Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete was for me, what Final Fantasy VII was for... literally all of my other contemporaries! Awesome to see everything side-by-side!
And so we made it to Lunar, finally. I only own Lunar 2 on the PS1, came with everything but the damned pendant when I bought it used a few years back. The Sega CD one was the first I saw, it was at a friends house after we both graduated high school (he held the graduation party), I was literally stunned by how beautiful it was. I didn't know what it was at first, had to ask that friend, as his sister was playing it in their living room.
@@jugularSignal I found my copy locally, was lucky enough to at least find it mostly complete. Sadly Lunar 1 had already been sold, or I would've gotten both at once.
@@RetroCore I think Game Arts is still around, but they were bought out by GungHo and aren't very active anymore. Though, considering how disappointing Grandia 3 was, and what a painful, broken mess Lunar: Dragon Song ended up being, that may be for the best.
Square enix doesn't need to put any effort into their ports since people keep buying them even though they are lazy ports. Heck look at Nintendo for another example of lazy ports. People need to start speaking with their wallets for a change.
Can't thank you enough for this Mark, however if I had known how much work was involved for you to do a BOTP on it I wouldn't of requested it (I feel really bad), still this came out fantastic & yeah, Mega CD version for life!!☺
No worries. But yeah, this is why I don't do RPGs. They require so much time. Just to get to the past the ice cave on the Mega CD game took hours due to all the grinding. Still, at least this was more fun to make than something like James Pond, 😅
Game Arts in the house! Spent all my summer savings on the Sega CD and just about regretted it until Lunar was released. The only game I could think of that could compete with RPGs like Y's on the PC Engine CD. The Saturn version is enough to start up my Japanese lessons again...gorgeous looking game we US Saturn fans missed out on.
Man, the PSP version gave me the same vibe that I had when I played Ys: Oath in Felghana. It's the same areas of the original game, but with a new look.
I didn't know there were so many ports of this game. I really regretted that I couldn't get ahold of it for the Mega CD, so when it came out on the PlayStation here in the States, I grabbed it as soon as it was on the shelf. I remember really enjoying it. Still have it in my collection. The US release came with a lot of cool extras in the box such as a full-size metal replica of Luna's amulet and art book.
First time watching a Battle of the Ports with a RPG, and it's a great choice! Hope to see more RPGs to come in the next episodes, there are many interesting ports indeed.
@@RetroCore That's pretty understandable, and no problem at all. Hoping to see some from the 8-bits' era, such as Phantasy Star or The Legend of Zelda. Keep up the great work!
The Mega CD's capabilities still blow me away decades later especially with games like Lunar which really used its capabilities as best it could. None of the easy way out with crappy lowres FMV. Just awesome sprite artwork lovingly animated for cutscenes. Truly amazing.
What a great game! Thank you for detailing the various versions so carefully, having never played this before, I can now pick which one to play, knowing what to expect.
Great battle thanks Mark and I appreciate the time it would take to capture all that footage, Being a massive Mega CD fan in the day I shamefully missed this one due to lack of funds and ease of availability but I did catch up with it later whilst playing a emulated version on my PSP Go, it just didn't feel right though and was abandoned. The last RPG I finished was Skies of Arcadia on Dreamcast and I don't think I'll ever finish another tbh, I don't about you Mark but as I've got older my patience has diminished for games like this. It's all shmups and drop in drop out games for me now. Roll on summertime where I get back into my gaming garage to play on my Japanese Saturn on CRT lol.
Thank you for making this video. I have played all four of the American versions of this classic, and it was a major reason I got a Sega CD in the first place. I definitely played the Sega CD version the most with the Playstation version a close second. It was nice to see the Japanese versions of this game in the video. And I never knew about the Windows 98 version. My next goal is to try a translated Saturn version.
I own a Sega CD but sadly never picked up this series back then. I did buy it day one when they ported it to PlayStation. I couldn't believe I missed out on such a great jrpg on Sega CD.
I like the FMVs of the first Saturn version the best since they have the most vibrant colors. Sucks the PC version kept crashing. It looks fantastic even on a phone camera!
Very true about the Saturn FMV. It has a different colour gradiant to it. Notice how the lighting on the Dragon FMV section is red but white in all other versions.?
So neat to see and hear the differences! Never heard of this game before- looks pretty nice! :D Fun that each release ('cept the PS1/Saturn) has it's own identity rather than trying to straight up port the original game.
The Saturn version does have its own identity. The PlayStation version does not as it is a port of the Saturn. Could say the same as the Windows version, although that does use midi music.
@@RetroCore Yeah that's what I meant~ I almost forgot about the Windows version (Damn short term memory!) but the midi music is a nice touch if you have some good audio set up!
There’s actually a decent iOS port of this game, though might not run on current firmware. Uses saturn/playstation graphics, script and gameplay, with psp music tracks and highest quality FMV. Good filtering retaining blocky pixel graphics, high resolution text, fills the screen, original difficulty, only compromise is touch controls but that isn’t too bad for a turn based game.
£5.99 is a reasonable price for the game too. If I had any other iPhone but the SE (2016) I'd probably grab it, the small screen just doesn't lend itself well to touch controls. So for now I'll stick to the PSP version on the phone via PPSSPP. Touch controls are perhaps a little worse but the price can't be argued with.
@@RetroCore I'm impressed that you found a PC version. But I think a used iOS device may have been easier to get! Lunar is still in the App Store and still runs on my potato 2011 iPad 2. Although to be fair, this is not normal at all. Most iOS games break or vanish eventually.
The Sega CD one had such a huge impact on me back in the day. I was excited when I picked up the PlayStation remake but it was just changed too much for my liking and I didn’t play it long. Now that a lot of time has passed I think I may try out the PSP version. Really wish someone would remaster it again, but this time for the Switch!
I first played the PSP version of the game and to me it is the best version of the game. I've tried to go back and play through the Mega-CD version but the art style just doesn't work for me and I just don't like random battles.
Great video on a great game, Mark. I've only played Silver Star on Sega CD and then on PSX, and I haven't played it in a very long time. But, the BotP is making me want to play again...and Eternal Blue.
