We human beings are storytelling creatures. Since time immemorial, stories have served to pass on knowledge, to teach, to entertain, and to delight. This may help explain why traditional Japanese role-playing games (JRPGs) have such enduring appeal. What JRPGs lack in adrenaline-pumping, fast action reflex type gameplay they more than make up for with their intricate stories. Exceptionally well done JRPGs draw the player in with a believable world, a compelling story, and memorable characters. Unlike a top movie or a classic book, both of which can tell similarly captivating stories, a JRPG also gives the gamer a chance to be in some control of the narrative – increasing the fun factor many-fold.
Lunar: The Silver Star, though not flawless, is a shining exemplar of a top-tier traditional JRPG from the bygone days of the 16-bit era. Yes, the Super Nintendo is widely acknowledged as the 16-bit RPG console of choice by a wide margin, but SEGA did manage to host a fair few role-playing games that demanded and deserved attention, including the SEGA CD’s Lunar games. Going on to sell roughly a quarter million units worldwide, the first Lunar became the system’s best seller in Japan and #2 worldwide, behind only Sonic CD. Yet despite garnering critical acclaim and even some measure of commercial success, the game was locked to an add-on system that wound up selling barely above 2 million units worldwide. Surely, Alex and Luna’s story deserved a richer audience that the SEGA CD could offer?
Game Arts seemed to think so, because shortly after the Saturn’s debut, the software house began working on a remake. Backed by the vastly more powerful (and better selling!) Saturn hardware, the remake promised to feature markedly improved visuals, re-arranged – though still chip-generated – music, a more fully fleshed out storyline, superior anime FMV clips, and improved gameplay. Finally, no longer hampered by hardware limitations or sales numbers, Game Arts would tell Alex’s grand story as they had initially envisioned it.
Working Designs, the (in)famous American localization house, had cultivated a strong relationship with Game Arts, especially as they had brought both SEGA CD Lunar games over to North America. A deal was struck for the small Redding, California firm to bring the Saturn remake over to the US, and it quickly became the most anticipated Saturn title on the firm’s release schedule.
Originally slated for a 1996 release, then pushed back to late 1997, the game wound up tragically cancelled for the Western Saturn, with Working Designs localizing the PlayStation port instead. Many have speculated on the reason for this; it was a complicated situation with several factors at play, including financials, E3 shenanigans, SEGA’s changing policies, and even SEGA of America president Bernie Stolar and Working Designs head Victor Ireland’s relationship. And just like that, Alex’s grand story was suddenly locked away in Japan for western Saturn gamers.
In the Darkest Hour, Hope Springs Eternal
In the late 2010s, coders Mr Conan, TrekkiesUnite118 and Ms. Tea took on the challenge of patching the Saturn game with an English script. Although as of early 2022 the work isn’t fully finished, several playable builds have been released that allow the game to be played from start to finish in English, fulfilling the mid-90s promise of an English localization of Lunar for the Saturn.
Currently both the original and Complete (i.e., MPEG) edition patches are available. Curious readers are encouraged to check out the various available options over on the SEGA Xtreme Saturn translations section. A special note: learning to patch one’s own game disc or image is a straightforward process that respects the wishes of the patch-makers; instructions and tools are available on each translation’s page. The patch-makers absolutely do not support downloading pre-patched images. Everything needed to make your own patch will be found at the above link.
Dyne’s monument
Long ago, a great magical conflict ruined the utopic blue planet, and the benevolent goddess Althena was forced to relocate what survived of humanity to the orbiting barren moon. This lifeless place was made fertile, green, and lush by the Goddess’ power, and to prevent tragedy striking this delicate colony, she created four guardian dragons and tasked them with protecting the magical elements of Earth, Wind, Water, and Fire. Every so often, history would call upon a hero of Althena to rise and defend Lunar from harm. This hero, harnessing the power of the elemental dragons, would come to be called Dragonmaster. Now, Althena’s children live in peace and harmony, often gazing up at the ‘Blue Star’ shining in the heavens, safe in the knowledge that if ever evil would resurface, a Dragonmaster would rise to protect them.
