A New Favourite: Lunar the Silver Star for Sega CD - A Review | hungrygoriya 

Ohhhh fancy intro! My roommate from ye olden dayes had this game on Playstation, the cover art alone was so alluring. I only got a few hours into it at the time, same with the Sega CD version years later for a video, but this makes me want to dive in proper. Thanks!

fun fact: the guy asking Nall how many licks it takes to get to the center of a tootsie pop was originally Adol Cristin from the Ys series, stranded on the moon

My favorite RPG/game of all time. First time and advertisement drew me in and actually delivered. Thank you Working Designs for the localization.

Ahhh one of my classic treasured series from my childhood. I played this game back to back with Final fantasy 3 (6) on the SNES. Best 2 months of my summer break I could remember.

No, no, no way.... Lunar definitely had one of the all around GREATEST soundtracks of all JRPG's! Maybe top 10? Soooo many classic tracks that get stuck in your head. Also, the voice acting is legendary. Ghaleon was great, and Quark is still my default "dragon" voice 30 years on. Love this game! "The time for valor has returned again...."

I absolutely love watching your reviews - its so great to hear such an in depth break down of a classic like this.

"Translators being in touch" and "Working Designs" has never been so abused.

I used to pop the game into my cd player and listen to the cut scenes. Amazing game. Some of the cut scenes gave me chills. Lots of good memories with this one.

It's quite the gem, huh? This game was amazing to me back in 1994 when I first played it. Mind you, anime was still very rare stateside back then, and having an alternative to Final Fantasy or Phantasy Star with animated cutacenes and voices was mind-blowing to me. This game was one of the deciding factors in me getting Sega CD. Played through it again last year, and it still holds up for me, in some ways more so than any of its remakes. And the soundtrack definitely takes me back to a simpler time, pre-internet, when getting to something like this was one of the coolest things to me.

Absolutely killer game. This and Eternal Blue were two of my favourite games from my childhood. People are always down on the Sega CD, but it had a few amazing RPGs. I also like the PlayStation remasters, but something about the original Sega CD versions of both Silver Star and Eternal Blue were magical.

I take it this was your first Working Designs game, given your surprise at all the pop culture references? ;) That was kind of their thing! If you play Popful Mail next, you'll hear SO MUCH MORE of it -- though Popful Mail is a more tongue-in-cheek game, so the highly referential humor and over-the-top voice-acting actually fits the mood and setting a lot better than it does in the Lunar games. And hey, it may be sad that you're done with Lunar, but there's always Lunar 2: Eternal Blue, which is every bit as good as the first game, if not better. That one came out on Sega CD in English as well, right? I know it came out in English on the PS1, as that's the version I played, but I never owned a Sega CD growing up, so I'm not sure if the original version made it to store shelves before the Sega CD was left by the wayside. Anyway, cool review of an absolute classic, and a great introduction for you to the work of the infamous Working Designs, whose legacy is vast but incredibly controversial (not just because of the constant pop culture references, but also because they almost always tweaked the difficulty of the games they released to make them MUCH HARDER in English than in the original Japanese -- this wasn't the case with Lunar, AFAIK, but if you do get around to Popful Mail, it's VERY MUCH the case there!). EDIT: Aaaaand, it just occurred to me that I thought I'd already watched a video of you talking about Popful Mail, so I searched RU-vid, and sure enough, I did! So this was NOT your first Working Designs gameplay experience, it seems. I m dum! Heheh. But I'm going to leave this comment anyway, because hey, why not? You released another great video, so I'll toss it some engagement and help out the algorithm as much as I can! ;)

Silver Star: 4 writers, 3 translators and a few proof readers. Ted Woosley: Pffffffffffffffffffffffffft

I remember walking into a local pawn shop back in 1995 with a buddy (we were sixteen); this shop in specific as we came across used video games cheap, fairly often. We were fumbling through all of them as they were always disorganized, and came across both Lunar games -- but they were brand new and still sealed -- and listed as $20 a piece! I read about both in GamePro magazine prior, so I knew a little about them already, but both for $20 and still sealed? If I recall, they were still $50 in the store (and most likely, you wouldn't be able to find the first game). Needless to say, I bought them immediately; my buddy and I went back to my house to where our unforgettable Lunar adventures started. I love your content, so much nostalgia. You cover so many gems that many don't know existed, or had the chance to play growing up (myself included). Thank you for all that you do for this community and keep up the great work!

