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Game Information

Game Title: Lunar Remastered Collection

Platforms:

• Nintendo Switch (Apr 18, 2025)
• PC (Apr 18, 2025)
• PlayStation 5 (Apr 18, 2025)
• PlayStation 4 (Apr 18, 2025)
• Xbox Series X/S (Apr 18, 2025)
• Xbox One (Apr 18, 2025)

Review Aggregator:

OpenCritic - 82 average - 88% recommended

Metacritic - 83 average based on 7 critic reviews

Critic Reviews


CGMagazine - Chris De Hoog - 9 / 10

The Lunar Remastered Collection is a window back to the mid-90s that modernizes the presentation without replacing the soul.

Cerealkillerz - Nick Erlenhof - German - 8 / 10

The LUNAR Remastered Collection offers exactly what a remaster should. It makes the game more playable with many new features and even adds something new with the English voices. If you're not averse to classic JRPGs, you'll get two really beautifully told stories that don't necessarily show their age thanks to the fresh tactical combat system.

Console Creatures - Bobby Pashalidis - 8 / 10

As a collection of two incredible games, the Lunar Remastered Collection is a faithful remaster. While the quality-of-life changes make both games more palatable by today's standards, the duology is still a relic of simpler times. Whether you want the original experience or the remaster, you can experience why the series is iconic and beloved by so many people. Whether you're playing as Alex or Hiro, this world and the characters you meet are full of personality, charming, and memorable. Don't let the retro look fool you; Lunar Remastered Collection is a relevant and excellent package.

Final Weapon - Saras Rajpal - 3 / 5

Lunar Remastered Collection is a mixed bag. On the one hand, both Lunar: The Silver Star and Eternal Blue have great characters, a charming narrative, and some beautiful visuals. Plus, the new additions to the collection, such as voice acting, the ability to speed up battles, and improved visuals, are much appreciated. However, the repetitive battles, overemphasis on grinding, constant random encounters, and absurd dialogue puzzles are enough to make you wonder why you aren't playing another RPG available for $50 or less.

Game Hype UK - Aaron Moger - 85 / 100

Both Lunar Silver Star Story and Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete do nothing to revolutionize the JRPG genre, but that's why both games work so well. If you want to play a JRPG that simply takes the classic formula and perfects it, Lunar is game that will do just that. There is no crafting system nor mini games and optional superbosses. Battles are simple traditional turn-based with no extra power house moves. Lunar Remastered Collection brings both these game to an age where games have certainly become more grandeur but if you love the classic and simple things in a JRPG then you can't go wrong.

Game Lodge - Pedro Ladino - Portuguese - 9.5 / 10

Playing Lunar for the first time was something very special, I'm glad I finally got to experience these adventures and get to know the world of one of the games most loved by JPRG fans.They'll be games I'll treasure and I'll keep humming some of their songs for a while.

Gamepressure - Matt Buckley - 7 / 10

The Lunar: Remastered Collection is a victim of its own faithfulness. While its upgraded visuals—the retro pixel art character sprites and environments and the hand-drawn cutscenes—are stunning, they only barely distract from an otherwise outdated RPG experience. Lunar's stories and character might have felt fresh and original in the 1990s, but today, they come across as cliché and uninspired. There is fun to be had here, but there are plenty of other great modern RPGs, too. I have a hard time imagining anyone choosing to jump into the world of Lunar today if they don't have pre-existing nostalgia for the series.

Hey Poor Player - Andrew Thornton - 4 / 5

Despite only offering minor updates, I still wouldn't hesitate to recommend the LUNAR Remastered Collection to any fan of RPGs who hasn't played these great games. I still absolutely love both of these games. Even after all these years, they are well-paced adventures filled with a lot of heart and excellent characters who are highly memorable. It would have been great to see LUNAR once more get the red-carpet treatment, but just having these games easily accessible to modern audiences is a major win.

