Yesterday, developer SoMoGa released Lunar Silver Star Story Touch ($9.99), a touch-centric iOS version of a classic RPG that originally graced the Sega CD and later made its way to the Sega Saturn and PlayStation systems. Impressions in our forums seem positive so far for this new release, especially if you have a nostalgic bone for the original versions in any way.
However, this isn’t SoMoGa’s first iOS release. Way, WAY back in July of 2008, they launched another port of a Sega CD RPG called Vay ($5.99), and for a limited time it’s now available for free to celebrate the release of Lunar.
Now, Vay was an old RPG to begin with, but SoMoGa did a great job at taking the original Saturn assets and wrapping them up in all the nice UI functionality that the iPhone offered. That said, it’s an old-school experience through and through, so probably will only appeal to a certain set of gamers. Also, it hasn’t been updated in quite some time so it’s missing some of the bells and whistles that you might expect from newer releases. Here’s an original hands-on video we took of Vay when it first launched.
Still, despite its quirks, Vay is an awesome game if you like classic RPGs, and it’s a great game to have in your pocket. It’s always been $4.99 and this marks the first time ever it’s been on sale, so whether or not you will like it can easily be discovered risk-free by downloading it and trying it out for yourself. SoMoGa also hints that some update love might be in the works for Vay, so chances are it will be brought more up to date sometime down the line.
At any rate, it’s a great freebie that you should jump on while you have the chance, and check out our original review for even more information on what Vay is all about.