Lunar: Eternal Blue is a 1994 role-playing video game created by Game Arts with help from Studio Alex for the Sega CD. It is the follow-up to Lunar: The Silver Star. The game was first released in Japan in December 1994 and later in North America in September 1995 by Working Designs. Eternal Blue added more story and gameplay elements compared to its predecessor. It used the Sega CD’s features more fully, such as better graphics, longer animated scenes, and more spoken dialogue. Many reviewers gave positive feedback, especially praising the game’s English translation and how it improved the role-playing game genre on CD format.

The story takes place one thousand years after the events of The Silver Star. It follows Hiro, a young explorer who meets Lucia, a visitor from the distant Blue Star. Together, they help Lucia stop Zophar, a powerful evil being, from destroying the world. As Hiro and Lucia travel across the world of Lunar, they are joined by a growing group of supporting characters, some of whom also appear in the earlier game. In 1998, Eternal Blue was remade as Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete. This version was published for the Sega Saturn and PlayStation by Kadokawa Shoten. The PlayStation edition was later released on PlayStation Network for PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, and PlayStation Vita in Japan in September 2015.

An improved version of Eternal Blue Complete is included with Silver Star Story Complete in the Lunar Remastered Collection. This collection was released in April 2025 by GungHo Online Entertainment for Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One.

Gameplay

Lunar: Eternal Blue is a traditional role-playing video game that uses two-dimensional character images and background scenes. The game is viewed from a top-down angle, allowing players to move characters through many fantasy settings while completing story-based tasks and fighting enemy monsters. The basic gameplay is similar to Lunar: The Silver Star, with story parts shown as text on the screen and animated scenes. Players move the story forward by completing quests and talking to non-player characters, which helps them engage with the story and advance the plot.

Battles in Eternal Blue happen randomly in dungeons and dangerous areas. Players defeat enemies with regular attacks or magic spells, and combat ends when all enemies are defeated. Characters must get close to enemies or use attacks from a distance. The battle system, improved from The Silver Star, allows players to place characters in specific spots before battles and includes better computer-controlled actions. Characters earn experience points from battles, which helps them level up to face stronger enemies. After battles, players earn "magic points" to strengthen magical attacks and unlock new abilities. Progress can be saved using the Sega CD's memory or a separate memory card. In the North American version, saving progress requires magic experience points.

Plot

The characters in Lunar: Eternal Blue were created by artist and Lunar veteran Toshiyuki Kubooka.

• Hiro – a young man and aspiring explorer who is skilled with a sword and boomerangs
• Ruby – a pink, winged cat-like creature with a crush on Hiro. She is a baby dragon, similar to The Silver Star’s Nall
• Gwyn – Hiro’s adoptive grandfather and an archaeologist
• Lucia – a quiet and mysterious girl from the Blue Star who is skilled with magic and mostly unaware of the world’s customs
• Ronfar – a former priest who now gambles and has healing abilities
• Lemina – a greedy heiress who leads the world’s highest magic guild
• Jean – a traveling dancer with a hidden past as a prisoner who was forced to use deadly martial arts against innocent people
• Leo – the captain of Althena’s guard and a servant of the goddess.

For the English version, the main personalities of the characters remained the same. However, some changes, such as jokes, playful language, and double meanings, were added to their dialogue to make the game more humorous.

Important supporting characters include the servants of the goddess Althena, the creator of Lunar, who was believed to have disappeared centuries ago but later appeared in human form to guide her people.

• Borgan – a large, self-centered magician who wants power in the magic guild
• Lunn – a martial artist and Jean’s former teacher
• Mauri – Leo’s sister and Ronfar’s love interest
• Ghaleon – the main villain from the previous game, now the Dragonmaster, Althena’s champion, and the world’s supposed protector. He regrets his past evil actions and helps Hiro
• Zophar – the game’s main villain, a long-sleeping evil spirit who wants to destroy and rebuild the world in his image. He is heard many times but remains faceless until the final battle.

