Nontactical News: Radiant Silvergun is coming to XBLA

I understand this is by no means a news blog, but if you haven’t heard already, it’s imperative you know that Radiant Silvergun is being released on Xbox Live Arcade in 2011.

In case this hasn’t sunk in yet, the greatest shmup of all time (of all time!) is being remasterted and re-released with tons of new features. But the most important feature of all is that you will actually get to play this game for under $200.

Dear Treasure: Is it too much to ask for re-release of Guardian Heroes, as well?

Like all Treasure games, Radiant Silvergun was the pinnacle of its genre’s evolution. And, as with other games in the developer’s portfolio, it saw a limited release on a Sega console and now fetches absurd eBay prices.

What makes Radiant Silvergun so special? It took the relatively simple shmup convention and demolished it 7 ways from Sunday. Literally 7 ways, since the game’s trademark mechanic was assigning 3 different attacks to each button (A, B, C), 3 different dual-button attacks (AB, BC, AC), and a seventh “sword” attack assigned to a simultaneous press of ABC.

Since the acclaimed Ikaruga is the spiritual successor of Radiant Silvergun, you can bet your combo multiplier that Silvergun’s branching storyline levels were designed to make you tear your hair out use each of the 7 attacks to its maximum potential.

With the addition of multiplayer, high definition graphics, and over-the-top anime cliché camp comedy, how could you possible refuse this delicious treat?