Oh boy, Europe got shafted so hard with this game. The only version to ever be released there was the PSP version, and even that was digital only. Compared to the US version, which not only got a physical release but a collectors edition as well... Shame, because this is one of those games that showed the Mega CD was more than just FMV games. I did manage to get an import copy of the GBA version, and I do have the PSP one, but I must confess I didn't get the chance to play either of them all that much. Maybe one day I will. Either way, great episode. Really enjoyed this one.
Lunar Legend gets a lot of flack, but it was the first version of the game I played and I really fell in love with it. Something about playing it on a handheld late at night under the covers and that lonely feeling of much of the music really clicked for me as a kid. The large, expressive spites were also amazing. I was so sad when I saw how small the sprites on the original versions were. The PSP feels like a nice balance between the different versions.
Modded my MD mini to play the original Sega CD version, then I saw that this game had been ported and have not given the other ones a go. Thanks for the vid, this is very informative.
PSP is the best in regards to classic JRPGs from the 90s. The remake of those games comes out with the best animation quality as well as Multi Region being a god send for someone like me in the PAL region.
It looks like an pretty 16-bit era RPG i could play someday and more than one time. Original game looks enough different then later remake and its ports to justify it :D
This brought back so many memories. Thank you for making this videa. I can't wait to see your take on the different versions of Lunar 2 The Eternal Blue
Great video, really shows how special this game is in a sea of JRPGs. The Korean version taking the effort to remove Japanese is just the types of trivia I love from these comparisons! The songs being re-recorded may have been to avoid paying excess royalties.
It's a shame though. The PSP version's boat song goes for a literal sounding translation that completely takes me out of the moment. Say what you will about Working Designs. Yeah, they added bad jokes, censorship, and crude ways to increase the difficulty....but they also made the game accessible, and the characters relatable. Their absence is even worse in the GBA version, where the sprites have to do a lot of the heavy lifting to cover for the charm removal - even reviews from the time knock the soulless translation. It's either done on the cheap or they really struggled with the space limitations.
Harmony is a little on the easy side but still a wonderful, beautiful game. I remember always waiting anxiously for the PSP to finish recharging in order to continue playing.
I wish I had a MCD back in the day, as all the Japanese games I was interested in on the system turned out to become classics. Nice transparency effects on the Saturn, who said it couldn'd do them?
The Saturn can do transparency, but it is very limited compared to the transparency the PlayStation can do, so many games opted to use dithering instead to fake the transparency.
I remember watching someone plat the SegaCD version and I eventually bought the PS1 game. I was blown away how much better it looked. I also bought the GBA port later and despite it lacking a bit I thought it was great having Lunar in my pocket. I only wish Eternal Blue had been shown as much love as Silver Star kept getting.
You know, that PC port really should be out there in the wild, or at least on GOG. Why not? It seems to be a great port. I never heard of it. I own the two US sega CD Lunar games, a Japanese copy of silver star, the Saturn complete edition - and the MPEG card and lastly the PSP port. This game made a huge impression on me when I was younger. It was unobtainable but it was in all gaming magazines. So I went searching for the ports. My life would be different if I ever got near the PC port in 98. Even in Japanese. Someone's got to have an ISO somewhere...
Such a great game, I played the Working Designs ports some time ago, but I have recently picked up the Saturn ports here in Japan as I am beginning to start working through some games in Japanese as my skills improve a bit, it's really tough going so I have picked easy ones to start with but one day, I hope to play through both Lunar games in Japanese, it's good way to study and reinforce kanji reading.
@@RetroCore it sure is! I just know my Japanese isn’t good enough yet. I’m slowly working through some easier games that I know before moving on to the real deal :) I’m better at speaking it than reading it!
Ah, Lunar the Silver Star...one of my three all-time favorite JRPGs (along with Final Fantasy 6/3 and Chrono Trigger. My first experience was the Working Designs (yeah, I know...)_version on the Sega CD, soon after I got my machine around 1995 or 96. Absolutely loved playing it. Later, when I got annoyed waiting for WD to bring over the Saturn version (which pissed off many fans when we discovered they were porting the PS1 version while claiming they were hard at work on the Saturn version), I ordered the original Japanese non-MPEG version and since my Japanese skills weren't exactly "great" (as in, enough to make a Japanese 1st grader giggle :)), I played with a synopsis as needed. Despite that, I had a great time. I did get the PS1 version soon after it came out in the US, and when my eldest brother (a Vietnam veteran and big JRPG fan) flew over for my mom's funeral, he saw I had it and the strategy guide, and bought both off me...which meant I rebought the game. Really enjoyed the added material. Later on, got a used copy of Lunar Legend, which I still own but have yet to finish. I also need to finish the PSP version, which I bought via digital download (could never find the physical version). But what I have played of Harmony, including the fantastic intro, I really enjoyed. My guess is that it's a little harder for me to play on a smaller screen these days, so I may use my TV cable to hook it up to my TV and see how it goes there. Thanks for this marvelous trip down memory lane!
I never even knew about the windows port lol. And also didn't know the GBA had so much changed about it. I feel like they could've reworked a lot of assets for the GBA.
Found the japanese Mega CD version at a cheap price, I will give it a try. Since my childhood, it always have been the game I wanted to play but I could not easily (in Europe).
Now you'll have to make a Lunar Eternal Blue video, haha! I own Silverstar Harmony for the PSP and Eternal Blue Complete for the PS1, fortunately in 100% complete condition. Finding the game in that condition is rare, mainly because of that famous pendant. If you're planning on making more RPG videos, please consider Falcom games like the Ys and Legend Of Heroes series.
I couldn't get hold of the PS1 version cheap so I got it for PSP. The GBA ver sucks, played that first because I downloaded it. Didn't have to pay too much for the English PSP ver so glad I found that. They need to port this again.
