is you’re playing. Don’t think I’ve played RS since the early ‘00s, but this review makes me want to revisit it. Never had much want to try and chain the game, but a simple 1CC seems like it’d be goal to shoot for.
Yes absolutely, was playing it last night and having a lot of fun, the 1cc will take some scoring practice I think
I just watched this today, then I saw on steam that it had released! I don't know the technical aspects of it, but I'm enjoying the game a lot and bought it because of your video. Thank you!
Top notch review, I could really feel your excitement for the game. I like the parallels to ZR and how you broke it down, this game has always seemed to be a bit of a beast to me but this got me more excited to try it. I also really like the focus cam on tight moments in the gameplay. Even as a more experienced player when you aren't the one playing the game it can be hard to know where to look and zooming in like really brings the action front and center.
Glad you enjoyed the review! Yes I ve been working really hard on my video editing skills and trying to keep the visuals more engaging, the full screen zooms was a lightbulb moment for me :-)
There is a Stage Select on the Saturn version if you play 3 hours or beat Arcade mode. It's one of the bonus Options you unlock.
Also I'd test it on other emulators. I've been playing it alright on SSF.
ahhhhhh good to know!!
Really nice to get your full thoughts on this game. I really love it, my favorite shmup that I’ve tried. I was surprised you had it lumped in with Ikaruga at #9 on your GOAT shmup list. Would you rate it higher now? Please do Soukyugurentai next! another great game that Zeroranger calls back to.
I would rate it higher on my personal list, but I think I would keep it tied with ikaruga in a more objective sense, ikaruga is still a very influential game with a better scoring system. But I do like silvergun more gameplay wise
@@TheElectricUnderground cool, I know what you mean.
@@TheElectricUnderground also, i didnt know about some of these mechanics, you explain it all well!
I enjoyed this review a ton! I cleared the game before but I needed all my accumulated credits to do so. I had no idea how its systems worked.
Will there be more Treasure game reviews?
Yes!!! Star successor and ikaruga soon
@@TheElectricUnderground
Awesome, I'm looking forward to it!
I am soooooo glad that you liked this game!! Great review
Thanks!
It's funny, the second I started playing ZeroRanger, I immediately thought back to this game, and just felt like ZeroRanger did everything RS did, but just a little better, at least for me. I like how in ZR, you get introduced to all of the weapons slowly, one at a time. It always felt like RS had a big learning curve that I just couldn't put in enough time for
Yes though having all the weapons does really help with replayability, so staggering out the weapons like in zr does have a drawback, both work for their own games though :-)
I have RSG on Saturn ODE but I haven't managed to get my head around it and die super quick, I really need to properly learn how the weapons work. There's some reminders of an earlier game called JP:Layer Section US:Galactic Attack (which is also on Saturn with tate mode and is the first instalment in Taito's "Ray" series) in RSG . Check that out if you haven't, one of my fave shmups and has the epic feel of RSG in spades, with the nice stage and music transitions etc (stage 1 boss even goes wire frame briefly). Plus you're gonna love it if you like RSG's chunky pixel look.
Oh yes!!!!! Rayforce is deeply under appreciated, one of the best hidden gems for real
@@TheElectricUnderground That's the one. It's also known as Gunlock in some regions making for no less than four different names for the same game. Not confusing at all....
Layer Section JP is still pretty cheap I think too. Every Saturn owner should have it.
2:01 i'm crying and shaking rn i can't believe mark is cheating on dodonpachi for radiant silvergun
Don't tell Dodonpachi, she won't understand! I still love DDP, it's not too late for us to work it out ... this is just something that I have to do.
One of my favorites. RSG punishes the brute force player. It's approach is methodical. One of the greatest shmups ever in my opinion. Treasure has a catalog of great shooters. My favorites are : Radiant silvergun, Ikaruga, Gradius V, Sin and Punishment 2, Gun Star heroes and super heroes, mischief makers. They always nail the gameplay and music.
