It’s Christmas 1993. My large brother Phil is deep into Lunar The Silver Star on Sega CD. Because the tag alongside brother, I liked nothing greater than to observe any sport he was into as I wasn’t assured sufficient to play something larger than a easy platformer. He would even go so far as recording his play periods on VHS for me to observe later (that is how I skilled Last Fantasy VII initially.) Lunar all the time felt completely different, although: a magical mixture of basic sprite-based artwork with these eye-catching anime cutscenes (because of the CD-ROM know-how.) It wouldn’t be for a number of extra years that I make the leap into larger video games reminiscent of these however the core recollections are the muse of my love of video games. Enter Lunar Remastered Assortment, a long-awaited celebration of the collection.
The Lunar title has been across the block in numerous iterations since its preliminary releases on Sega CD, like within the subsequent ports and re-releases on Sega Saturn, PlayStation 1, PlayStation Moveable and cell. But, there hasn’t been a great way to play the collection exterior of the PlayStation Classics model on PSN (this has since been eliminated as of the launch of the brand new retailer,) which spins up an emulated model. Now we lastly have an accessible up to date model with touched up pixel artwork and cleaned up animation sequences. The actual query that drove me to this assessment was, does Lunar: The Silver Star and its sequel Lunar 2: Everlasting Blue maintain as much as at the moment’s retro-styled RPG requirements? Within the strategy of answering this query, I discovered a nice, nostalgic shock that exhibits how far forward of its time Lunar actually was.
Lunar: The Silver Star and Lunar 2: Everlasting Blue are fairly boiler plate turn-based RPGs. They contain a hero’s surprising journey to cease a world threatening evil, all whereas amassing a lovable rag tag group of allies.These sorts of video games reside and die by the extent of character they show, however fortunately that’s the place the collection stands out most. Outlandish Kyle and boisterous Nash from the primary sport are as charismatic as Lemina and Jean of the second sport. These characters all play effectively with our protagonists Alex and Hiro, who’re the pure-of-heart, hopeful, heroes-of-lore archetype of their respective video games. Everybody in the primary and supporting forged make for engrossing personalities; thankfully, the villains are equally as magnetic. All through the course of their pretty linear tales, you actually get to know a cavalcade of additional dastardly villains, led by the most effective in school Ghaleon. Including to the combo is a wild localization from a group that initially selected to incorporate ‘90s American popular culture references reminiscent of Austin Powers jokes right into a Japanese sport. It’s a group fan favourite.
I discussed the sport being pretty linear, however that’s to its profit. The linearity is used to essentially hammer down an enticing story that retains you transferring ahead at a fairly regular tempo. Whereas different video games choose an open-world strategy, there’s a appeal to a curated straight ahead expertise. This has come extra in vogue with video games like Sea of Stars and Jack Transfer, but it surely’s simple to see how these more moderen video games had been influenced by classics like Lunar or Chrono Set off. The tales of the world dominated by the traditional goddess Althena all of a sudden in peril from the traditional evil Zophar can get to some darkish locations however stay hopeful all through. Contemplating the video games observe a fabled hero dragonmaster making an attempt to slay the 4 dragons and save the individuals of Lunar, you’ll be able to see how the tales construct onto one another regardless of going down lots of of years aside. What additionally helps is the fixed stream of animated cutscenes that happen throughout main story beats to essentially punctuate the proceedings and flex that CD-ROM energy.
The acquainted turn-based fight has some slight positioning mechanics in-built. There’s an invisible grid that has characters solely in a position to transfer a sure distance earlier than they’ll assault. As well as, some assaults will do space of impact harm, so spacing is vital. Outdoors of that, the remastered model permits for computerized instructions to be set on your occasion so you’ll be able to program how your occasion acts mechanically. This takes a little bit of the repetitive nature out of fight, and there’s additionally a quick ahead button to hurry up the circulation should you really feel it’s a slog. Enemies seem on display and could be prevented but when touched will take you to the fight display. Not like different remastered collections just like the Last Fantasy Pixel Remasters, there isn’t another technique to keep away from the monotony of enemy engagement. The variety of fights isn’t tedious but it surely’s proper on the cusp of being so. A slider decreasing or elevating the variety of enemy encounters would have been welcome, and maybe an elevated XP or cash slider, too. These are the standard of life enhancements I might’ve wished from this type of remaster, particularly since my replay jogged my memory of the grinding essential to progress previous among the story bosses. It isn’t egregious, however the extra I prevented fight, the more durable the story turned.
Alongside these traces, whereas all the things appears to be like crisp and superbly introduced into excessive definition, it’s unlucky that the unique English voice appearing isn’t an possibility; we’re caught with the brand new voice appearing offered right here. How about some behind the scenes content material, or a toggle to swap between the unique vs remastered variations? At the moment, the Remastered Assortment presents the selection of taking part in the unique video games or the brand new remastered variations, however they’re separate executables. Fortunately, the save carries over from one model to the subsequent however you continue to must exit the sport completely to modify. This lack of content material might must do with a breakdown in communications between the unique localization group Working Designs, however I might have even liked to see the Assortment expanded with the opposite variations of the video games and offshoots like Silver Star Concord, Silver Star Full, Lunar Legend, All The Lunar: Hyper Functions, Lunar: Sanposuru Gakuen, and Lunar Dragon Track, simply to make this the definitive compilation. All that stated, right here we’re with the PS1/Sega Saturn variations of Lunar 1 and a couple of, and that should be sufficient for now. We’ve undoubtedly seen extra strong collections and compilations of revered video games from the previous, and it’s a bit unlucky that Lunar hasn’t been afforded the identical remedy.
As a very long time fan of the Lunar collection, I’m greater than overjoyed to lastly have considered one of my childhood JRPGs in a playable format on trendy consoles. In 2025, I nonetheless discover the collection related and as charming because it was again once I was a starry-eyed little one. I noticed myself in Alex and Hiro; they had been the heroes I wished to be. Nonetheless, that is removed from being a definitive assortment. There’s a lot extra that would accompany a package deal like this along with fight velocity, a cleaner look, and widescreen presentation. Unique English VO, lacking video games, artwork work, orchestrated soundtrack and even high quality of life gameplay enhancements might have pushed this to the excessive requirements that firms like Sq. Enix and Capcom have set. I’m glad that Lunar can now attain extra individuals, however I lengthy for extra to share from such a cult basic and considered one of my all time favorites.