Thank you for doing this one. Lunar definitely has a special place in my heart. I actually got to play the Sega CD version LAST surprisingly. I mostly grew up with the PS1 version, which I still own to this day. It's surprising Silver Star had so many remakes and the sequel was only remade once. I also have the PSP version, but sadly my PSP was stolen. I also have the GBA version, which IMO holds it's own. It may have been stripped down, but the very emotive Sprite work gave it it's own charm. It was a decent remake. Lunar NEEDS to come back in some form. I know will probably never get a Part 3, and even then it probably won't have the charm of the originals. But anything to make up for.......ugh.....Dragon Song. 🤢
PSP emulation is pretty much flawless these days, aside from a Font's issue which can be solved quite easily. I think the gaming gods might forgive you if a version fell from the internet for you to play.
Hmm. Welp, looks like you got me on another game that I'm unfamiliar with Mark. But glad your the first one to expose me to Lunar: The Silver Star bro. 8^) Anthony..
I am a simple man. I see a thumbnail of an anime girl wrapped in tentacles, I click. In all seriousness though, you've convinced me to finally try out the game.
Another great episode! As you may know by now, I'm not a hater of anything japanese, by any means unlike guys from Korea :P I wouldnt mind having my Saturn with foreign BIOS. I just like localisations of the games. Back in the 90s even after getting in touch with someone who imports games from the far east I still couldnt play it, because I cant understand those games. (Not that anything has changed since then haha) This is why Im so sad it never got an (official) Saturn localisation back in the day. Playstation library had many games, that were almost identical, but with the advantage of having everything in English, making it possible to enjoy for many of us. It certainly was one of the factors why I used to stick with PS for so long, even during the days of Dreamcast, which was a superior console, but was quickly drained off the new releases.
I actually own a japanese pc version in a clear plastic case. Had installed it on a windows 7 system and it seamed to run well, Will have to try it on windows 10. I never knew of that enhanced graphics mode, will have to try it.
Thanks for the video, the time you put in is impressive. I'm perhaps one of the few who find the PSP version to be the best incarnation of the game, to me it just feels like the gameplay has reached the best it can be. The graphics are a little soft but if you play via emulation, upscaling can reduce that a bit. Having played the PSP version first I think has soured me a little on the other versions. They are still fun to play but I've never been able to complete them as I have the PSP version, everything feels like a little bit of a downgrade, well except for the music which is great on everything but the GBA, and that eventually just builds up to the point I stop. I would actually recommend people start with the Mega-CD version if they've never played Lunar before, as it will help them see how the game evolved across versions instead of kind of being a bit disappointed as I was moving backward.
Sega CD is a precursor of the CD based JRPG we see down the line. Saturn is a drastic improvement from Sega CD both times around. PS1 is very similar to Saturn. Windows 98 has clean fmv. GBA is really scaled back. PSP is the better way to play on the road.
Man this was my childhood right here. Man I remember it was Breath of fire 3, FF 7 and this. Have the psp one too but couldn't finish it because of how the special move looked, the animations were great but never liked that they had to make the backgrounds black.
@@RetroCore I haven't looked super deep, but I think it's between $100-$150 USD depending on condition and accessories. PS1 collecting has gotten way more expensive the last few years.
Props for the Alice Cooper shoutout! Also, the PS1 is how I first played it, but I loathe Working Designs localisations. The XSeed remake was a much better localisation overall.
Nice that they had so many updated version, it's too bad we can't play the PSP version for the PS Vita. Sony closed the shop now so getting it on Vita is no more.
Definitely a highlight for gaming on SCD bitd, I'm not a big JRPG fan but I did like Lunar. Interesting to hear what the later day versions had over the original. Gotten pretty pricey to buy on any platform now I see, must be the law for JRPGs heh. The PSP one looks pretty good and can be still bought reasonably for that price market. Those goofy one region PC ports are always confusing, you could make a lot more money selling to the whole PC world. Oh Korea, you may not like but you share common ancestors with Japan, just look how close you are.
Lunar! Oh my! The memories! The second RPG I ever played (after FF VI). I hate myself for selling my Genesis CD copy along with my beautiful CDX (also I sold my Snatcher copy there, yes I was a fool). I still have the "Complete Remasters", Lunar and Lunar eternal blue from Working Designs for PS1 but they were't the same, they were unnecessarily hard and the remastered music didn't feel as good as the first one. I still love the original game but not the other versions.
Lol, I think so as the Japanese version is really hard to find. Of course, I had no idea what the Korean version said. Well, I know but only because its going to be the same as the Japanese version.
Despite having a Sega CD in the day, I never played this series. A buddy of mine and his brother were into RPGs and liked it, but I wasn't into RPGs and I didn't see much beyond the animated cutscenes that impressed me. Obviously, you can't get much story from a brief view of a game. To this day, I'm super picky about RPGs. Phantasy Star 4 is one I liked a lot. The Sega CD one looks nice, but the tiles and sprites tend to look small and simple. I get the impression they were saving memory where they could, perhaps to minimize loading. Clearly, the Genesis and Sega CD were capable of RPGs with bigger sprites and more detail. I don't think it looks bad, though and I like that style of graphics. Visually, I like the Saturn and PS1 versions the most. They look nicely updated while still looking cohesive. The fact that the game was updated several times makes this an interesting comparison.
The story is good on this one but if you want it in English, you'll have to put up with the crappy working designs pop culture (which is so dated) and poor humour version. Well, unless you go for the GBA or PSP releases.
I haven't got into the series till the PS1 ports. Would have been nice if the Saturn port got released outside Japan if Sega didn't treat Working Designs like crap at the time. Anyways, I adored the first two games on the PS1 and that's about it.
I envy you your ability to speak Japanese. In English, either the charm is preserved but with bad 90's meme humor/censorship/and sloppily increased difficulty, or the intent is preserved in the most literal way possible, and little of the warmth carries over. The PS1 version loses many of the bad jokes, but punishes you for level grinding before fighting the bosses. I wish there was a version that combined the best of every port. Or, at the very least, explained why the full orchestra Sega CD soundtrack was replaced with elevator music.
I'm glad I don't need to play the working designs versions but if the truth be told, I would rather play an RPG with English text. Less need to use my brain 😅. Japanese voices are fine as no thinking is required in that case.
