Lunar Remastered, the return of two timeless masterpieces

Announced for spring 2025, a somewhat undefined period that, in the end, is just around the corner, Lunar Remastered Collection will make its fantastic moon landing on the Kyoto house's hybrid console as well, with its legacy of enhanced pixel art, cutscenes in glorious HD, and English localization, which is always welcome considering that the alternative, learning the Japanese language, is certainly fascinating but also decidedly complex. The aforementioned collection does not, of course, include all the titles ever released in the Lunar saga, but rather the most iconic ones, those we could call the main entries: Lunar Silver Star Story and its direct sequel, Lunar 2: Eternal Blue.

More than twenty-five years separate us from the first release of these two titles, and a lot of mana has flowed under the bridges and into the magic gems of JRPG heroes since then: genre and setting crossovers, firearms that transform into ice swords, and love stories in the shadow of worlds adrift, poised between destruction and salvation. The Lunar saga, which I have played almost in its entirety since its beginnings in 1992 (I was an early top player!), has always blended classic plots with carefully measured innovations dropped sparingly. This is because in the Land of the Rising Sun the importance of tradition, in every field, is like a religion that cannot be questioned too lightly: the Good-Evil dichotomy is deeply rooted and the rise of the hero or heroine, usually ordinary boys and girls of humble origins, remains a cornerstone still thoroughly exploited today.

In Lunar, classic archetypes and twists in the intricate and increasingly epic plotlines prove to be in line with all this: whether it’s Alex or the young Hiro, both protagonists of the two games included in the collection, the reference world in which we players will interact will keep expanding more and more, just as the plot will embrace mysteries and threats destined to grow ever larger, until they become an all-out battle for the salvation not only of ourselves or some village, but of much, much more.

When the games developed by Game Arts were released at the time, few would have bet on such a complete success for their first “lunar” title: while it is true that Lunar Silver Star Story had all the right cards to satisfy the tastes of Japanese users, it must be emphasized that in those years franchises like Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy had overwhelmingly won over legions of role-playing fans; consequently, finding a target niche with Lunar seemed like a main quest too difficult to complete.

E invece…

Lunar was especially successful in its homeland, spawning titles and spin-offs on the major home and handheld consoles, including the Nintendo DS, where you will find, in my opinion, one of the best versions of the saga. Curiosity: thanks to the success of Lunar, for the PlayStation a few years later, in 1997, the same parent company released a title called Grandia which remains, in my opinion, a small milestone of the genre, a very successful blend of RPG and JRPG that I absolutely recommend you track down, and to which I am emotionally attached, of course.

Insomma Lunar Remastered Collection is arriving and there are all the conditions for it to not be a dark eclipse, but the rebirth of a shining star in the video game firmament.