is a
console role-playing gameA console role-playing game is a video game genre that has its origin rooted in video game consoles and includes game mechanics and, frequently, settings derived from those of traditional role-playing games...
developedA video game developer is a software developer that creates video games. A developer may specialize in a certain video game console, such as Sony's PlayStation 3, PSP, Microsoft's Xbox 360, Nintendo's Wii, Nintendo DS, or may develop for a variety of systems, including personal computers.Some...
and
publishedA video game publisher is a company that publishes video games that they have either developed internally or have had developed by a video game developer....
by
Squarewas a Japanese video game company founded in September 1983 by Masafumi Miyamoto. It merged with Enix in 2003 and became part of Square Enix.Squaresoft was also a brand name used by Square between 1992 and 2003. As such, the name is often used to refer to the entire organization, but the Japanese...
(now
Square Enixis a video game and publishing company based in Japan best known for its console role-playing game franchises, which include the Dragon Quest series, the Final Fantasy series, and the action-RPG Kingdom Hearts series....
) for the
Super Nintendo Entertainment SystemThe Super Nintendo Entertainment System or Super NES is a 16-bit video game console that was released by Nintendo in North America, Europe, Australasia , and South America between 1990 and 1993. In Japan and Southeast Asia, the system is called the , or SFC for short...
in 1995. The game's story follows a group of adventurers who travel through time to prevent a global catastrophe. Square re-released a ported version by
TOSEis a video game development company based in Kyoto, Japan. It is most known for developing Nintendo's Game & Watch Gallery series, as well as other Nintendo products...
in Japan for
Sonyis a video game company specializing in a variety of areas in the video game industry, and is a full subsidiary of Sony. The company was established on November 16, 1987 in Tokyo, Japan prior to the launch of the original PlayStation video game system...
's
PlayStationThe PlayStation is a 32-bit fifth generation video game console released by Sony Computer Entertainment in December ....
in 1999, later repackaged with a
Final Fantasy IVis a console role-playing game developed and published by Square in 1991 as a part of the Final Fantasy series. The game was originally released for the Super Famicom in Japan, but has been ported with minor changes to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System as well as by TOSE to the Sony...
port as
Final Fantasy ChroniclesFinal Fantasy Chronicles is a compilation of Square's console role-playing games Final Fantasy IV and Chrono Trigger, released for the North American Sony PlayStation on June 29, 2001...
in 2001. A slightly enhanced
Chrono Trigger was released for the
Nintendo DSThe is a dual-screen handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in 2004 in Canada, the United States, and Japan. The console features a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP, with two LCD screens inside—with the bottom one being a touchscreen...
on November 25, 2008 in North America and Japan, and went on sale in Europe on 6 February 2009. The game had not been released in
PALThe PAL region is a video game publication territory which covers most of Asia, Africa, South America, Australia, New Zealand, and most of Western Europe. Most games designated as part of the region will not play on NTSC-U/C or NTSC-J region consoles because of regional lockout...
territories before the DS version.
Chrono Trigger's development team included three designers that Square dubbed the "Dream Team", consisting of
Hironobu Sakaguchiis a Japanese game designer, game director and game producer. He is famous around the world as the creator of the Final Fantasy series, and he has had a long career in gaming with over 80 million units of video games sold worldwide. He left Square Enix and founded a studio called Mistwalker in...
, creator of the
Final Fantasyis a media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi, and is developed and owned by Square Enix . The franchise centers on a series of science-fantasy console role-playing games , but includes motion pictures, anime, printed media, and other merchandise...
series, and Yuuji Horii and
Akira Toriyamais a widely known and acclaimed Japanese manga artist known mostly for his creation of Dragon Ball in 1984. It is difficult to pin point the source of Toriyama's artwork inspiration. He admires Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy and was impressed by Walt Disney's One Hundred and One Dalmatians, which he...
—two freelance designers known for their work on
EnixThe was a Japanese company that produced video games, Anime and manga. The company was founded by Yasuhiro Fukushima on September 22, 1975 as and renamed Enix in 1982...
's
Dragon Quest, published as Dragon Warrior in North America until the 2005 release of Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King — which is also the first main series game to be released outside Japan and North America, is a series internationally best-selling console role-playing game titles created by...
series.
Kazuhiko AokiKazuhiko Aoki is a well renowned Japanese video game creator and producer, and one of the original game developers of Square Enix . He is most famous for his work on assembling the team that created Chrono Trigger, appearing in the game in the developers room...
produced the game.
Masato Katois a Japanese game developer and scenario writer. He first worked for Tecmo on Captain Tsubasa and the Ninja Gaiden series. He went on to work for Gainax, then Square...
wrote most of the plot, while composer
Yasunori Mitsudais a Japanese video game composer, sound programmer, and musician. He is best known for his work with composing video games such as Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, Shadow Hearts, Shadow Hearts: Covenant, Xenogears, Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht, and Mario Party.-Early life:Mitsuda was born...
scored most of the game before falling ill and deferring remaining tracks to
Final Fantasy composer
Nobuo Uematsuis a Japanese video game composer and musician, best known for scoring the majority of titles in the Final Fantasy series. He is regarded as one of the most famous and respected composers in the video game community...
.
Chrono Trigger was well-received by reviewers and commercially successful.
Nintendo PowerNintendo Power magazine is a monthly news and strategy magazine formerly published in-house by Nintendo of America, but now run independently. As of issue #240 , Nintendo contracted publishing duties to Future US....
magazine described certain aspects of
Chrono Trigger as revolutionary, including its multiple endings, plot-related sidequests focusing on character development, unique battle system, and detailed graphics.
Chrono Trigger was the third best-selling game of 1995, and the game's SNES and PSX iterations have shipped more than 2.36 million copies in Japan and 290,000 overseas as of March 31, 2003.
Chrono Trigger DS has shipped 490,000 copies in Japan and 220,000 in North America as of December 2008.
Gameplay
Chrono Trigger features standard
console role-playing gameA console role-playing game is a video game genre that has its origin rooted in video game consoles and includes game mechanics and, frequently, settings derived from those of traditional role-playing games...