However, Lunar is not all a paradise. Five hundred years ago, a faction rebelled against Althena, and for this sin, she banished them into the cold and barren frontier before herself eventually disappearing under mysterious circumstances. Those banished named themselves the Vile Tribe, and for generations have potted their revenge on the children of Althena. Hardened by the harsh Frontier, they have remained ever aware of the utopia that Althena’s chosen inhabited while they themselves struggled to carve out a hard existence in the wasteland, away from the goddesses’ light.
Like all good tales, this strong backstory helps set context to Alex’s adventure. At the game’s beginning in the remote village of Burg, young Alex is visiting a monument to his hero Dyne, himself a son of Burg and the last Dragonmaster to walk the world of Lunar. Alex dreams of one day becoming a Dragonmaster himself. His snappy flying cat-like companion Nall reminds Alex that his childhood friend Luna is at the nearby spring, practicing singing for the upcoming goddess festival. On his way to join Luna, Alex’s friend Ramus finds him, proposing an adventure seeking Dragon Diamonds in the nearby cave. These initial scenes paint a somewhat slow, exposition-heavy start to Alex’s adventure; however, the story and action pick up soon enough. Novelist Keisuke Shigematsu was recruited to work on expanding the script and plot of the original SEGA CD game, tasked with modernizing it whilst remaining true to the original. Thus, the Saturn remake remains quite faithful to the SEGA CD original.
What sets Lunar apart from most contemporary RPGs is its deep and nuanced storyline. The plot starts off relatively innocuously but soon picks up steam, and Alex’s adventure takes him from sailing across seas to visiting mysterious fortune tellers, to walking the streets of the floating Magic City of Vane, to flying across the wastelands of the frontier. The game’s plot advances sometimes slowly and sometimes swiftly, and even occasionally twisting in the most unexpected manner, making for a delicious narrative experience. Although focused on the hero Alex, multiple secondary storylines and undercurrents play out during the adventure as characters struggle with their various problems and personal shortcomings. Some of these secondary threads prove central and essential to the story, some deal with the lore of the previous generation’s Four Heroes, and some are no more than obscure hints of the history of Lunar. When taken as a whole, the world of Lunar has a solid, tangible, and cohesive feel to it that few contemporary JRPGs managed to pull off.
Inhabiting this richly developed world are equally memorable characters. Alex is the archetypal boy who experiences a coming of age through the adventure as he struggles to understand himself and to strike a balance between his love for Luna and his desire (later, his need) to become the next Dragonmaster. Luna herself wrestles with recurring dreams and a need to uncover her mysterious past. Several themes are explored through the game’s characters, ranging from love and sacrifice, tradition vs. progressivism, philosophies of life, and even the joy – and cost – of freedom and self-determination. Perhaps one of the greatest accomplishments of the game’s narrative is the way in which it examines the nature of evil. As the story unfolds, the gamer is compelled to question whether the Vile Tribe is indeed evil, when their only desire is to live in the light of Althena’s creation. Characters’ motivations, including those of the Magic Emperor himself, are never clear-cut, instead existing in shades of grey. Gamers may find themselves confronted with otherwise wholesome ally characters who value money above all else even in the direst of straits, or unexpectedly pondering the philosophical ends the Magic Emperor’s means are bent on. Many characters come and go, joining Alex’s party at various stages of the story, to enhance the overall experience. Indeed, Alex is the only permanent character in the entire adventure. This, too, is refreshing, and goes a long way to ensure the narrative never grows stale, even as the gameplay throughout remains relatively tried-and-true.
What Does the A Button Do?
While fifth-generation JRPGs such as Grandia or Panzer Dragoon Saga began to diversify combat and overall gameplay styles from the relatively standard mechanics of fourth-generation efforts, Lunar makes no such innovations and remains exceptionally standard. Gameplay consists of in-town, combat, and field overworld maps, talking to various NPCs to advance the story, buying and selling equipment and goods, and so on. Each town features a statue of Althena which offers full stat restoration after combat, as well as various weapon, armor, and accessory shops, not to mention random NPC homes for the gamer to interact with. It is usually here that the plot is advanced, and the player’s most immediate next tasks are set out.
In between towns are combat sections, which are maze-like maps that connect towns with the overworld map. Here, enemies are visible and can somewhat be avoided, although ideally they should all be fought for maximum experience. Once enemies spot Alex’s party, they will advance fairly quickly and it can be tough to avoid them in tight quarters.