I still have only a few original Playstation games from back in the day, but this is one of them- I even still have the guidebook the game shop sold me with it. So the "complete" tag on the one Saturn release just meant updated videos? When I bought the PS version I think naive me thought "complete" meant it was multiple games. Nope- Lunar II was in fact a separate release.
Thank's for this BotP ( pretty challenging for you it seems ) ! this JRPG look really attractive. somebody know if a fan translation exist somewhere? at least in english?
There's American English versions for Mega CD and PlayStation from working designs however the translations are not great and full of very dataed American pop culture references.
The improved sprites with more animation are a complete game changer which pushes the PSP version way, way ahead for me. When you consider how many battles you'll be getting into (a load) you'll be seeing far more of them than FMV, they're such a massive improvement over the small, generic super deformed sprites of the home console versions. Even the GBA version looks better in battles with larger characters that more closely resemble who they're supposed to be.
Hi Mark, to perfectly emulate old M$ operating systems I recommend PCem, virtual machines are not suitable as they generalize the hardware and are optimized for modern systems. PCem in turn focuses on emulating the hardware, so you can build hardware compatible with the Windows 98 era. It takes little effort to understand how it works and once you start using it, you'll never go back to virtual machines (at least for old OSes).
@@RetroCore Real hardware is always the best solution, you can even dispense with the use of problematic hard drives by using practical solutions that we have today like IDE44->SD converter and your laptop will run flawlessly until the intergalactic battles era. There is also a simple solution that usually works well for Win9x games which is the use of Wrappers like dgVoodoo (old Glide and DirectX translators for new OSes)
Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete was for me, what Final Fantasy VII was for... literally all of my other contemporaries! Awesome to see everything side-by-side!
Saturn and PS1 remakes are beautiful, but the Mega CD original has a special charm, like you 've said. Excellent work, Mark!
I'm glad they made the changes that they did on the PS1/Saturn version. The Boat Song is honestly one of my favorite JRPG moments ever.
And so we made it to Lunar, finally. I only own Lunar 2 on the PS1, came with everything but the damned pendant when I bought it used a few years back. The Sega CD one was the first I saw, it was at a friends house after we both graduated high school (he held the graduation party), I was literally stunned by how beautiful it was. I didn't know what it was at first, had to ask that friend, as his sister was playing it in their living room.
last year I was looking at buying a copy and actually found 1 seller on ebay who was selling the pendant
@@jugularSignal I found my copy locally, was lucky enough to at least find it mostly complete. Sadly Lunar 1 had already been sold, or I would've gotten both at once.
I have my pendant still and the Ghaleon punching doll in its box still. I really don't know why......
Impressive that they put so much effort into actually updating the game with almost every port. Square should take note!
They should. Sadly, Game Arts are no longer around despite them being Awsome with very few poor games.
@@RetroCore I think Game Arts is still around, but they were bought out by GungHo and aren't very active anymore. Though, considering how disappointing Grandia 3 was, and what a painful, broken mess Lunar: Dragon Song ended up being, that may be for the best.
@@RetroCore Indeed they produced some great gems that's for sure.
Square enix doesn't need to put any effort into their ports since people keep buying them even though they are lazy ports. Heck look at Nintendo for another example of lazy ports. People need to start speaking with their wallets for a change.
@@buckroger6456 100% agree!
Thank you! I know this took a lot of time. So worth the wait!!
I recently found your channel and have been watching non stop. Love all the comparisons of games and consoles I have never even heard of. Keep it up 👍
Thanks, Matthew. Glad you are enjoying the channel.
Can't thank you enough for this Mark, however if I had known how much work was involved for you to do a BOTP on it I wouldn't of requested it (I feel really bad), still this came out fantastic & yeah, Mega CD version for life!!☺
No worries. But yeah, this is why I don't do RPGs. They require so much time. Just to get to the past the ice cave on the Mega CD game took hours due to all the grinding. Still, at least this was more fun to make than something like James Pond, 😅
Game Arts in the house! Spent all my summer savings on the Sega CD and just about regretted it until Lunar was released. The only game I could think of that could compete with RPGs like Y's on the PC Engine CD. The Saturn version is enough to start up my Japanese lessons again...gorgeous looking game we US Saturn fans missed out on.
Man, the PSP version gave me the same vibe that I had when I played Ys: Oath in Felghana. It's the same areas of the original game, but with a new look.
I didn't know there were so many ports of this game. I really regretted that I couldn't get ahold of it for the Mega CD, so when it came out on the PlayStation here in the States, I grabbed it as soon as it was on the shelf. I remember really enjoying it. Still have it in my collection. The US release came with a lot of cool extras in the box such as a full-size metal replica of Luna's amulet and art book.
Sometimes the extras are cool. Others, they are tat. In Lunar's case, the pendant is cool.
First time watching a Battle of the Ports with a RPG, and it's a great choice! Hope to see more RPGs to come in the next episodes, there are many interesting ports indeed.
I will do more RPGs but they won't be too often as it took me over 15 hours to put this one together
@@RetroCore That's pretty understandable, and no problem at all. Hoping to see some from the 8-bits' era, such as Phantasy Star or The Legend of Zelda. Keep up the great work!
The Mega CD's capabilities still blow me away decades later especially with games like Lunar which really used its capabilities as best it could. None of the easy way out with crappy lowres FMV. Just awesome sprite artwork lovingly animated for cutscenes. Truly amazing.
You should see Urusei Yatsura. That is like watching an anime but it's 100% powered by the Mega CD. It puts so many other games to shame.
What a great game! Thank you for detailing the various versions so carefully, having never played this before, I can now pick which one to play, knowing what to expect.
I see you are taking it in another direction with an RPG. Nice. Battle of the Ports is like having a cup of coffee in the morning
Nice. I'd like to do more RPGs but they take a very long time to collect the footage for. I will do more in the future.
I own this on GBA and have recently started playing on Sega CD. :) Such a good game!
I used to played the Sega Cd versions and WOW those PSP versions look amazing!