(RPG) gameplay with several innovations. The player controls the protagonist and his companions in the game's
two-dimensional2D computer graphics is the computer-based generation of digital images—mostly from two-dimensional models and by techniques specific to them...
fictional worldA fictional universe is a self-consistent fictional setting with elements which differ from the real world. It may be called, variously, a fictional realm, world or universe...
, consisting of various forests, cities, and dungeons. Navigation occurs via an
overworldIn video games, the term overworld refers to a top-down view or a third-person perspective of the fictional world within the game. The world map often contains varied terrain and a collection of towns and other locations...
map, depicting the landscape from a scaled down overhead view. Areas such as forests, cities, and similar places are depicted as more realistic scaled down maps, in which players can converse with locals to procure items and services, solve puzzles and challenges, or encounter enemies.
Chrono Trigger's gameplay deviates from that of traditional RPGs in that, rather than appearing in
random encounterA random encounter is a feature commonly used in hack and slash role-playing games and computer and video games whereby encounters with non-player character enemies or other dangers occur sporadically and at random...
s, many enemies are openly visible on field maps or lie in wait to ambush the party. Contact with enemies on a field map initiates a battle that occurs directly on the map rather than on a separate battle screen.
Players and enemies may use physical or magical attacks to wound targets during battle, and players may use items to heal or protect themselves. Each character and enemy has a certain number of hit points, and successful attacks reduce that character's hit points, while hit points can be restored with potions and spells. When a playable character loses all hit points, he or she faints; if all the player's characters fall in battle, the game ends and must be restored from a previously saved chapter, except in specific storyline-related battles that allow or force the player to lose. Between battles, the player can equip his/her characters with weapons, armor, helmets, and accessories that provide special effects (such as increased attack power or defense against magic), and various consumable items can be used both in and out of battles. Items and equipment can be purchased in shops or found on field maps, often in treasure chests. By exploring new areas and fighting enemies, players progress through
Chrono Trigger's story.
Chrono Trigger uses an Active Time Battle system—a staple of Square's
Final Fantasyis a media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi, and is developed and owned by Square Enix . The franchise centers on a series of science-fantasy console role-playing games , but includes motion pictures, anime, printed media, and other merchandise...
game series designed by
Hiroyuki Itōis a Japanese game director and game designer. He is most known for his work on Square Enix's role-playing game series Final Fantasy.-Career:...
for
Final Fantasy IVis a console role-playing game developed and published by Square in 1991 as a part of the Final Fantasy series. The game was originally released for the Super Famicom in Japan, but has been ported with minor changes to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System as well as by TOSE to the Sony...
—named "Active Time Battle 2.0." Each character can take action in battle once a personal timer dependent on the character's speed
statisticAn attribute is a piece of data that describes to what extent a fictional character in a role-playing game possesses a specific natural, in-born characteristic common to all characters in the game. That piece of data is usually an abstract number or, in some cases, a set of dice...
counts to zero. Magic and special physical techniques are handled through a system called "Techs." Techs deplete a character's
magic pointMagic points are units of magical power that are used in many role-playing, computer role-playing and similar games as an expendable resource that is needed to pay for magic spells and other abilities, such as special attacks...
s (a numerical meter like hit points), and often have special
areas of effectArea of effect is a term used in many role-playing and strategy games to describe attacks or spells that affect multiple targets within a specified area....
; some spells damage huddled monsters, while others can harm enemies spread in a line. Enemies often change positions during battle, creating opportunities for tactical Tech use. A unique feature of
Chrono Trigger's Tech system is that numerous cooperative techniques exist. Each character receives eight personal Techs which can be used in conjunction with others' to create Double and Triple Techs for greater effect. For instance, Crono's sword-spinning
Cyclone Tech can be combined with Lucca's
Flame Toss to create
Fire Whirl. When characters with compatible Techs have enough magic points available to perform their techniques, the game automatically displays the combo as an option.
Chrono Trigger features several other unique gameplay traits, including
time travelTime travel is the concept of moving between different moments in time in a manner analogous to moving between different points in space, either sending objects backwards in time to a moment before the present, or sending objects forward from the present to the future without the need to...
. Players have access to seven eras of the game world's history, and past actions affect future events. Throughout history, players find new allies, complete side quests, and search for keynote villains. Time travel is accomplished via portals and pillars of light called "time gates", as well as a
time machineTime travel is the concept of moving between different moments in time in a manner analogous to moving between different points in space, either sending objects backwards in time to a moment before the present, or sending objects forward from the present to the future without the need to...
named
Epoch. The game contains thirteen unique endings; the ending the player receives depends on when and how he or she reaches and completes the game's final battle.
Chrono Trigger DS features a new ending that can be accessed from the End of Time upon completion of the final extra dungeon and optional final boss.
Chrono Trigger also introduces a
New Game+New Game Plus is a video game mode that allows the player to start a new game after they finish the game at least once, where certain aspects of the finished game, such as experience or items, affect the newly started game...
option; after completing the game, the player may begin a new game with the same character
levelsAn experience point is a unit of measurement used in many role-playing games and role-playing video games to quantify a player character's progression through the game...
, techniques, and equipment (but not money) that he or she ended the previous game with. Certain items central to the storyline are removed and must be found again, such as the sword Masamune. Square has since employed the New Game+ concept in later titles, including
Vagrant Storyis a Japanese-developed console role-playing game developed and published by Square for the PlayStation video game console in 2000. The game was released in Japan in February 2000, in the United States in May 2000, and in Canada and Europe later, at the time of Square's promotional "Summer of...
, Chrono Crossis a console role-playing game developed and published by Square for the Sony PlayStation video game console. It is the sequel to Chrono Trigger, which was released in 1995 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System...
,
Parasite EveThe series contains a book, movie and three video games.-Book:The original book, Parasite Eve, was written by Hideaki Sena, and became the first winner of the Japan Horror Novel Award. It was later translated into English by Tyran Grillo working under Vertical Inc. and released in America during...
and
Final Fantasy X-2is a console role-playing game developed and published by Square for Sony's PlayStation 2. It was released in 2003 and is the sequel to the best-selling 2001 game Final Fantasy X...
