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Lunar Knights (also known as Bokura no Taiyou DS: Django and Sabata in Japan) is the fourth title in the Boktai series of games developed by Kojima Productions, and announced at E3 2006. It begins a new story arc, and follows new protagonists and hence has also been marked as the beginning of a new series. Although the publisher and/or developer appears to be erasing references to Boktai from the English version (mainly in the form of changing character names), it it is evident from the Japanese title and style of the game that it is the spiritual successor to the Boktai series. This is most likely because Boktai was successful in Japan, but not in the United States and Europe. The game was revamped to remove the necessity of using the real-life solar sensor due to player troubles, however, it still retains the functionality if a Boktai 1, 2, or 3 cartridge is inserted.
Lunar Knights revolves around two characters: Lucian and Aaron. Lucian (Sabata in Bokura no Taiyou DS) is a melee fighter, wielding the Dark Sword Vanargand (Ankoku ken Vanargand in Japan), the Dark Scythe Hel (Ankoku sou Hel in Japan), and the Dark Spear Jormungandr (Ankoku gama Jormungandr in Japan). He is also imbued with the power of darkness, and can change into a vampire after he builds up a Trance (shortened to TRC in-game) meter by fusing with his Terrenial, Nero, which allows him to absorb life out of his foes, a mechanic that debuted in Boktai 2 as Black Django. Nero is based on the cat of the same name in Boktai 2, who was rescued by Sabata many times.
Aaron (Django in Bokura no Taiyou DS) is an apprentice sharpshooter, and uses a variety of Solar Guns to deal damage to his undead foes. These include the Knight (uses a Charge Shot, similar to the Gun del Sol), the Ninja (dual-wielded machine guns), the Bomber (explodes in a radius shot), the Witch (homing rockets), and the Dragoon (flamethrower). Unlike Lucian, Aaron has light powers, and can temporarily become an avatar of the sun when needed by fusing with his Terrenial, Toasty (known as Otenko in Japan, another reference to the original Boktai games), much like Sol Django in Boktai 3 (released only in Japan).
The player increases the two characters' levels by killing enemies; the weapons that the characters possess may be upgraded through a pre-determined combination of parts (the materials used being known as Junk Parts throughout the game) at the alchemist Sheridan's Mansion. Some weapon features can be accessed through upgrading (e.g, Vanargand can do more combo attacks, Knight implementing a charge attack.)
The ultimate goal in Lunar Knights is to destroy a number of boss vampire enemies, in which the basic mission is to defeat each of them in their respective dungeons, either by exploiting their elemental weakness or using Trance to quickly lay waste. Once this is accomplished, the boss is launched into space using the Casket Rocket, Laplace; the player would then enter a mini-game consisting of 3 parts. The Casket Rocket is controlled from a third-person persective with the stylus. By moving the stylus, Laplace moves, and tapping the screen causes it to fire lasers. After these 3 segments have ended, there is a short video segment in which the defeated boss is purified with the intense solar radiation in the stratosphere, made possible by the Interstellar Satellite Sunflower.
As more bosses are defeated, the player is able to gain access to different elements through terrennials. There are 4 different terrennials available besides Nero (Dark) and Toasty (Sol): Ursula (Flame), Tove (Earth), Alexander (Cloud), and Ezra (Frost). With each acquired terrennial comes a different climate for the player to manipulate with. This can be done by going to Sheridan's Mansion and selecting 'Change Climate' to change the default weather. Certain parts of dungeons, which often hold new items and weapons, are inaccessible unless the player changes the weather. Special high-priced items are dropped by enemies or objects under certain climate conditions.
Lunar Knights producer Kensuke Yoshi tomi confirmed in a 1UP interview (dated 9/23/06) that although Boktai DS/Lunar Knights take place in the same world as Boktai, but at a different time period with fresh characters, it is still not a direct sequel to Boktai. He stated that the many versions of Princess Zelda and Link throughout The Legend of Zelda series are a good representation of this.
As some gameplay features are exclusive to Japan, the original names of the characters are used in such instances.