Letssss gooooo! I own all the lunar stuff on sega cd and ps1.

Lunar 1 and 2 on Sega CD are like top all time childhood memories for me. And thus, pretty much they define what I like about JRPGs. The comment about faces is interesting and I think was just a product of the time. Having portraits for dialogue was pretty damn new for the time, and Lunar 1 was one of if not the first games to even do it. The next evolution was multiple faces per character and that wouldn't come for a long time too. Likely due to memory issues.

Like others, my experience with Lunar was seeing advertisements in gaming magazines and yearning for an RPG experience (and compelling art direction that I didn't know the word for yet) that was just out of reach. Years later I would play their remakes on the PlayStation, which retain their localization "quirks" but fix a fair number of the issues you described (emotive character portraits come to mind). The PS editions were a highlight of my PS1 experience; I'm glad the same can be said for you and the original release!

One of my favs. First CD based RPG I played and that music was great. I'd play that from my CD boom box when I wasn't even playing the game. Strange though. I never had your audio issue when I played it back in the day though.

So glad you covered this one. Part of what made this game so great in my opinion was the dynamic among Alex, Luna, and Ghaleon. There are very few RPGs that have done such a great job with casting the role of a villain, even down to the voice acting. I think you are on to something regarding the music. It was impressive at the time, and in some aspects even holds up to modern standards.

Lunar is hands down one of my top 3 RPGs of all time! I owned both Lunar 1 and 2 on Sega CD and Playstation. Working Designs jokes were one of those things that were very hit or miss in everyone of their games. Thank you for reviewing this!!

YES It's always a good day to see a new video from you in my notifications. I've beaten the PS1 version of this game a couple times since childhood, so it's really cool seeing how it looked originally. Definitely go for the sequel now!

Experience points for plot advancement and exploration are the intended primary sources in old D&D, experience for slaying foes being a minor consolation prize to offset the risk/resource drain involved in combat. And because per monster experience is low, it takes a heck of a lot of fighting to advance through violence alone. So of course videogame RPGs lost a big part of this in translation and basically invented the level grind. It's always nice to see a game bring things into alignment.

Glad to see this game covered, Game Arts' masterpieces Lunar and Grandia are near and dear to my heart as some of the most earnest and charming 90s rpgs and it's splendid to see you enjoyed a lot of what Lunar Silver Star had to offer. As a Nintendo and Sony child, I never grew up with the opportunity to play the original Sega CD ports when they came out and had to experience them much later. At which point I'd been well acquainted with the updated Silver Star Story Complete on the PSX. And it's definitely true what you said, the sound and color quality of the Sega CD comes across as a little dull in many areas and emotional conveyance from the characters was limited by having singular portraits for dialogue windows. These things were all addressed in the PSX version and it really goes to show how much a small bit of sprite work and portrait work can dramatically effect how charming a cast of characters in an rpg can feel. Inventory problems are as old as RPGs themselves for sure. Some people call it the Elixir Dilemma, but I still refer to it as the Silver Light Dilemma, in most rpgs even premium items like elixirs can be stolen or found as drops in the deep endgame, but Lunar's Silver Lights are all numbered and deeply important because of their rarity (and that's coming from a guy that sells the first two in silver star to get ahead on funds lol). The PSX update also alleviates most inventory problems by allowing Nall to function as a huge bank (he holds around 6x the typical character inventory in some kind of cat pocket dimension), and eliminating a huge number of fluff items (low magic spell items). But while I would say it would be well worth your time to see what the psx version of Lunar is like, and I would honestly find time to watch vods if you played Grandia on either Sega CD or PSX, hearing that you haven't dabbled in tactical rpgs is probably even more concerning as many games with superb character and plot writing fall into that genre as well. If you've never played any tactical grid rpg I would recommend the PS2 La Pucelle Tactics, the game is charming as heck, has the Nippon Ichi Software seal of quality voice acting (including the english dub), and has the best tomboy nun protagonist in rpg history (in fairness, tomboy nun is probably a very rare combination of character traits, but Priere is splendid).

Crystalis had a lot of that "Talk to NPCs randomly a bunch of times, go back to old towns often because the first town may lead to completing a quest from the 5th town."