.
Setting
Chrono Trigger takes place in an original world similar to Earth, with eras such as the prehistoric age, where early humans and dinosaurs share the earth; the
Middle AgesThe Middle Ages of European history is a period of European history covering roughly a millennium in the 5th century through 16th centuries. More specific starting and ending points are sometimes adopted by scholars to suit their respective specializations or current focus...
, replete with knights and magic; and the
post-apocalypticApocalyptic fiction is a sub-genre of science fiction that is concerned with the end of civilization either through nuclear war, plague, or some other general disaster. Post-apocalyptic fiction is set in a world or civilization after such a disaster...
future, where humans and sentient robots struggle to survive. The characters frequently
travel through timeTime travel is the concept of moving between different moments in time in a manner analogous to moving between different points in space, either sending objects backwards in time to a moment before the present, or sending objects forward from the present to the future without the need to...
to obtain allies, gather equipment, and learn information to help them in their quest. The party also gains access to the End of Time (represented as year ∞), which serves as a hub to travel back to other time periods. The party eventually acquires a time-machine vehicle known as the
Wings of Time, nicknamed the
Epoch. The vehicle is capable of time travel between any time period without first having to travel to the End of Time.
Characters
Chrono Trigger's seven playable characters come from different eras in the game world's history.
Chrono Trigger begins in 1000 A.D. with Crono, Marle, and Lucca. Crono is the silent protagonist, characterized as a fearless young man who wields
katanaA Japanese sword, or , is one of the traditional bladed weapons of Japan. These are categorised in several types according to size and method of manufacture...
s in battle. Marle lives as princess in Guardia Castle; though sheltered, at heart she's a spirited
tomboyA tomboy is a girl who exhibits some characteristics of the gender role of a boy.This social phenomenon typically manifests itself through some of these characteristics:*The wearing of typically masculine-oriented types of clothes....
who enjoys sneaking out to observe common life. Lucca is a friend of Crono's and a mechanical genius who wields a gun; her home is filled with laboratory equipment and machinery. From the era of A.D. 2300 comes Robo, originally designated as "R-66Y" or Prometheus, a robot with a helpful and near-human personality created to assist humans. Found dormant in the future, Robo is repaired by Lucca and joins the group in an act of gratitude. The fiercely confident Ayla dwells in 65,000,000 B.C. Unmatched in raw strength, Ayla is the chief of Ioka Village, and leads her people in war against a species of humanoid
reptileReptiles, or members of the class Reptilia, are air-breathing, generally "cold-blooded" amniotes that generally have skin covered in scales or scutes. They are tetrapods and lay amniote eggs, whose embryos are surrounded by the amnion membrane...
s known as Reptites.
The last two characters are Frog and Magus. Frog originated in A.D. 600. Frog is a former
squireThe English word squire comes from the Old French , itself derived from the Late Latin , in medieval or Old English a scutifer. The Classical Latin equivalent was , "arms bearer". One became a squire at the age of 13 or 14.A squire was originally a young man who aspired to the rank of knighthood...
once named Glenn; Magus turned Glenn into an
anthropomorphicKemono is a genre of Japanese art and character design that prominently features anthropomorphic animal characters. It is used widely in visual arts, especially drawing and painting, and can be found in many manga, anime, and video game works...
frog and also slew his friend Cyrus. Chivalrous but mired in regret, Frog dedicates his life to protecting Leene, the queen of Guardia, and avenging Cyrus. Meanwhile, Guardia in A.D. 600 is in a state of conflict against the Mystics (known as Fiends in the US/DS port), a race of demons and intelligent animals. Under the leadership of Magus, a powerful
sorcererA magician, mage, sorcerer, wizard, or a person known under one of many other possible terms in fiction is someone who uses or practices magic that derives from supernatural or occult sources...
, they wage war against humanity. While Magus appears to be a powerful magician, his seclusion conceals a long-lost past; in the Dark Ages, he was known as Janus, the young prince of the Kingdom of Zeal, which was destroyed by Lavos in 12,000 B.C. The incident sent him forward through time, and as he ages, he plots revenge against Lavos and broods over the fate of his sister, Schala. Lavos, who awakens and ravages the world in A.D. 1999, is an extraterrestrial parasitic creature that harvests DNA and the Earth's energy for its own growth.
Story
In 1000 A.D., Crono and Marle watch Lucca and her father demonstrate her new
teleporterTeleportation is supposed to be the transfer of matter from one point to another, more or less instantaneously, either by paranormal means or through technological means. Teleportation has been widely utilized in works of science fiction...
at the Millennial Fair. When Marle volunteers to be teleported, her pendant interferes with the device and creates a time portal that she is drawn into. After Crono and Lucca separately recreate the portal and find themselves in 600 A.D., they learn that Marle's presence has created a
grandfather paradoxThe grandfather paradox is a proposed paradox of time travel first described by the science fiction writer René Barjavel in his 1943 book Le Voyageur Imprudent . Nevertheless, similar paradoxes had already been described, for instance by Robert A. Heinlein in "By His Bootstraps"...
by preventing the recovery of Marle's kidnapped ancestor. Crono and Lucca, with the help of Frog, restore history to normal by recovering the kidnapped girl. After returning to the present, Crono is arrested on charges of kidnapping the princess and sentenced to death by the king's fake advisor. Lucca and Marle help Crono to flee, haphazardly using another time portal to escape their pursuers. Upon arriving in the year 2300 A.D., they eventually learn that an advanced civilization has been wiped out by a giant creature known as Lavos that appeared in 1999 A.D. The three vow to find a way to prevent the destruction of their world. After meeting and repairing Robo, Crono and his friends find Gaspar, an old sage at the End of Time, who helps them acquire magical powers and travel through time by way of several pillars of light.