Great battle thanks Mark and I appreciate the time it would take to capture all that footage, Being a massive Mega CD fan in the day I shamefully missed this one due to lack of funds and ease of availability but I did catch up with it later whilst playing a emulated version on my PSP Go, it just didn't feel right though and was abandoned. The last RPG I finished was Skies of Arcadia on Dreamcast and I don't think I'll ever finish another tbh, I don't about you Mark but as I've got older my patience has diminished for games like this. It's all shmups and drop in drop out games for me now. Roll on summertime where I get back into my gaming garage to play on my Japanese Saturn on CRT lol.
Ah, for me, I do like a game I can get stuck in to. It gives me a reason to play 😅
Thank you for making this video. I have played all four of the American versions of this classic, and it was a major reason I got a Sega CD in the first place. I definitely played the Sega CD version the most with the Playstation version a close second. It was nice to see the Japanese versions of this game in the video. And I never knew about the Windows 98 version. My next goal is to try a translated Saturn version.
I think quite a few people are unaware of the windows release.
Would be great to have a collection of this series on a modern console.
Thanks for a great video Mark 😊 👍
Hopefully, the Grandia HD Collection has been successful enough to warrant a remake/port of the Lunar duology.
one of the best rpgs. love this game!
Never got any version of Lunar in Australia, during the time it came out, except for the PSP version.
Bummer 🙁
I own a Sega CD but sadly never picked up this series back then. I did buy it day one when they ported it to PlayStation. I couldn't believe I missed out on such a great jrpg on Sega CD.
Wow! The Saturn version's sound quality is so much Fuller and richer than the PS1 version. The Saturn's audio capabilities were no joke.
Yep. That is quite often the case. The Saturn had way better sound hardware than the PlayStation. It was made by Yamaha, after all 👍
Oh man I love these :) Thank you for this!
WTF I didn't even know there was a GBA port! I'm going to need a fan translation.
Not necessary. Ubisoft already brought it over.
I like the FMVs of the first Saturn version the best since they have the most vibrant colors. Sucks the PC version kept crashing. It looks fantastic even on a phone camera!
Very true about the Saturn FMV. It has a different colour gradiant to it. Notice how the lighting on the Dragon FMV section is red but white in all other versions.?
So neat to see and hear the differences! Never heard of this game before- looks pretty nice! :D Fun that each release ('cept the PS1/Saturn) has it's own identity rather than trying to straight up port the original game.
The Saturn version does have its own identity. The PlayStation version does not as it is a port of the Saturn. Could say the same as the Windows version, although that does use midi music.
@@RetroCore Yeah that's what I meant~ I almost forgot about the Windows version (Damn short term memory!) but the midi music is a nice touch if you have some good audio set up!
Thanks for the awesome video 🙌✌🏻😃
great music lunar star, this is my first time hearing it thanks👍
You're welcome 👍
There’s actually a decent iOS port of this game, though might not run on current firmware. Uses saturn/playstation graphics, script and gameplay, with psp music tracks and highest quality FMV. Good filtering retaining blocky pixel graphics, high resolution text, fills the screen, original difficulty, only compromise is touch controls but that isn’t too bad for a turn based game.
Yeah, I've heard of that one. I couldn't cover it though due to having no apple devices. Not that it would be garunteed to work mind you.
@@RetroCore It works perfectly fine on the latest iOS release
Had no idea Lunar existed for iOS devices. Downloading it now!
£5.99 is a reasonable price for the game too. If I had any other iPhone but the SE (2016) I'd probably grab it, the small screen just doesn't lend itself well to touch controls. So for now I'll stick to the PSP version on the phone via PPSSPP. Touch controls are perhaps a little worse but the price can't be argued with.
@@RetroCore I'm impressed that you found a PC version. But I think a used iOS device may have been easier to get! Lunar is still in the App Store and still runs on my potato 2011 iPad 2. Although to be fair, this is not normal at all. Most iOS games break or vanish eventually.
The Sega CD one had such a huge impact on me back in the day. I was excited when I picked up the PlayStation remake but it was just changed too much for my liking and I didn’t play it long. Now that a lot of time has passed I think I may try out the PSP version. Really wish someone would remaster it again, but this time for the Switch!
I first played the PSP version of the game and to me it is the best version of the game. I've tried to go back and play through the Mega-CD version but the art style just doesn't work for me and I just don't like random battles.
Random battles really suck. So glad that was changed for the remakes.
What a song! Definitely one to dance naked around the bedroom to.
Although I admit I have only really invested time into the PSP version.
Lol, I'll try not to imagine that.
Great video on a great game, Mark. I've only played Silver Star on Sega CD and then on PSX, and I haven't played it in a very long time. But, the BotP is making me want to play again...and Eternal Blue.
Eternal Blue is the one. Such a great RPG.
Oh boy, Europe got shafted so hard with this game. The only version to ever be released there was the PSP version, and even that was digital only. Compared to the US version, which not only got a physical release but a collectors edition as well... Shame, because this is one of those games that showed the Mega CD was more than just FMV games. I did manage to get an import copy of the GBA version, and I do have the PSP one, but I must confess I didn't get the chance to play either of them all that much. Maybe one day I will. Either way, great episode. Really enjoyed this one.
Happy to hear you enjoyed the show.
Yeah, back in the day, Europe really got screwed over when it came to RPGs on consoles
Great job on this!
Thanks.
Lunar Legend gets a lot of flack, but it was the first version of the game I played and I really fell in love with it. Something about playing it on a handheld late at night under the covers and that lonely feeling of much of the music really clicked for me as a kid. The large, expressive spites were also amazing. I was so sad when I saw how small the sprites on the original versions were. The PSP feels like a nice balance between the different versions.
For a GBA RPG I looks really nice but the audio is a real letdown for me. I do like the game and I think it looks great but man, I need better audio.
@@RetroCore Story of the GBA unfortunately
Had the original on the Sega CD, as well as Eternal Blue, also picked up the GBA port. Great game.
Eternal Blue is fantastic.
Modded my MD mini to play the original Sega CD version, then I saw that this game had been ported and have not given the other ones a go. Thanks for the vid, this is very informative.
The MD Mini can play Mega CD games? I had no idea such a hack was out. Cool too because I have a Mega CD connected to my Mega Drive mini.
