Radiant Silvergun, widely considered one of the best shoot ’em ups ever made, is finally coming to PC. Developed by Treasure, who are perhaps best known for Silvergun’s successor Ikaruga, it’ll arrive via Steam on August 18th with local co-op, online leaderboards and downloadable replays.
Originally released in arcades in Japan in 1998, and later for the Sega Saturn, Radiant Silvergun initially found cult success in the west due to importers. It eventually got a full worldwide release in 2011 via Xbox Live Arcade, but wasn’t ported to any other platform until it was released on Nintendo Switch in September 2022. As is often the case, that seems to have paved the way for this PC release.
Radiant Silvergun is a vertically-scrolling shmup that gives you seven weapons to play with right from the start: three primary attacks, three secondary attacks created by combining them, and a sword. The fun and the challenge come from using each of your weapons for the situation to which they’re best suited, and much like marginally better-known sorta sequel Ikaruga, the colour of your enemies matters, here providing bonus points if you kill three of the same colour in a row.
I’m thrilled when old classics like these come to PC, where they can hopefully find a second (or third, or fourth) life and a new audience, and where they can remain playable beyond the average console lifespan. I’m also happy for Treasure, a Japanese studio known for a handful of classics that never sold well, whose last original game was in 2014.
Also, it’s bound to be perfect for Steam Deck. You’ll find the Steam page here.
