Preserving Lunar

[Aaron]

How are you going to preserve the Lunar games so in 10 years you can look back and give lunar a play through?

Here are some problems I see:

1) If you own a console and TV:
-TVs change and as we replace our older televisions we will lose the ability to connect component or the older "audio/video" cables to newer models of TVs.
- Consoles break
- CDs scratch

2) Emulators
-As newer versions of operating systems emerge we lose the ability to run some of these emulators. I suspect that eventually they will cease to work.
-Many people still feel this is wrong and wont use emulators.

3) The game itself
-It will eventually become out of print
-Rare
-Lost/stolen/forgotten

Specifically, I'm concerned with the Sega CD versions and the Playstation versions.

Basically, what I'm trying to ask everyone is how are we going to be able to preserve these games? We need like some sort of Video Game Hall of Fame.

I want to eventually revisit Lunar in a few years as I enjoy/love the story and the gameplay and as of right now, I have absolutely no way to play it. I have over the years lost my copies, and gotten rid of my Sega CD & Playstation. Heck, right now I don't even have a TV. I guess my only way to play this anymore is an Emulator and I don't even have that.

As a reminder, any discussion of "warez" or whatever pirating/stealing is against the rules...so tread lightly.

[Kizyr]

Discussion of piracy in this context is fine. Any links to things like ISOs, ROMs, and BIOS files, however, will be removed.

I don't have time for a long response. But basically, emulation is the best way of preserving old games. I still have an Apple//e emulator and disk images on my computer, and most old computer games I can run within DOSBox (which works in Linux, by the way). So if I can play games from the late 1970s with relatively little problem, I'm not much concerned about Lunar continuing to be playable--the software constraints are easy to overcome.

What's more troubling is the idea of it getting just buried among a lot of other good, classic games that folks never get the time to revisit. Video games are relatively young in that perhaps 99.99% of all games that were ever produced are just in the last 25 years. So maybe 25 years from now, will old games continue to be preserved like old movies (and continue to be remembered)? Or, will they be preserved like old radio shows (and be nearly forgotten, except among a few enthusiasts)? KF

[Sonic#]

I'm more worried about the latter case, that they'll be preserved like old radio shows. My main reason for going on that feeling is the sheer length of playing many games, especially RPGs, and the way that player expectations can vary within a ten-year time, more quickly than they vary for film. So we'll still have those games around, and we'll know about them, but except for the really exceptional games, they'll fall by the wayside. I love Lunar, but I don't think that it's one of those exceptional games.

All that being said, I think that there are enough enthusiasts in the emulator community to keep these things running for a while. Plus, there's always nesting emulators - emulating an older OS to use an emulator (I've done this before).

[Shin Otaku III]

It's been said on here several times that the whole Lunar franchise could use a good shot in the arm. It was somewhat debatable as to whether or not another remake would do the trick. However, the truth is, that Lunar has always had a small-time fanbase, but a decent appeal. For instance, I remember reading some of the news releases for Lunar DS and even for Lunar SSH, and there were tons of comments by random people who read the post and said they were pumped for another Lunar and/or remake. So there are plenty of people out there who loved the Lunar games (all the way back to SegaCD), who aren't active in the fan base. I know most of you already know this, but the point I was trying to make is that despite Lunar being 19ish years old, it has maintained appeal. And Lunar is not alone; there are plenty of games as old and older that have also maintained that appeal. The sweet part of remakes is the continual re-introduction of Lunar into new audiences. I'm sure I wouldn't be alone in saying that the playstation remakes were my first Lunar to experience.

Lunar does seem like it will be something preserved. Indeed, even major video game companies have noticed that issue, Aaron. I believe this is why backwards compatibility has been so popular, people love going back and playing their old games. Even with major advances in hardware, Nintendo and Sony have taken steps to preserving their classics. With the advent of itunes-like setups on gaming consoles (Playstation Network & WiiWare), have enabled us to play anything from Super Mario Bros. (NES version) on our Wii's to playing Final Fantasy VII on our PS3's.

I’m also glad Kiz mentioned DOSBox. This is something I’ve picked up too. You would be surprised at what all is still out there with even less appeal than Lunar: Chex Quest, Dangerous Dave, and Monster Bash to name a few.

The most important factor in preserving Lunar is to keep a fan base going. I realize in the past that there used to be many other Lunar fan sites, but even just having Lunar-Net makes all the world of difference to video game companies. They want to make sure that if they put out a product that it’s going to have enough appeal to make a profit. I don’t want to get too much into marketing, but companies do their homework when it comes to seeing what would sell. It looks really good for the franchise to see that a game made enough of an impression that people are still talking about the lore and the game on some message boards all these years later.

EDIT: Sorry for this jumbled post. <3

[Dragonmaster Lou]

Personally, as long as general purpose computers exist, I doubt emulation will be a problem. The core code for emulating CPUs is pretty much done, and much of them are portable across operating systems -- so even if you can't get your emulator to run on Windows, for example, it will certainly run on Linux.

Piracy isn't an issue if you already own the CD. I've ripped my Sega CD Lunar games to allow me to play them via emulator and it works just fine.

