Radiant Silvergun for the Sony PlayStation 1

Years ago I read about a port of Radiant Silvergun for the PlayStation in a German videogames magazine. I remember only that it was cancelled because Sony don't want any 2D games on his machine.

Does anyone know if this game was already finished an then kicked by Sony? Or has the work on the port never started? Would be interesting if there exists a preview version.

Anyway do you think it would have been better than the Saturn version?

 

Never heard about a PSX-port. Where did you read it?

If there was a planned port, I doubt it would've looked better than the Saturn Version since it was arcade-perfect afaik.


And I thought Sony only announced their "anti 3D because we are too good" politics just a few months ago?

 

Nah, they have been doing it for the ps2 as well. They prevented the metal slug game from coming to America because of it.

 

Metal Slug game? Do you talk about Metal Slug 1 which is jp-only or Metal Slug X? MSX has been released in europe too, but i don't know about an american release.

Anyway, there are already a couple, no, a massive lot of 2D Games on both PS1 and PS2 in the west, wasn't it?

 

The game was in development and was cancelled but not because of Sony but because the PSX couldn't handle the game. Treasure themselves
said that it was impossible due to the amount of sprite effects used in the game.

Yakumo

 

Ah very interesting. I thought there is no difference in the 2D power between PSX and Saturn except when a game uses the RAM expansion of the Saturn. It's a pity that this port never came out. The Saturn version is just too expensive.

 

Hmm, that's interesting! I didn't know a PS1 version was in the works.

Anyway, I'm not really a shmup fan. If you play one you've pleayed them all anyway.

But RS is hailed as THE shoot'em up. So... it probably is a big loss for the PS library. Interesting news for me. :-D

 

Hmm... I guess it all depends on who you ask. A personal friend of mine (whom I'm friends with to this day) worked for Activision at the time. They tried to acquire it, mainly to sell on the PS1 in the US, but Treasure's licensing fees were too high, and it was abandoned (never started... at least not by Activision).

Whether or not someone else attempted it or not remains to be unseen, but saying that the Playstation couldn't handle it is just not true. The whole "Saturn does 2D better" myth has been disproven time and time again. Look at Dodonpachi and Dracula X - both superior on the PS. The power is within the developers hands. Saying that "a port would be too difficult b/c it was designed w/ the ST-V hardware in mind, and too much could would have to be re-written" though, is probably true. Again, this would be closely related to the fact that Treasure's games are expensive.

More interesting to me is the Psychic Killer Taromaru that was rumored to be inproduction, but also cancelled.

 

You can't really count Dracula X because the Saturn version is a piss poor PSX port with a few extras thrown in. You could then say look at Parodius on the Saturn then on the PSX. The PSX version isn't as good. Maybe it was a port of the Saturn? What ever the reason I've yet to see anything more impressive running in 2D on the PSX than the Saturn just like I'll never see anything as impressive running in 3D on the Saturn over the PSX. Both machines do really well in both departments if programmed right but we all know one is better than the other in 2D and 3D departments. Probably the most impressive 2D game on the PSX is Harmful Park. Very nice stuff.

Yakumo

 

That's the whole point of the thread though. A port of RS to the PSX would probably be pretty difficult. A rewrite wrapped around the Playstations hardware? No problem, but of course, very costly.

Well, I've already pointed out two. Donpachi is another off the top of my head. There's a list of Saturn vs. PSX shooters at shmups somewhere. It's not just a few titles. Any serious shooting fan would have to have both, and it's not just 3D on the PSX and 2D on the Saturn.

There's tons of fantastic 2D stuff on the Playstation.. you just have to wade through stacks of 3D shite. Makes it seem like there's less. Harmful Park is nice, but there's even better in terms of graphical achievements. Here's some Playstation only 2D games that would make any Saturn fan giddy:

You can find more on them here. You can't play these and claim that the Playstation is a weak 2D machine.
Captain Commando
Chippoke Ralph no Daibouken
Geppy-X
Donpachi & Dodonpachi (both are superior to the Saturn versions)
Growlanser
Gunner's Heaven
Gussun Paradise (perhaps my favorite)
Hermie Hopperhead
Kyuiin
Kokoro Post Nin
Mirano no Albeit Collection
Pop 'n' Pop
Panzer Bandit
Umihara Kawase Shun
Valkyrie Profile
Zanac X Zanac

 

Add to that list:

Gaia Seed
Cotton Original
Gegege No Kitaro Gyakusyu! Youma Daikessen
Gradius Gaiden
X2 - No Relief
Rakugaki Showtime
Guilty Gear
Night Raid
Tomba!