Combat itself is exceptionally common JRPG fare. Each character is measured via a variety of standard stats, with actual battling being a traditional turn-based affair. The player selects which action each character will take, be it attack, cast a spell, defend, use an item, or attempt to flee. Each character and monster then execute their actions in order according to their agility stat ranking, and the cycle begins anew until everyone from one of the opposing sides is exhausted. Some strategy is possible here, however, with minor enemies, sticking to each character’s strongest attack is generally sufficient for success. As expected, characters’ levels and equipment go a long way in determining success.
Entering each character’s commands on every turn of every battle can become a bit laborious, so Game Arts included a few quasi-shortcuts, such as the ability to select ‘attack’ for each character all at once, or even to have the AI do battle on behalf of the player. Still, there is room for some strategy, especially when fighting bosses. In typical JRPG fashion, Alex is an offensively-minded fighter with some attack magic, with supporting characters ranging from offensive magic users (Nash, Mia) to healers (Jessica, Luna) to secondary swordsmen (Ramus, Kyle). On occasion, other characters join the party, such as the mysterious swordsman Laike, the Premier of Vane’s Magic Guild Ghaleon, or even the fiery Prairie Tribe Chief, Tempest. Regardless of circumstance, correctly selecting formations and actions during boss fights is essential. Game Arts wisely tuned the boss HP levels to be a factor of Alex’s current level, meaning as Alex becomes stronger and gains levels, likewise do the bosses. This ensures bosses always remain a challenge, in an appropriate and meaningful way. This also nullifies the point of grinding just to gain stat boosts.
The game itself is linear out of practicality, with the story driving progress forward in a predetermined way. In this sense, Game Arts’ use of the story and gameplay goals is as varied as with the best JRPGs of the era, with occasional backtracking through previously visited towns, various fetch-style quests, tasks in maze-like environments, characters joining and leaving the party, various trials and mini-quests, and so on. This task variety does a very good job of hiding the fact that actual gameplay remains very similar, and that at its core, the game is absolutely linear. Indeed, once the game is completed –taking between 40 and 45 hours of play time – gamers have little to draw them back for a further playthrough.
There are a few side quests that can be optionally tackled, extending the game’s longevity somewhat. First are the special orange treasure chests, found in various parts of Lunar. These cannot be opened until midway through the adventure, at which time the player must backtrack if they are interested in obtaining the treasures they hide. The challenge is that the world of Lunar is vast indeed, necessitating a great deal of (re)exploration. Not at all required for game progression, these can nevertheless be a neat diversion.
Next is the secret Bromide collection. Bromides are photos of various female characters from the game, done in the style of Japanese celebrity photographs. Some of these are mildly suggestive in nature and of course relatively challenging to obtain. These collectibles are not only an attestation of what was culturally accepted in the mid-90s but also reflective of the stereotypical gamer image of the time – the girlfriendless teen basement nerd. In keeping with the cultural mood of the times, there are no Bromides of any of the men from the game.
The final side quest involves finding the separate male and female hot springs and acquiring the very limited soap bars, both of which are required for the characters to bathe in the springs and for the player to obtain the side quest’s ‘reward’. The male hot spring is encountered first and isn’t really hidden at all, teasing the gamer that a female version must exist somewhere. Indeed, the all-girl pool is at the end of a maze filled with incredibly powerful monsters which, initially, ruthlessly crush Alex and party. But fortune favors the bold… Penetrating the maze is only possible during a limited segment of the game before it becomes inaccessible forever, so it is advisable to harden up as much as possible and attempt a thrust in before moving on in the adventure. Ahem!
As either the boys or the girls indulge in their luxurious bath, and the gamer is presented with a scrolling still image of the characters in the nude, with various elements covering all the naughty bits… although comically, we do get to see both Kyle and Nash’s rear ends, along with Kyle’s dangly bits, albeit blurred out. Was this a massive tease of things to come in the female pool, considering the male spring is encountered first? Regardless, this is certainly something that would flag a Mature rating were it released today, as it essentially straddles the fine line between game art and soft erotica. Hmm.
