Lunar Legend Reviews

The GameBoy Advance, over the years, has basically become a portable SNES, and as someone who looks back on the 16-bit era with a lot of affection, I don’t necessarily have a problem with that. However, every now and then, a game comes along that doesn’t necessarily “fit” with the whole portable-SNES setup. Lunar Legend is one of those games.

Lunar Legend is basically a remake of Lunar: Silver Star on the Sega CD(AKA Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete for Playstation). Some of the elements are trimmed out. For example, the overworld is replaced with what is basically a level select menu that’s laid out over a map(think the level select system from Super Mario World without the obvious roads between levels, and you’ll be on the right track). Several large chunks of story have been cut out as well, presumably in the interest of saving space on the GBA cart. If I had to estimate, I would say that this amounts to approximately a 15-20% reduction in game length, but I can’t be positive. Lastly, all of the anime cutscenes that you loved in the Playstation version are gone, and replaced with anime stills.

The Playstation remake of Silver Star was not only one of the most beautiful JRPGs on the system, but it featured beautiful anime cutscenes throughout that were almost Disney-quality in some moments(if you don’t believe me, go watch Luna’s Boat Song again). The voice-acting was pretty awesome for its day, and the game was fairly challenging with a gentle learning curve.

Well, if you’re gonna play the GBA port, you can forget all that. The anime cutscenes that were so awesome on the Playstation are obviously gone, as there is no way the GBA can handle that, but the choice to replace them with stills does nothing but remind players what could have been before going back to the SNES graphics. I’m by no means a cutscene whore, but if you’re gonna take them away, don’t tease me about it, just don’t mention it so we can all move on. There is no voice acting either, again due to the limitations of the hardware most likely. Also, the difficulty curve is completely gone, and the game is ridiculously easy. I’m talking easier than Final Fantasy Mystic Quest. By the time I made it to the last dungeon, I wasn’t even watching the battles, I merely held the A button down while I watched a movie until I heard the victory music. Folks, the last boss died in roughly 8 rounds! That is a little bit to easy.

There is very little to like here. About all I can say positive is that it does play like a classic RPG, so if you’ve finished all the good RPGs on the GBA and still need a cart to scratch your itch, pick this up from a used shop. Otherwise, don’t waste your time, just go play the Playstation version.

Experience with the Game: Finished the Game
Reccomendation: Skip It