Their party expands to include Ayla and Frog after they visit the prehistoric era to repair Frog's sword. They challenge Magus in 600 A.D., believing him to be the source of Lavos; a summoning spell causes a time gate after the battle that throws Crono and his friends to the past. In prehistory, Crono, Ayla, and the others battle the Reptites and witness the origin of Lavos. They learn that Lavos was an alien being that arrived on the planet millions of years in the past, and began to absorb
DNADeoxyribonucleic acid is a nucleic acid that contains the genetic instructions used in the development and functioning of all known living organisms and some viruses. The main role of DNA molecules is the long-term storage of information...
and energy from every living creature before arising and razing the planet's surface in 1999 A.D. so that it could spawn a new generation. In 12,000 B.C., Crono and friends find that the Kingdom of Zeal recently discovered Lavos and seeks to drain its power to achieve immortality through the Mammon Machine. They travel next to 2,300 A.D. to find a time machine called the Wings of Time (or
Epoch), which can access any time period without using a time gate. They travel back to Zeal for the Mammon Machine's activation at the Ocean Palace. Lavos awakens, disturbed by the Mammon Machine, and the prophet reveals himself to be Magus and tries to kill the creature. Crono stands up to Lavos but is vaporized by a powerful blast; Lavos then destroys Zeal.
Crono's friends awake in a village and find Magus, who confesses that he was prince Janus of Zeal. In his memories, the disaster at the Ocean Palace scattered the Gurus of Zeal across time and sent him to the Middle Ages. Janus took the alias of Magus and gained a cult of followers while plotting to summon and kill Lavos in revenge for the death of his sister, Schala. As Crono's friends depart, the Ocean Palace rises into the air as the Black Omen. The group turns to Gaspar for help, and he gives them a "Chrono Trigger", an egg-shaped device that allows the group to replace Crono just before the moment of death with a Dopple Doll. Crono and his friends then gather power by helping people across time with Gaspar's instructions. Their journeys involve defeating the remnants of the Mystics, stopping Robo's maniacal
AIArtificial intelligence is the intelligence of machines and the branch of computer science which aims to create it. Textbooks define the field as "the study and design of intelligent agents,"...
creator, addressing Frog's feelings towards Cyrus, locating and charging up the mythical Sun Stone, retrieving the Rainbow Shell, and helping restore a forest destroyed by a desert monster. The group enters the Black Omen and defeats Queen Zeal, then successfully battles Lavos, saving the future of their world.
If Magus joined the party, he departs to search for Schala. Crono's mother accidentally enters the time gate at the fair before it closes, prompting Crono, Marle, and Lucca to set out in the Epoch to find her while fireworks light up the night sky. Alternatively, if the party used the Epoch to break Lavos's outer shell, Marle will help her father hang Nadia's bell at the festival and accidentally get carried away by several balloons. Crono jumps on to help her, but cannot bring them down to earth. Hanging on in each others arms, the pair travel through the cloudy, moonlit sky.
Chrono Trigger DS added two new scenarios to the game. In the first, Crono and his friends can help a "lost sanctum" of Reptites, who reward powerful items and armor. The second scenario adds ties to
Trigger's sequel,
Chrono Cross. In a New Game +, the group can explore several temporal distortions to combat shadow versions of Crono, Marle, and Lucca, and to fight Dalton, who promises in defeat to raise an army in the town of Porre to destroy the Kingdom of Guardia. The group can then fight the Dream Devourer, a prototypical form of the
Time Devourer—a fusion of Schala and Lavos seen in
Chrono Cross. A version of Magus pleads with Schala to resist; though she recognizes him as her brother, she refuses to be helped and sends him away. Magus subsequently erases his memories and awakens in a forest, determined to find what he had lost.
Development history
Chrono Trigger was conceived in 1992 by
Hironobu Sakaguchiis a Japanese game designer, game director and game producer. He is famous around the world as the creator of the Final Fantasy series, and he has had a long career in gaming with over 80 million units of video games sold worldwide. He left Square Enix and founded a studio called Mistwalker in...
, producer and creator of the
Final Fantasyis a media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi, and is developed and owned by Square Enix . The franchise centers on a series of science-fantasy console role-playing games , but includes motion pictures, anime, printed media, and other merchandise...
series; Yuuji Horii, director and creator of the
Dragon Quest, published as Dragon Warrior in North America until the 2005 release of Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King — which is also the first main series game to be released outside Japan and North America, is a series internationally best-selling console role-playing game titles created by...
series; and
Akira Toriyamais a widely known and acclaimed Japanese manga artist known mostly for his creation of Dragon Ball in 1984. It is difficult to pin point the source of Toriyama's artwork inspiration. He admires Osamu Tezuka's Astro Boy and was impressed by Walt Disney's One Hundred and One Dalmatians, which he...
, famous manga artist and creator of the
Dragon Ballis a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Akira Toriyama. It was originally serialized in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1984 through 1995, and later the 519 individual chapters were published into 42 tankōbon volumes by Shueisha...
series. Traveling to America to research computer graphics, the three decided to create something that "no one had done before." After spending over a year considering the difficulties of developing a new game, they received a call from
Kazuhiko AokiKazuhiko Aoki is a well renowned Japanese video game creator and producer, and one of the original game developers of Square Enix . He is most famous for his work on assembling the team that created Chrono Trigger, appearing in the game in the developers room...
, who offered to produce. The four met and spent four days brainstorming ideas for the game. Aoki ultimately produced
Chrono Trigger, while director credits were attributed to
Akihiko MatsuiAkihiko Matsui is a video game developer and battle designer working for Square Enix . He was notably the director for Chrono Trigger with Yoshinori Kitase and Takashi Tokita.- Published works :...
,
Yoshinori Kitaseis a Japanese game producer, scenario writer and former game director working for Square Enix .-Biography:Kitase joined the company in 1991. His most notable roles as game director are Final Fantasy VI, Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy VII, and Final Fantasy VIII; he later worked as producer for Final...
and
Takashi Tokitais a Japanese video game developer working for Square Enix. He joined Square in 1985 at the same time as Akitoshi Kawazu and Nasir Gebelli. He is well known for writing the story for Parasite Eve and also Final Fantasy IV. He is also well known as the director of Parasite Eve and Chrono Trigger...
. Toriyama designed the game's aesthetic, including characters, monsters, vehicles, and the look of each era.
