• Price: $49.99 USD (digital; physical available on Amazon for $54.99 in North America, €54.99 on Clear River Games in Europe)
• Developers: GAME ARTS, Ashibi
• Publisher: GungHo America
• Release Date: April 18, 2025

A review code was kindly provided by acttil on behalf of GAME ARTS, Ashibi, & GungHo America. We thank them for allowing us to cover something they’ve worked so hard on.

Content warning: rated T; kidnapping, sexual humor, alcohol, gambling, cult-like behavior, fat jokes

I first played LUNAR Silver Star Story on PSP back in 2009 – purchasing it again for my Vita – but I sadly never had the opportunity to play LUNAR 2 Eternal Blue. I was extremely excited to see this collection come to Switch so that I could replay one of my favorite classic JRPGs and experience the one I hadn’t played before.

These remastered versions offer “enhanced graphics, audio, and quality-of-life improvements.” You can play both games in classic or remastered mode; unfortunately you can’t switch between modes within the loaded save file, but you can choose the other mode from the main menu and load the file you were just using.

The games were first released in 1992 and 1994 on the Sega (Mega) CD, and include animated openings and additional voiced cutscenes in English. (Japanese audio is also available.) They really sharpened the quality of the videos! I also liked how they voiced some of the major non-animated scenes, as well as battle cries.

The LUNAR series was probably really impressive back when they were released considering the technology, and I think they still have what it takes to appeal to JRPG fans in 2025. Let’s check them out!

LUNAR: Silver Star Story Complete

In LUNAR: Silver Star Story Complete, main character Alex has been a devoted fan of Dragonmaster Dyne all his life, wanting to follow in his footsteps and become the next Dragonmaster. One day he decides to leave his remote village with his friends and “flying cat” Nall to follow their dreams.

It’s dangerous outside of the village because of the monsters, so you’ve got to stock up on equipment and supplies before you go. Players can now switch to a shared inventory for their party if they’d like, which I certainly appreciated.

Enemies appear on the overworld, so there aren’t any random encounters. However, I would say that most battles are unavoidable because it’s hard to get out of monsters’ way in time (you can’t run on the overworld, but you can still try to escape once the battle starts).

Battles are turn-based, and have some convenient features such as the ability to increase the speed of participants’ actions as well as an auto battle mode. There is only one difficulty level, and many regular enemies were weak enough early on that I could auto battle my way through the area if I wanted to.

I really liked having 5 party members since I feel like the standard tends to be 4. (You can argue that Nall is a sixth battle participant, as he’ll hover in the background and occasionally revive a downed character.) The visuals and animations are charming; it was particularly amusing to see the character sprites when they were hit! They managed to inject so much personality into the tiny sprites.

In contrast to most regular enemies, I found the bosses fairly challenging. They still aren’t the most difficult fights ever, but they do require some thought. I did get sent to the title screen a few times when I made some dumb mistakes (I wish we could just restart battles we lose instead of loading the last save).

As far as the actual story goes, it’s pretty straightforward yet enjoyable (just like the gameplay). You travel from place to place as Alex and his friends continue to grow in body and mind, giving them the strength to face the Magic Emperor in the end.

Despite some of their character flaws (looking at you, Nash and Kyle) I still really liked the team and their dynamics. Nall is a loyal friend to Alex, and he also has some great wisecracks sprinkled throughout the game (minus the unfortunate – and frequent – jokes about Ramus’ weight). I found the squabbles between Jessica and Kyle quite entertaining as well.

Even the most minor of NPCs have something to offer in both games, as they not only have multiple things to say when you talk to them again and again during one visit, but they’ll have even more to say if you return to them after advancing the story some more.

There aren’t really any side quests in this one, although there is some optional content, such as the locked chests and fan service-y bromides/animated cutscenes. It took me just over 20 hours to beat the first game at around level 55. As a returning player, I was thrilled with this remastered classic.

LUNAR 2: Eternal Blue Complete

LUNAR 2 takes place 1,000 years after the first game, so sadly Alex and our new protagonist Hiro will never meet each other. Yet the original cast and story remain relevant on Lunar centuries later, frequently appearing in books and conversations – and affecting the plot of this game as well.

