Lunar Threads

http://www.destructoid.com/first-screen ... 5427.phtml

Lunar lives on. The old Game Arts RPG still stands as one of my favorites, so it's good to know that I'll soon be able to tap an icon on my iPhone to play it once again.

This iOS port of RPG Lunar: Silver Star Story finally has some screenshots to show off. TouchArcade says that an email from the devs jerked them around a bit on what version of the game was ported for iOS. They said that these screenshots are based on the Saturn remake, but that the Sega CD version is getting ported as well. Wait, what? SoMoGa will clarify soon, they say.

Expect to see Lunar: Silver Star Story Touch hit the App Store before September.


from the looks of it its the psx version. its also mentioned that the sega cd version will be brought over also.

Thanks for this update dairugger!

I realize that about 90% of the people on these forums are going to look at this with this face -> o_o I know, I know, another Lunar Silver Star remake. However, if this does indeed end up being a true Sega CD remake (or port), then it does have some value that none of the other re-releases have had. I may just be able to sink my teeth into this one since I have my ipod touch with me all day anyways! (and I'll be done with ocarina of time by then hehe)

Interesting mysteries. And still no updates to SoMoGa's website since 2008.

Of course, I personally would like to see something not based on Silver Star Story for a change, but as a frequenter here I'm not I typical consumer, am I?

I'm not sure what a port to iOS entails, but I would imagine that it involves writing an emulator in Objective C optimized for whatever game is being ported. Sega has been slowly releasing Genesis games at $3 a pop on an emulator they made which looks to be the same for every game. So I'm wondering if either the Sega CD versions, or the remade versions of Lunar are coded similarly enough that the same emulator could be used to release both. If that's the case it might be profitable to release Lunar 2 as well due to the low production effort.

Not that I'm holding my breath because it may not even be a thought let alone a real project. As much as I love playing some version of Lunar 1 for just about every device I own it would be nice to play a version of 2 that isn't at least a decade old.

iOS is great for rpgs too, because the touch controls tend to work better for menu driven games than side scrollers, and most of them save automatically. I have Vay, Final Fantasy 1-3, Shining Force, Phantasy Star 2, and Crimson Gem Saga on my iPod touch and they all look and play pretty well so I'm excited for this.

localflick wrote:I'm not sure what a port to iOS entails, but I would imagine that it involves writing an emulator in Objective C optimized for whatever game is being ported.

It's not emulated.

DevNall wrote:It's not emulated.

What is the difference? Does this mean they're converting assets from another version as opposed to using the same ones and setting up a framework to run them? Either way we have a handheld version of a game that's already out on Sega CD, Saturn, PSX, GBA, and PSP -maybe I missed one in there. The good thing is that there are a lot of similar games with touch controls that work well, and the iOS userbase is massive so it will probably do well. Do we really need another version of Lunar SSS? Probably not, but like every iteration of FF IV/FFII I'll buy it.

localflick wrote:What is the difference?

Traditionally, a port implies the code and/or assets have been updated/reworked for the new platform. An emulated title is typically just the game's ROM with an emulator, thrown together and shoved out the door.

Compare Square Enix's Final Fantasy iOS ports (especially FF3 and FFT) to Sega's emulated games. The former have been updated to really work well on iDevices, whereas the later, well...

How many people here have played through the ios vay? I just started it last week and I'm more or less happy with how the port was handled. The menus are ugly and the touch interface can be clunky but I still think it could have been much worse. The music is great and I really like the ability to save anywhere in the game (except in battles). I don't remember, was that option available in the original?

SoMoGa has been responding to comments on that destructoid article. They say that they are going to maintain the original game menus. I really hope this turns out well!

Ghaleon_EME wrote:How many people here have played through the ios vay? I just started it last week and I'm more or less happy with how the port was handled. The menus are ugly and the touch interface can be clunky but I still think it could have been much worse. The music is great and I really like the ability to save anywhere in the game (except in battles). I don't remember, was that option available in the original?

Lucca (posts as LuccaRPG here) has a few playthroughs of it on YouTube if you (or anyone else) is curious to see how the Vay iOS port was handled.

Anyway, to respond to your question, you could save almost everywhere in Vay except for in battles, and in a few selected dungeons (the flying castle at the end, a few boss rooms, etc.). KF

Quick update - I emailed SoMoGA to ask about the status of Lunar IOS (as it was supposed to be released a few weeks ago). They responded: "The English release of the game was finished but approvals for release are taking some time. Please stay tuned, we hope it won't be long."

There's been so little news on it that I was worried it had been canceled. Good to now that it's still in the pipeline.

I too emailed Somoga last week and got a similar reply.

I hope they don't even try to update the artwork or character sprites. The changes they made to Vay were pretty horrible. Compare these images:

Original:


SoMoGa version:

danth wrote:I too emailed Somoga last week and got a similar reply.

I hope they don't even try to update the artwork or character sprites. The changes they made to Vay were pretty horrible. Compare these images:

HIGH-BURGER!!!

But yeah, the sprite updates were less than stellar. I can't remember if they "cleaned up" the harpy and skank sprites like the WD version had to, or if they left them as-is. KF

danth wrote:I too emailed Somoga last week and got a similar reply.

I hope they don't even try to update the artwork or character sprites. The changes they made to Vay were pretty horrible. Compare these images:

Original:


SoMoGa version:

he looks like hes wearing his dads shoes!

Oh cool. Another port/remake(?) of Lunar Silver Star. Maybe soon it will be on calculators and have more versions than Doom!?

In all seriousness, I'm disappointed they chose iOS since that thing is the worst to happen to gaming.

I can't wait for this!