Masato Katois a Japanese game developer and scenario writer. He first worked for Tecmo on Captain Tsubasa and the Ninja Gaiden series. He went on to work for Gainax, then Square...
also contributed character ideas and designs. The development staff studied the drawings of Toriyama to approximate his style. Sakaguchi and Horii supervised; Sakaguchi was responsible for the game's overall system and contributed several monster ideas. The game was originally developed without involvement from Tokita and Kitase, who had been busy directing
Final Fantasy VIIis a console role-playing game developed by Square and published by Sony Computer Entertainment as the seventh installment in the Final Fantasy series. It was released in 1997 for the Sony PlayStation, in 1998 for Microsoft Windows-based personal computers, and released on the PlayStation Network...
. Other notable designers include
Tetsuya TakahashiTetsuya Takahashi is currently the head of game software company Monolith Soft, Inc. In the past, Takahashi has worked at Square and on such games as Final Fantasy V, Final Fantasy VI and Chrono Trigger...
, the graphic director, and
Yasuyuki Honneis a video game artist and director who worked for Square and is now employed with Monolith Soft. He notably worked on the Chrono series, and was director for Baten Kaitos: Eternal Wings and the Lost Ocean and Baten Kaitos Origins...
,
Tetsuya Nomurais a Japanese video game director and character designer working for Square Enix , perhaps best known for his work on both the Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts series.-Time Before Square:...
, and
Yusuke NaoraYusuke Naora is a Japanese video game art director and character designer working for Square Enix . He served as the art director for several Final Fantasy and Compilation of Final Fantasy VII titles...
, who worked as field graphic artists.
Yuji Horii, a fan of
time travelTime travel is a common theme in science fiction and is depicted in a variety of media. It simply means either going forward in time or backward, like seeing the future, or the past.- Literature :...
fiction (such as the TV series
Time Tunnel), fostered a theme of time travel in his general story outline of
Chrono Trigger with input from Akira Toriyama. Horii felt that the grandfather paradox surrounding Marle was his favorite scenario. Concerning story planning, Horii commented, "If there’s a fairground, I just write that there’s a fairground; I don’t write down any of the details. Then the staff brainstorm and come up with a variety of attractions to put in." Sakaguchi contributed some minor elements, including the character Gato; he felt Marle's drama and reconciliation with her father was his favorite event. Masato Kato subsequently edited and completed the outline by writing the majority of the game's story, including all the events of the 12,000 B.C. era. Kato devised the system of multiple endings because he could not branch the story out to different paths.
Yoshinori Kitaseis a Japanese game producer, scenario writer and former game director working for Square Enix .-Biography:Kitase joined the company in 1991. His most notable roles as game director are Final Fantasy VI, Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy VII, and Final Fantasy VIII; he later worked as producer for Final...
and
Takashi Tokitais a Japanese video game developer working for Square Enix. He joined Square in 1985 at the same time as Akitoshi Kawazu and Nasir Gebelli. He is well known for writing the story for Parasite Eve and also Final Fantasy IV. He is also well known as the director of Parasite Eve and Chrono Trigger...
then wrote various
subplotA subplot, sometimes referred to as a "B story" or a "C story" and so on, is a secondary plot strand that is auxiliary to the main plot.Subplots may connect to main plots, in either time and place or in thematic significance...
s. Kato became friends with composer Yasunori Mitsuda during development, and they would collaborate on several future projects.
Hironobu Sakaguchi likened the development of
Chrono Trigger to "play[ing] around with Toriyama's universe," citing the inclusion of humorous sequences in the game that would have been "impossible with something like
Final Fantasy." When Square Co. suggested a non-human player character, developers created Frog by adapting one of Toriyama's sketches. The team created the End of Time to help players with hints, worrying that they might become stuck and need to consult a walkthrough. The game's testers had previously complained that
Chrono Trigger was too difficult; as Horii explained, "It's because we know too much. The developers think the game's just right; that they’re being too soft. They're thinking from their own experience. The puzzles were the same. Lots of players didn’t figure out things we thought they’d get easily." Sakaguchi later cited the unusual desire of beta testers to play the game a second time as an affirmation of the New Game + feature: "Wherever we could, we tried to make it so that a slight change in your behavior caused subtle differences in people’s reactions, even down to the smallest details...I think the second playthrough will hold a whole new interest."
The team planned to release
Chrono Trigger in late 1994, but release was pushed back to the following year. Early alpha versions of
Chrono Trigger were demonstrated at the 1994 and 1995
V-Jumpis a Japanese magazine about new manga and video games based on popular manga. The magazine's first debut was in 1993 by Shueisha under the Jump line of magazines.- History :...
festivals in Japan. A few months prior to the game's release, Square shipped a beta version to magazine reviewers and game stores for review. An unfinished build of the game dated November 17, 1994, it contains unused music tracks, locations, and other features changed or removed from the final release—such as a dungeon named "Singing Mountain" and its eponymous tune. Some names also differed; the character Slash was known as
Wiener, while Flea was named
Ketchappa. The
ROM imageA ROM image, or simply ROM, is a computer file which contains a copy of the data from a read-only memory chip, often from a video game cartridge, a computer's firmware, or from an arcade game's main board...
was uploaded to the internet, prompting fans to explore and document the game's differences, including two unused world map character sprites and presumed additional sprites for certain
non-player characterA non-player character, often shortened to NPC, is a character that is controlled by the gamemaster in role-playing games. When this definition extends to video games, an NPC in a video game is usually part of the program, and not controlled by a human....
s. Around the game's release, Yuji Horii commented that
Chrono Trigger "went beyond [the development team's] expectations," and Hironobu Sakaguchi congratulated the game's graphic artists and field designers. Sakaguchi felt a sequel could better perfect the "sense of dancing you get from exploring Toriyama's worlds."