Influenced by his archaeologist grandfather, Hiro likes to explore ruins with “cat” Ruby by his side. Unlike Alex, who seemed to randomly decide to start his adventure one day, Hiro gets a more direct call to action when he runs into members of goddess Althena’s Guard, who tell him that an entity known as the Destroyer is supposed to land nearby.

I don’t really get why they’d tell a random civilian about something that could cause the public to panic, but Hiro decides that he wants to know more about what’s happening and goes toward the alleged threat. 😂 He and his grandpa go on a brief excursion to the tower nearby to see what’s up.

Arriving at the top of the tower, Hiro encounters Lucia, a young woman who has arrived on Lunar on a mission from Althena. After a series of unfortunate events, the pair flee from Hiro’s home to search for Althena and save the world.

Similar to the first game, you get to have 5 party members active in battle. Unfortunately, I don’t think you can actually control what Lucia does at any point, so you’re limited to controlling the other 4 characters’ actions.

They did make some improvements to the battle and inventory systems in LUNAR 2, though. The magic system was more expansive for several reasons. For one thing, your characters will learn new spells when they level up, but eventually those spells will evolve into their higher-level versions!

In addition to the standard equipment types from the first game, they gave us new “crest” equipment that affects characters’ stats and available spells on top of their default abilities. Even our “cat” sidekick Ruby tries to help out in battle; unlike Nall, she actually attacks the enemies. I kind of think Nall’s resurrection ability was more useful though.

We can actually briefly dash on the overworld in this one if we want to go faster/avoid battles, but sadly it’s just a brief burst of speed before we’re stuck walking again. Similar to the first game, the regular enemies didn’t feel overly difficult to defeat (until you get closer to the end) but the bosses can be pretty challenging. The final boss has multiple stages, and I had to start that battle over a lot.

I thought that both the characters and the story were more well developed in LUNAR 2; Hiro especially seemed to have more personality than the borderline silent protagonist Alex. They also wrote much more detailed backstories for our party members.

Lemina was one of my favorite characters with her (initial) obsession with money; those scenes made me laugh, but ultimately she, like the others, grows as a character. The interactions between Ronfar and Ruby were also amusing.

I did have a couple of minor gripes with the second game. One of my biggest issues was an increase in scenes with flashing lights. Loading between screens felt slower than the first game – it wasn’t super slow but there was still a noticeable delay.

We can’t see how new equipment changes stats in shops, and I would’ve liked a world map because I had a hard time remembering where each town or dungeon was located when backtracking later in the game. Finally, Ruby’s relationship with Hiro was a bit much for me sometimes.

Although I am a returning fan of the first game, I ultimately preferred the second overall due to the writing and improvement in gameplay mechanics. It took me close to 30 hours to beat the second game, and there’s a post-credits epilogue with optional dungeons! (Oddly, you must access the epilogue from LUNAR 2’s main menu, but that didn’t bother me.)

Must-Play Classic JRPGs

The LUNAR Remastered Collection is a fantastic blast from the past for both longtime fans and newcomers. I do think they should have changed the jokes about characters’ weights, and younger players may not get all of the references (Nall bringing out some Rick James with Super Freak from 1981 was hilarious, though).

But those are rare occurrences in the script, and I think that these stories still work pretty darn well in 2025 overall. The characters are so much fun, providing players with entertainment in between the serious moments. These are classic tales about the best of humanity rising up against the evildoers threatening their world.

The graphics help convey a lot of emotion as well, from the changes in the retro sprites (in and out of battle) to the changes in character portraits and the animated scenes. I love the soundtracks too; the song that Alex plays on his ocarina has remained in my memory for close to 20 years now, and the rest of the songs are just as catchy.

These games have a lot of positive qualities to them, and they manage to tell stories that feel complete over short – but no less impactful – play times. Their simple, straightforward natures mean that players don’t need to consult walkthroughs every step of the way, and they really respect players’ limited free time.

I would definitely recommend this series to all JRPG fans, and we can look forward to the return of more JRPG classics from GungHo Entertainment, with Trails in the Sky 1st Chapter arriving in Fall 2025.

8/10