A Translation Tale
Working Designs is well known for their (in)famous translations. Some lament their work for veering too far off the original script and for descending too deeply into cheap, pop culture jokes that are not only eye-roll inducing but also immersion-breaking. Others laud the translations as best-case localizations, often adding humour to otherwise bland NPC lines and interpreting as best as possible – sometimes with a bit of creative license – cultural context that doesn’t make much sense outside of Japan. To each their own. Ultimately, it’s impossible to judge Working Designs’ translation of Saturn Lunar, as the company never officially localized that particular version. What we can do, however, is look at the PlayStation version text, as it gives a solid idea of what to expect in the Saturn patch.
Most RPG games we release have some amount of humor or witty dialogue, but the overwhelming majority of the text lacks personality when initially translated. We try to add character to the characters when we do the translation. Every town has a guy that says “This is so and so village.” That serves a function, but it’s boring. Why is that guy there? Is it his job to greet people? Is he practicing to get a job at the new Wal-Mart? We would give the guy a reason to be there, and in the course of talking with him, you’d find out what village you were in.
Working Designs president Victor Ireland in a Sept. 2000 interview with GamesFirst
To be fair, the translation keeps the pop culture references and cheap jokes to a minimum overall and assigns them to the less central characters. While some of Kyle’s lines are a bit crude and Ramus sometimes blurts out somewhat questionable dialogue, Alex, Luna, and Mia remain relatively clean, which is in line with their characters. Nash’s language is appropriately vain and self-centered, and Nall is occasionally off-color, but in a charmingly annoying sort of way. The game’s antagonists spout off theatrically dramatic lines, wholly appropriate with what one might expect from evil anime characters. Perhaps most importantly, each character remains remarkably consistent in their dialogue style through the game. Spelling errors are virtually non-existent. Although there will always be detractors of Working Designs’ translations, this is not a game that warrants any more than mild criticism at most. Compared to other companies’ thoughtless translations of the day, this is a stellar effort. All your base don’t belong to us here, thank you very much.
If Looks Could Kill…
One area that received a significant overhaul from the SEGA CD original is the graphics. Gone are simplistic maps and color-limited vistas, replaced by sweeping, gorgeous pixel art. Lunar’s towns, cities, and dungeons are a sight to behold. The colors really pop, and although the art style retains the tile-based look of the 16-bit original, there are countless touches of pixel brilliance to admire throughout. There are effects where appropriate, too, such as in the magical mist in the Weird Woods near the beginning of the game, or the shimmering lava in the Red Dragon’s lair. There are many locales that demand graphical appreciation: from the splendor of the White Dragon’s domain to the sprawling streets and lively harbor of Meribia; from the majesty of elegantly manicured Vane or the functional, steely coldness of the Grindery – not to mention the Magic Emperor’s garden in its upper levels – all stand out and are absolutely satisfying. This is a game that retains the style of 16-bit JRPGs but turbo-charges the color, detail, and scope of each map to a delightful level, without ever once stepping toe into contemporary, 32-bit looking 3D visuals.
During battle and in the overworld map, the player and enemy sprites are small and relatively simplistic, again calling back to the game’s 16-bit roots. In-town, characters look only somewhat larger and more detailed. In each case, there are enough frames of animation to do the art justice, whether with the character stances, or special attacks, or in enemies that exhale puffs of smoke or are engulfed in flame. The game has an undeniable Japanese anime look.
On the subject of anime… the game’s critical plot points are often depicted by anime cutscenes. In the standard edition of Lunar, the Saturn does a solid job of presenting these sequences, albeit in a small window and with occasional artifacts. In the ‘Complete’ (also known as ‘MPEG-ban’) edition, these are upgraded to superior, higher resolution, full-screen cutscenes. No artifacts here! Whichever edition is played, the cutscenes themselves are done wonderfully, masterfully conveying both the gravity and emotion of each scene. Although several highlights stand out, none are as memorable as Luna’s boat song, which even appears to use a mix of hand-drawn and CG assets, a la Beauty and the Beast ballroom scene.
A special mention must go to the game’s graphical interface style. When speaking, characters’ busts appear, displaying whatever emotion is appropriate to the scene, next to clear white font, all overtop a transparent text band. In battle, icons overlay the same style of transparent band. The Saturn may be ill-suited to producing 3D transparencies but has no issue whatsoever with 2D transparencies, and Game Arts used this effect to create a visually pleasing game interface. Excellent.
Sing me a Song!
The world of Lunar is filled with magic-users… but one character – Luna – stands out as quite different. Unlike everyone else, Luna relies on her voice, rather than the elemental power of the dragons, to weave powerful magic. Her singing is central to the game, with her melodies used for healing and other protective effects.
