What the heck? I just played this game in MAME. This is so insane. I had troubles with the first two levels! It's so hard and confusing when it changes perspective. Heh. Maybe I just suck!

From history.dat:
Oh and from history.dat:

Radiant Silvergun (c) 05/1998 Treasure.

Sometime in the future, scientists have discovered a diamond-shaped alien device deep in space. The mysterious alien device detonates while being probed, starting a chain reaction which destroys the entire planet. Fortunately, there's a group of slap-happy space cadets who are up in orbit who aren't affected by the explosion, but witness it, so they decide to do something about it - which means finding a way to travel back in time to avert the catastrophe before it happens!

Radiant Silvergun is a vertically scrolling shoot-em-up rendered with a superb mix of two and three-dimensional graphics, and is widely considered to be the finest ever game of its type in what is a very crowded genre.

Part of the reason for the game's huge success is in the implementation of its weapons system. Unlike other shoot-em-ups, all of the game's weapons are available to the player from the very beginning. Silvergun's control panel consists of three different fire buttons, each of which activates a different weapon; either 'Vulcan', 'Homing' or 'Spread'. In addition, players can activate four extra weapons using a combination of the three fire buttons. These are :

* A + B = Homing Plasma
* A + C = Backwards Wide Shot
* B + C = Homing Spread
* A + B + C = Radiant Sword

At the start of a game, the player's weapons are very weak, but they can be 'powered-up' by shooting same-coloured enemies (chaining), in a fashion similar to gaining experience for a weapon in a role playing game.

- TECHNICAL -

Sega Titan Video hardware (STV)

Main CPU : (2x) SH-2 (@ 28.6364 Mhz), 68000 (@ 11.45456 Mhz)
Sound Chips : SCSP (@ 11.45456 Mhz)

Screen orientation : Horizontal
Video resolution : 704 x 513 pixels
Screen refresh : 60.00 Hz
Palette colors : 6144

Players : 2
Control : 8-way joystick
Buttons : 3

- TRIVIA -

Toshiba EMI released a limited-edition soundtrack album for this game (Radiant Silvergun Soundtrack + - TYCY-5613) on 07/08/1998. The soundtrack was so popular that it was reprinted by Absord Music Japan (Radiant Silvergun Soundtrack + - ABCA-5043) on 24/03/2004.

- TIPS AND TRICKS -

* Radiant Sivergun's weapons in detail :
1. VULCAN (A button) : a devastating forward firing set of plasma bursts (heavy fire forwards the enemy). This is potentially the best weapon against any enemy, when at full power it can take down even the toughest enemies in a few shots. The only disadvantage is that it's fire is very concentrated and as such you need to move a lot to avoid fire.
2. HOMING (B button) : green homing pulses which target anything that is hovering around you. Even though it is initially weak, at full power it becomes very powerful and requires less movement than the Vulcan.
3. SPREAD (C button) : a wide shot which goes further the longer you hold down the fire button. A little tip; rapidly press the fire button to create a explosion shield around the front of your ship.
4. HOMING PLASMA (A+B buttons) : a double trail of homing lasers which target anything within a 120 degree angle in front of your ship. Moderately powerful, and has a habit of targeting the wrong enemy.
5. TAILGUN (A+C buttons) : a Thunderforce-style tailgun shot which is invaluable in many areas; especially the areas where you get attacked repeatedly from behind.
6. LOCK-ON SPREAD (B+C buttons) : slow moving but powerful shots which target anything in close range. (NOTE - THIS IS THE ONLY WEAPON THAT CAN LOCATE THE SECRET DOGS).
7. RADIANT SWORD (A+B+C buttons) : the game's most powerful weapon. Collecting ten pink bullets with the sword powers up the RSG meter, once full you can use the Hyper Sword and destroy almost everything on the screen.

* Chain bonus : break the same color enemies 3 times without a break.

* Secret bonus : break the enemies with Red -> Blue -> Yellow. If you destroy the enemies with the following pattern, will get 2 Chain Bonuses and 1 Secret Bonus [Red ->Red->Red->Blue->Yellow->Yellow->Yellow]

* Weapon bonus
1) Vulcan : Hit over 200 times without a break.
2) Homing : Hit over 300 times without a break.
3) Spread : Hit 16 times before explosed Spread.
4) Homing Plasma : Hit over 10 seconds against 1 enemy.
5) Back Wide : Hit over 300 times within 2 seconds.
6) Lock on Spread : Hit an explosion over 15 seconds.
7) Radiant Sword : Hit over 5 seconds.

* Secret character Merry Dogs : You can find secret character called 'Merry Dogs' by Lock on Spread. For example : at the starting of 1st Stage, Merry Dogs is hidden in lower-right position on screen.

- SERIES -

1. Radiant Silvergun (1998)
2. Ikaruga (2001)

- STAFF -

Directed/Produced by : Hiroshi Iuchi
Assistant Director : Namie and Merry
Based on Story/Screenplay by : Hiroshi Iuchi
Tyrant Programer : Fukuryu
Zako Enemies Program and Set by : 1998/Nami
Boss Enemies Program by : 2015/Nami
BG, Demo, 5 Bosses, Tool Program : Atsutomo Nakagawa, (133MHz)
Inu Program : Choko Monkey
Object Design : Dad Oginon, Naokiman
Object Design Rookie : E-Suzuki
BG Graphic : Hiroshi Iuchi 11
Character Designed by : Han
Music by : Hitoshi Sakimoto
Sound Effects : S. Murata
Opening, Ending Picture by : Gonzo
English Translation : Haruko Hosaka
Debug Cooperator : Kji, Shirotg, Waka, Kazuhiko Murakami
Debug Dog : Merry
Executive Producer : Masato Maegawa

- PORTS -

* Consoles :
Sega Saturn (1998) : The ONLY machine to receive a home conversion was the Sega Saturn. This is a rare port and usually commands three-figure sums whenever a copy changes hands.

A Sony PlayStation port of this game was planned, but eventually scrapped, as the console did not have enough power to generate the huge amount of sprites the game requires.