What an amazing video to wake up to. The new intro caught me off guard but only took me a moment to catch why, very cool! Lunar as a game holds a weird place in my heart. It is one of those "really cool JRPG's" that years ago I used to read about in gaming mags but did not have a chance to play. In later years I have tried to get into the game and play through it but was never able to stay focused and see it through. I absolutely love your eye for detail and how you can call out those minor nuances in the gameplay as now I know what to expect. Yet another game you reviewed that has been moved up on my playlist. Thank you!

This game was my intro into the Lunar series and I absolutely love it. Was a lot of fun watching your playthrough on Twitch as well. Appreciate your content!

I started this on Sega and moved to the PSP and what a wonderful game. Really this game still holds up today.

I grew up on this game and the music still strikes a deep chord of nostalgia in me. Thanks for this. At the time the game was completely perfect to me, it’s fun to see it through a critical lens.

Hey! I'm one of the folks who runs LunarNET* -- I'm thrilled you reviewed and seemed to mostly enjoy the first Lunar game! It's always been a very special and emotional game for me (probably apparent), but it's always interesting seeing how others experience it fresh. (* ok so we haven't really updated the site much since there just isn't a lot of news, and most of us are pretty busy these days, apologies =/ ) Some of the things you noted have always been contentious (like the pop culture references, even by the late 90s aged poorly, and how inventory items were rather pointless). Though I realize now since this was one of my formative games, I got into the habit of rarely using inventory items in other games, rather than expecting other games to have more accessible inventory setups. Another rare thing of the era is this was one RPG where grinding was basically unnecessary, as long as you didn't run from many battles. Anyway, hope you have a chance to play Lunar 2 for the SCD if you haven't already (I always liked the sequel more), and find more things to enjoy!

I completed this game on my Sega CD back in high school! So good.

I'm considering buying this game for my Sega CD and this video helps a lot. Thank you for making a video about it.

I got my hands on a Sega CD model 2 last year and the first game/s that I wanted to try out aside from Snatcher was the Lunar series! I wanted to play them in order so I started with Silver Star. It was kinda slow at the beginning but once Ghaleon killed Quark I was hell bent on getting revenge! I thought that it was really well paced throughout and I loved the soundtrack when Laike made his big reveal I jumped out of my seat. I hadn't had a game get those reactions from me in a long time. I absolutely cherished the time spent on this amazing journey and I'm so happy that you also took it upon yourself to share your experience with the world, Greetings from México!!!

I got lucky that the first time I ever ventured into playing a non Squaresoft RPG was exactly this one game -- the PS1 version -- that I still love today. An extremely positive experience. Everything is so above average it is impressive. The battle system is unique, never saw anything equally as cool as it in any other game (aside from the sequel, Lunar Eternal Blue). The music is memorable and also well placed as part of the plot. I recall the purpusely offtune song in the blue dragon's cave when you first visit it and later when it gets corrected after you clear the area. The plot looks cliche only at the beginning (as you said too in the video), but it soon develops layers with some actual provoking themes (like xenophobia, discrimination and oppression). The characters are so cleverly and funnily writen, including the antagonists and other NPCs. The art with their faces in the dialogue box in the PS1 version made it even better, since there are many variant expressions for each main character (I can't imagine Lunar without them, it shocked me to know there were only one art for each character in the Sega CD version). In fact.... this game made me such an impression at the time that me and a friend (that also played the game) tried to get every word correctly from the lyrics of the anime intro (there's one in the PS1 version and it is awesome). Took us some time because we are not native English speakers and it was pre-internet time, but we fortunately knew enough English to understand the dialogues and fill it in. Actually, the English translation is so high quality that I remember playing the game with an English dictionary by my side to understand some words and expressions I was not familiarized (most of german origin -- less common than their latin origin synonyms which are easier for me to guess the meaning without checking). Not that the game uses archaic vocabulary... it just had it richer than other games I was used. And I loved that! Another thing: every NPC had not one default text when you talk to them, but two. You need to talk to them twice to learn the second part... with usually hilarious results that expand the first thing they say. I talked to every NPCs twice everytime in every town, always. Even better: as you progress the main plot and stuff in the world changes significantly, many NPCs in towns you visited earlier gained new sets of dialogue to update to the new conditions. That kind of attention really made my pace in the game, it got me totally invested (and rewarded) in backtracking just to know what changed with those characters. For me, that's the measure of the dedication put into this work: no need to "bribe" the player with items or powerful weapons as a reward to talk to people: I just did because I wanted more information and more story out of this world. If you liked the Sega CD game, you would probably love to play the PS1 version. Then you could judge too which version's normal battle and boss battle music you prefer most, just as I did (they are different, hahaha).

