Collection essentials #289: Lunar: The Silver Star (SCD)

Before I talk about the game itself, first I want to talk about Working Designs since this is the first published game of theirs that I’m covering. Working Designs was strictly a publisher and not a developer, meaning they did not develop any games from the ground up. They instead looked at games only released in Japan and would work out a deal with the game’s developer so that they could put in the work to make an English version for an American release. They brought over a good number of games that otherwise would have been stuck in Japan, and that was really wonderful. They also had some practices that really set them apart from any other company at the time. They really put in extra effort to make the packaging for their games really nice, often adding some additional shininess to their box art (though not in this particular copy shown above)). In the instruction manuals for their games, they would have words directly for the fans and asked to hear feedback, for example, about what games they’d like to see published, as well as a “Translation notes” section about their experience localizing the game. They first localized games for the Turbografx-16 and its Turbografx-CD add-on, and this here was the first game they published for a Sega console.

Working Designs is best-known for localizing RPGs like this one (though they did branch out into other genres at times). They are also known, for better or worse, for making more changes to games for their American release than is normal. Sometimes these changes were simple and positive, but at times they did affect the gameplay experience in ways that many felt made the games worse. And in their RPG localizations, they often added their own quirky humor which was often either suggestive or had pop culture references; granted, this usually wasn’t present for major story events, but would come in menus or in dialogue for characters you could talk to. While I agree that they injected their own humor to a much greater extent than they should have and think it’s totally fair to criticize them for it, I do have to admit that I sometimes find it charming.

Anyways, about the game itself. Lunar: The Silver Star is a JRPG along the veins of Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest. You control a boy named Alex who is from the same village as the late legendary dragonmaster, Dyne. Alex idolizes Dyne and wants to be a hero just like him, and surprise surprise, at the start of the game he finds out that he’ll be getting his chance. He and a group of friends go to explore a nearby cave and encounter a huge ancient dragon who gives him a special ring and tells him to embark on a journey to become the next dragonmaster. And so he does, meeting new friends as well as insidious foes along the way.

Lunar doesn’t do a whole lot to deviate from the typical turn-based RPG gameplay formula. The most noticeable gameplay difference is that positioning in battle matters. When a character or enemy tries to perform a basic melee attack, they must walk the distance between them and the enemy in order to strike, but if that distance is too long then their movement will stop after a certain point and they will not be able to actually strike a blow that turn. 

Since this game is on a CD, the developers aimed to take full advantage of the format to enhance the game. Music is a big part of RPGs, and CD-quality audio was definitely a huge book and helped give Lunar beautiful and memorable tunes that took up permanent residence in gamers’ heads. The developers were also able to make the game a little more cinematic. As you can tell by the cover, this is an anime-style game, and so the game occasionally has animated cutscenes complete with voiced dialogue. It may not be so impressive now since within a few years games would be able to have these types of cutscenes in greater quality and abundance, but in the early ‘90s it sure was cutting edge. I believe this was one of the first games (maybe THE first?) to wear its anime style on its sleeve for an American release. Back then anime wasn’t seen as acceptable to the mainstream, and so a game that had an anime art style in Japan would have the front cover art completely redrawn in a different style to make the game seem more appealing to Americans. But Working Designs decided to showcase the game’s official original art, and I’m glad they did.

This was one of the Sega CD’s most successful games, and quickly found itself with a strong fanbase. And while the Sega CD hardware capabilities are what helped it stand out in the first place, the game’s popularity was also held back by…the fact that the game was on Sega CD. As I said in yesterday’s post, it was a huge investment back then to actually get set up with the Sega CD, and you needed to have a Genesis console first to attach it to. In Japan, where RPGs were far more popular at that time, the game had a problem with the fact that the Sega Mega Drive (another name for Genesis) wasn’t very popular at all. And so this game doesn’t tend to come up when talking about the gaming hits of the early ‘90s. 

Lunar: The Silver Star has been remade a few times. Fans sometimes think that the original version is best, and I can understand why because the remakes change quite a bit, more than was probably necessary. I first experienced Lunar through one of those remakes. It wasn’t until a few years ago that I actually went back and played through the original Sega CD release. And has someone who doesn’t have actual nostalgia for it…I wasn’t a big fan. I felt that the game has a variety of issues that seem more apparent with its age. I felt that progressions was at times too cryptic, that random battles were too frequent, that battles were generally too simple and easy, that it sucks to have to equip items to use them, that too many dungeons were dull mazes…there are things I like about this game but I think RPGs really got a lot better in the years after this game. The remake’s changes don’t really bother me since I wasn’t overly attached to this version to begin with, and I think they’re just more enjoyable experiences.

So Lunar: The Silver Star isn’t one of my personal favorite games on Sega CD, but I do want it in my collection anyway. I love Working Designs and this was one of their most notable titles, and I do have an affection for other Lunar games which makes me want to own the very first one.