When I think of the big names looming around in the Japanese RPG space, I don’t often think of the SEGA CD. Genesis RPGs? Certainly, I’m quite fond of Phantasy Star. SEGA CD, though? That’s pretty rare. The Lunar duology gained its real popularity with their PS1 versions, the ‘Complete’ releases. These sought to expand the scripts and elevate the visuals of original games, and it’s what the Lunar Remastered Collection uses as its basis. I was particularly excited to get a chance to play Eternal Blue for the first time, as it had always been one of the most expensive used PS1 games.
Lunar: Silver Star Story is a story about a boy named Alex, dreaming to one day become the next Dragonmaster. After stumbling into a cave and finding one of the remaining Dragons, he travels the world with his friend Luna to make that dream a reality. Along the way, they’ll learn more about Luna’s past and figure out what took place with the previous Dragonmaster all those years ago. Lunar 2: Eternal Blue involves Hiro, a young man who yearns to go on his own adventure. He runs into a mysterious woman named Lucia, who has him join her to save the world. I particularly love the focus on music in these games, and the settings have a fun twist to them that feels genuinely novel for the year they came out.
There’s something just so charming about that original game that drew me back in all over again, even though I had never played the PS1 version the remaster collection was based on. Game Arts just knew how to make all-time classic RPGs, and I’ve known this since falling madly in love with Grandia in my early teens. It’s nice to revisit some of their older games and see that they’ve always had this on locked. The beautiful locales you visit, the charming cast, and the sense of adventure are all here even before Grandia took them even further. If you’re a parent looking to get your kids into their first classic RPG, I think Lunar is a fantastic choice. If you’re an RPG veteran just hoping for a vibed-out classic RPG, Lunar is once again a fantastic choice.
In my personal opinion, Eternal Blue was the much more interesting game for me in this collection. Each release of Lunar gave Alex a bit more to work with in terms of characterization, but he’s fundamentally a silent protagonist. I have no real issue with that, but when there’s so much life bustling around him with the core cast it stood out to me. Hiro is chatty from the get-go, and Lunar 2 feels like it properly builds off all of Lunar’s strengths. There’s more voice acting, a more interesting tone, and characters that are a bit more compelling to me. I’m still working through Eternal Blue, but there’s enough shared DNA between both games here that it’s nice to see the spots where the sequel was able to improve.
Combat in both Lunar games is pretty similar, and anyone familiar with that era of RPGs knows what they can expect. You’ll go from town to town, keeping your gear up to date to be able to stand a chance in dungeons filled with turn-based battles. There isn’t really much to customize in either game, so they’re pretty lean RPGs in terms of gameplay. I don’t think this is much of an issue, but if you’re visiting them for the first time, it’s important to know where Lunar’s priorities are. This is about the adventure and story above all else.
This remaster ultimately understands what makes Lunar so lovely in the first place and how to get a modern audience to understand that. Working Designs made a lot of balance changes to their western releases, and while I don’t have a look at the numbers behind the scenes, I never had any real issues with annoying difficulty spikes. The inventory system has been streamlined a lot, optionally implementing a shared bag for all party members. To me, I play these games to have a good time. That doesn’t mean the difficulty here is mindless or boring, but I’d call these pretty breezy times, given my experience with RPGs for so many years.
A more controversial change for some will be the choice to keep the original Working Designs script and only touch it up slightly. Offensive language was cut out, but there were those hoping pop culture references were expunged entirely. I’m overall neutral on this, as the main story is kept readable and engaging, thanks to snappy dialogue. This is the kind of localization that was ideal for getting ’90s kids invested in RPGs from other countries, but we’ve definitely outgrown them. I can’t deny that I had a great time with the dialogue, but I could have used less NPCs based on Austin Powers.
Given that these games were initially designed for the SEGA CD, their big gimmick was voice acting. While there might have been an amateurish charm to the original performances, I personally have no real attachment to them. When it was decided that all the voice acting would be redone with a modern cast of well-known US actors, I was pretty excited as well. Everyone here does fantastic work, clearly giving this old script some new life. The newly recorded music with the new actresses is also a high point.
There are two game modes on offer for both games: Classic and Remastered. Classic presents both games more or less as they were on PS1. The anime cutscenes even look right out of the era, being presented in crisp 240p. Remastered upscales basically all the visuals and expands the aspect ratio to 16:9. The upscales are a bit inconsistent in quality, but I think are good for where they matter most. The backgrounds aren’t just lazily AI upscaled, care was put into them to maintain a sense of pixelation so they don’t clash with the character sprites.
Character portraits don’t seem to be using original scanned art, and the text also seems to be upscaled from a classic pixel font. These are some of the weaker aspects of the remastered visuals, clearly using the Classic mode as a sort of base and trying to spruce it up. What I’m really impressed with are the upscaled anime scenes. If these are an AI upscale, they certainly don’t seem to have any of the strange side effects seen in them. They’re sharper than I could have expected and are a big reason I played in Remastered mode for most of my time with this collection. The script, gameplay changes, and newly recorded voice acting are the same in both versions of the game.
The contrast seems a bit too high in spots on the Remastered mode for both games, making certain backgrounds have blown out color palettes. It’s rare for them to take this too far, however, so it’s the kind of visual tweak that ultimately comes across to me as “different” instead of “worse”. There’s a blur applied to the edges of the screen that can be turned off, but that’s basically your only visual options when you’re playing in I wish they could have found a way to switch between the visuals on the fly, or even in a menu, but to do so you need to back out to the main launcher. Your save data is thankfully compatible with both versions, but it was more tedious than I would have liked.
I’m happy to say I have no real issues with the Nintendo Switch version of the Lunar games. They look wonderful on the small screen, which is great for these kinds of 2D retro RPG remasters. Any possible blemishes just fade away, but it is worth noting that the games look just fine when playing the Switch docked on a TV.
When the Lunar Remastered Collection was revealed, I was pretty disappointed to see the exclusion of Lunar’s brilliant PSP remake Silver Star Harmony. That’ll probably always be my favorite way to experience the original game, thanks to the gorgeous art style for the sprites and backgrounds. I’m sure it was caught up in some kind of licensing hell, but in a way it ended up being a blessing in disguise. The PS1 version presented here for both games are a real treat, but I think even emulations of the original SEGA CD versions could have been a fun addition.
Both original Lunar games are undeniable classics of retro linear RPG storytelling. The Lunar Remastered Collection is a solid way to play these games, especially in the case of Eternal Blue, which has been stuck on the original PlayStation since launch. I’m slightly disappointed in the lack of options on offer, and a retranslation would have been appreciated, but this is a good way to play two fantastic RPGs. Gung Ho has clearly come a long way since Grandia’s controversial remaster, and I can only hope this signals a return for Game Arts. Their games have always had a pull on me, sparking my imagination and offering up fantasy adventures that set the standard for ideal comfort RPGs.
Version Tested: Nintendo Switch
Review copy provided by GungHo Online Entertainment America
