11 December 2024
No game has ever sunk its talons into every facet of my being more than Lunar the Silver Star for the Sega CD. At the time of its release in the United States in December 1993, the few adopters of the ill-fated CD peripheral for the Sega Genesis were clamoring for a good role-playing game. It is safe to say that I think they received that.
Despite my dozens of playthroughs on my own, my most vivid memories of Lunar come when I was quite young and I watched my oldest brother playing through the game. The world of Lunar seemed huge. As I watched Alex and his friends walk through the world, explore caverns, discover new cities, talk to townsfolk, and read books in libraries my imagination ran rampant. The story, the characters, and the world are as magical as the guilds in Vane. Once my brother beat the game, I was unleashed to experience Lunar the Silver Star for myself. I still love the game.
Part of the Retro Gaming Project is to look at games that were important to me. I wanted to expand the contexxt from beyond how I experienced the game. I’ve looked through magazines. I’ve played through the game again. I’m ready to express my thoughts on Lunar the Silver Star.
The Sega CD was released in the United States in October 1992, three years after the release of the Sega Genesis. At the time, trends were pointing to widespread adoption of the compact disc due to its larger storage capacity. Generally speaking, Genesis cartridges were limited to 4 megabytes of space, while the CD could store more than 150 times that amount at 650 megabytes. Now with the rise of digital releases, it’s hard to imagine just how revolutionary the CD was. However, the Sega CD didn’t light the world on fire.
It was primarily developed out of Japan. Articles now report that Sega of America wasn’t informed of the details until 1991. There was no clear strategy. There were a number of Full Motion Video (FMV) games with very low-resolution video. Games could get larger and they could feature incredible sound quality.
A year after the Sega CDs release in the United States, gamers were eager for a role-playing game. Released in Japan in June 1992 by Game Arts, Lunar the Silver Star was destined to be that game. It took Redding, California-based Working Designs until the end of 1993 to localize and release the game in the United States. It was a critical success and, by all means, a commercial success. Considering Working Designs released 7 disc variants, it makes it a fun collector’s item.
At its core, Lunar the Silver Star is a Japanese-style role-playing game. If you’ve ever playing a JRPG, you’ll feel at home. You take control of Alex and are joined by different characters that each have their own strengths and weaknesses. Your party will navigate the world of Lunar on its adventure. You will experience battles of increasing difficulty that will help you level up for stronger battles. Battles are turn-based. You can either attack, use magic (spells are learned as you level up or at different pointsin the story), use an item, flee to move your characters to different parts of the battlefield, or run away completely. There’s even an AI feature that was quite the talk of the magazine circuit. It’s not as slick as modern LLMs, but it will have your characters act based on instructions. I never found it worked well, but it does lead to a game tip to make some battles easier.
The most annoying things about the game is the random battles. There will literally be points where you leave a battle and are in a dungeon or the outer world and are immediately thrust back into another one in less than 1 second. Lunar’s gameplay is competent, but it’s not what makes it a great game.
Lunar is a great game because the characters you control or encounter are endearing. The world feels full. The NPCs offer interesting information. There are pop culture references that make a lot of people’s eyes role, but I find it charming. My favorite parts are the various libraries that you can explore. Each bookshelf has a book you can read that fill in the world. You can tell there was a lot of care that went into the development of the game.
Lunar the Silver Star starts in the small and secluded town of Burg. Alex is a 15-year-old who idolizes his hero, the Dragonmaster Dyne. Dragonmasters are protectors of the goddess Althena. We meet Alex when he is at the shrine to the fallen Dragonmaster Dyne in his village. Nall, a small white creation that looks like a flying cat, reminds him that he must practice a song with Luna, an orphan who lives with Alex and his parents, for an upcoming festival. You take control of Alex and immediately meet Ramus, Alex’s overweight but driven friend. Ramus heard that there are Dragon Diamonds in the nearbye White Dragon’s Cave. He is going to go to make his fame and fortune, and wants Alex to come with. We now have our catalyst for the adventure!
Before going on the adventure, Alex must practice the song with Luna. We are introduced to the blue-haired Luna. Through the magic of the compact disc, we get a full WAV lossless song. Alex plays the harp. Luna sings. The world of Lunar is full of singers, but they have a distinct way they do it. Each singer has a different style, but they only sing the word “La” repeatedly. It’s an interesting quirk of Lunar. Alex rarely talks so you can sub the actions as the player in as his proxy. Nall rats on Alex. Luna is shocked, but knew she can’t stop them so goes along. She can heal through the power of her Songs. She reminds you of the chest in the basement. The chest has armor and a knife that Nall hilariously calls a sword. Once set, the party meets with Ramus and heads to the Dragon Cave.
This area isn’t difficult to navigate. I do believe the enemies are slightly harder in the version released by Working Designs compared to what was released in Japan. Eventually, you meet Quark, the White Dragon. He gives Alex a Dragon Ring and tells him to return when he is a man. Quark is oddly obsessed with Alex’s green eyes, something Dyne also had. It is never said that it’s a requirement to become a Dragonmaster, but I always took it that it was now on the table for Alex to ascend to the title. Ramus demands the Dragon Diamond. Quark almost reveals it’s just a piece of his shit, but stops short and gives it to the party. Unfortunately, it’s not possible to sell the diamond in Burg which means the party is off to see the world! Meribia on the mainland is the first destination.
It’s at this point when the party goes to the second town that the world feels full. Eventually, Alex will learn magic and be invited to study at the floating city of Vane. It’s here that we get to visit the first library which is a fun experience. You learn about previous Dragonmasters, magic in the world, and more. Unfortunately, you don’t learn that Lunar was originally meant to be connected to Earth. The President of Working Designs, revealed the plans about naming the first Dragonmaster Neil, after Neil Armstrong. After so many years of connecting the world of Lunar and our moon, and the Blue Star with Earth, I’m so happy to learn about even more connections.
Eventually, it’s revealed that there is a Magic Emperor who has kidnapped the goddess Althena. With Alex and the friends1 he meets along the way, can you stop the Magic Emperor and ascend to Dragonmaster?
For a game that is 30+ years old, playing through Lunar the Silver Star does feel simple and a little dated. Random encounters can really kill the flow. However, it’s just magical. I connect with the version on the Sega CD because it takes me back to when I was a care-free kid who had no cares in the world other than to think about the world of Lunar. The remakes do a tremendous job expanding the world and modernizing the gameplay and I am excited for the LUNAR Remastered Collection but for now I’m having fun with the Sega CD versions.
You get to control a number of characters throughout the game. Each of them are quite interesting and offer their own strengths. There is Ramus, a pretty useless character for fighting but you’re childhood friends. Luna, who can heal those with her song. Nash, a young magician. Jessica, a priestess of Althena. Mia, another young magician. Kyle, a swordsman who governs an entire city. Ghaleon, one of the four heroes and is incredibly strong in magic. Laike, a swordsman who has something to hide. Tempest, a plainsman who is strong with a whip. ↩