I loved this game so much I obliterated all of the speedrun world records for it! Thanks for covering! - Nick

Sega CD's best game ever made! Lunar: The Silver Star Story Complete was a badass remake for the PS 1 but the original was awesome. Lunar had some of the best music ever in a RPG and Luna's song was chilling. Brings back memories of her hymn. Lunar 1's cast was WAAAAY better than Lunar 2.

And subscribed! I never played the Sega CD version so my nostalgic emotional attachment stems from the PlayStation version. Still this video was a joy to watch and listen to, lunar and lunar 2 were just a comfy vibe back then and I still return to them today. I have even sang the songs as lullabies to my children.

While I grew up around the 16 bit consoles the Sega CD was never on my radar for something I would own, I remember back to reading issues of Gamepro that had short strategy guide sections for the sequel to this game, Eternal blue. However, when the Lunar SSC came out for the Playstation, it drew me in hard and has remained one of if not my favorite RPG of all time. Loved the video, it gave me an insight to the older version of the game I had yet to experience, and now that I collect and play retro games myself perhaps I need to do myself the justice one of these days of getting a Sega CD for the collection and hunting down the assuredly expensive Lunar The Silver Star for myself. Cant wait for the next video!

Really enjoyed watching this playthrough. This was a game I saw in magazines many times as a kid, but never owned a Sega CD and always wanted to try it. The characters and their development and interaction was excellent, as was the positioning of combat in this one where the less armored characters needed to stay further back. Too bad that inventory system was so bad though, haha. Thanks for playing this!

Oh, you must use the headphone jack on a model 1 genesis/mega drive for sound, it's the only way to get stereo audio from the machine! (the back connector only does dual mono bizarrely) And the '90s sure loved it's endless pop culture references didn't it? Aged like fine milk :D

Great review as always, HG! Love the Sega CD BIOS inspired intro!

I'm sure a million people in your stream chat have told you this, but just in case they haven't, there's a cool "un-working designs" hack that replaces the jokes and difficulty tweaks working designs added. Definitely worth checking out. The only crappy thing is, it also brings back the Japanese voice acting and I have a soft spot for 90s English va.

God the nostalgia I feel when I see this is so intense. 30 years later and I play this game any chance I get. My favorite RPG of all time, man I love it.

The PS1 version is the gold standard by which i judge JRPGs to this day. Which, btw, actually fixed a lot of the issues you had with the Sega CD version: The music is better, sound mixing is better, voice acting actually sounds like post-2000s anime dub rather than pre-2000s anime dub, and the character portraits change depending on the character's mood. The box also came with some absolutely amazing doodads, including the soundtrack which i still listen to today. It also included a CD with behind the scenes stuff, including an interview that really set my mind in how i view remakes: Each console is a different storyteller of the same story. Mr. Sega CD and Mr. Playstation are both telling the story of Lunar. Mr. Playstation is a much better storyteller than Mr. Sega CD, but that doesn't invalidate Mr. Sega CD's value as a storyteller. And now we can add Mr. GBA and Mr. PSP to the pile as well. Mr. GBA was not equal to the task, and Mr. PSP told a more detailed story but also changed the voices and sounded a lot older than Mr. Playstation. ...seriously, the PSP version is solid but they redid all of the voices because of the newly added content. They kept Alex's voice actor, who was age appropriate in the 90s. He sounds too old by the time of the PSP version.

your channel is a like a library full of classics and for a nostalgic like me that's great, you got a new sub

You have a new sub , came across your channel at random and have been enjoying your videos. Must say your audio balance for lack of a better term is perfect and crystal clear.

Yay, a new video! I binged your entire back catalogue and have been eagerly awaiting a new one! Great pick, too! I got a copy of the "Silver Star Story" strategy guide in high school, and wrote a book report on it like it was a novel for my composition class, and got great marks for it, even though I never played the game! I also had Eternal Blue Complete for the PS1, with the deluxe pack-ins, but still never played it before selling most of my game collection on eBay. Bummer! I REALLY to play these games now!