[Ardent Fox]

All I know is that my PS Lunar games are both locked away somewhere safely so that no harm will befall them. Maybe occasionally they'll come out to be played. Like once a year or something.

[DragnMasterHiro]

I want to eventually revisit Lunar in a few years as I enjoy/love the story and the gameplay and as of right now, I have absolutely no way to play it. I have over the years lost my copies, and gotten rid of my Sega CD & Playstation.

Lost your copies and got rid of the consoles? That is..... sad. I still have all my old consoles and games from the NES era. Most are boxed up and put away granted, but I can pull them out and play them if I wanted too.

Thing that irks me the most is that you LOST your copies? Really? I always treated my games like my own children. I always knew where they were and only loaned them out to close friends that I knew.

[Aaron]

Well I had my Sega CD copies until my parents threw them out.

I have my Playstation copy of Lunar 1

But...

My Lunar 2 copy one of the disks was lost because it was in my Playstation 2 I gave to a neighbor. That kid was so happy lol.

I also had an autographed poster by all the voice actors in my car. Till I let my sister borrow it. She rolled my car on an overpass and scattered my stuff everywhere.

I have Lunar SSH and DS in good condition but I don't like either of those.

[localflick]

That sucks about the poster, but more importantly I hope your sister was ok.

Now more than ever companies are realizing that there is money to be made by releasing old classics for modern systems in the form of virtual console and similar services. As a kid I never would have dreamed that I would have a phone with perfect (and in some cases enhanced) ports of Vay, The 7th Guest, Chu Chu Rocket, Phantasy Star 2, Shining Force, Secret of Mana, Rise of the Triad, Dragon's Lair and tons of other classics. As long as people will buy them, developers will port titles, and Lunar is no exception. There's a reason that the remakes keep coming and it's because we continue to support the series.

Gog.com has an entire business model that revolves around using Dosbox combined with programming tweaks to get old games to work on modern PCs. They buy licenses, optimize the games, and digitally distribute them. Since their target audience is comprised of fans they distribute the games with tons of free bonuses which not only enhances the experience, but it also pays tribute to the classics sold on gog. It actually seems like they're paying tribute to the games instead of just trying to be profitable.

Steam has similar classic games (Sega mostly from what I've seen) and people are getting more and more creative by making their own ports of Lunar for things like the PSP. Before I sold my old PSP I converted my psx discs to play on it, and with the tv out it looked better on my flat screen than it did playing on the psx itself. Anyway, I wouldn't be too concerned about this, and I look forward to playing Lunar on all kinds of hardware that doesn't exist yet.

[Sonic#]

Gog.com has an entire business model that revolves around using Dosbox combined with programming tweaks to get old games to work on modern PCs. They buy licenses, optimize the games, and digitally distribute them.

That's a pretty good point, and while I haven't bought from Gog.com yet, I really like their idea. The only caveat I would add is that I don't see a commercial version of this being likely for consoles, given how tetchy Sony has been in the past with commercial emulators. But I can't foresee the future, and future systems may well expand present networks that have retro games.

[WhiteKnightLeo]

As far as the Playstation version is concerned it shouldn't be THAT hard to play it on any one of the consoles. All PS3's I believe are backwards compatible with PS1 games as well as the PS2. You can find PS2's on craigslist for about $50. Store the console and there shouldn't be anything to worry about. The Saturn however, I wouldn't know anything about, never owned one.
About keeping your games safe....that should be a no brainer. I have never once owned a game that I had fail because of scratches. If you take time and care with your games as you would say a pet or an automobile then there should be nothing to worry about.
Oh, and never I mean NEVER loan games. That is just asking for something bad to happen. I once had a copy of Legend of Mana that was in mint condition before I loaned it to whom I thought would be a reliable person to loan it to. Little did I know that this wasn't the case. It came back looking alright but the game had other things to say. That was when I learned my lesson. You might take care of games one way but once it is out of your hands it is a completely different story.

-WKL

[AlexofBurg]

All PS3's I believe are backwards compatible with PS1 games as well as the PS2.

Actually sadly new PS3s are neither backwards compatible with PS1 or PS2 games. My first PS3 played only PS1 games, then it bricked, and I bought another one which plays neither. I'm going to have to get a PS2 slim.

As for preserving Lunar, I too keep my two classic PS1 Lunar games safely hidden and only pull them out to play them once every year or two.

[tbb033]

I know this is an old topic, so I apologize for bumping if that's a problem, but I have to correct something.

If your PS3 doesn't play PS1 games, it is because that particular PS3 is defective. Yes, they removed PS2 compatibility from the PS3, but all PS3 models play PS1 games.

My PS3 is only a few months older than AlexofBurg's post, yet I've been playing Lunar 2 EBC on it the last few nights.

There is a bug, however. Every time there's a fmv cutscene, the controller reverts back to digital mode and if you want analog you have to go back into the PS3's menu to turn analog back on. I haven't played SSSC on the PS3, so I don't know if there are any issues for that one.

PS- Great site, btw.