Lunar: Silver Star Harmony Hands-On

By Sophia Tong, GameSpotPosted Jan 29, 2010 2:28 pm PT

We set off on our quest to become the next Dragonmaster in the latest remake of Lunar.

Originally released in Japan as Lunar: The Silver Star, this game was remade multiple times, most recently for the PlayStation. But here's a new and improved one for the PlayStation Portable. More than 15 years have passed since the original graced the Sega CD, and now it's back with updated visuals and sound, as well as added cutscenes and story sequences that reveal more about the history of the four heroes. We had an opportunity to play a bit of Lunar: Silver Star Harmony in Japanese at the 2009 Tokyo Game Show, and now that we have our own build, we've been able to play from the beginning to see what has been added.

See the legendary heroes in action.

The original story didn't go into great detail about the four heroes, which included the Dragonmaster Dyne, a man that the game's protagonist, Alex, aspires to be. Silver Star Harmony looks to reveal more about the world's history and starts off with the legendary quartet trying to rescue the Goddess Althena. During this sequence, you'll be able to control the heroes in battle to get a taste of the gameplay, without worrying about dying, because the game will make sure you can get past this introduction. The presentation is what stands out the most: the backgrounds have been touched up to look more detailed and vibrant, and the characters are much better proportioned than the original sprites. The cutscenes look like what you might remember from the previous iterations as you start the game with Alex at Dyne's monument.

For those who aren't familiar with Lunar, enemies can be seen onscreen as you travel through different sections of the world, and battle is turn-based. You have the option to let the AI take over for a turn, or you can manually tell your teammates what to do. Before battle you can place your party members on a grid to determine how close or how far they should be on the map when the battle starts. Depending on your character, you may want to keep some party members in the back, but if they're too far and they need to move closer to reach the enemy, you'll waste a turn just to get them to move closer. It's pretty standard stuff if you're familiar with the traditional Japanese role-playing game formula, and this is one of the better ones from the mid-'90s.

See the difference!

Join Alex and his friends on their quest to become the next great adventurers in Lunar: Silver Star Harmony, which is set to be released March 2. Be sure to look for our full review then!

60 Comments

  • Deepflow2

    Posted Feb 11, 2010 5:43 am PT

    Cool cant wait ! i've played the original and its fantastic

  • StJimmy15

    Posted Feb 10, 2010 8:51 pm PT

    I've been waiting for some good RPGs for my PSP... Been playing Jeanne D'arc while I wait. Great game.

  • Eilanzer

    Posted Feb 10, 2010 7:35 pm PT

    Only great rpg titles for psp coming one after another...Persona Grandia 2...Mana Khemia 2...LunarSS...FF agito...Valkyria Chronicles 2... \o/ But the title i´m REALLY waiting is Growlanser for psp XD

  • GDCalibur

    Posted Feb 10, 2010 5:30 pm PT

    Sweet, this should be great to play again. Can always use another great RPG for the PSP.

  • Sophia GameSpot staff member

    Posted Feb 10, 2010 12:43 pm PT

    @snxx - I wish. Monkey island got a remake so there's hope that my other best game of all time will get a redo and thanks, I had a good time.

  • snxx

    Posted Feb 10, 2010 10:34 am PT

    @Sophia - Well, as a journalist, I know we sometimes make some mistakes - and the best we can do is correct 'em and as quickly as possible, and that's what matters: you corrected your article as soon as you got back from your trip (hope you liked your Mexico cruise). That's nice. Now, don't you wish they remade Secret of Mana also?

  • dragonshifter16

    Posted Feb 9, 2010 9:13 pm PT

    already have the special edition pre-ordered cant wait for it to be released

  • bhmg

    Posted Feb 9, 2010 8:03 pm PT

    This title is a masterpiece, one of the best rpg´s created so far!

  • little_Adamska

    Posted Feb 9, 2010 2:11 am PT

    The game sounds interesting, even I do not know the original.