The GBA release titled Lunar Legend* is how I played this. And it was a grand experience that took me through a dreary three months in Uruguay when I was visiting family ages ago... I can't tell you how many times I abused the full heal feature. You save the game, turn off and on the console, and your party is fully healed! It was great.

13:27 This is mostly corrected in the PlayStation remake where there dialogue box icons change expression depending on the scene, or mood of the character. They still did a couple mess-ups though, like when Nall tells Tempest and Fresca that their friend Luna was abducted he has his happy expression instead of his sad expression.

The quality of your videos, and the personal connections you convey within them is impressive!

I can say that as a 12/13 year old, the humor hit me really well. This was my favorite for a long time, and when I played the playstation version, I missed the funny parts. In fact, it gaslit me into thinking maybe the SegaCD version wasn't this tongue-in-cheek game that I remember at all. Was it some other similar game? Did I imagine the humor? So, I'm glad to have seen your review, proving that my memory was right. Thanks.

Right as the Covid lockdowns began in March, 2020, I modded my Genesis Mini to add more games and used it to finally play the Sega CD versions of this and Lunar: Eternal Blue. FANTASTIC games and easily one of my favorite RPGs. It was a real treat to work my way through them, and helped me keep my sanity while stuck at home! I hope they get rereleased again someday, or that a Lunar 3 comes out.

This was my favorite RPG of all time and back when I was a kid whether I was the one playing at or not we could just sit there for hours watching it

Fantastic review! Haven't played this game in 25 years!

One of may favorites! I may or may not have skipped some high-school to play this game.... it makes me feel happy

One of the most magical gaming experiences of my childhood was watching my big brother play this for hours. I would invite neighborhood friends to come over just to watch that awesome intro with that super catchy song. The game would always freeze (as would often happen with Sega CD games) in a particular spot, the Black Dragon boss battle. But my brother devised a solution, he’d lift the Sega CD up slightly and then drop it, always got the CD back on track. Absolute classic, unsung RPG gem. Glad you enjoyed it.

Great video. Lunar is one of my personal favorites, the sense of wonder/adventure/charm it evokes has only been matched by games like Grandia to me. I’ve never played the Sega CD version but have played every other, this video is making me want to give it a shot though as I’ve heard so many good things about it.

Thanks for going over this! One of my best friends years ago had this game, he said it was his favorite. I never got to play it, but was always curious.

I missed out on this game growing up as I only had a Genesis, I would get it years later as a deployment game for either the Gameboy or the PSP. I absolutely loved it then and your video dropped a huge amount of good nostalgia from it, so thank you.

Lunar: The Silver Star is an brilliant Sega CD RPG game. 😀👍🎮

Greatest RPG game ever. Absolutely hooked me in my childhood. Just incredible. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Great review! I have this and Eternal Blue on Sega Saturn but haven’t gotten around to playing them yet. I’m still working through Albert Odyssey on Saturn which is another fun old school JRPG that Working Designs localized. I was excited to see you put out another video. Your reviews are always super insightful.

Glad I found your channel, very cool stuff. This game in particular I missed out on during it's release but always wanted to circle back to it. I loved seeing ads featuring the art work and just getting into RPGs thanks to Breath of Fire, it always appealed to me.

This game was my childhood. At least a good portion of it. I played it in the PlayStation after it was rereleased. Despite being superior in most ways I prefer the Sega CD version. Lunar 2 Eternal Blue was amazing too. And much harder. Definitely worth a shot if you haven’t tried it.

Huh. Having never played Lunar I had come to believe that one of the defining elements of what makes a JRPG a JRPG was that they never handed out quest experience. You've done it! You've found the one JRPG that remembered you can reward XP for things other than killing monsters!

