Wonder why there hasn't been a thread opened up yet on Lunar coming to iOS? Here's the only info I've seen so far on TA: http://toucharcade.com/2011/04/07/somoga-announces-lunar-the-silver-star-for-ios/ http://toucharcade.com/2011/07/05/first-screenshots-released-of-lunar-silver-star-story-touch/ If there's another thread already opened on this, please provide link - my searches have come up with nothing.
I was wondering the same thing. Regardless, I'm extremely stoked for this to come out. I asked in the comments of the second TA post if the game was going to have an iPad or Universal version, and got a response that the game is going to be Universal from its release. Lunar on iPad? Sounds good to me! I'm still curious as to what version they are doing (both Saturn and SEGA CD would be fantastic) and how all that might go about working, but I guess we'll find out soon enough. Hopefully it sells well enough to eventually get us Eternal Blue as well!
I'd be impressed if it's the Saturn version. I've read some developer blogs full of nightmare stories talking about how crazy and weird the Saturn engine handled games.
Hey there, I'm working on LUNAR so please feel free to ask any questions. It is indeed based on the Saturn release! In fact, if you were to open up the iPhone game and compare some of the files to an original Saturn CD, you'd find that a lot of them are identical. That said, we did backport a few of the enhancements made to the Playstation release, and the audio and video are in higher quality. (And the Saturn does, indeed, do a lot of weird things. Maybe that should be a topic for a blog entry when the website opens!) I'd love to work on an Eternal Blue port (or even a new title). If you like our port, please write to SoMoGa and Game Arts and tell them the team did a great job, and you'd like to see EB too! Repeatedly.
I WILL be buying this! Can't wait for the release. I played and loved Lunar in the past, but never got to finish it. This will be my chance!
Hi Nall! I'd love to ask for a little clarification on this statement from one of the TouchArcade articles in relation to what you posted above... "SoMoGa played it a bit coy in an email to us, explaining that the version these screenshots are taken from is based on the Saturn remake, but that the Sega CD version is getting ported as well." ...so from what you mentioned above, is the version we're getting a hybrid Saturn/SEGA CD version mainly based on the Saturn version with some aspects of the SEGA CD version, or will there be more than one app released (like one for the Saturn version and one for SEGA CD version)? I will definitely send both off an email once it's released, I would absolutely love to see both on the app store. As undeadcow mentioned above, I'm also interested to hear about a possible release timeframe for Silver Star Touch as well!
I'd guess late August or early September. It's not a hybrid or anything like that. There may be extras and updated UI, but otherwise these are ports and not remakes. I hope you enjoy it!
Alright, I've got a couple more questions if you wouldn't mind! I'm not sure if you can answer any of these at all, but I thought it couldn't hurt to ask! -I'd be interested to hear about the team working on the game (member size, previous fans of Lunar or not, how long this has been worked on, other possibly interesting tidbits, etc.) -Will we be seeing a "new" localization, or will the Working Designs translations be used? -How did SoMoGa even start obtaining old Working Designs games to revamp and release on the App Store? I was shocked to see Vay get released a while back, and absolutely dumbfounded when Lunar got announced. Possibly a connection with Vic Ireland...? -Are there any other Game Arts franchises/games SoMoGa or even you personally would be interested in bringing to the App Store (ex: Eternal Blue, Grandia, Thexder, Silpheed, etc.)? Personally, outside of Eternal Blue I'd DIE to see Magic School Lunar/Lunar: Walking School finally translated and released overseas, and their Grandia series is a big personal favorite of mine. Seeing the first Grandia as well as maybe even Parallel Trippers (made for the GBC, never released outside Japan) on a touch screen would be a dream come true! While I'm still interested in what's exactly going on version wise for Silver Star Touch, I'm guessing all will be revealed in due time. I'm hoping we'll see both the SEGA CD and Saturn versions in some form, as I've played SSSC a thousand times but have never had the opportunity to go through the original "The Silver Star" experience. Either way (or both ways), I'm more than stoked to even just see Lunar on the app store. Thanks again to you Nall as well as the rest of the team working on this, I'll be looking forward to supporting this as well as all your guys' future endeavors.
I think I completely missed the 2nd article. Thanks for bringing it up again. I'm kind of a sucker for old RPG ports on the iOS.
Will the controls be tap to move like in Vay, because with all due respect, I don't like that control scheme at all. Having an option for a D-pad would be awesome. Other than that, super excited for this. I never got to play Lunar back in the day, but always wanted to.
Just full time, or including part time/contractors/.etc? Good question! I know some people liked it, others did not, but you'll happy to know you get your choice of 3 or 4 control schemes.... including a d-pad!
So far this seems exactly like the port of this game I was hoping for. I actually think I prefer the original in terms of art but some optimizations and a few improvements sound fine and the multiple control schemes (including d-pad) are sounding great. Including the FFT port and three other retro-like but new games coming out over the next couple of months it looks like August and September are starting to shape up to be two of the best months for RPGs on iOS in a long time. I'd love to see more screenshots and (especially!) a gameplay video showing some of the graphical improvements and the d-pad in action please?
Since this is a port of the Sega Saturn version, does that mean it won't have the remastered cutscenes and audio from the PSX version? Also, will it be supported on 2nd gen devices? If not, have you considered porting the GBA version for that older market?
For the production team itself, two full time, four contractors/part-timers. At least two or three had played Lunar before this project. I hope you enjoy it! And I think we should see some video, hopefully soon. The original PlayStation version was a port of the Saturn game, so I'm not quite sure what you're asking here? Assuming something doesn't change at the last minute, it will play on 2nd iPod Touches, although you might lose some background effects.
It's been a long time since I watched the "making of" CD that came with the Playstation box set, but I thought for sure they had remastered things for the PSX release. Maybe I am wrong. I have listened to the soundtracks for both versions, however, and the PSX version is slightly less midi-like and more "orchestral" than the Saturn one. I think the animated cutscenes are the same. Hooray for 2g support!
Oh, I understand. I believe that video talks mainly about the "Sega CD" (16-bit) version. The Saturn (32-bit) version was a remake, which was ported to the PlayStation. The Saturn and PSX cutscenes are the same. Just to clarify -- and of course, things can always change at the last minute -- but current builds require a "Game Center" enabled device. That includes the 2nd gen iPod Touch.
Just wanted to say thanks Hey man just wanted to say thanks to the whole team. This game always has a soft spot for me since I first played it on psx. And it seems you guys are really doing a standup job with this this is a first day buy for me easily. I haven't bought any of the other ports my friend has the original but I'm trying to convince her tonged this anyway to support you guys she claims it's her fav game so we will see lol anyways eitherway thanks so much for your hardworking in bringing another great game to iOS. Haha I often complain the future is bs cause apparently the jetsons took place in like 1997 and I don't see any flying cars but you know the more my phone looks like a snes or psx or Saturn the more I'm thinking it's a pretty good trade off lol besides traffic Jamz in the sky would suck;b thanks again man