MonsterVine - Nick Mangiaracina - 4 / 5

Lunar Remastered Collection is the best way to play Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete and Lunar: Eternal Blue Complete. The updated translations, widescreen support, new dubs, and quality-of-life improvements make this somewhat impenetrable game series a very good option for people looking to experience older RPGs.

Niche Gamer - Fingal Belmont - 10 / 10

Quote not yet available

Nintendo Life - Alana Hagues - 7 / 10

The Lunar Remastered Collection respects the enhanced PS1 versions while also making a few tweaks to modernise parts of each game. While not all changes are entirely successful, and there are other aspects that haven't aged particularly well, we can't deny that Silver Star Story and Eternal Blue are bursting with charm and wit that many RPGs today lack. They might not revolutionise the genre, but if you're looking for a good time and have a little patience, you can do far, far worse.

NintendoWorldReport - Alex Orona - 7.5 / 10

There's so much more that could accompany a package like this in addition to combat speed, a cleaner look, and widescreen presentation. Original English VO, missing games, art work, orchestrated soundtrack or even quality of life gameplay improvements could have pushed this to the high standards that companies like Square Enix and Capcom have set. I am happy that Lunar can now reach more people, but I long for more to share from such a cult classic and one of my all time favorites.

Pizza Fria - Lucas de Azevedo Soares - Portuguese - 8.7 / 10

In a period when remasters often seem opportunistic, LUNAR Remastered Collection shows how it's done: maintaining the original spirit, improving where possible, and inviting everyone to embark once again towards the stars.

Shacknews - Lucas White - 8 / 10

Quote not yet available

Smash Jump - Daniel Leal - 8 / 10

Overall, the Lunar Remastered Collection is an attractive package that updates two great role-playing games from the mid-'90s. There are options to play the remastered and original versions, and you can switch which version you are playing midway through your playthrough if you feel like it. The core games incorporate great anime-style cutscenes. The cutscenes are impressive and really make the great, feel-good story shine through as you are playing the game.

Worth Playing - Chris "Atom" DeAngelus - 8 / 10

Lunar Remastered Collection is exactly what it needs to be: a comfortably nostalgic revisit to a comfortably nostalgic pair of games. Neither breaks the mold, but they remain charming and fun enough that they don't overstay their welcome. The remastering is done with a light touch, and there are times when I wish it had gone further, particularly with the translations. It does well enough to make it the best version of the games to pick up. Sometimes you just need an adventure, and Lunar delivers that in spades.

 

[adamsapple]

Nice.

Looking forward to this some time in the summer after the current crop of games is done. No rush to play this anywhere near day 1 at the moment.

 

[DragoonKain]

 

[drganon]

Pretty good reviews. Will be sure to check this out later in the year.

 

[spookyfish]

But what does Nick Rox think??

EDIT: YIKES. Just saw the latest news on the dude. Forget what he thinks.

 

[Northeastmonk]

No preorders but they sure got it out to their influencers and review journalists. lol

Will be picking it up regardless.

 

[Mr Hyde]

Fast forward battles are a godsend since the grinding in the originals is a pain in the ass. Looking forward to play this in the near future.

 

[Kacho]

I'm in at some point. Still working my way through Khazan. Doom next month, Switch 2 in June. I haven't even started Suikoden yet. This year is stacked.

 

[jshackles]

I'm definitely in for the physical version (if I can get one lol)

 

[Vandole]

The Game Hype UK article might have one of the dumbest quotes I've read in a while.

Both Lunar Silver Star Story and Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete do nothing to revolutionize the JRPG genre, but...

It's a remaster of a pair of games that are 30 years old. Is someone even coming into these games with that expectation?

 

[Northeastmonk]

The Game Hype UK article might have one of the dumbest quotes I've read in a while.

Both Lunar Silver Star Story and Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete do nothing to revolutionize the JRPG genre, but...

It's a remaster of a pair of games that are 30 years old. Is someone even coming into these games without expectation?

Yea. I thought that was an incredibly stupid comment.

