Games - Lunar series

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	Games - Lunar series

The Lunar games, made by Game Arts and published in the United States by Working Designs, and later, Ubisoft, are a series of computer RPGs. The original releases of The Silver Star and Eternal Blue, for Mega CD/Sega CD, were later remade for the Sega Saturn with considerable story, graphical, and musical changes; these remakes were later ported to the Sony PlayStation. The first game was also ported to the Microsoft Windows computer platform in Japan and Korea, and was later remade for the Game Boy Advance. A side-story game, Lunar: Walking School for the Game Gear, was also remade for the Sega Saturn but has seen no North America release in any form. Backed by publisher Ubisoft, Game Arts created a new Lunar installment for the Nintendo DS, released in September 2005 in North America.

The Lunar series are noted for its high level of NPC interaction, well composed music, and excellent characterisation of the main protagonists. Much of the flavour of the English language versions of Lunar series games (the sense of humor, bubbly character voices, etc.) is thanks to the colourful translation job done by Working Designs.

Series overview

Lunar: The Silver Star

Released in Japan in June 1992 and later in North America the following year in December 1993, Lunar: The Silver Star was Game Arts' first true console RPG. Utilizing the Mega CD's graphic capabilities, the game made use of animated cutscenes placed at specific points in the story. This would later become a trademark of the series.

This is the first game to tell the story of Alex, a boy who longs to become a Dragonmaster, servant of the Goddess Althena, and champion of justice.

Lunar: Eternal Blue

Game Arts' second game in the series was also released for the Mega CD in Japan in December 1994 and the Sega CD in North America in September 1995. This game saw improvements in both graphics and sound, as well as being a much longer game. Taking place 1000 years after Lunar: The Silver Star, it told the story of Hiro, an adventurer who gets caught up in a quest to save the world from an ancient evil known as Zophar.

Lunar: Walking School

This game was only released in Japan for the Sega Game Gear in March 1995. Though it deviates from the play style of the first two games (mostly due to the limitations of the Game Gear hardware), it takes place in the same world, and even though it was released after Lunar: The Silver Star, it takes places hundreds of years before it. In this game, the hero is a girl named Ellie who must solve the mystery of a magic school while stopping the resurrection of a great evil presence known only as "D".

Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete

A further enhancement of Lunar: Silver Star Story initially released for the Sega Saturn in Japan in July 1997 but later ported to the PlayStation in both Japan (May 1998) and North America (May 1999). This version benefited from not only having improved animated scenes, but also had new music composed by Two Five. The American release was renowned for its elaborate packaging. It was later followed by a PC port in both Japan (1998) and Korea (1999).

Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete

Just as the original Lunar benefited from being remade on a new console, so did Lunar 2. Originally released for the Sega Saturn in July 1998 in Japan (Still under the original title Lunar: Eternal Blue), as well as a Playstation port in Japan in the Summer of 1999 and America in December 2000, Eternal Blue had its graphics, sound, and animation revamped. The American released was given gracious special packaging courtesy of Working Designs.

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