I thought this was gonna take longer? But damn...did have a couple great intro songs
Funny how the story kept changing across various versions...
It was but I spent all day Saturday until 1:20am on this to get it out for Sunday.
Once again you have done a great video. I know how hard it is to make a video when you have to review more than 1 game. Keep your great work up !
Thanks👍
something i always wanted play. people who played it told me it impacted them
It was a great game in its day. Now its still a good game but maybe not as impacting as it once was.
@@RetroCore if i can bring myself to emulate it i will.
Only played the PS1 version.Amazing experience.
that psp remake is really slick
Great video, as always. All of these ports were decent, in my opinion.
Holy, that opening is really good. I love the american opening, but the japanese version blows it out of the water
PSP is the best in regards to classic JRPGs from the 90s.
The remake of those games comes out with the best animation quality as well as Multi Region being a god send for someone like me in the PAL region.
It looks like an pretty 16-bit era RPG i could play someday and more than one time. Original game looks enough different then later remake and its ports to justify it :D
love your show
Great video
Thanks.
This brought back so many memories. Thank you for making this videa. I can't wait to see your take on the different versions of Lunar 2 The Eternal Blue
Lunar 2 won't be for quite a while.
Cool, a rpg battle of the port video (that name should sound like a title of a rpg game)
Great video, really shows how special this game is in a sea of JRPGs. The Korean version taking the effort to remove Japanese is just the types of trivia I love from these comparisons!
The songs being re-recorded may have been to avoid paying excess royalties.
It's a shame though. The PSP version's boat song goes for a literal sounding translation that completely takes me out of the moment.
Say what you will about Working Designs. Yeah, they added bad jokes, censorship, and crude ways to increase the difficulty....but they also made the game accessible, and the characters relatable. Their absence is even worse in the GBA version, where the sprites have to do a lot of the heavy lifting to cover for the charm removal - even reviews from the time knock the soulless translation. It's either done on the cheap or they really struggled with the space limitations.
You may be right about the re-recording of the song.
2 more for ye to cover : Impossible Mission 2, Xybots. Thanks, and great vid again.
Both already on the list👍 but thanks for the suggestions.
@@RetroCore thanks.
Lunar on the Mega CD is the best!! impacted me so much as a teen incredible!
FMVs of Tales of Eternia on PSP were Amazing.
I remember finishing this on Sega CD. I don't think it was very hard. I remember liking the music a lot.
It's a grind feast at the beginning but does lighten up the further you get.
The music is really nice though.
Harmony is a little on the easy side but still a wonderful, beautiful game. I remember always waiting anxiously for the PSP to finish recharging in order to continue playing.
That's when you know a game is a good one!
I wish I had a MCD back in the day, as all the Japanese games I was interested in on the system turned out to become classics.
Nice transparency effects on the Saturn, who said it couldn'd do them?
PlayStation magazines, that who 😋.
The Saturn can do transparency, but it is very limited compared to the transparency the PlayStation can do, so many games opted to use dithering instead to fake the transparency.
I like the American intro to the original Sega-CD game better than the Japanese version. I'll die on that hill.
I remember watching someone plat the SegaCD version and I eventually bought the PS1 game. I was blown away how much better it looked. I also bought the GBA port later and despite it lacking a bit I thought it was great having Lunar in my pocket. I only wish Eternal Blue had been shown as much love as Silver Star kept getting.
It's very strange how Eternal Blue hasn't been remade in modern times.
@@RetroCore indeed, considering Eternal Blue is hands down the better game.
You know, that PC port really should be out there in the wild, or at least on GOG. Why not? It seems to be a great port. I never heard of it. I own the two US sega CD Lunar games, a Japanese copy of silver star, the Saturn complete edition - and the MPEG card and lastly the PSP port. This game made a huge impression on me when I was younger. It was unobtainable but it was in all gaming magazines. So I went searching for the ports. My life would be different if I ever got near the PC port in 98. Even in Japanese. Someone's got to have an ISO somewhere...
It's probably not on GOG because it's a Japanese and Korean exclusive 😢
Such a great game, I played the Working Designs ports some time ago, but I have recently picked up the Saturn ports here in Japan as I am beginning to start working through some games in Japanese as my skills improve a bit, it's really tough going so I have picked easy ones to start with but one day, I hope to play through both Lunar games in Japanese, it's good way to study and reinforce kanji reading.
Eternal Blue is well worth sitting through. Such a classic.
@@RetroCore it sure is! I just know my Japanese isn’t good enough yet. I’m slowly working through some easier games that I know before moving on to the real deal :) I’m better at speaking it than reading it!
Ah, Lunar the Silver Star...one of my three all-time favorite JRPGs (along with Final Fantasy 6/3 and Chrono Trigger. My first experience was the Working Designs (yeah, I know...)_version on the Sega CD, soon after I got my machine around 1995 or 96. Absolutely loved playing it. Later, when I got annoyed waiting for WD to bring over the Saturn version (which pissed off many fans when we discovered they were porting the PS1 version while claiming they were hard at work on the Saturn version), I ordered the original Japanese non-MPEG version and since my Japanese skills weren't exactly "great" (as in, enough to make a Japanese 1st grader giggle :)), I played with a synopsis as needed. Despite that, I had a great time.
I did get the PS1 version soon after it came out in the US, and when my eldest brother (a Vietnam veteran and big JRPG fan) flew over for my mom's funeral, he saw I had it and the strategy guide, and bought both off me...which meant I rebought the game. Really enjoyed the added material. Later on, got a used copy of Lunar Legend, which I still own but have yet to finish. I also need to finish the PSP version, which I bought via digital download (could never find the physical version). But what I have played of Harmony, including the fantastic intro, I really enjoyed. My guess is that it's a little harder for me to play on a smaller screen these days, so I may use my TV cable to hook it up to my TV and see how it goes there.
Thanks for this marvelous trip down memory lane!
Final Fantasy 6 is also a classic. I loved that game back in the day.
Ahh I see now, I was wondering why there were two Saturn ports shown at the beginning w the side by side stuff. Now I know lol.
Yeah, it's kind of strange they released two versions. I guess there was just too much video to put both Cinipac and MPEG on to the same disc.
