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Lunar: The Silver Star Story Complete
Background Data
Published By: Working Designs Developed By: Working Designs / Game Arts Released: May 1999
Barcode: 7 35366 00628 0 (10628 7 for Fan Ed.) PSRM: See Trivia / Variations ID Tag: See Trivia / Variations
CDs: 2 Game CDs, 2 Bonus CDs (See Trivia) Players: 1 Player ESRB: Teen (Animated Violence, Suggestive Themes)
Accessories: Memory (1 Block), Analog, Vibration Size: Game CDs = 510 / 604 MB Digital Press Rarity: Original 3/10 and Fan Edition 5/10

Description
     Return to the world of LUNAR, in the completely reworked 32-Bit version of the RPG Classic. Journey back to a place where dragons yet live, and magic is valued above all else. Join Alex, the young adventurer, as he begins a quest with his friends to save their land from the crushing advance of the magic Emperor. Explore dungeons, fight terrifying monsters, and gather information from the locals as you advance toward the explosive confrontation with the Magic Emperor himself! Exciting, menu-driven combat will keep you challenged until the last. And, thanks to the storage power of CD and the PlayStation's built-in movie player, Lunar contains nearly an hour of incredible animation sequences that will get you involved in the story faster than you ever thought possible. Get ready for the ride of your life...

Enclosures
Lunar: The Silver Star Story came with 2 Game CDs, one Making of CD, one Music CD, a very beautiful cloth map, the double CD jewel case, a hardbound manual, and the outer cardboard box.   

Review
A masterpiece of a Sega CD game comes to the PlayStation with a complete overhaul that fixes several fan issues and adds even more magic to the experience. While it may not be as fast paced as current RPGs, it's more than fulfilling in the story and experience building.  

 

 Trivia

  • There are 5 variations for Lunar; see Variation Section below for the complete (no pun intended) explanation.


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  • Inside the outer box flap is a mock picture of the set. Although the 2 game CDs match one of the released sets, the Making of and Music CD were given face lifts. They were never released as the blue and red discs featured in the image.


  • Lunar was the first ever 'Collector's Set' released in the PlayStation library. The gamble paid off in spades, causing it to become not only one of the most successful games in the system's history, but it set-up future Special Edition releases for Lunar: Eternal Blue Complete and Arc the Lad: Complete.


  • Lunar's hard bound manual is thicker than a standard jewel case, even without the cover!


  • There is a really interesting, and truly troubling glitch that went undetected till it was literally too late, but it's not on the game itself; it's buried on the original Lunar Demo Disc. If in the demo you transferred Alex's ocarina to any other character, including Nall, when you loaded the save on the real game, the ocarina would be stuck with that character. Meaning you couldn't play it at the end of the game, in turn causing you to never have the chance to beat the game!


  • The Fan Edition was an EB Games / Electronics Boutique exclusive.


  • Very rarely can you blame a single game's release for sinking a system's lively hood outside of the Atari 2600  E.T. game, but Lunar could be considered the final nail in the Sega Saturn coffin, since Working Designs converted it over to the PlayStation after a huge fall out with Sega. From there they focused exclusively on Sony's fan base, though...

  • Ironically, Working Designs would close the book on the Saturn with the ill-fated, yet well worthy short-lived Magic Knight RayEarth.  


  • Also available in its original format on the Sega CD.

 

Variations / Misprints
Hoo boy...here we go. 

The Boxes
Being the first Special Edition set, Working Designs basically started from scratch. The original release featured a large outer cardboard box which opened on the left and right sides, and had a front flap like older PC Game boxes had. Opening the flap revealed all the game screen shots, the copy, and all the pertinent information as well as the accessory icons. On the back of the box were only the ESRB rating, the retail barcode, and a huge group shot of the main heroic characters.

The inner jewel case had a sword and logo on the front, with a picture of the possessed Luna on the back, and that's it.

With the Fan Edition, the original outer box cover was used, with a completely new back made, which resembled the 'picture frame' format Working Design used with its shooting games. FE's manual cover became the original case's front and back. Several screenshots were replaced as well.  

The CD Sets
Each of the four CD sets have beautiful hand drawn artwork from the Game Arts staff. The most common is the Dragon Master Dyne / Alex combo on the bottom right, while the Magic Emperor / Female Trio on the upper right is the most obscure. Below is the serial number info:
  • SLUS - 00628, 00899    / PSRM - 014150, 014160 (Dragon Master Dyne / Dragon Master Alex)
  • SLUS - 00628a, 00899a / PSRM - 014151, 014161 (Luna / Goddess Luna)
  • SLUS - 00628b, 00899b / PSRM - 014152, 014162 (Magic Emperor / Xenobia, Phacia, Royce)
  • SLUS - 00628c, 00899c / PSRM - 014153, 014163 (Alex & Luna / Ghaleon with Nash & Mia)

The Music CD had no serial number, while the Making of CD kept the same PSRM of 014240 amongst all the variants.

` The Fan Edition
Released as a stand alone version for those that didn't need all the free stuff, the Fan Edition provided a second chance for gamers to get on the bandwagon. While absent of the map and bonus CDs, the staff was able to condense the hardbound book into a regular sized manual.

The CD artwork is of Working Design fan contributor Armen Mardirossian, who donated to many art contests held on the official WD web-page. Due to the later printing, the PSRM was updated, but the SLUS numbers still followed the original's sequence.

  • SLUS - 00628d, 00899d / PSRM - 024010, 024020 (Alex, Dyne, Luna / Alex, Mia, Nash, Jessica, Kyle)

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