Chrono Trigger used a 32-
megabitA megabit is an SI-multiple of the unit of bit for digital information storage or transmission. The International Electrotechnical Commission's standard IEC 60027 specifies the symbol to be Mbit, but Mb is also in common use....
cartridge with battery-backed RAM for
saved gameA saved game is a piece of digitally stored information about the progress of a player in a video game. This saved game can be reloaded later, so the player can continue where he or she had stopped...
s, lacking special on-cartridge coprocessors. The Japanese release of
Chrono Trigger included art for the game's ending and running counts of items in the player's status menu. Developers created the North American version before adding these features to the original build, inadvertently leaving in vestiges of
Chrono Trigger's early development (such as the piece "Singing Mountain"). Hironobu Sakaguchi asked translator
Ted WoolseyTed Woolsey is an American video game translator and producer. He had the primary role in the North American production and localization of Squaresoft's role-playing games during the SNES era between 1991 and 1996.-Squaresoft:...
to localize
Chrono Trigger for English audiences and gave him roughly thirty days to work. Lacking the help of a modern translation team, he memorized scenarios and looked at drafts of commercial player's guides to put dialogue in context. Woolsey later reflected that he would have preferred two-and-a-half months, and blames his rushed schedule on the prevailing attitude in Japan that games were children's toys rather than serious works. Some of his work was cut due to space constraints, though he still considered
Trigger "one of the most satisfying games I ever worked on or played." Nintendo of America censored certain dialogue, including references to breastfeeding, consumption of alcohol, and religion. Square shipped
Trigger with two world maps, and Japanese buyers who preordered received
holographicHolography is a technique that allows the light scattered from an object to be recorded and later reconstructed so that it appears as if the object is in the same position relative to the recording medium as it was when recorded...
foil cards.
Unofficial Development
There have been two notable attempts by
Chrono Trigger fans to unofficially remake parts of the game for
PCA personal computer is any general-purpose computer whose size, capabilities, and original sales price make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end user, with no intervening computer operator...
with a
3D graphics3D computer graphics are graphics that use a three-dimensional representation of geometric data that is stored in the computer for the purposes of performing calculations and rendering 2D images...
engine.
Chrono ResurrectionChrono Resurrection, also known as Chrono Trigger: Resurrection, is an unreleased, non-profit fangame developed by North American team Resurrection Games under Nathan Lazur's direction. It is based on the critically acclaimed Super NES role-playing game Chrono Trigger by the Japanese company Square...
, an attempt at remaking ten small interactive cut scenes from
Chrono Trigger, and
Chrono Trigger Remake Project, which sought to remake the entire game, were forcibly terminated by Square Enix by way of a
cease and desistA cease and desist is an order or request to halt an activity, or else face legal action. The recipient of the cease-and-desist may be an individual or an organization....
order. Another group of fans created a sequel via a ROM hack of
Chrono Trigger called Crimson Echoes; developed from 2004-2009; although feature-length and virtually finished, it also was terminated through a cease & desist letter days before its May 2009 release. The letter also banned the dissemination of existing
Chrono Trigger ROM hacks and documentation.
PlayStation release
Square released an enhanced
portIn computer science, porting is the process of adapting software so that an executable program can be created for a computing environment that is different from the one for which it was originally designed...
of
Chrono Trigger developed by
TOSEis a video game development company based in Kyoto, Japan. It is most known for developing Nintendo's Game & Watch Gallery series, as well as other Nintendo products...
in Japan for the Sony PlayStation in 1999. Square timed its release before that of
Chrono Crossis a console role-playing game developed and published by Square for the Sony PlayStation video game console. It is the sequel to Chrono Trigger, which was released in 1995 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System...
, the 1999 sequel to
Chrono Trigger, to familiarize new players with story leading up to it. This version included
animeis animation originating in Japan. The world outside Japan regards anime as "Japanese animation". Anime originated about 1917.Anime, like manga , has a large audience in Japan and high recognition throughout the world...
cut scenes created by original character designer Akira Toriyama's Bird Studio and animated by
Toei Animationis a Japanese animation studio owned by Toei Co., Ltd. The studio was founded in 1948 as Japan Animated Films . In 1956, Toei purchased the studio and it was reincorporated under its current name...
, as well as several bonus features, accessible after achieving various endings in the game. Scenarist Masato Kato attended planning meetings at Bird Studio to discuss how the ending cut scenes would illustrate subtle ties to
Chrono Crossis a console role-playing game developed and published by Square for the Sony PlayStation video game console. It is the sequel to Chrono Trigger, which was released in 1995 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System...
. The port was later released in North America in 2001—along with a
remasterRemaster is a word marketed mostly in the digital audio age, although the remastering process has existed since recording began...
ed version of
Final Fantasy IVis a console role-playing game developed and published by Square in 1991 as a part of the Final Fantasy series. The game was originally released for the Super Famicom in Japan, but has been ported with minor changes to the Super Nintendo Entertainment System as well as by TOSE to the Sony...
—under the package title
Final Fantasy ChroniclesFinal Fantasy Chronicles is a compilation of Square's console role-playing games Final Fantasy IV and Chrono Trigger, released for the North American Sony PlayStation on June 29, 2001...
. Reviewers criticized
Chronicles for lengthy load times and an absence of new in-game features.
Nintendo DS release
On July 2, 2008, Square Enix announced that they were officially planning to bring
Chrono Trigger to the
Nintendo DSThe is a dual-screen handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in 2004 in Canada, the United States, and Japan. The console features a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP, with two LCD screens inside—with the bottom one being a touchscreen...
handheld platform. A
Nintendo Power reader poll conducted in April 2008 had identified
Chrono Trigger as the third-most wanted game for the Virtual Console. Composer
Yasunori Mitsudais a Japanese video game composer, sound programmer, and musician. He is best known for his work with composing video games such as Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, Shadow Hearts, Shadow Hearts: Covenant, Xenogears, Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht, and Mario Party.-Early life:Mitsuda was born...
was pleased with the project, exclaiming "finally!" after receiving the news from Square Enix and maintaining, "it's still a very deep, very high-quality game even when you play it today. I'm very interested in seeing what kids today think about it when they play it." Square Enix touted the game by displaying Akira Toriyama's original art at the 2008
Tokyo Game ShowThe , commonly known as TGS, is a video game expo / convention held annually in the Makuhari Messe, in Chiba, Japan. It is presented by the Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association and the Nikkei Business Publications, Inc...
.
