Mahō Gakuen Lunar!

Mahō Gakuen Lunar!
Developer(s) Game Arts
Studio Alex
Publisher(s) ESP Software
Kadokawa Shoten
Series Lunar
Platform(s) Sega Saturn
Release date(s)
  • JP November 20, 1997
Genre(s) Role-playing video game
Mode(s) Single-player

Mahō Gakuen Lunar! (魔法学園ルナ! lit. "Magic School Lunar!") is a Japanese role-playing video game developed by Studio Alex in association with Game Arts and published by ESP Software and Kadokawa Shoten for the Sega Saturn in 1997.[1] It is an enhanced remake of Lunar: Walking School with updated graphics, newly added anime cutscenes, and a more complex story. Magic School Lunar! was released about the same time as other Lunar remakes, Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete and Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete, and though it was mildly successful it was never made available outside Japan.

Gameplay

A battle in Magic School Lunar!

Several enhancements were made to the game that take advantage of the capabilities of modern hardware. While the first game was limited to the hardware restrictions of the Game Gear, the new Saturn version boasted a larger color palette, more sophisticated music and sound effects, and the ability to handle full-motion animated sequences placed sporadically throughout the story. The use of a Saturn Memory Card could also ensure more save slots.

The game handles itself very much like a traditional role-playing video game, with turn-based battles which yield experience points required for leveling up, giving the characters access to new abilities and enhanced statistics. The first-person perspective battle interface of the Game Gear version is replaced by a simplified version of the signature Lunar battle system. Character sprites are visible on the battlefield and animations for spells and attacks have been considerably upgraded. A number of multi-character combination attacks have been added as well.

Plot

The story for Magic School Lunar! is very similar to its original version: Elie, a girl from the quiet town of Burg, is selected to enroll in a prestigious magic school located on a drifting island called Ien. Together with her best friend Rena, she makes her way to the school and has many adventures while learning magic and exploring new areas to which Ien Island drifts. Gradually, Elie and her friends get caught up in a plot by a villainous sorcerer to unleash an ancient evil on the land.

Though Magic School Lunar! was released after Lunar: The Silver Star, it takes place hundreds of years before it, and although few references exist to tie the two games together, it undoubtedly subscribes itself to the same folklore.

Characters

Playable characters:

Non-playable characters:

Development

  1. "魔法学園ルナ" [Mahou Gakuen Lunar]. Media Arts Database (in Japanese). Japan: Agency for Cultural Affairs. Retrieved August 11, 2015.

External links

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