In Lunar, Hiro and Ruby explore an ancient ruin and find a large gem called The Dragon’s Eye. Removing it sets off a trap, causing the temple to collapse and monsters to chase them. When they return, they meet White Knight Leo, who warns them about the "Destroyer," a foretold being who will bring great disaster. Despite the warning, Hiro, Ruby, and Gwyn investigate a strange light at the Blue Spire tower. Using the Dragon’s Eye, they enter the tower and meet Lucia, who needs to see the goddess Althena to prevent disaster. The evil being Zophar appears, drains Lucia’s magic, and the group seeks help from Ronfar to heal her. Afterward, Lucia continues her quest alone.

Hiro, Ronfar, and Ruby follow Lucia and see her captured by Leo, who suspects her of being the Destroyer. They rescue her from Leo’s ship, The Dragonship Destiny, and escape into a forest. There, they meet Jean, a dancer in a circus troupe, who helps them flee. Lucia struggles to understand human customs but begins to learn about them. Joined by Lemina, they travel through mountains and forests to reach Pentagulia, Althena’s holy city.

Lucia demands to see Althena but rejects a woman claiming to be the goddess, calling her an imposter. After a short fight, the group is imprisoned. They are later freed and joined by Leo, whose faith in the goddess has weakened. They decide to stop Ghaleon, the self-proclaimed Dragonmaster who supports the false Althena, by restoring power to the four dragons. The heroes journey to free the dragons and face Althena’s strongest heroes, each dealing with their troubled pasts.

The revived dragons, including Ruby, attack the false Althena’s stronghold, where she transforms into a demonic monster. The group defeats her and learns the true Althena gave up her divinity for love. Lucia considers absorbing Althena’s power to fight Zophar but hesitates, fearing it might destroy all magic and Lunar. Zophar captures and drains Lucia’s power; she uses her remaining magic to teleport Hiro and the others to safety. They train to fight Zophar, and Ghaleon appears, giving Hiro his sword and explaining his villainy was a trick to atone for past mistakes.

The group defeats Zophar, freeing Lucia and restoring peace. Lucia returns to the Blue Star, hoping to entrust it to humans based on her experiences in Lunar. Heartbroken by her departure, Hiro and the group later reunite to help him reach the Blue Star. Hiro succeeds, and he and Lucia look forward to a hopeful future for humanity.

Development

Lunar: Eternal Blue was created by Game Arts and Studio Alex, with Yoichi Miyagi, the project director, leading the game's development. Scenario writer Kei Shigema explained that the game's idea of a powerful god came from an image of Sun Wukong, a hero from the Chinese story Journey to the West, being held in the palm of the Buddha. Shigema said, "The picture showed a god who acted like humans were helpless in his hands. When I saw this, I knew I wanted to use this idea because it fit perfectly." The game took three years and more than $2.5 million to make, and it has twice as much dialogue as its predecessor. Originally, the team planned to set the story only a few years after The Silver Star and include older versions of previous characters with new ones. However, they changed this plan because they worried the new characters might not get enough attention. Like The Silver Star, Eternal Blue includes animated scenes to help tell the story. These scenes were made in-house, with Toshiyuki Kubooka as the animation director. While The Silver Star had ten minutes of partially voiced animation, Eternal Blue has nearly fifty minutes of fully voiced video.

The North American version of the game was translated and published by Working Designs, the same company that released The Silver Star in English. Working Designs, led by president Victor Ireland, kept the original game's light humor, including jokes about American pop culture and moments where characters speak directly to the audience. They worked with Game Arts to improve the game, such as adjusting the difficulty of some battles that were too hard. To help players think about when to save their progress, Working Designs added a feature where players had to use points earned in battles to save their game. They also made the game remember the last action a player used in combat, so players could repeat the same command without choosing it again. Like The Silver Star, the North American version of Eternal Blue included an embossed instruction manual cover.

Audio

The soundtrack for Lunar: Eternal Blue was created by Noriyuki Iwadare, who had previously worked on the music for Lunar: The Silver Star. The game uses high-quality Red Book audio for one of its two vocal songs. Both songs are included as CD tracks in the United States version. All other music was stored in 16 kHz PCM files. Dialogue and some background sounds also used PCM format. Most sound effects were made using the Sega Genesis sound processor. Iwadare and music director Isao Mizoguchi aimed to create music that was very different from previous games and other role-playing games. While the earlier game had music in many styles, Iwadare focused on a smaller range of styles to make the songs feel more connected. The English version includes a song called "Star Dragon Theme," which was not in the Japanese version. This song plays in the Star Tower dungeon. The game’s ending theme, "Eternal Blue ~Thoughts of Eternity~," also known as "Lucia's Theme," was performed by Chisa Yokoyama in Japanese and Jennifer Stigile in English. This song is one of Iwadare’s favorites. An official soundtrack with music from the game was released in Japan on February 22, 1995, by Toshiba-EMI Records.