So funny story, I played this back when it was new, I was around 12 or 13. I played through the whole thing and absolutely loved it. Enjoyed the whole credits sequence and then it got to the very very end where it plays a soundbite "Ooops, too long!". Being a kid who grew up on NES with games like Metroid that gave you a better ending if you finished it quickly, and having no internet to look anything up with, I assumed I didn't finish the game quickly enough and didn't get the "good" ending. I was only renting the game at the time though, so I wasn't able to play through it again. For the next 20+ years I would always remember that in the back of my mind from time to time and wondered if I should replay it to get the "good" ending. It wasn't until I decided to do it within the last few years and tried to look up how quickly I'd need to finish it to get the "good" ending did I find out that the soundbite at the end was just a Working Designs easter egg of the voice actor saying "Ooops, too long!" when referring to recording a line. I spent over 20 years thinking I failed!!!🤦‍♂🤦‍♂🤦‍♂

I have only ever had experience with the PlayStation remakes, so seeing the originals through your lens was the interesting and made me interested in trying the older versions. I also took the time to look through your back catalog as I said I would in your previous video, and while we do disagree on many games I can understand where you come from better. As I said then, I wish I hadn’t been introduced to you from that video, but I am glad I stuck around. There are even many games you have reviewed that I hadn’t even heard of that I’m excited to find and try! Please keep up the great work.

Great review, as always! I'm kind of surprised how many parts of the game have held up, like the battle system.

Great review! SS was a magical experience for me when I first played through at 14. New to your channel. Looking forward to more!

I never owned a Sega CD myself, but I did have a good friend of mine who was as much of a Sega kid as I was a Nintendo kid. So we would swap consoles sometimes to play the games on the other side. He did lend me his Sega CD for a while so I could play both Lunar 1 and 2. But this was several years after the games had already been out. In fact, I played the PS1 remakes of both games so soon after playing the Sega CD versions, that I actually have trouble remembering the original versions at all. Oh, I still have that punching Ghaleon puppet from my PS1 Lunar preorder too. Working Designs (the company that localized Lunar) was such a cool company back in the day. I wonder what Victor Ireland is doing these days.

Your Channel is a hidden gem. I really enjoy your videos.

Thank you for the recommendation I'll make sure to try it. New sub here, been watching your reviews they're great and super chill. Keep it up.

This has been on my to-play list for ages. I really need to get around to it sometime.

Nice Phantasy Star 2 reference as "generic characters who knocked on your door" was mentioned :P

This game solidified my wanting to become a video game creator more than ever when I was young :)

Goriya, you might like Rune Factory: A Fantasy Harvest Moon if you like deep RPG character interaction. Every day, the town characters either manage shops(that you can browse for unique items), or venture the town in seemingly purposed yet difficult to predict routes. Each character in the town has a relationship level with your active character that you can build on to unlock unique perks. You can even marry some of them. Not to mention the insane quantity of items,tools and weapons in the game that will have you constantly deciding to drop to allow inventory room for preferred items.

EXCELLENT review! I highly recommend you play the PSP version someday if you can. It fixes nearly all the problems of the original and makes for a truly magical experience! 😸

Never got to try the original Sega CD verions of Lunar 1 & 2 but the remakes are some of my favorite games of all time! Happy to see you had a good time with this one

I grew up playing lunar 2 first and then 1 after. Had a model 1 genesis and a model 2 sega cd. Hands down one of my favorite series of all time. The games blew my mind back then. Hell it even got me into rpgs and anime more heavy.

I have not played this version yet and your praise makes me want to play it despite it's few flaws. Thanks once again for a great video :) Really enjoy these retro reviews and your insights.

Nothing beats sitting down with a nice cup of tea and finding out there's a new Hungry Goriya video to delve into. I wish more games had graphics as beautiful as these!

As an rpg-obsessed kid who never owned a Sega console, I remember gazing longingly at ads and reviews for this game in game magazines, lamenting my inability to play it and just for one second experiencing what unfortunate Sega kids (or gamers here in Australia, where I've since moved) went through on a pretty much permanent basis. By the time I discovered it had gotten a PSX release I'd grown up a fair bit and had (temporarily) put aside my love for JRPGs in favour of sex, drugs and rock n roll. I still need to pick it up and give it a go. PS - did I see Vay in your collection? I remember seeing exactly one ad for it back in the day and I'm intensely curious about it - there's very little out there on it. Hope to see your hot take on it someday...!

I’ve always been curious about this game, but never had a console I could play it on. After another of your videos, I think I’ll have to go back and explore this one! Although the inventory system sounds like something I wanted up in a cold sweat from!

