Game: Lunar Remastered Collection
Genre: JRPG
System: Nintendo Switch (also available on PS4 & Xbox One)
Developers | Publishers: GameArts & GungHo | GungHo
Age Rating: US T | EU 12+
Price: US $49.99 | UK £ 44.99 | EU € 49,99
Release Date: April 18th, 2025
A review code was provided with many thanks to acttil. llc.
Going deep into the reeds of JRPG history will tie it back to Western originals like the Wizardry franchise and Dungeons & Dragons. It didn’t take long for Japan to find its own style, though, blending these classic games with art from famous anime artists like Akira Toriyama (Dragonball, Dragon Quest) and Yoshitaka Amano (Final Fantasy, Vampire Hunter D). Around roughly the same time, anime went through some big evolutionary leaps from sharp-lined mechs and Tezuka-styled characters into a fantastical shojo art style that’s been kept alive not just by fans of Sailor Moon and Ranma 1/2, but also by the modern farm sim Fields of Mistria.
For JRPG fans, this evolution of anime and the rise of JRPG styles would create a landmark series called Lunar. First, it was released on Sega consoles and then brought to Western PlayStation (with some controversy that we’ll get into shortly). The Lunar games were our first chance to feel like we were playing anime. Characters were introduced with scenes of hand-drawn animation, and the plot featured big, bold moments of betrayal and joy.
The first two, Lunar: Silver Star Story and Lunar 2: Eternal Blue, are commonly on the lists of best RPGs of all time, and for those of us who experienced those original releases, we can tell you why, at length. And I’m probably about to. But playing them over the last decade has gotten to be fussy, which is why releasing these remasters is a big deal for JRPG fans. Do they still hold that same magic? Let’s find out.
The World of Lunar Is Brighter (and Less Mouthy) than Ever
The first two Lunar games took full advantage of Sega’s CD system with its colorful pixelated world, offering professional voice acting, a lengthy journey across continents, and the aforementioned anime sequences. All of this was polished up for the first time when they were remastered and ported to the PlayStation, with the translation highly, um, tweaked by localizers Working Designs, creating controversy that’s continued for decades.
Explaining Working Designs and their odd role in Western JRPG adaptation requires its own article to fully explain. Still, two things are true: First, Working Designs brought us a fantastic new standard in localization, offering special editions replete with goodies, and with jaunty translations that added extra life to an already grand plot. Second, Working Designs’ translators were an odd lot, and while they kept to the spirit of things, their releases slipped in lots of weird in-jokes and some off-colour references to ‘90s pop culture.
As far as I can tell by playing, and as far as I’ve been able to find out, it’s the PlayStation remasters and the Working Designs translation that form the bones of the Lunar Remastered Collection. The good news is that the translation was cleaned up, losing the worst offenders of bad taste and out-of-date jokes. There are still some spicy puns and a few oddities, but overall, it just feels like the same perky game we remember from our youth. That’s great news for us old hands and new players here, who don’t need or particularly want excessively gross dude jokes in their cute anime RPG.
The “obligatory” hot springs scenes (as ’twas the style upon the time) are unnecessary to the plot, and every character has collectable bromides, like trading card images. These are details for the completionist, and although they reflect some tiresome JRPG tropes, these versions are fairly wholesome.
More importantly, the already brilliant PS pixels are sharpened up even further in the remaster package, with Classic Mode offering CRT options for those truly dedicated to retro gaming. If those words mean little to you, stick with Remastered mode and enjoy crisply refreshed anime visuals, with no sign of AI assistance.
The Difficulties of Lunar’s World
In addition to sprawling, anime-style plots that can take a few dozen hours to complete (with the new options to speed combat up, the 40-50 hour original Lunar is now more like a 30 hour game if you like to putter), GungHo has undone one of Working Designs’ nastiest additions with the Lunar Remastered Collection: WD upped the difficulty of these games into absurdity. It could be resolved with steady but laborious level grinding, but it’s still a headscratcher of a choice.
Lunar’s difficulty starts safely reasonable, with findable herbs aplenty and enemies always visible on the map (a luxury back when these games were released) and a curve upwards in the back half that both makes sense and can be handled by any moderate JRPG vet. Lunar 2 is less gentle, but it was always a tougher nut than its predecessor, and playing the first game will have you ready for its still-traditional foibles. Save often (and save anywhere!), visit the frequent statues of the goddess Athena for free healing, and enjoy Lunar Remastered’s upgraded inventory system, where your companion cat-dragons Nall and Ruby take over a collective inventory, instead of the deeply old-school individual packs.
There are no difficulty options, but the Lunar games were meant to be accessible, and a sensible approach will have you sorted. Lunar is perfect for new players, and especially for those with some Dragon Quest experience. The story remains as in-depth for the time as ever, with twists that probably won’t shock audiences today, but will still have you feeling for your characters and their latest plight.
Technical Notes
The Lunar Remastered Collection runs terrifically on Nintendo Switch, with minimal load times. That’s a nice experience, especially for those of us who still jerk awake in the night to the phantom noise of an old PlayStation grinding at a CD. Everything is mapped neatly and traditionally to the basic controller, and there’s very little in the game that requires twitch reflexes.
The anime cutscenes run beautifully smooth, and the audio comes through crisp. The games did undergo rerecording for a new slate of voice acting, which may jar old fans coming to the remaster. However, the new cast does a superb job in general, with Nall’s new voice probably the only hurdle for anyone who still has his cry of “ALEX…. OH ALEX!!” burned into their memory.
Of the Classic versus Remastered options, Classic crunches your display down into an approximation of what it was like back in the day, with three aforementioned CRT options for that old TV experience (scuttlebutt says option 3 is the favorite if this is your play). I personally fully endorse the new graphical options; with greater screen real estate and higher fidelity, they’re easier on my weary, aging eyes.
Conclusion
The Lunar Remastered Collection is a thoughtfully prepared revival of a truly classic JRPG series, bringing back two games that are nostalgia incarnate for the dedicated fan and an approachable bit of history for new players. With rebalanced difficulty, a modernized inventory, zippier combat, cleaned-up visuals, and the meat of these classic stories otherwise untouched, this is a brilliant example of how to bring back the biggest moments of gaming history without wrecking the shop.
With the best two games in the Lunar saga now more accessible than ever, it’s a no-brainer of a choice for RPG fans who love the straightforward simplicity of our older turn-based games. For players used to the fancy options of modern RPGs like Avowed and Dragon Age, the Lunar Remastered Collection may feel too much like a step back. But if you love a good story, it’s still worth the time and investment to see why the genre still thrives, even in the shadow of glitzy triple-A action games.
Final Verdict: Two Thumbs Up
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I really like the quality of life improvements like fast forward battles, im currently at the part on the 1st Lunar where you get the pink fluffy bug and repair the balloon just before the red dragon cave.
Guess I’ll just splurge and buy copies of the original ps copies then. Wish remasters would just be that: remasters. Stupid jokes and all just left as they were. Oh well, got my hopes up for nothing again,
@Will, it has the classic versions too. You get both the “remaster” and the classic versions of both games.
I hated the remasters I sold it 2 days after buying it between the new voice cast who did worse than the orginials and the changes in some of the localization they lost all their love and charm and are almost as bad as that psp remake. I honestly advise fans to stick to the sega cd originals or IMHO the definitive ps1 versions. Lucky for me I still own my complete in box copies both the sega cd and ps1 versions of both games. Because this master is gross.