I'm new to your channel so if you've covered any of the shmups above I'll definitely check your reviews.
Yes silvergun is top tier!
I love how fucking Ultraman shows up at the end of the game lmao
Oh I love the final boss, both it's patterns and the design
Love this game and Treasure! Gunstar Heroes is one of my fav 16bit games of all time and what Treasure delivered here was pretty awesome!
gunstar heroes is really great!
cried when i completed this game and i don't even understand japanese lol
Yeah it s a really cool story and atmosphere!
I grabbed it on the Xbox one 🤣. We got brutalised in local co-op. Had no idea about targeting one colour enemies. Might have to give that another try. I really like the premise of this game. I like the system of weapons getting stronger without being like overly grindy or anything. Soon as I 1cc death smiles I think I will get back to this one.
Oh yes I think learning the chaining is the secret towards getting the 1cc because of the weapon leveling
Hahaha not sure if showing the "final" boss of zero ranger after recommending it was the best decision, but awesome review nonetheless! Really want to try this game but I don't have a 360 :(
You can emulate it okayish with mednafen
Great in depth review. I've got to say I prefer Ikaruga mode, it just mean you get to shoot more stuff! Btw, 'I've sent you a pm over on shmups forum, not sure how else to contact you.
Yes I ve heard the ikaruga mode scoring is better! Ok I ll check my forum account ha, I haven't logged onto it for quiet a while ha
Great, I didn't know how else to contact you. It's about a certain beta test last year.
Finally you came to your senses.
about to get the 1cc! Been practicing a bunch since the review :-)
I have not been able to connect with Ikaruga but this looks interesting
Yes same here! Def recommend trying it out, even if ikaruga doesn't connect with you
Zeroranger got sword mechanic? I never knew that.
Edit. Watching this makes me want to play Caladrius Blaze again.
Please play zero ranger
@@pokepe12 But I wanna try Sister Royale first.
Came back to watch this again as the PC version just (finally!) released on Steam.
Leak showing this game possibly being showcased at this year's Tokyo Game Show 2022 mid September!
Oh new port would be amazing
Is it true that M2 are working on a re-release of the HD port?
oh wow! if so I haven't heard!
Great video 👍
❤️
How did you get RSG working in xenia? Even working with people on the official discord, none of us could get it to work properly.
Also a shame we're probably never getting another Treasure port again with the state of the company being what it is
So I got it to run but not unlocked as the full version, I just dropped the content file onto the Xenia window ha
@@TheElectricUnderground oh, alright lol.
Yeah, there's a line in the config under Content that's "license_mask". You want to set the value of that to 1 to run the full versions of xbla titles.
But yeah, I've only ever gotten a black play window under directx and just the stage 1 fog under vulkan.
At any rate, my local arcade has an RSG, so I might as well stick to the saturn version if I want to practice it
Anyone know if the switch version is any good?
This game frustrates me...did you play with your shmup fightstick or a controller? Im interested in what button config is the most advantageous to you. Thanks for the in depth review.
I play on arcade stick :-) 1p = Vulcan, 2p = homing, 1k = spread, 3p = sword, 2k = lock homing
Thanks bro ..I'm gonna use this exact layout and see what happens.. I'm in the middle of this review where you explain the layout. Lol my bad and thanks again
Probably worth mentioning that you can play this on real hardware relatively cheaply. There's a Darksoft ST-V cart and ST-V motherboards are easy to find.
Oh snap! What price range are we talking
@@TheElectricUnderground around the same pricepoint as a PGM and 3 clone carts of the Cave games. There's a few other Shmups on the system too, Sheinryu, Cotton Boomerang and Guardian Force.
Does anyone know how many enemy's you can lock onto at once in this game?
the maximum amount?
Yes, one of the alltime greats. Now, let us start to speculate what the heck has happened to Treasure
Seriously! What happened?! I want to learn more
@@TheElectricUnderground Nobody knows, right? If i remember right, the last interview was from 2018 or something and their boss was pretty tight lipped, but he said that they wanted to continue create classic action games for a core audience. Since then i heard nothing. And the studio was never officially closed. Iuchi-san, the creator of Radiant Silvergun, Ikaruga and Gradius V however, works at M2 now and he has a new project in the works, Ubusuna.