This is the 2nd rpg I ever played/beat, so this series is special to me. I'm glad you appreciate the original version...not enough people have had an opportunity to play it. I know you're having a hard time finding an affordable copy of eternal blue. If I ever decide to part with it, I'll keep you in mind and give you a deal if you're interested so you can play it on stream. Thanks for your review!

Ohh fancy new intro! Keep up the amazing vids HG!

This is another amazing game - there was something about some of these RPGs on Sega CD or Saturn that just had such a unique feel. The remake on playstation is also worth playing through!

After playing the Complete version on PSX emulator about 16 years ago I'm proud to have finally received both my Sega CD/Genesis combo and my copy of Lunar The Silver Star today. Playing in the EU the supplied RF cable isn't compatible with my CRT so I'm due a start-up til tomorrow though. I've always loved this game, even more so than the sequel, which was fantastic as well in it's own right. The music and atmospohere is just really well done and has a great identity. Storywise it's like an italian pasta where something with simple ingredients can create something wonderful when the essences completely complement each other. I only wished Alex was a bit more talkative than he is. Thanks for the review and your personal view and have a sub!

I like how you review those old games like they were new games. There are a lot of technical restrictions and outdated game design paradigms that other reviewers simply gloss over when talking about those classic. You talk about the weak points in a very fair way. I like your review style.

Christmas 1993, I had been looking at this game for months in the likes of EGM and Gamefan, the cd music and cutscenes were next level at that time. Unfortunately a few years later I gave my sega cd and games to my brother who left them at work… still, an all time classic and up there for me with final fantasy 2/3 Super Nintendo

This and Popful Mail were my favorite Sega CD games!

I didn't play this game on the Sega Saturn but I did play PS1 remake, Lunar: the Silver Star Story Complete and I LOVED it. It's an old favorite of mine! The gameplay itself is pretty standard JRPG gameplay but I enjoyed the story a lot but the dialogue was THE BEST. This is the only game where I made a point of talking to every npc, it was nonstop laughs!

Jessica: "What's a boss?" I laughed hard at this. 😂

My experience with Lunar has been that all of the games are excellent. Great high fantasy vibes that bring to mind all the best things about 90s anime and JRPGs.

I had only played LSSS, but I loved everything about the game. My friends and I still quote the English VAs to this day.

The music of black rose Street gives me good memories.

This is my favorite version of Lunar Silver Star. Maybe it's because of nostalgia but the Sega CD version has its own unique charm that the other remakes don't. With Luna being your only magic caster for the first bit, you can only attack with Alex and Ramus. It might be a bit monotonous but when you get Nash, you can definitely feel how much more competent magic casters are in the world of Lunar and how naked Alex felt until he acquired his fire magic. It's a feeling that isn't replicated in the other remakes. And they others are remakes, not ports. The PS1/Saturn version was made from the ground up and took more cues from Eternal Blue, opting to get rid of the large assortment of magic in favor of just a handful per character. GBA did likewise and the PSP version essentially being the culmination of the PS1 and GBA with a few extra bits and pieces to make it the definitive version of the 3. Granted, that's not to say I don't love Lunar 2. It's actually my favorite of the two. But I always make it a point to recommend both titles for anyone who is looking for hidden gems of RPGs. It's a shame that the Japanese MegaDrive Mini got Lunar 1 and 2 but we here in the west didn't. If only they did, it would've been an instant Day 1 buy for me.

I really loved this game when I played it so long ago... Great memories!

I just finished playing through Eternal Blue last month and what an outstanding game! I know I went out of order and need to play this one but wow Eternal Blue was fun. It might be recency bias but I might like it more than Phantasy Star IV, Crono Trigger and Earthbound to be my favorite 16 bit RPG.

Used to have this for the Sega Saturn but I sold it (along with a large part of my collection) when I fell on hard times. Would love to play it again since I never beat it but it's outside my current budget. Glad to see others are enjoying this! I also love Working Designs translations! Games like Magic Knight Rayearth, Dragon Force, and Albert Odyssey were made so much better with their translations. Also, also, love the new intro!

The glimpse of Phantasy Star IV makes me hope you'll eventually review it!

Another wonderful video about a mesmerizing game! Thanks for sharing this, Lunar is a great series and I hope you get to try the sequel, Eternal Blue. It's my favorite. Cheers!!

You have inspired me to try this game!!