The game’s score is similarly powerful. Noriyuki Iwadare, who would go on to score several Langrisser and Grandia games, composed an all-new score for the Saturn game, rather than re-using the SEGA CD tracks. These range from tranquil to suspenseful, sombre to grandiose. Although the music is entirely chip-generated, omitting the available but space-consuming CD-DA Red Book option, it is nevertheless exceptionally fitting to the game. Much like the visuals, none of the music breaks any new ground nor does it venture into epic territory – rather, it fits absolutely into the overall package of the Lunar experience.
The Verdict
Lunar is a wonderful game to play; it really is. The game plays comfortably, looks sensationally traditional, is easy on the ears, and pulls the player in with its rich world and detailed characters. The shortcomings of Lunar (and really, most 16-bit JPRGs) of limited action, somewhat repetitive battles and lack of freedom are pleasantly masked by the vibrant visuals, variety in missions, and the strong sense of overall cohesion, which the game does a good job at making look so easy. The plot is by far the game’s strongest point, telling a full and detailed story complete with sub-plots, under-currents, myth, and lore. Alex’s coming of age is a classic literary device beautifully brought to life, and each of the other characters’ growth and evolution is portrayed just as well. The ‘bad guys’ are so well developed that one begins to question whether they are bad at all. The game is well-balanced, never allowing the player to become overpowered or indeed falling too far behind the experience curve, and although there can sometimes be a feeling of grinding in the battle sections of the game, it isn’t overbearing.
Lunar will certainly appeal to traditional JRPG fans, who will see this game as very close to perfect. Adventure and general Saturn fans will appreciate the story, variety in plot if not in gameplay, and the easy, comfortable gaming experience it offers. Those that despise JRPGs, however, will not find anything here to change their minds.
In the end, Saturn Lunar: The Silver Star Story is an excellent remake of the SEGA CD original. Some remakes end up famously underwhelming; this is certainly not the case here. Lunar is a wonderful homage to classic 16-bit adventures, harkening back to a time before Red Book audio and polygons, and proving that these are not necessary to produce a top-tier gaming experience. Give the game a try. You’re unlikely to be disappointed.
SHIRO! Challenges
- The forest hag has a sister living on Black Rose Street in Meribia. There is an interesting back-and-forth interplay between these two; explore it. Whilst at it, it is possible to get a better cane back from the hag.
- Find and open all the game’s orange treasure chests.
- Collect all the Bromides! Truthfully, they are not overly difficult to find.
- The ‘rock hard’ challenge: penetrate the maze leading up to the women’s hot spring and put those bars of soap to good use.
- Watch Patrick play! Our very own Patrick Traynor did a ‘let’s play’ of roughly an hour and a half of the MPEG edition of Lunar, with English patch applied. Check it out here!
Saturn Lunar and The Working Designs Story
Aside from some early HuCards for the TurboGrafx-16, Working Designs stuck exclusively to the CD as their publishing format of choice for reasons of lower costs, more control over production quantities, and improved manufacturing turnaround time compared to cartridges. As the 32-bit machines loomed on the American horizon, Working Designs not only extended their existing relationship with SEGA by signing on as a Saturn licensee but also approached Sony Computer Entertainment America and secured rights to publish on the PlayStation. Both being CD-based systems, Working Designs president Victor Ireland saw an ideal opportunity to expand his firm’s market penetration.
Unfortunately for him, Sony’s Executive Vice President in charge of third-party development for the North American PlayStation at the time was a businessman named Bernard Stolar. Stolar allegedly blocked and rejected Working Designs’ proposed games (Arc the Lad is a prime example), reasoning RPGs were a dying genre that did nothing to enhance the PlayStation’s ‘cool’ factor. A numbers man looking to ensure the PlayStation business was as successful as possible, Stolar did not see RPGs as big sellers or even overly good for the PlayStation’s image; it wasn’t until Final Fantasy 7’s 1997 sales numbers took off that he became somewhat of a convert. Consequently, even though they were an official licensee, Working Designs did not publish anything for the PlayStation for the first two years of the platform’s North American life.