 

[cireza]

Not too hot about the voice acting, and I suppose that the pretty songs from Working Designs will be gone too.

 

[spookyfish]

I still prefer the Sega CD's music for Burg over the PS1 and later versions.

I'm old. (Will buy -- want it physical, though ...)

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

Fast forward battles are a godsend since the grinding in the originals is a pain in the ass. Looking forward to play this in the near future.

The original Lunar: The Silver Star on Sega CD was one of my favorite JRPGs back in the day and a huge influence on my gaming tastes. Sometime back I decided to give it a try on emulator and I noped out of it in less than an hour. The high encounter rate and slow ass battles were painful, no idea how I got through that as a kid.


IIRC the encounter rate was pretty awful in the remakes as well. They made it so you can see your enemies before the encounter, but that kinda just made it worse. You'd walk into a room and they all just make a beeline toward you and they're really hard to avoid.

 

[mèx]

At a glance it seems to be a good remaster, they didn't butcher the pixel art (at least from the few screens I have checked). The Classic mode being available is pretty nice.

 

[rubik's dude]

Can't remember if it was this series or another, I think it was this one. But did you have to constantly press a button to sprint every few seconds?

If it was this one, I remember being really annoyed at having to constantly tap a button to sprint, so I hope the remaster changed that.

 

[DoktorCoktor]

But what does Nick Rox think??

EDIT: YIKES. Just saw the latest news on the dude. Forget what he thinks.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

I still prefer the Sega CD's music for Burg over the PS1 and later versions.

I'm old. (Will buy -- want it physical, though ...)

The Sega CD soundtrack is amazing, I was so disappointed they completely changed the music for the remake. Hopefully we can mod it into the PC version. I especially loved the original battle theme and the Vane music.

OST is here, the whole thing is only like 30 minutes since it's redbook audio:

 

[Shifty1897]

Looks like they didn't mess it up.

 

[Chuck Berry]

Will definitely get this eventually as Silver Star is one of my favorite JRPGs of all time.

But I'm super bummed about the new voice acting. Thankfully the original versions are included. I might just replay those instead, QOL improvements be damned.

 

[cireza]

Text could look better, scaling is bad and uneven. And this is another case of developers not giving a fuck about proper usage of the space available to create an appealing presentation.

You get something like 40% of the window screen that is never going to be used. Letters are uneven and don't look great. At least it is Variable Width Font (yes, we still manage to get games that don't use Variable Width Font in this day and age).

How difficult can it be ? When I myself implement Variable Width Font and text that properly uses the entire length of the text window on a fucking 8 bits, tile based Master System, all of this on my spare time ? Believe, these devs aren't even trying.

This should be a top priority in a game where you are going to spend maybe 20 hours reading text.

Pretty sure the uneven scaling applies to the entire screen : expect shimmering when scrolling.

Both games being inferior to the SEGA-CD games on top of this, I think I will skip this release.

 

[Team Andromeda]

Still the best RPG's ever made and still to this day the Mega CD versions are the best versions

 

[Jinxed]

Another classic to grab. Only one place here in canada you can pre-order from, I'm hoping I can just grab a copy day one.

 

[cireza]

Still the best RPG's ever made and still to this day the Mega CD versions are the best versions

Nothing like some Blue Spheres to chill a bit.

 

[touchfuzzy]

I feel like every classic JRPG has someone saying it's the best one ever when they're literally all just cheesy cliche stories, bazillions of random battles and way too much grinding. It's like... whatever RPG you played first when you were 9 years old with nothing else going on you probably think is the best one ever, but it's actually probably not that fun to anyone else. You can see that in the reviews of these remasters too, where people who played and loved the originals give it a 9 or 10 and anyone new gives it a 6 or 7 cause old RPGs are by and large boring and frustrating.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

I feel like every classic JRPG has someone saying it's the best one ever when they're literally all just cheesy cliche stories, bazillions of random battles and way too much grinding. It's like... whatever RPG you played first when you were 9 years old with nothing else going on you probably think is the best one ever, but it's actually probably not that fun to anyone else. You can see that in the reviews of these remasters too, where people who played and loved the originals give it a 9 or 10 and anyone new gives it a 6 or 7 cause old RPGs are by and large boring and frustrating.

lol yeah…. you're not wrong.

