Radirgy is a 2005 vertical scrolling Shoot 'Em Up developed by MileStone Inc. First released in arcades for the SEGA Naomi platform, it was later ported to the Sega Dreamcast, PlayStation 2, and Nintendo GameCube the following year, and later localized for the Nintendo Wii as part of the Ultimate Shooting Collection in 2009.
In the future, personal electronic equipment and electric waves has caused allergy-like symptoms. A company was trying to develop a medicine to counter this allergy, but they were soon taken over by a terrorist organization called "UMBRA", led by Ruki Mishima. Among the hostages is the father of 16-year-old schoolgirl Shizuru Kamigusa. Now Shizuru, along with her friend Tadayo Aita, must defeat UMBRA and save not only her father, but the project for the medicine for the allergy.
Radirgy was later followed by several sequels, such as Radirgy Noa, Radirgy de Gojaru!, Radirgy Swag, and Radirgy 2. Like the first game, Noa was originally released for arcades before receiving console ports for the Wii as Radirgy Noa Wii, the Xbox 360 as Radirgy Noa Massive, and a lesser-known Microsoft Windows port. It also notably brings back Ruki Mishima, now as a secondary playable character following her Heel–Face Turn at the end of the first game, and also included voice acting for the characters. The game also has a spiritual successor in the form of Karous. Radirgy 2 was released on March 28th, 2024.
Radirgy provides examples of:
- Arrange Mode: Radirgy Noa on the Xbox 360 has four alternate game modes with different gameplay mechanics. The modes are Expand (playing with a larger ship and hitbox, which requires a using a cheat code to unlock it), Massive (a Caravan Mode with stages made exclusive to the Xbox 360 version), Death (a fixed screen score attack mode), and Classic (a remixed version of the original Radirgy with five stages).
- Big Bad: Ruki Mishima in the first game.
- Cel Shading: One of the series' defining visual features is the use of cel-shading to create flat colored anime artstyle.
- Darker and Edgier: Radirgy 2.
- Embedded Precursor: Radirgy 2 includes a port of the first game.
- Endless Game: Swag normally ends when you reach the moon, but fulfilling certain conditions will allow you to keep playing until your Life Meter runs out.note
- Heel–Face Turn: Ruki does this at the end of the first game.
- Life Meter: The player's life stock in this series are represented as a battery meter, with each unit of power representing the number of lives the player has.
- Lighter and Softer: Radirgy is this to Chaos Field and the former's own spiritual successor, Karous. Where as the latter two games have dark post-apocalyptic setting with a bleak or dark storyline, Radirgy features bright, color anime-styled visuals and a lighthearted story. However, Radirgy 2 will go back to being Darker and Edgier.
- Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me: By not attacking, Kojiro will put up its shield to protect the player, and whenever it blocks enemy fire, it converts the bullets into a electromagnetic capsule that can boost its antenna reception (i.e. score multiplier).
- Mana Meter: The ABS Gauge, which is used to activate Absnet to absorb bullets surrounding the player and turn them into electromagnetic capsules.
- Mooks, but no Bosses: Swag has no bosses whatsoever, featuring only a ton of "small"- and "medium"-class enemies.
- Multiple Endings: Noa's ending varies depending on if you succeed in destroying the Dreamer09 or not.
- Palette Swap: The first game features the ability to change the paintjob of Kojiro by changing its body and weapon types.
- Portmanteau Title: The series' title is a portmanteau of Radio and Allergy. The first game was named Radio Allergy for its localized Wii port and would have continued for Noa (under the subtitle Noir) had the game been localized.
- Recurring Boss: In Noa, Dreamer09 is fought several times throughout the game.
- Smart Bomb: Absnet in these games functions similarly to a smart bomb in other shoot 'em ups as they can protect the player from nearby bullets and a crux to the game's scoring system.
- Spiritual Antithesis: Swag, to Chaos Field, a previous MileStone shoot 'em up. Whereas Chaos Field has defined stages and consists solely of boss fights, Radirgy Swag doesn't have stages in the traditional sense (backgrounds change as you progress, but the action doesn't stop when that happens) or bosses. Furthermore, while Chaos Field features a bleak backstory with humanity on its last legs, Radirgy Swag is simply Tadayo going out on jobs to collect garbage.
- Super Title 64 Advance: For the PlayStation 2 and GameCube ports of the first game, which were subtitled PreciouS and GeneriC respectively. Radirgy Noa's Wii port however was simply titled Radirgy Noa Wii. The fourth game for the Switch is subtitled Swag.