Lunar: Eternal Blue includes spoken dialogue during cutscenes and other parts of the game. While Lunar: The Silver Star had only 15 minutes of recorded speech, Eternal Blue has over an hour and a half of pre-recorded dialogue. The game has 15 characters with voices. The Japanese version features experienced actors, including Rokurō Naya, who reprises his role as Ghaleon. For the English version, Working Designs hired people connected to the game’s creators, many of whom had worked with the company before. John Truitt returns as Ghaleon and is joined by new cast members, some of whom would appear in later games.

The Japanese version of Eternal Blue was promoted with an audio drama album called Lunar: Eternal Blue Prelude, released in June 1994. This album included skits and songs performed by the game’s future voice actors. When the game was released in December 1994, it came with an 8 cm music disc called the Lunar: Eternal Blue Premium CD. This disc included short conversations between Lucia and Lemina and in-character theme songs. Later, in June and September 1995, Toshiba-EMI Records released a two-volume drama album set called Lunatic Parade, which featured more characters.

Reception

Lunar: Eternal Blue sold well in Japan even though it cost about JPY¥ 9,900, which was nearly equal to US$100 in 1994. The game sold fewer copies than its earlier version, Lunar: The Silver Star, but still became the second most popular Sega-CD game in Japan and the third most popular worldwide. In Japan, the game received a score of 30 out of 40 from the magazine Megadrive Beep! Another Sega publication, Megadrive Fan, called the game "fun" and included an official manga strip written by the game’s scenario writer, Kei Shigema, in the following months.

In North America, the game sold less during its release. Victor Ireland, a representative, said this was partly because 32-bit consoles like the Sega Saturn and PlayStation became popular, and many media outlets declared the Sega-CD was no longer relevant in 1995. The English version of the game was well-received. GamePro noted that while some might see it as "just another RPG," its large story, interesting characters, and quality cinematics made it stand out. However, the magazine criticized its straightforward story. Electronic Gaming Monthly praised the game’s "great story and witty characters" and named it the Best Sega Mega-CD Game of 1995. Game Players said the game’s bigger scale and new features made it less enjoyable than its predecessor, though they still recommended it. Next Generation Magazine agreed, saying the game was stronger but felt something was missing, though they praised its more serious story.

When asked about reviews, Ireland said most were close to his expectations, except for part of a review from GameFan. Earlier, GameFan editors called the English translation "ingeniously written," and this quote was used in advertisements for the game. However, when they reviewed the final version, they criticized the frequent use of jokes and inappropriate remarks instead of the original Japanese story, which Ireland called a "big change." Despite this, GameFan still called most of the game’s non-joke script "excellent" and gave it a 91% rating, calling it "one of the greatest epics ever programmed."

In 1997, Electronic Gaming Monthly ranked Lunar: Eternal Blue as the 40th best console video game of all time, noting its compelling story, great music, and top-quality voice acting and animation. Retro Gamer also listed Eternal Blue among the top ten Mega CD games.

Remake

In July 1998, Game Arts released a new version of the game Eternal Blue, called Lunar 2: Eternal Blue Complete, for the Sega Saturn. A version for the PlayStation was released the next year. Similar to the remake of The Silver Star, Lunar: Silver Star Story Complete, this new version of Eternal Blue included improved graphics, rearranged music, better animations by Studio Gonzo, and a longer story. This version was released in North America in 2000 by Working Designs as a special collector's edition package. It included a soundtrack CD, a bonus disc with behind-the-scenes information, a game map, and a special box with Eternal Blue collectibles.

The remake was well received by reviewers. GamePro said it "may not be the most flashy RPG of the year, but it's definitely one of the best, with its solid combination of good gameplay and a strong story." Samuel Bass reviewed the PlayStation version for Next Generation and said it "is not one for those who love the latest technology, but it is a great and charming RPG."