An English translation port for the Sega Saturn version is been worked on right now.
i would like them to do the English translation for the Complete version but I doubt they will.
Cool, glad to hear they are doing complete as well.
I never even knew about the windows port lol. And also didn't know the GBA had so much changed about it. I feel like they could've reworked a lot of assets for the GBA.
Yeah, the windows power is kind of unknown due to it only being released in Japan and Korea.
Found the japanese Mega CD version at a cheap price, I will give it a try. Since my childhood, it always have been the game I wanted to play but I could not easily (in Europe).
Now you'll have to make a Lunar Eternal Blue video, haha! I own Silverstar Harmony for the PSP and Eternal Blue Complete for the PS1, fortunately in 100% complete condition. Finding the game in that condition is rare, mainly because of that famous pendant. If you're planning on making more RPG videos, please consider Falcom games like the Ys and Legend Of Heroes series.
Ys is a good one I'd like to do and of course, Eternal Blue.
I couldn't get hold of the PS1 version cheap so I got it for PSP. The GBA ver sucks, played that first because I downloaded it. Didn't have to pay too much for the English PSP ver so glad I found that. They need to port this again.
Yeah, the PSP version is a nice option. Looks quite different but I think it is still appealing.
Thank you for doing this one. Lunar definitely has a special place in my heart. I actually got to play the Sega CD version LAST surprisingly. I mostly grew up with the PS1 version, which I still own to this day. It's surprising Silver Star had so many remakes and the sequel was only remade once. I also have the PSP version, but sadly my PSP was stolen.
I also have the GBA version, which IMO holds it's own. It may have been stripped down, but the very emotive Sprite work gave it it's own charm. It was a decent remake.
Lunar NEEDS to come back in some form. I know will probably never get a Part 3, and even then it probably won't have the charm of the originals.
But anything to make up for.......ugh.....Dragon Song. 🤢
Same your PSP was stollen. That sucks. But at least you got to sample the game on the GBA and PSX.
PSP emulation is pretty much flawless these days, aside from a Font's issue which can be solved quite easily. I think the gaming gods might forgive you if a version fell from the internet for you to play.
@@voteDC I'm no stranger to emulation. It's honestly better than relying on companies or tracking down $100 copies.
Hmm. Welp, looks like you got me on another game that I'm unfamiliar with Mark. But glad your the first one to expose me to Lunar: The Silver Star bro. 8^)
Anthony..
You don't know Lunar? Wow, you've missed out on a classic. Well, unless you don't like RPGs that is.
I am a simple man. I see a thumbnail of an anime girl wrapped in tentacles, I click. In all seriousness though, you've convinced me to finally try out the game.
Lol, maybe that's something you shouldn't type on the net 😋
Another great episode!
As you may know by now, I'm not a hater of anything japanese, by any means unlike guys from Korea :P I wouldnt mind having my Saturn with foreign BIOS.
I just like localisations of the games. Back in the 90s even after getting in touch with someone who imports games from the far east I still couldnt play it, because I cant understand those games.
(Not that anything has changed since then haha)
This is why Im so sad it never got an (official) Saturn localisation back in the day. Playstation library had many games, that were almost identical, but with the advantage of having everything in English, making it possible to enjoy for many of us. It certainly was one of the factors why I used to stick with PS for so long, even during the days of Dreamcast, which was a superior console, but was quickly drained off the new releases.
Yeah, Korea was kind of pathetic back in the 90s. These days though, Korean products are better than most Japanese products in the electronic area.
Werent Speccies made in Korea? I believe mine ZX Plus had a "Made in Korea" label on the back.
3rd person to like this vid. Been waiting patiently man :)
Hope you enjoy this one. I must have sank 15 hours of gaming in to this video.
Remember playing on the ps1. Was surprised how lewd the comedy was. Didn't see a lot of that back then.
Thing is, that wasn't in the original. One reason why I don't like working designs.
For emulating various old PC hardware, i recommend 86box
Thanks.
@@RetroCore specs of your emulation PC?
I actually own a japanese pc version in a clear plastic case. Had installed it on a windows 7 system and it seamed to run well, Will have to try it on windows 10. I never knew of that enhanced graphics mode, will have to try it.
Thanks for the video, the time you put in is impressive. I'm perhaps one of the few who find the PSP version to be the best incarnation of the game, to me it just feels like the gameplay has reached the best it can be. The graphics are a little soft but if you play via emulation, upscaling can reduce that a bit.
Having played the PSP version first I think has soured me a little on the other versions. They are still fun to play but I've never been able to complete them as I have the PSP version, everything feels like a little bit of a downgrade, well except for the music which is great on everything but the GBA, and that eventually just builds up to the point I stop.
I would actually recommend people start with the Mega-CD version if they've never played Lunar before, as it will help them see how the game evolved across versions instead of kind of being a bit disappointed as I was moving backward.
Yeah, playing the PSP version first will make the originals look pretty dated. Still, at least you could play great version.
I'm digging the GBA version the most.
With that said, from a technical standpoint it's the PSP. From a classical standpoint it's the Saturn Complete version.
Sega CD is a precursor of the CD based JRPG we see down the line. Saturn is a drastic improvement from Sega CD both times around. PS1 is very similar to Saturn. Windows 98 has clean fmv. GBA is really scaled back. PSP is the better way to play on the road.
Yep, PSP is a great version to take on long journeys.
Man this was my childhood right here. Man I remember it was Breath of fire 3, FF 7 and this. Have the psp one too but couldn't finish it because of how the special move looked, the animations were great but never liked that they had to make the backgrounds black.
I agree. The blacking out of the backgrounds just looks cheap.
I really want the PS1 version of this, I played the GBA port a ton when i was a kid.
I would imagine the PlayStation version being the cheapest and easiest to get as well.
@@RetroCore And easy to emulate...
@@RetroCore I haven't looked super deep, but I think it's between $100-$150 USD depending on condition and accessories. PS1 collecting has gotten way more expensive the last few years.
That's a shame. Same here in Japan for the more obscure shooters on the PlayStation.
