Shoot-em-up fans know that XBLA shmups seldom go on sale, if ever. That’s why we’re both surprised and delighted to see not one but four Xbox Live Arcade shmups on sale this week, all of them with 2-player co-op. The highlight of the sale has to be Radiant Silvergun, a port of the extremely rare Sega Saturn classic from Treasure. But heck, if you’re a fan of the genre you’re probably going to want them all.
A port of the legendary shooter Radiant Silvergun, long rumored to be in development, has finally become available. Now that the king of shmups is in the wild, does it really live up to its near-mythic status?
You know how you always hear us talking about how crowded the fall gaming season is? Well, it's about to get even more crowded, though this time, we can hardly complain. The much heralded and long-rumored Xbox Live Arcade release of Radiant Silvergun is right around the corner. You can play one of the greatest shoot em ups ever released on September 14; that's a mere two weeks away!
So what is it about Radiant Silvergun that would make gamers lay out the big bucks just to play it? Why does it have such a following, a golden reputation, if you will? Is it really that different from other shooters?
It's been a long time coming, but it appears the wait for the XBLA release of Radiant Silvergun has an end in sight. We hadn't heard much about it since last year's Tokyo Game Show, but now more information has been released, a good sign that the release is nearing closer. In addition to local two-player co-op, the Xbox Live Arcade port boasts two-player online co-op. The standard leaderboards, as well as the ability to watch replays from around the world, will let you share your uber shmup skills with everyone. Enhanced graphics and an "Ikaruga shooting style mode" round out the package. Radiant Silvergun is still listed as a general 2011 release, and will cost 1200 MS space bucks.
Continuing the TGS news this morning, Microsoft have announced that the Treasure's classic SHMUP Radiant Silvergun will be coming to Xbox Live Arcade. After Ikaruga's success, we heard rumors that Treasure was considering bringing the game to the platform, the title was originally in the arcades and on the Sega Saturn.
Fans of Ikaruga, which we reviewed here, will find this news interesting. It appears that Ikaruga is not the only acclaimed shooter from Treasure that Microsoft wants on Xbox Live Arcade. Radiant Silvergun, which many feel is the best shoot em up of all time, is on Microsoft's wish list. (Ours too, for that matter; copies of the game are quite pricey on Ebay.) MS approached Treasure CEO Masato Maegawa about porting the Arcade/Sega Saturn title over to their service.
