Treasure’s 1998 cult classic shoot-’em-up, Radiant Silvergun, is coming to PC via Steam later in August.
Radiant Silvergun, one of the finest shoot-’em-ups of the 1990s, is finally heading to PC – just a little over a quarter of a century after it was originally released.
Developed by Treasure and originally appearing in arcades in May 1998, Radiant Silvergun is perhaps best known for its much-coveted Sega Saturn port, released exclusively in Japan in July the same year.
The top-down shooter is marked out by an unusual weapon system, with the player’s ship heavily armed with multiple shot types which can be switched between on the fly. Choosing the correct weapon for each section is a must, as is ensuring that you don’t rely too heavily on just one type; weapons are levelled up by destroying enemies, so it’s vital that you keep switching between them to boost their power.
This almost puzzle-like weapons system is joined by a formidable array of bosses – something Treasure clearly relished designing, as the Mega Drive’s Alien Soldier proved – and some spectacular music courtesy of Hitoshi Sakimoto.
Although the Saturn version is still prized by collectors, Radiant Silvergun has since since been ported to other systems. The Xbox 360 got a superb version, developed by Treasure itself over the course of over two painstaking years; that version later eventually made its way to the Nintendo Switch in 2022, and it looks as though the Steam/PC edition will also use the Xbox 360 port as a basis.
Previously, the only way to play Radiant Silvergun on PC was the legally iffy route of emulation. So while it may have taken 25 absurdly long years for one of the best shooters ever to finally make its way to Windows, we can at least be grateful that it got here eventually.
Radiant Silvergun will be available via Steam on 18 August.
Read more: Mr Biffo’s Gaming History – The Mega Drive’s forgotten Treasure trove