I would also mention Street Fighter Zero 3. Although the Saturn version is the best, the PS1 version is way better than the DC port.

By the way, here's a nice article about PS1 Shooters, from Digital Press:

http://www.digitpress.com/archives/didyouknow_psxshmups.htm

 

the first guilty gear was pretty impresive on psx, though i still feel saturn had better 2d games.

 

I'll have to check some of them out. Captain Comando sounds good. I have played Gunners Heaven years ago and while good, I didn't think it was anything special. Hermie Hopperhead was another. What's Pop'n'pop about?

Yakumo

 

Captain Commando is pretty much arcade perfect. It's a beat 'em up. Not really my thing (damn expensive game too).
Gunner's Heaven is a Gunstar Heroes ripoff, but still good.
Pop 'n' Pop is a Taito puzzle game. It's kind of their take on Magical Drop, but with balloons and characters from their franchises. Not bad if you like puzzle games, and pretty cheap. If you can find Gussun Paradise, get it. Great game. Basically Bubble Bobble w/ Gussun Oyoyo characters. The only 32-bit game of that formula, btw.

I could probably say that too, but doesn't really have to do with either systems power. I love Keio Yuugekitai and a handful of the Saturn only shooters which would definitely outway the PS's games... but you can't deny the PS has a great stack too.

 

Though a great game, I wouldn't name this one when talking about PlayStation's 2D abilities, since it's a '91 CPS1 title.

I never complained about the PlayStation being weaker in the 2D department, because it's not. Or not exactly. The bottom line is, you can do anything if you make a platform specific game. If Treasure could pull off their Gunstar Heroes on a Megadrive, there shouldn't be any problems with 2D games of high quality on souch platforms as PlayStation.

Silhouette Mirage doesn't look bad on PlayStation, and maybe it's just me, because I finished the game on Sony's console, but never did the same with Sega Saturn one, but I don't see anything that would make me go "Wow! Sega Saturn kicked the PlayStation port sooooOOO baaad!".

Sure, Street Fighter Zero 3 looks great on Saturn, has better animations, insanely [!!!] short loading times and you're not limited to duplicating the same character when you want to play two against one, but then again it does require the additional 4 megs.

 

Silhouette Mirage on the PSX has loads of weaker points over the Saturn such as paralax scrolling but this is down to it being a port of the Saturn version probably. If the Saturn version was a port of the PSX version then maybe that would be missing stuff. Nekketsu Oyako is much better looking on the PSX than the Saturn due to it being a PSX game originally. Then there's Thunder Force 4 Saturn which has better transparencies (Of all things) than the PSX, again because one is a port of the other.

Yakumo

 

I've been playing a bunch of this recently, and while I think it's a great game (unrelentingly difficult, but absolutely genius gameplay), I don't think I'd include it in a showcase of PSX 2D power, since the levels are made of polygons.

 

I've never played the PSX version of Umihara Kawase but I loved the SFC version when that was released. I heard that the PSX version adds quite a lot to the game play. The fact that they used polygons put me off though.

yakumo

 

I've got both versions, and though it's been a while since I played the SNES one, the gameplay's essentially intact between them as far as I remember. The polygons are not that noticeable - certainly not as obvious as something like Strider on PSX. Couldn't say what the exact differences are since I never got that far in the SNES version, I don't have it with me but I'll take a look when I'm next back home.

The SNES version seems to be climbing in price - I got mine mint/complete for less than £20, now they seem to go for £30+ on ebay. Saw one for 60 Euros recently.

 

It's an amazing game though. And just b/c it has polygons doesn't mean 2D fans can't enjoy it, or it can't boast of the systems 2D powers. Taroumaru has amazing sprites, but polygon backgrounds.

You know, I downloaded a collection of Umihara super-play vids not long ago. It will blow your mind, and maybe make you never touch the game again. Every level is cleared in record time.

I learned not to worry about that. If I did, I'd have never played Grandia, which I still think is one of the best RPGs to date, although childish.

EDIT: The irony of that statement here. Radiant Silvergun has polygons!

Wish I knew that. Sold mine for like $10 not long ago. Yakumo's in Japan though, and if he's patient, can get one for mere sheckles (500 yen on YJ).