izigame.me

As an avid fan of arcade shoot 'em ups for many years, I can confidently say that Radiant Silvergun is perhaps the greatest one ever made, and one of my favorite games of all time. I've clocked about 150+ hours across all the different versions, and I don't intend to stop any time soon. Substantial mileage for a game that's a little under an hour in length.
The developers at Treasure have always been masters of arcade action/shooting games since their founding (Gunstar Heroes, Alien Soldier, Sin and Punishment, Ikaruga, etc.), and I firmly believe Radiant Silvergun to have surpassed all of those as their greatest work. For a genre that was more or less stagnating at the time of its original release in 1998, Radiant Silvergun stands apart as one of the most relentlessly creative games I've ever played. It is a constant, exhilarating barrage of fresh ideas that I'd never seen in games made before it, and many of which I haven't seen done since.
Gameplay is balanced for veteran and newcomer shmup players alike thanks to its progression system. If you play the Story mode, your save file will continuously accrue experience points for your weapons earned from previous playthroughs which, over time, allow most bosses to be shredded with little resistance. You also earn a bunch of extra lives this way, almost giving the game a rogue-lite quality. Veteran players should be able to enjoy the game's complex scoring system which directly ties to the strength of your weapons, adding a lot of strategy for 1CC attempts. One of my favorite aspects of this game has been strategizing various chaining routes to maximize the amount of experience earned in a single playthrough, and sufficiently level up my weapons for the final boss. It's a lot harder than it sounds, so this game also offers a very high skill ceiling.
Cool weapons can make or break a shmup for me--fortunately this one has 7. You're provided an arsenal of 7 different weapons that are all very powerful in the right situation, and very different from one another. Figuring out which weapon to use in which situation is a big part of the game's strategy and fun-factor. The Sword weapon is particularly satisfying, as it allows you to activate (after absorbing 10 pink bullets) a superweapon that deals incredible damage, hits a very wide area, and provides substantial invincibility frames. You can hold onto the charged superweapon as long as you want, as well, so there's some strategy in deciding to save it for later parts of a level, or between levels.
Treasure games are notorious for their numerous boss fights, and this game boasts some of my favorites. At just under 30 bosses across a full playthrough, you'll be fighting a new boss every 2 to 3 minutes. Many bosses can feel overwhelming with how many different projectiles and patterns they throw out, but are all balanced fairly, and can be made consistent with practice. Each boss also has additional "appendages" that you can destroy in addition to their main weak point, which nets you a hefty score bonus for complete destruction (which levels up your weapons even more). Deciding which bosses to opt for complete destruction, and which to be cautious of, is yet another layer of strategy that makes mastery of this game a very satisfying endeavor.
On the technical side, this version of the game is very well done, for what it is. It's a port of a port from the Xbox 360 so it's locked to 720p, but given the game's art direction and asset quality, bumping that to higher resolutions wouldn't make it look any better. That being said, I think it's a very good-looking game--especially considering the limitations of the hardware it was originally made for--but just be aware of this fact. Emulation quality is otherwise very accurate, with only a few nitpicks I could make to the sound balance (this can be adjusted), and input lag is minimal. This port (and the Switch version, which is the same) is easily the most accessible way to play Radiant Silvergun today, unless you're crazy like me and shelled out for a Sega Saturn and an original copy off ebay.
Radiant Silvergun is an absolute must-play, and it's honestly shocking it hasn't gotten more attention. This game has brought me an immense joy that has genuinely impacted my life. As an aspiring developer, it's influenced my design theory in more ways than I can count, and it's even caused me to meet new, probably lifelong friends. I'm very biased, but for only $20, you're doing yourself a disservice not trying this game out. I hope you enjoy it as much as I have.