System Sacom Butterfly Trilogy

[celerystalker]

For years I have loved the three oft-maligned butterfly games from System Sacom, but there are gaps that I'm hoping someone here might be able to help bridge, as Google hasn't been able to find me anything useful.

So, to start, the 3 games are Mansion of Hidden Souls for Sega CD, The Mansion of Hidden Souls for Saturn, and Lunacy/Torico for Saturn. All 3 games center around butterflies as trapped souls of former humans, whether by their own will or otherwise, and I'll try to limit spoilers.

The common misconception is that the Saturn game is a remake or reimagining of the Sega CD game. It is not, and is a direct storyline sequel. The elder in the Saturn game is the player character from the original, having reconciled with the Hunter. They both center around the mysterious mansion and its lord, the Hunter. The plots follow one another and tell a good story. Where I want to find the true connection is where Lunacy ties in.

In Lunacy, your amnesiac protagonist is searching for the City of Moons. You meet Anthony, a butterfly collector, who talks about the butterflies as souls and helps you along. In the City of Moons, you travel the towers and release butterflies that are clearly souls that play an important role in the resolution of things.

It feels like either a prequel or distant sequel to me, but I haven't made the connection firmly yet. Are you the Hunter? Is Anthony? I mean, there is a butterfly specimen room in the Sega CD game set up much like his in Lunacy... Is the Hunter from the City of Moons? In the Lunacy ending there is mention of a place being built where pure souls can live as butterflies...

There are obvious connections, but no hard storyline ties I can locate. Same developer, different publisher... Anybody ever read any interviews or anything related to this? Any regional differences that establish ties more firmly? These games aren't particularly scary, but are atmospheric and I really like them a lot. Maybe there's something with tarot representing Lunacy characters not expressed there like it was in the others? I dunno. Just really curious, as it's bugged me for years and I can't sleep for some reason right now.

[Emperor Megas]

I never knew that there was a third installment. I didn't read anything you wrote about Lunacy beyond the title as I don't want to spoil anything. I'm a fan of the first game, don't really care all that much about the second, but appreciate that it's a sequel. I'll have to track Lunacy down now.