@@jugularSignal Wow, just wow. You can just use the emulator...
Props for the Alice Cooper shoutout! Also, the PS1 is how I first played it, but I loathe Working Designs localisations. The XSeed remake was a much better localisation overall.
Alice Cooper is the man!
Yeah, I'm also not a fan of Working Designs. I don't like their added humor or that they dick about with game difficulties.
@@RetroCore Greatest Rockstar of all time. Agreed.
I'm unworthy
that must have been quite an effort to bring us decent areas for this game huh?
Yep, over 15 hours of gameplay.
Nice that they had so many updated version, it's too bad we can't play the PSP version for the PS Vita. Sony closed the shop now so getting it on Vita is no more.
And that's why digital only software sucks but people keep buying it so companies keep releasing games as only digital downloads 😢
Definitely a highlight for gaming on SCD bitd, I'm not a big JRPG fan but I did like Lunar. Interesting to hear what the later day versions had over the original. Gotten pretty pricey to buy on any platform now I see, must be the law for JRPGs heh. The PSP one looks pretty good and can be still bought reasonably for that price market.
Those goofy one region PC ports are always confusing, you could make a lot more money selling to the whole PC world. Oh Korea, you may not like but you share common ancestors with Japan, just look how close you are.
Japanese ancestors are Mongolian and I'd bet Korean are as well.
There's also an iOS release of this game. I don't think it's emulated either.
Nice
Lunar! Oh my! The memories! The second RPG I ever played (after FF VI). I hate myself for selling my Genesis CD copy along with my beautiful CDX (also I sold my Snatcher copy there, yes I was a fool). I still have the "Complete Remasters", Lunar and Lunar eternal blue from Working Designs for PS1 but they were't the same, they were unnecessarily hard and the remastered music didn't feel as good as the first one. I still love the original game but not the other versions.
I don't like working designs at all. They dick about with the games too much.
Seems like learning Korean may actually pay off for once. I have a win98 machine so I’m going to have to check it out.
Lol, I think so as the Japanese version is really hard to find. Of course, I had no idea what the Korean version said. Well, I know but only because its going to be the same as the Japanese version.
Despite having a Sega CD in the day, I never played this series. A buddy of mine and his brother were into RPGs and liked it, but I wasn't into RPGs and I didn't see much beyond the animated cutscenes that impressed me. Obviously, you can't get much story from a brief view of a game. To this day, I'm super picky about RPGs. Phantasy Star 4 is one I liked a lot. The Sega CD one looks nice, but the tiles and sprites tend to look small and simple. I get the impression they were saving memory where they could, perhaps to minimize loading. Clearly, the Genesis and Sega CD were capable of RPGs with bigger sprites and more detail. I don't think it looks bad, though and I like that style of graphics. Visually, I like the Saturn and PS1 versions the most. They look nicely updated while still looking cohesive. The fact that the game was updated several times makes this an interesting comparison.
The story is good on this one but if you want it in English, you'll have to put up with the crappy working designs pop culture (which is so dated) and poor humour version. Well, unless you go for the GBA or PSP releases.
You know I've never listened to the mega cd intro in Japanese.
I like it. What did you think?
@@RetroCore I liked it too.
I haven't got into the series till the PS1 ports. Would have been nice if the Saturn port got released outside Japan if Sega didn't treat Working Designs like crap at the time.
Anyways, I adored the first two games on the PS1 and that's about it.
I envy you your ability to speak Japanese.
In English, either the charm is preserved but with bad 90's meme humor/censorship/and sloppily increased difficulty, or the intent is preserved in the most literal way possible, and little of the warmth carries over. The PS1 version loses many of the bad jokes, but punishes you for level grinding before fighting the bosses.
I wish there was a version that combined the best of every port. Or, at the very least, explained why the full orchestra Sega CD soundtrack was replaced with elevator music.
I'm glad I don't need to play the working designs versions but if the truth be told, I would rather play an RPG with English text. Less need to use my brain 😅. Japanese voices are fine as no thinking is required in that case.
Any idea where i can find the korean version of this game? Very awesome video man, thumbs up!
Try archive.org 😎
I still have only a few original Playstation games from back in the day, but this is one of them- I even still have the guidebook the game shop sold me with it. So the "complete" tag on the one Saturn release just meant updated videos? When I bought the PS version I think naive me thought "complete" meant it was multiple games. Nope- Lunar II was in fact a separate release.
Yep, complete on the Saturn just has a few bug fixes and better video.
Thank's for this BotP ( pretty challenging for you it seems ) ! this JRPG look really attractive. somebody know if a fan translation exist somewhere? at least in english?
There's American English versions for Mega CD and PlayStation from working designs however the translations are not great and full of very dataed American pop culture references.
The improved sprites with more animation are a complete game changer which pushes the PSP version way, way ahead for me. When you consider how many battles you'll be getting into (a load) you'll be seeing far more of them than FMV, they're such a massive improvement over the small, generic super deformed sprites of the home console versions. Even the GBA version looks better in battles with larger characters that more closely resemble who they're supposed to be.
The GBA game is good but that audio really let's it down.
Hi Mark, to perfectly emulate old M$ operating systems I recommend PCem, virtual machines are not suitable as they generalize the hardware and are optimized for modern systems. PCem in turn focuses on emulating the hardware, so you can build hardware compatible with the Windows 98 era. It takes little effort to understand how it works and once you start using it, you'll never go back to virtual machines (at least for old OSes).
I'm looking in to buying an old win98 system. Maybe a laptop that I can just slide down the side of the unit when it's not in use 😉
@@RetroCore Real hardware is always the best solution, you can even dispense with the use of problematic hard drives by using practical solutions that we have today like IDE44->SD converter and your laptop will run flawlessly until the intergalactic battles era. There is also a simple solution that usually works well for Win9x games which is the use of Wrappers like dgVoodoo (old Glide and DirectX translators for new OSes)
Oddly i never beat it, literally stopped on the last dungeon yeeears ago and haven't played it since because of other games, i should replay it
Ah, I have a few games like that. One that I was so in to was Lost Odyssey on the Xbox 360. Got right to the end but never actually finished it.