In 1996, Stolar left Sony and was quickly snapped up to head SEGA’s North American operations, eventually succeeding departing Tom Kalinske’s post as President (Shoichiro Irimajiri was briefly SoA President in-between the two men). Stolar, drawing on his early Sony experience, brought over many of his PlayStation-era policies with him. Suddenly, RPGs weren’t cool to publish anymore. Ironically, Working Designs found themselves in a situation where, with SCEA under new management, they could begin publishing their style of games on the PlayStation while at the same time they began to run into roadblocks with SEGA. At that year’s E3, reportedly at Stolar’s direction, Working Designs was assigned booth space far away from the main show floor, whereas they had previously enjoyed prominence right within SEGA’s floor area. Feeling the burn, WD president Victor Ireland proclaimed that his firm would produce no further Saturn localizations and release only what projects they already had underway – right as Stolar announced that the Saturn was not SEGA’s future. Ireland was not shy in calling out SEGA’s ‘new management’ as the reason for the change in his company’s strategy. Nevertheless, Stolar had his reasons.
Before signing with SEGA, I racked my brain on a way to salvage Saturn, but it was just too far gone and too expensive and difficult to develop for. SEGA was nearly bankrupt, they needed a new console and they needed it quick. The only options were to go big or go home.
Bernie Stolar, president, SEGA of America 1996-1999, in a 2018 interview with the Dreamcast Junkyard.
Some have speculated whether there was more to this story; that Ireland was looking for a way to ditch the Saturn because the PlayStation was installing at a much faster rate than SEGA’s machine. This would make sense – a small firm may not have the resources to develop for two platforms, so the best strategy is to publish on the more profitable one. That happened to be the PlayStation, and this feud with Stolar may have been the perfect opportunity to refocus the company to a single platform and direct Saturn fans’ ire at Stolar. We may perhaps never know the full extent of the feud between Stolar and Ireland, but it’s quite obvious that these two gentlemen were not inviting each other to their summer barbeques.
I’ll talk about Sony now, one thing people don’t understand about the whole Sega Sony thing. They are like, you suck, you used to say Sony was the worst, you’d never go over to Sony, and as soon as there was money to be made you switched over to Sony. They just don’t follow the fact that the reason we weren’t at Sony was because of Bernie Stolar, when Bernie Stolar came to Sega very shortly thereafter we made the switch to Sony, because he made it intolerable to be at Sega, just like he made it intolerable to even try to be at Sony. That was when the switch happened. People are like you did it for the money, No! We go were the games are, and we go were the people appreciate what we do, and the management at Sega just doesn’t get it at all.
Victor Ireland, quoted from an on-the-floor interview at E3 1998. Original interview currently hosted at SEGA Retro.
Regardless, the four projects that Working Designs had committed time and money to at that point were the two-act Albert Odyssey, the SEGA Ages compilation, the seemingly cursed Magic Knight Rayearth, and the light of hope for Saturn gamers, Lunar: Silver Star Story. Three of the four titles made it out the door and into gamers’ hands. Ireland recalls trying to convince Game Arts to port Lunar to the PlayStation – at the time in Japan, the Saturn and PlayStation were selling neck-and-neck so the financial potential for Game Arts wasn’t nearly as lopsided as it was becoming in the US, and Game Arts was partial to working with SEGA – but whether because of his influence or not, Game Arts’ first PlayStation game indeed became Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete.
We pushed [Game Arts] hard, the Saturn market was dead, it [publishing on the PlayStation] had to happen. It made sense for them in Japan too.
Ireland, E3 1998. Original interview currently hosted at SEGA Retro.
Working Designs abandoned whatever preliminary work they had done up to that point on the Saturn conversion and moved on to translating the PlayStation version. In 1999, the firm released the game not only to critical acclaim but to excellent sales. Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete on the PlayStation would prove to be the company’s highest selling game up to that point in their history.