Nice, I was just playing this last week. It’s my favorite Treasure game, and I feel like it’s infinitely better than Ikaruga. I can’t stand that game. Another reason why the Saturn is the #1 shmup console.
I'm a total newbie to shmups but I had heard Ikaruga recommended so often I thought I had to try it out as my first shmup. It was not a great choice for many reasons. I've instead started again with Batsugun on Saturn and I'm having a much better time.
Do you think Radiant Silvergun is a good choice for a beginner to the genre? It looks very complicated like Ikaruga
Yes I enjoyed it more then ikaruga
@@CrossingRover Batsugun is a great choice, not too hard to beat the first loop. Radiant is fun but pretty complicated. Dodonpachi is great for beginners, also if your playing Saturn you can’t go wrong with Soukyugurentai.
@@ps3inquisition441 Thanks so much, I'm going to check those out. I do love playing on Saturn as I have a nice CRT and an Svideo cable so the games look fantastic.
@@CrossingRover - Radiant Silvergun IS complicated, but it's still lots of fun, and unlike Ikaruga the complicated parts are optional and you can learn at your own pace. Ikaruga makes my brain hurt and is probably the worst shooter of all time for beginners. Or anyone with a normal human brain. Don't feel bad about that one.
Dodonpachi is great fun for beginners, I agree. Similar deal - the complicated stuff is all optional. Saturn port is so-so. But if you have a Saturn you have got to try Radiant Silvergun, absolutely for sure. It's definitely one of the best-looking Saturn games and it will look killer on your CRT.
One of the greatest games of all time. Cheers.
Absolutely!
Treasure rule. Don't they?
What a great title ...
Yes they do!
God I super wanna get this. The fact that it's held hostage on one of the most expensive systems to collect for at the best of times, with only one country's worth of copies to go round for the entire world, is criminal. M2 need to port this lickety split!
Absolutely!!
What I really loved about RSG is that it felt more like an action adventure game than a shmup
Almost the same feeling I get when playing Guardian Heroes
There's a story that is told and the presentation is very cinematic
I love how creative the stages and boss fights are. Not your typical shmup and I can't think of another like it that I have played.
Glad your enjoying it and looking forward to that 1CC
Going to be a long 1CC as I found the game longer than most shmups I've played :p
Yeah the length is interesting because I have seen some sorter clears of it and then longer ones, what s that about?
@@TheElectricUnderground Saturn Mode has I believe 3 more stages than Arcade Mode
That could be why some runs are shorter than others 😋
In Saturn Mode we get 3 extra Bosses
Turtle
Shark
Phoenix bosses [I think... beem a while]
That's strange, I remember the Saturn version letting you enable infinite credits on the options menu.
Any plans to review the just-released Steam version? Unfortunately it does just seem identical to the Xbox 360 port, so there might not be much to say beyond what you've already mentioned here.
i never gave it a chance but i loved the graphics. always told myself id check it out one day but now i dont have a saturn doh!
so you can emulate it pretty well on mednafen or you can go with the 360 port which is good because it has a training mode (though it's a tougher clear with the missing slowdown)
Incorporating story to the game is one of the hardest things to do in an rpg. Most rpg I know just slaps visual novel or walk n talk cutscenes.
Walk and talk cut scenes should be punishable by law ;-), but really they are the worst!
@@TheElectricUnderground I might get roasted for saying some examples of this offense but here goes:
1. Walk and talk - Witcher 3, Legend of Heroes series and most modern western rpg
2. Slap in visual novel banters and simple talk that leads to nothing - Persona, Summon Night, Neptunia series, Legend of Heroes series
3. Too much dialogue - Persona, Legend of Heroes series.
.
Ok thats it. Those are the games that got these terrible offense.