The DS re-release contains all of the bonus material from the PlayStation port, as well as other enhancements. The added features include a more accurate translation by Tom Slattery, a dual-screen mode which clears the top screen of all menus, a self-completing map screen, and a default "run" option. Masato Kato participated in development, overseeing the addition of the monster-battling Arena, two new areas, the Lost Sanctum and the Dimensional Vortex, and a new ending that further foreshadows the events of
Chrono Crossis a console role-playing game developed and published by Square for the Sony PlayStation video game console. It is the sequel to Chrono Trigger, which was released in 1995 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System...
. One of the areas within the Vortex uses the "Singing Mountain" song that was featured on the original
Chrono Trigger soundtrack. These new dungeons met with mixed reviews;
GameSpotGameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which purchased...
called them "frustrating" and "repetitive", while
IGNIGN is a multimedia news and reviews website that focuses heavily on video games...
noted that "the extra quests in the game connect extremely well." It was a nominee for "Best RPG for the Nintendo DS" in
IGNIGN is a multimedia news and reviews website that focuses heavily on video games...
's 2008 video game awards. The Nintendo DS version of
Chrono Trigger was the 22nd best-selling game of 2008 in Japan.
Music
Chrono Trigger was scored by
Yasunori Mitsudais a Japanese video game composer, sound programmer, and musician. He is best known for his work with composing video games such as Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, Shadow Hearts, Shadow Hearts: Covenant, Xenogears, Xenosaga Episode I: Der Wille zur Macht, and Mario Party.-Early life:Mitsuda was born...
and veteran
Final Fantasyis a media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi, and is developed and owned by Square Enix . The franchise centers on a series of science-fantasy console role-playing games , but includes motion pictures, anime, printed media, and other merchandise...
composer
Nobuo Uematsuis a Japanese video game composer and musician, best known for scoring the majority of titles in the Final Fantasy series. He is regarded as one of the most famous and respected composers in the video game community...
, with one track composed by both Uematsu and
Noriko Matsuedais a Japanese former video game composer and musician.-Early life:Noriko Matsueda was born in Tochigi, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan.-Career:Her works include Front Mission, which she co-composed with Yoko Shimomura, Bahamut Lagoon, Racing Lagoon, The Bouncer, and Final Fantasy X-2...
. A sound programmer at the time, Mitsuda was unhappy with his pay and threatened to leave Square if he could not compose music. Hironobu Sakaguchi suggested he score
Chrono Trigger, remarking, "maybe your salary will go up." Mitsuda composed new music and drew on a personal collection of songs composed over the previous two years. He reflected, "I wanted to create music that wouldn't fit into any established genre...music of an imaginary world. The game's director, Masato Kato, was my close friend, and so I'd always talk with him about the setting and the scene before going into writing." Mitsuda slept in his studio several nights, and attributed certain songs—such as
To Far Away Times—to inspiring dreams. He later attributed this song to an idea he was developing before
Chrono Trigger, reflecting that the song was made in dedication to "a certain person with whom I wanted to share a generation." He also tried to use leitmotifs of the
Chrono Trigger main theme to create a sense of consistency in the soundtrack. Mitsuda suffered a hard drive crash that lost around forty in-progress tracks. After Mitsuda contracted stomach ulcers, Uematsu joined the project to compose ten songs and finish the score. Mitsuda returned to watch the ending with the staff before the game's release, crying upon seeing the finished scene.
At the time of the game's release, the number of tracks and sound effects was unprecedented—the soundtrack spanned three discs in its 1995 commercial pressing. Square also released a one-disc
acid jazzAcid jazz is a musical genre that combines elements of jazz, funk and hip-hop, particularly looped beats. It developed in the UK over the 1980s and 1990s and could be seen as tacking the sound of jazz-funk onto electronic dance/pop music: jazz-funk musicians such as Roy Ayers and Donald Byrd are...
arrangement called "
The Brink of Time" by
GuidoGuido is the band composed of Hidenobu "KALTA" Ootsuki and Hiroshi Hata. Their album The Brink of Time consists of arrangements of music from the game Chrono Trigger composed by Yasunori Mitsuda....
that year.
The Brink of Time came about because Mitsuda felt that acid jazz and its related genres were underrepresented in the Japanese market. Mitsuda considers
Chrono Trigger a landmark title which helped mature his talent. While Mitsuda later held that the title piece was "rough around the edges," he maintains that it had "significant influence on my life as a composer." In 1999, Square produced another one-disc soundtrack to complement the PlayStation release of
Trigger, featuring
orchestraAn orchestra is an instrumental ensemble, usually fairly large with string, brass, woodwind sections, and possibly a percussion section as well. The term orchestra derives from the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus...
l tracks used in
cut sceneA cut scene is a sequence in a video game over which the player has little or no control, often breaking up the gameplay and used to advance the plot, present character development, and provide background information, atmosphere, dialogue and clues...
s.
Tsuyoshi Sekitois a Japanese video game composer, arranger, and musician who has been employed at Square Enix since 1995. As a composer, he is best known for scoring the video games Brave Fencer Musashi and The Last Remnant...
composed four new pieces for the game's bonus features which weren't included on the soundtrack. Some fans were displeased by Mitsuda's absence in creating the port, whose instruments sometimes aurally differed from the original game's. Recently, Mitsuda arranged versions of music from the
Chrono series for
Play!PLAY! A Video Game Symphony is a concert series that features music from video games performed by a live orchestra. The concerts are conducted by Arnie Roth.- History :...
video game music concerts, presenting the main theme,
Frog's Theme, and
To Far Away Times. He worked with Square Enix to ensure that the
Nintendo DSThe is a dual-screen handheld game console developed and manufactured by Nintendo. It was released in 2004 in Canada, the United States, and Japan. The console features a clamshell design, similar to the Game Boy Advance SP, with two LCD screens inside—with the bottom one being a touchscreen...