Honestly though I think that's especially true with Lunar. It's like the prototypical shounen anime JRPG. Boy from a small town yearning for adventure, inspired by the 4 great heroes of the past, sets off with his smoking hot female friend from childhood who he totally won't develop feelings for, trying to gain the powers of the elemental dragons and become a Dragonmaster and stop the evil emperor from conquering the world.

I got major nostalgia for this game, but if you played it for the first time in 2025 it would probably feel like the most generic and derivative thing ever.

 

[Diseased Yak]

Glad it sounds like it's in good shape.

Will buy, but only if I can get a physical copy.

 

[Shifty1897]

I feel like every classic JRPG has someone saying it's the best one ever when they're literally all just cheesy cliche stories, bazillions of random battles and way too much grinding. It's like... whatever RPG you played first when you were 9 years old with nothing else going on you probably think is the best one ever, but it's actually probably not that fun to anyone else. You can see that in the reviews of these remasters too, where people who played and loved the originals give it a 9 or 10 and anyone new gives it a 6 or 7 cause old RPGs are by and large boring and frustrating.

Yes and no. The stories are super cliche by today's standard, but Lunar was kind of the originator of a lot of these tropes. Hot take but all of those awesome FMV cutscenes in Final Fantasy 7 happened BECAUSE Lunar demonstrated the value of these kinds of cutscenes first. So yes, if you have no nostalgia for it, it's not going to blow you away, unless you look at it from a historical perspective of the evolution of the genre.

 

[rubik's dude]

Yes and no. The stories are super cliche by today's standard, but Lunar was kind of the originator of a lot of these tropes. Hot take but all of those awesome FMV cutscenes in Final Fantasy 7 happened BECAUSE Lunar demonstrated the value of these kinds of cutscenes first. So yes, if you have no nostalgia for it, it's not going to blow you away, unless you look at it from a historical perspective of the evolution of the genre.

Lunar's in the same bracket as Phantasy Star IV and Final Fantasy IV in that way. An important milestone for JRPGs that helped create the tropes and standards that became more common later on.

In the same way as those other two games, it holds up okay, with some slight retro jank.

 

[cireza]

I feel like every classic JRPG has someone saying it's the best one ever when they're literally all just cheesy cliche stories, bazillions of random battles and way too much grinding. It's like... whatever RPG you played first when you were 9 years old with nothing else going on you probably think is the best one ever, but it's actually probably not that fun to anyone else. You can see that in the reviews of these remasters too, where people who played and loved the originals give it a 9 or 10 and anyone new gives it a 6 or 7 cause old RPGs are by and large boring and frustrating.

This is true for a lot JRPGs, but you still have a few standouts that had genuinely excellent stories/setting and/or perfectly balanced gameplay (naming three : Phantasy Star IV, Chrono Trigger and Shining Force II). A lot have pacing issues on top of this, and this became a real problem with the advent of the CD format and loading times.

Lunar games definitely have great stories (especially Eternal Blue in my opinion). Gameplay is not that great though, pretty standard JRPG fare. Still it is better than Grandia for example, which is quite poor in terms of gameplay. No challenge, heavily repetitive. You can see the roots of this in Lunar, but at least the pacing was fast so it was fine overall. In Grandia, battles take ages and are super boring and uninteresting because the game is way too easy.

 

[Rat Rage]

This game wasn't meant for widescreen.

 

[Bar81]

So play it in 4:3.

 

[StereoVsn]

Definitely getting this as a physical (probably Switch) and later on as Steam digital when I can actually get the time to replay. These are some of my favorite JRPGs of that era.

 

[MacReady13]

Glad it sounds like it's in good shape.