One of the finest shmups ever made. 👌🏽
damn right, top tier and one of my favs
Just about the greatest videogame tech demo ever made. But the difficulty is so far off the charts that I need new words for “impossible.” But maybe that’s just me.
Once you get used to the rpg leveling the routing gets easier ua-cam.com/video/2u61v_yTBXw/v-deo.html
Also through story mode it looks like the longer you play, the more lives you will start with.
Have you tried it in the X yet ? And is it laggy ? Thanks for your time
It s laggy :-(
RPG + shmups ? Mmmm I may have to try this out.
Absolutely love this game
great review
Hey Mark, or anyone else, have you had any luck getting this to run on retroarch with runahead enabled? I can get it to run with Mednafen but I don't have enough cpu/gpu to get it to run with runahead. I heard that the Yabusa core is less cpu/gpu demanding but I couldn't get that core to work.
I have not been able to get the runahead to work on this core either, I think retroarch still can't handle it with runahead but I'm not 100% sure
@@TheElectricUnderground okay cool. Thanks for getting back to me. I thinkthe it is possible on a more powerful computer or with the Yabusa core.
I see where Neir takes some of it's ideas from
Absolutely!!!!
What do you think the best way to play this game is? Arcade emulation? Saturn (not sure mine still works), Xbox?
So here is the answer and it s kinda messy ha. So you basically need both ports of the game, 360 and Saturn. You need the 360 version for the stage practice mode to practice the various sections and chaining and then to actually play out the runs the Saturn version is best because it has less input lag and more accurate slowdown
Is this still available on the new xbox consoles?
Yeah but it s lagggggy! Go with the og 360 version or Saturn if you can
@@TheElectricUnderground i sadly no longer have a xbox 360 :( i hope its r-realesed properly on the new consoles or switch
I don't know how to feel about the color system. It seems like a cool idea but it purposely makes you try to not shoot units on screen which kind of defeats the purpose of a shmup lol. Everything else seems amazing though.
This game is very much a love letter to classic mecha anime from Getter Robo to Space Runaway Ideon to Neon Genesis Evangelion and it's absolutely awesome.
For sure!! Yeah the eva vibes are strong ha
@@TheElectricUnderground Getter Robo too, especially if you add in Getter Emperor into the mix
@@TheElectricUnderground And also seeing a lot of VOTOMS vibes if you've seen that awesome anime.
Someone should make a modern guardian legend remake. That was the first arpg shooter!
I'm sure you have seen them by now but the swordplay runs by VTF-INO will show you just how much grazing you can pull out of the stages ua-cam.com/users/results?search_query=vtf-ino
Oh that s awesome!! Scoring in this game is really cool :-) that s some good old fashion super player video quality!
it seems Treasure games have their aestethic that got my attention into their game. but sadly the level design seems like not for me. my hand already trumbling when im in the 3rd-4th boss. and the stages is even longer than that. even already credit feeding with 2 credits with easy mode and lower score extend.
and. i hate Kotetsu since my first play
So what do you think do you think the Xbox 360 updated version is better than the Sega Saturn version🕹🎮😀👍🏾
If I had to pick one, saturn
Yes exactly it is up to US - you and I - to "FIX" the buttons right !!!!!!!!
I can get Ikaruga on my toaster, so why is the 360 remaster the last place Radiant Silvergun was released? Don't get me wrong, I love Ikaruga, but RS needs to be experienced by more possible new fans! Obviously anybody can play it on PC, but a PlayStation and Switch port could bring in a bunch of new players.
4 frames of lag! Heavens to Mergatroid!
Ask some friend to test the input lag in Xbox Series X!
Yeah I ll see if I can find someone to do so :-)
oh did you do some "reasearch" did you LOOK , UP , .. some BUTTONS?
gradius V
For sure! Gonna cover it soon!
radiant is 👌. But i need a cheat screen with this game. I can't play shooters. Terrible at them.
To me, this game felt like it was trying to outdo Ideon with its story.
MED....... nah ......FEN.