  • ArctheLad19

    Posted Feb 8, 2010 11:26 pm PT

    @ mrklorox, I believe the video above is about the First Dragonmasters, I think its just an opening, The boy that looks like Alex might be Dyne

  • mrklorox

    Posted Feb 8, 2010 7:57 pm PT

    Nice! I might have to buy this again!

    I can't find the box and game to my Silver Star Story Complete collector's edition. I think it was stolen along with most of my other PS1 stuff.

    I hope they hurry up and redo Lunar 2, because that's the one I've never played.

    edit: Also why are they sticking with the Working Designs translation instead of re-translating it and fleshing it out? The PS1's text limitations aren't the problem this time. Jeez.

    edit: And now they're adults? In the original they were young teens, in the first remake they were older teens. Now they're nearing their 30's. I watched the making of the first remake just last night and they mentioned how they decided to use the voice actors from the original even though they were slightly older and instead worked it form the standpoint that the original audience has grown also. But it's totally weird to see that idea used again, especially without the original actors.

    I mean it's somewhat understandable for a 13 year old boy to have a pet cat-dragon... but a 30 year old man with a pet cat dragon is weird.

  • Sophia GameSpot staff member

    Posted Feb 7, 2010 6:17 pm PT

    @snxx @AboboSVT - I apologize for the error, I knew there had been two Sega versions and I wrote the Sega Saturn one down for some reason. I'm only human and I make mistakes too :p but thanks for pointing that out.

  • Mkeegs79

    Posted Feb 7, 2010 8:37 am PT

    One of my all-time favorite games getting another remake

  • termadoyle

    Posted Feb 7, 2010 6:59 am PT

    i was really interested in this game when it was released on the PS1 but never had the chance to play it. This seems like a great chance to play the (hopefully) definitive version of the game.

  • CharonEX

    Posted Feb 6, 2010 6:26 pm PT

    This looks interesting right now, I may have to get the demo for this. And I know I'm about to complain about something stupid, but I wish they had chosen a different font for the text, it doesn't look that good.

  • charma

    Posted Feb 5, 2010 8:21 pm PT

    I've been playing the demo buy couldn't get to the end. I talked to the dragon but couldn't figure out where to go after that. I wanted to save my game at the end of the demo like it says.

  • pip3dream

    Posted Feb 5, 2010 3:43 pm PT

    Ya know, yes the graphics on the psp version are more polished... but in that graphics comparison, i still find myself more drawn to the original version. in fact, shown so small on equal terms, you could of told me the one on the left was the re-make. Much brigher, poppier colors, looks a lot more detailed.

    As a young gamer I really fell in love with this game on the SEGA CD, and I bought the collectors edition for PS1 just to have- Still have yet to actually play it, but I may spin it up on the PS3 just for kicks.

  • lokey013

    Posted Feb 5, 2010 9:40 am PT

    Damn I really want to get a PSP just for this game....loved the Sega CD/psONE versions =/

  • dark_surge

    Posted Feb 5, 2010 5:20 am PT

    Thank you brucelery5000. I was just about to say that.

    Lunar for the SegaCD was one of the games that got me into RPG's. It puts a smile on my face when companies put as much love in games as was seen in the Lunar series.

  • tu2pac

    Posted Feb 4, 2010 3:00 pm PT

    I just replayed the original one (for ps1) ... this almost makes me want to play it again ... ps3 download .... perhaps.

Lunar: Silver Star Harmony Quick Links

Summary | Reviews | News | Previews & Features | Images | Videos | Answers | Hints & Cheats | Forum

advertisement
advertisement
Click Here

Related Unions

Lunar: Silver Star Harmony Boxshot Enlarge the boxshot
Lunar: Silver Star Harmony

Game Stats

Full Game Details »Close

Games you may like…

Users who looked at content for this game also looked at these games.

See More Similar Games