Will buy, but only if I can get a physical copy.

Not interested in ever NOT owning a digital copy or, better yet, waiting for it to come to a sub service so you can rent it and STILL never own it?

 

[Madonis]

I feel like every classic JRPG has someone saying it's the best one ever when they're literally all just cheesy cliche stories, bazillions of random battles and way too much grinding. It's like... whatever RPG you played first when you were 9 years old with nothing else going on you probably think is the best one ever, but it's actually probably not that fun to anyone else. You can see that in the reviews of these remasters too, where people who played and loved the originals give it a 9 or 10 and anyone new gives it a 6 or 7 cause old RPGs are by and large boring and frustrating.

Old games tend to have a lot of grinding, fair enough, but that was the style at the time across both Japanese and Western RPGs. Reducing that is one of the benefits of remakes and remastered releases.

When it comes to the Lunar games in particular, a lot of their lasting value has to do with presentation, which also had an impact on the storytelling and emotional effect of the narrative. Sure, the story isn't wildly original in the grand scheme of fictional media, but I'd say it's still a pretty good execution of romantic tropes in a fantasy anime setting.

Once upon a time, high quality music, decent voice acting (I'll be the first to admit the English voice work was cheesy yet still showed a degree of genuine effort, compared to tons of other games) and anime cutscenes were not commonplace at all. All of that was relatively new and unusual, especially for people who grew up with the early Nintendo or Sega consoles. Overall, the Lunar games were solid and their retro appeal remains.

As for claims that the Mega CD versions were better than the PS1/Saturn remakes...it might be open to debate (I prefer the original art direction choices in some places, but the actual story is more engaging in the remakes). Some stuff got rewritten, etc. Then again, the argument is kind of pedantic and only really applies to the first game (the second one wasn't changed too much). For most people, the remakes should be fine.

 

[sigmaZ]

So play it in 4:3.

I've recently become obsessed with 4:3 for movies and emulators. I don't know why but having a box I find really builds immersion as it focuses your eyes to the center.

 

[Sooner]

Then again, the argument is kind of pedantic and only really applies to the first game

 

[Dev1lXYZ]

I beat Lunar on PS1 a few times back in the day. The graphics were very impressive for the time, but the gameplay and music were not the same as the Sega CD version, which sort of made the game feel more shallow to me. My friends and I blamed WD for it at first, but later found that Game Arts were the culprits.

 

[sigmaZ]

Y

I beat Lunar on PS1 a few times back in the day. The graphics were very impressive for the time, but the gameplay and music were not the same as the Sega CD version, which sort of made the game feel more shallow to me. My friends and I blamed WD for it at first, but later found that Game Arts were the culprits.

Yeah. I had the same experience back in the day. The old Lunar had a much darker tone as well which I preferred, but the encounter rate was insane. It's like every two steps. Dun-dun. Badapa doo doo do doo..

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

I beat Lunar on PS1 a few times back in the day. The graphics were very impressive for the time, but the gameplay and music were not the same as the Sega CD version, which sort of made the game feel more shallow to me. My friends and I blamed WD for it at first, but later found that Game Arts were the culprits.

Yeah the music was a major downgrade sadly, I really hope we can mod the Sega CD soundtrack into this version.

And IIRC the remake had some really aggressive XP scaling that pretty much made sure you were always at whatever level the devs decided you should be at for that part of the game. That kind of shit really annoys me. Why even bother having XP/levels?

 

[Randall365]

Ahh - thought this was Luna. Now they were classic games - imagine that in 4K - hubba, hubba!

 

[HercRaato]

What really sucks is there are reviews and I still can't order a physical copy!

 

[Shadowstar39]

really ridiculous that there is no pre-orders. I will be super pissed (as will so many others) if the publisher was full of shit about "enough for everyone".
Never have I seen a game like this without pre-orders so we can have near launch. Its ridiculous.

 

[anthony2690]

Someone please be a legend and help me get an Xbox copy to the UK