I remember seeing the original commercials for the Sega CD, and just plain being confused by the premise behind it. Was it its own console? How could it work in tandem with the Genesis? Granted, I was a child, but as the market proved time and time again no one was interested in add-on consoles. The Sega CD always piqued my curiosity, and when I started collecting retro games/systems it was at the top of my list. Along with it I was also interested in the original installment in the Lunar series; Lunar: The Silver Star.
I played the Playstation remake that was released years later, but I was still curious. There had to be some differences, right? Years ago I managed to get my hands on both, and now I can’t even imagine playing the re-release anymore. The original is the definitive version of this game, and it’s one of the best RPGs of all time. Lunar: The Silver Star alone is worth owning a Sega CD for.
Lunar starts off in on a traditional note. In this medieval fantasy world you play as a boy named Alex who lives in the small town of Burg. Unhappy with his simple life he dreams of having grand adventures like his hero Dyne who harnessed the power of the Dragonmaster years ago to save the world. He also just so happens to be from the same village. The adventure starts as Alex is tempted into his first adventure by his best friend Ramus. The two decide to venture into the nearby cave of the white dragon in hopes of finding treasure beyond their wildest dreams. Along for the adventure is Alex’s adopted sister Luna and the three set out to meet the white dragon.
The adventure starts out simple enough, but in typical fashion the group become swept into a conflict where the fate of the very world is at stake. Through plot twists and turns a villain rises to the occasion, new characters join and leave your plight, and you’ll travel across the entire world in the Silver Star. The story is told mostly through written dialogue, but also through simple anime style cinematics and voice overs. We may take things like this for granted in modern times, but in the early 90s this was amazing. The differences between this version and any of the remakes are mostly here in the story. Scenarios are different, the dialogue isn’t the same, and characters leave/join the tale at different times. I actually prefer this original telling of the classic story. It seems more pure and focused. Future iterations just convoluted the story.
Outside of the animated sequences and voice overs Lunar: The Silver Star is similar to other RPGs of its time. The graphics are strictly two dimensional as you wander through towns, across a world map, and venture deep into dungeons. You manage the equipment of your party members, earn experience points and money from fighting battles, and progress the story by moving to new areas. Aside from its story Lunar: The Silver Star’s primary strength resides in its battle system. Enemy encounters occur randomly on the world map and in dungeons. From here you are whisked away to a battlefield screen which displays your characters on the right and enemies on the left. Action is strictly turn based, and you input your commands using a rather traditional menu system.
The major difference here is that your characters don’t stand still; when you attack they must run across the battlefield and remain in their position at the end of each turn. Placement is key, because the enemies are restricted by this same system. Additionally, many magic spells and special skills cause splash damage to non-targeted characters that are in the vicinity of said attack. This aspect of the battle system is really interesting and makes Lunar stand out from the crowd.
The other aspects of the game, while not as standout, are well planned. The dungeon designs offer a slight challenge but doesn’t rely on puzzles. This makes them a little simple by genre standards, but they aren’t bad by any means. What’s cool is that the game design allows you to have up to five characters in your party at once, and this allows for a fair amount of strategy in battle. Some fans will be disappointed by the fact that you can’t choose who you use (it’s dictated by story events) but the cast is large and some allies come and go.
The differences between the characters are also interesting. Mia and Nash are both mages, but the former relies on spells that target single opponents mostly while the latter focuses around magic that hits all enemies at once. Alex and Kyle are both front line fighters, but Alex isn’t quite as strong but makes up for this with the ability to use magic. If there’s one complaint I have it’s that special skills (magic aside) aren’t particularly useful in this game. This doesn’t prevent each character from being different, but it’s still slightly disappointing.
Most people who have played Lunar: The Silver Star experienced the Playstation remake, but the differences are so vast between these versions that they could be considered different games entirely. The remake benefits from upgraded graphics, and special moves that are significantly more useful, but the story doesn’t come together as well. In addition, the gameplay/story scenarios are better in the Sega CD version in my opinion.
Characters join and leave at different points in both games, and some dungeons and story revelations were completely scrapped in the remake. The final thing worth noting is that the difficulty is much more balanced in the Sega CD version. The publisher, Working Designs, tinkered with the remake too much and some battles were uneven. This is one of the best reasons to play this version instead. Lunar: The Silver Star is challenging but never in a way that’s unfair. If you study and experiment with the abilities and spells at your disposal you can fine tune strategies to be successful against all enemies.
In terms of graphics Lunar looks very much like a Sega Genesis game. The developers didn’t take advantage of the capabilities of the add-on hardware on a large scale here, but that’s not a problem. Everything looks fine by 16-bit standards, but there isn’t a lot of color depth and some character sprites don’t match their appearance in the anime sequences. Speaking of which these are extremely basic, but still charming. The anime cinemas feature minimal animation, but are still very charming.
The music is amazing. All tracks are charming and memorable, and are all red book as per the CD storage format. The voice overs are great by early video game standards, and everything is clear and easy to understand. The sound effects are a little jarring because many of them were generated by the Genesis’ audio hardware, and the loud bleeps and blips feel really out of place.
Lunar: The Silver Star is easily one of the best role playing games of any era. The story is timeless, and the characters are extremely likable. The battle system is very distinct and original when compared to RPGs of its time, and still holds up well today. While the Playstation remake is a good game in its own right there’s nothing quite like the Sega CD version. Finding a working Sega CD unit in modern times is a little difficult, but the effort is well worth it for this game alone.