Two Saturn Versions of Lunar: Standard and MPEG
The original Lunar: Silver Star Story came to the Japanese Saturn in 1996. The following year, Game Arts released an updated edition, named Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete (or, Silver Star Story MPEG-ban). There are two main differences between the standard and MPEG edition. Most obviously, the MPEG edition requires a Video Card be installed in the Saturn’s battery compartment. The Video CD card allows for White Book standard (MPEG-1) video playback, and this was used to turn the somewhat grainy, visibly bordered anime FMV sequences of the standard edition to beautiful, full-screen clips. This remains the only game in the Saturn’s entire library that absolutely requires MPEG Video CD card to function. The second difference is the inclusion of the Crystal Rememberizer item and three additional Bromides in the game. The standard edition features 10 bromides; one each of Phacia, Royce and Xenobia, and a total of seven between Luna, Mia, and Jessica. In the MPEG edition, three more Bromides are added between the heroines, bringing the total to 13. The Rememberizer item, acquired at the end of the game, allows the player to view any of the game’s anime FMV clips on demand. Aside from these few changes, the games are otherwise identical. If one version must be placed as superior to the other, then clearly the later Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete is the better bet owing to the cleaner video FMV sequences and the few bonus items, however, this edition’s gains are nearly offset by also requiring a relatively obscure and expensive peripheral. Coupled with the fact that the FMV sequences have been improved in the English patch of the standard edition, it is difficult to unequivocally recommend the Complete edition as far superior over the original. In the end, the game itself is fabulous, and deserves your attention regardless of edition.
The Many Saturn MPEG cards
The Saturn can read several CD standards, including Red Book (CD-DA / digital audio, or standard music CDs, including Karaoke CD+Gs), Beige Book (Kodak’s photo CDs, or PCDs), and White Book (digital video, or VCDs). All Saturns are Red Book compliant out of the box. Beige and White Book compatibility is achieved via added hardware and/or software. The Photo CD Operator, for example, is a software disc that adds Beige Book compatibility and allows the Saturn to read the (long-dead) Photo CD format. White Book compatibility is achieved by inserting additional hardware – MPEG video decoder cards – into a special slot located in the Saturn’s battery compartment. Later, cards called Twin Operators were produced, which enabled both PCD and VCD playback. The last cards supported both PCD and VCD formats and were compatible with both NTSC and PAL standards.
PCD was a Kodak-backed format which allowed for storing of high-resolution still images on CDs. The format never found much success but was relevant in the professional space for a number of years.
VCD, as a technology between VHS and DVD, saw massive adoption across Asia and limited success elsewhere. The European market saw the release of an official SEGA VCD card, in PAL format. In Japan, Hitachi Hi-Saturns shipped with an MPEG card included. Other cards could be bought separately, including those produced by Hitachi, Victor/JVC, and SEGA themselves. In North America, the format never found commercial acceptance and no Saturn card was ever released.
Unlike any other Saturn peripheral, VCD cards are somewhat region locked. More specifically, they are format-locked, meaning, a PAL card would only decode PAL VCDs, with only the very last revisions of VCD cards produced supporting both PAL and NTSC video. Aside from enabling VCD movie playback, some Saturn games took advantage of the card to display higher-quality video sequences in-game, such as the Japanese GunGriffon, Vatlva, and several others. In all cases except Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete, the card is an optional feature and all VCD-supporting games will work without it.
The English Patches
Although work on either patch is not fully complete, the latest builds of both the standard and MPEG edition patches will allow the player to get through the entire game. The work of Mr Conan, TrekkiesUnite118, Ms. Tea and others, these patches insert an English script into the game and, in the case of the standard edition, improve the screen resolution of the anime cutscenes. The patches can be downloaded and project progress can be followed on the Sega Xtreme forums as well as the Sega Xtreme Discord (not to mention, the SHIRO! Discord as well!)
Lunar 2: Eternal Blue
A sequel, titled Lunar 2: Eternal Blue, materialized on the SEGA CD. Releasing in Japan for Christmas 1994, it was brought over to North America by Working Designs in September 1995. The sequel took much better advantage of the SEGA CD hardware compared to the original, and, like the first game, became one of the platform’s top selling games. As with the first Lunar, Japanese fans saw the release of a Saturn remake in 1998 followed by a PlayStation port in 1999. Working Designs brought the PlayStation game over to America in 2000.
A Saturn fan since the beginning, Peter plays Saturn almost exclusively. For Peter, Saturn represents a moment in time where 2D games were at their best, 3D was just rising, and fascinating gaming ‘firsts’ were commonplace. There are very few Saturn games that Peter cannot find some enjoyment in!
Clearly you put a ton of work into this article. I remember searching for some of this information years ago through forums and faqs. I would have loved to have read this back then to answer some of my questions about Lunar on Saturn. Thanks Patrick!