Development
Iridion started development as a shooter for the Game Boy Color; on January 10, 2001, Shin'en announced they would stop making games for the Color, instead working on games exclusively for the Game Boy Advance. Iridion's executive producer was Dan Kitchen, a former programmer for Atari. Iridion 3D was Shin'en's first product to utilize the GAX Sound Engine, which allowed real-time decoding of song data in an extremely small file size; this allowed more space on the cartridge to be used for graphics.
Although advertised as a 3D game, Iridion 3D uses solely 2D graphics for texture scrolling and sprites which depict explosions and enemies. The developers create the illusion of 3D by looping background textures—a graphically intensive technique for the Game Boy Advance. Graphical objects shrink or enlarge to depict position relative to the player. Level environments feature changes such as progression from day to night. Kitchen, Majesco's vice president of handhelds, wrote that "by pushing the graphics hardware of the Game Boy Advance to its technical limits, Iridion 3D provides a truly realistic 3D gaming experience." He hoped that "players will be amazed that such smooth environments and intense gameplay can now be achieved on a portable system."
By March 2001, the GBA version of Iridion was shown in workable form. IGN saw early screens and declared that Iridion was "aiming to set the standard ... Set the standard with a hail of bullets." They felt Shin'en was pushing the Game Boy Advance to its limits, producing the most stunning game seen at the time for the handheld system. GameSpot's Ben Stahl previewed Iridion 3D on March 21, 2001, shortly before the release of the game in the United States. He noted the excellent graphics and high frame rate, ending with "At this point, Iridion 3D looks like it could be a great game for fans of the genre."
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