Editing Radiant Silvergun (section)

=== Background ===
Since the company's inception, [[Treasure (company)|Treasure]] had primarily been a developer of [[Action game|action]] and [[Platform game|platform]] games for home consoles.<ref name=":1" /><ref name=":2">{{cite magazine|date=August 1998|title=Interview with Masato Maegawa|url=https://archive.org/stream/Official_Sega_Saturn_Magazine_034/Official_Sega_Saturn_Magazine_034_-_august_1998_UK#page/n23/mode/2up|magazine=[[Sega Saturn Magazine]] (UK)|issue=34|pages=25|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160407092532/https://archive.org/stream/Official_Sega_Saturn_Magazine_034/Official_Sega_Saturn_Magazine_034_-_august_1998_UK#page/n23/mode/2up|archive-date=7 April 2016|url-status=live|df=dmy-all}}</ref> Sega had repeatedly asked the company to develop an arcade game for them, but Treasure president Masato Maegawa was concerned the shrinking arcade business would be too risky from a business perspective and arcade goers would not appreciate the effort placed into their game.<ref name=":3">{{Cite magazine|date=15 March 1998|script-title=ja:レイディアント シルバーガン|magazine=Gamest|language=ja|location=Japan|volume=216|pages=86}} ([http://shmuplations.com/radiantsilvergun/ Translation], [https://web.archive.org/web/20170531192700/http://shmuplations.com/radiantsilvergun/ archived])</ref> Despite this concern the team had wanted to develop a 2D arcade style [[shoot 'em up]] for some time.<ref name=":2" /> Much of the staff were fans of the genre, having grown up during the genre's golden age, but entering their careers after [[fighting game]]s started filling arcades.<ref name=":3" /> Director Hiroshi Iuchi was especially passionate about starting the project.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book|title=レイディアントシルバーガン公式ガイドブック|publisher=ソフトバンク|year=1998|isbn=4797307080|location=Tōkyō|oclc=170216781}} ([https://web.archive.org/web/20120205182519/http://www.emuxhaven.net/~silver/Hiroshi%20Iuchi%20Interview.html Translation])</ref> Although the team was eager to develop the game, there were still concerns. Maegawa believed that the shoot 'em up genre was dying, and was risky from a sales perspective.<ref name=":2" /><ref name=":5">{{cite magazine|last=McCarthy|first=Dave|title=The Making of...Radiant Silvergun|url=https://archive.org/stream/retro_gamer/RetroGamer_096#page/44/mode/2up|magazine=[[Retro Gamer]]|issue=96|pages=44–47}}</ref> Iuchi was also concerned there would be no place for a 2D shooter in an arcade space that was advancing more towards large and specialized 3D game machines.<ref name=":3" /> In the face of these concerns about commercial viability, the team felt they had a good concept and pushed forth.<ref name=":2" />

Iuchi thought arcade developers of the era were not innovating enough and only settling for rehashes of old ideas. He thought shooting games at the time were most commonly in the style of [[Toaplan]]-developed vertical shooters, but he remembered in the past when developers like [[Konami]] and [[Irem]] had distinct shooter styles. In response to this, Iuchi's first thought was to develop a non-Toaplan style shooter.<ref name=":3" /> He claimed to have the idea for ''Radiant Silvergun'' long before it was released, not pulling any influence from games of the era.<ref name=":5" /> The key philosophies he carried was to make a classic style game, but make it unlike anything else.<ref name=":4" /> He was a big fan of Irem's ''[[Image Fight]]'' (1988), and believes that some of that inspiration is reflected in ''Radiant Silvergun''.<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5" />

The Treasure team wanted to develop the game for home console in addition to arcades. They agreed the game had to be released in arcades first, as a console exclusive shooter may be a hard sell.<ref name=":3" /> They hoped the game would appeal to shooting fans in the arcades while also convincing home console players that shooters were still fun.<ref name=":2" /> Maegawa thought it would be best to keep the arcade and console portions of the development cycle separate, because arcades and consoles are so different.<ref name=":3" /> Iuchi treated the arcade version as the "test version" with the console version released soon after that.<ref name=":3" /> He believed that if the team was not successful with the console [[Porting|port]], the 2D shoot 'em up genre would soon die.<ref name=":3" />