The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening: 5 other video game remakes with drastic changes

#2. Lunar: The Silver Star Story Complete

Lunar: The Silver Star Story Complete was probably my first experience with a remake that changed quite a lot from the original and almost all for the better. The original Lunar: The Silver Star Story remains one of the few highlights of the library of the beleaguered Sega CD but is still one of my most fondly remembered games ever. The battle system was just passable, but the incredibly memorable characters, fun and witty dialogue with a ton of meta-references that were super unique at the time and the amazing music made for an amazing time.

For the re-release on the original PlayStation, it was almost like an extensive definitive director’s cut. The basic plot remained the same, but you had vastly improved sound (because the PlayStation’s sound capabilities were far superior to that of the Sega CD’s) and a ton more voice-acting (which was over the top and cheesy but in a fun Anime fashion). Some story beats were also changed rather drastically so that even if you knew the original game like the back of your hand, this version held a lot of new surprises. This included characters joining the part in a different order, new cut scenes, new major enemies and new part members at some point as well. It was still the game you loved on Sega CD but at the same time, a mostly new experience at that was pretty mind-blowing.

The Lunar franchise has sort of been forgotten since the original PlayStation era though the recent flood of older RPGs being ported to modern consoles (specifically the Grandia HD Collection, which are games from the same developer, Game Arts) gives one hope that we’ll see Lunar on a more modern platform at some point.