Lunar: Silver Star Story

"Lunar is of the better RPGs on the Saturn, IF you can find it!"

Lucky was I to win this little gem in an auction around the turn of 2000 for my Saturn. All ready owning and completing the Sega CD and Playstation versions, it was definitely not any new territory. The Saturn was vastly underrated here in the states and in connection of the tiff between Working Designs and Stolar (thank you he's gone and making Barbie dolls!) the original updated on the Saturn was released here. I'll try to keep this brief since so many fans are now familiar with a once rare game. This review is for the original 1CD Japanese version, not the MPEG version!!!

Story: Alex set off with help of his friends Ramus, Nall and girlfriend Luna for adventure. Along the way Ramus leaves as Alex gains new friends and finds out there is much more to his girlfriend and ends up trying to save the world from a mad-man, envious of his old friends fateful decision. Some of the better background story found in the SCD original is gone or left out, yet at the same time making sense of some old story holes.

Graphics: Okay, so this isn't any new 128-bit or even quite 32-bit drop-your-jaw-and-slap-your-self in the graphic department. It is still the super-deformed characters with very solid 16-bit graphics with really good cartoon cinemas laced within to further the story. Though I did prefer some of the effects on this version that seemed either changed or left out on the PSX version. The water in Meryod, the fog in the Wierd Woods, and the floor in the Grindery quarters for example.

Cinemas: No. They are not even quite the size of the PSX:Complete version. All the CGI elements started HERE! Now Luna's song on the boat is NOW my favorite scene. Why? Was it because it was on a Saturn? No. It was a mixture of the original Japanese voice singing, and there was no jagged movements to the cgi boat as the camera scrolls around. Yes, it is grainier than the PSX version, but I didn't let that get in the way of a still very famous scene! Working Designs even ADDED a few extra sounds to our version within some cinemas (if they hadn't been added to the Japanese PSX version first - I don't know).

Sound: Well done - kind of. The sounds on the cinemas tends to be softer than the game sound/music. The sound mixture between the battle sounds and the music in the battle scene is not mixed well. The battle sounds are much louder and very crisp, but this has a tenancy to either slow the music down or pushes it at such a soft level - you do not even hear the music for a second or two and eventually comes back in volume. I wish they had a sound option to turn the sound effects down and the music up. More comments on the music... This version is the go between-er. The music sounds mostly Midi. I recognized many of the instrument sounds right off my Kurtsweiler! While the music is mostly the same as the complete PSX version, sometimes I liked these arragments better. This might be because some of the music sounded 'clearer' and Two Five had some great slap bass going on some tunes that I never heard on the PSX version!

Overall fun: Lunar is Lunar - enough said. Not many people get the chance to play the game that should have come out on the Saturn (originally)over 3 years ago. And after completeing Lunar 2....oh about 2 years ago on my Saturn - many people are going to be in for a surprise! I am not one of those peopla that go through an RPG and go back to the store and say ''I'd like to trade for another game please...'' I have played the original Lunar (SCD) 3 to 4 times. Lunar on the PSX once, and on the Saturn once. Of course there is the fun of going back and finding the bromides...WHICH ARE FOUND OR BOUGHT MUCH DIFFERNTLY THAN THE US VERSION! (I only found about 7 or 9 of them!) The rememberiser is no where to be found, yet the whole game, graphics, and cinemas are all on one CD. Within a few months down the line, I expect to be playing this game again I'm sure!

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 02/20/00, Updated 02/20/00