Chrono Trigger port's music would sound close to the Super Nintendo version's. Mitsuda encouraged feedback about the game's soundtrack from contemporary children (who he felt would expect "full symphonic scores blaring out of the speakers"). Fans who preordered
Chrono Trigger DS received a special music disc containing two orchestral arrangements of
Chrono Trigger music directed by Natsumi Kameoka; Square Enix also held a random prize drawing for two signed copies of
Chrono Trigger sheet music. Mitsuda expressed difficulty in selecting the songs for the orchestral medley, eventually picking a song from each era and certain character themes. Mitsuda later wrote:
Fans have heavily
remixA remix is an alternative version of a song, different from the original version. This name is also used for any alterations of medias other than a song ....
ed the soundtrack, producing over 700 tributes and several cover performance albums released over the internet or sold at retail. These include
Time & Space - A Tribute to Yasunori MitsudaTime & Space - A Tribute to Yasunori Mitsuda is an album of 18 remixes in a comteporary style arranging material from various Squaresoft video game soundtracks, the music of which having been composed by Yasunori Mitsuda....
and
Chrono Symphonic, the latter released by the remix website
OverClocked ReMixOverClocked ReMix, also known as OC ReMix and OCR, is a non-profit organization dedicated to preserving and paying tribute to video game music through arranging and re-interpreting the songs with new technology and software, as well as by various traditional means...
. Japanese fans often sell their remix work in compilation albums popularly called "
Dōjin, often romanized as doujin, is a general Japanese term for a group of people or friends who share an interest, activity, hobbies, or achievement...
" by Western fans.
Music from
Chrono Trigger was performed live by the
Tokyo Symphony OrchestraThe , or TSO, was established in 1946 as the Toho Symphony Orchestra . It assumed its present name in 1951.Based in Kawasaki, just south of Tokyo, the TSO performs in numerous concert halls and serves as the pit ensemble for some productions at New National Theatre, Tokyo, the city's leading opera...
in 1996 at the
Orchestral Game ConcertThe were a series of Japanese video game music concerts. The events took place in Tokyo from 1991 to 1996 and were performed by different orchestras. Recordings of the concerts were released as a series of albums, which are known for their rarity....
in Tokyo, Japan. A suite of music including
Chrono Trigger is a part of the symphonic world-tour with video game music
Play! A Video Game SymphonyPLAY! A Video Game Symphony is a concert series that features music from video games performed by a live orchestra. The concerts are conducted by Arnie Roth.- History :...
, where Mitsuda was in attendance for the concert's world-premiere in Chicago on May 27, 2006. His suite of
Chrono music, comprising "Reminiscence", "Chrono Trigger", "Chrono Cross~Time's Scar", "Frog's Theme", and "To Far Away Times" was performed. Mitsuda has also appeared with the
Eminence Symphony OrchestraThe Eminence Symphony Orchestra based in Sydney, Australia is an independent symphony orchestra which delves into the classical music featured in video games and anime, as well as film scores.-History:...
as a special guest.
Video Games LiveVideo Games Live is a concert series created and produced by industry veterans and video game composers Tommy Tallarico and Jack Wall. The concerts consist of segments of video game music performed by a live orchestra with video footage and synchronized lighting and effects, as well as several...
has also featured medleys from
Chrono Trigger and
Chrono Cross. Music from
Chrono Trigger will be an important part of the
Symphonic Fantasies concerts in September 2009 which are being produced by the creators of the
Symphonic Game Music ConcertThe Symphonic Game Music Concerts are a series of annual German video game music concerts initiated in 2003, notable for being the first of their kind outside of Japan...
series, conducted by
Arnie RothArnold "Arnie" Roth is a Chicago-based Grammy Award-winning conductor, composer, and record producer, best known for conducting numerous video game concerts. He is also a classically-trained violinist and a member of the Grammy Award-winning music group Mannheim Steamroller...
. Square re-released the game's soundtrack and a video interview with Yasunori Mitsuda in July 2009.
Reception
The game's SNES and PSX iterations have shipped more than 2.36 million copies in Japan and 290,000 abroad. The first two million copies sold in Japan were delivered in only two months.
Chrono Trigger ended 1995 as the third best-selling game of the year behind
Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Reverie and
Donkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong QuestDonkey Kong Country 2: Diddy's Kong Quest is an adventurous platform game developed for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System produced by Rareware and published by Nintendo...
. The game was met with substantial success upon release in North America, and its rerelease on the PlayStation as part of the
Final Fantasy Chronicles package topped the
NPDThe NPD Group, Inc. is a leading North American market research company founded in 1967 and provides consumer and retail information to manufacturers and retailers...
TRSTS PlayStation sales charts for over six weeks. This version was later re-released again in 2003 as part of Sony's
Greatest Hits line.
Chrono Trigger DS has shipped 490,000 copies in Japan and 220,000 in North America as of December 2008.
Chrono Trigger has recently placed highly on all six of multimedia website
IGNIGN is a multimedia news and reviews website that focuses heavily on video games...
's "top 100 games of all time" lists—4th in 2002, 6th in early 2005, 13th in late 2005, 2nd in 2006, 18th in 2007, and 2nd in 2008.
GameSpotGameSpot is a video gaming website that provides news, reviews, previews, downloads, and other information. The site was launched in May 1996 by Pete Deemer, Vince Broady and Jon Epstein. It was purchased by ZDNet, a brand which was later purchased by CNET Networks. CBS Interactive, which purchased...
included
Chrono Trigger in "The Greatest Games of All Time" list released in April 2006, and it also appeared as 28th on an "All Time Top 100" list in a poll conducted by Japanese magazine
Famitsuis a Japanese video game magazine published by Enterbrain, Inc. and Tokuma. Currently, there are five console-only spin-off versions of Famitsū: Shūkan Famitsū, Famitsū PS, Famitsū Xbox, Famitsū Wii+DS, and Famitsū Wave DVD...
the same year. In 2004,
Chrono Trigger finished runner up to
Final Fantasy VIIis a console role-playing game developed by Square and published by Sony Computer Entertainment as the seventh installment in the Final Fantasy series. It was released in 1997 for the Sony PlayStation, in 1998 for Microsoft Windows-based personal computers, and released on the PlayStation Network...
in the inaugural
GameFAQsGameFAQs is a website that hosts FAQs and walkthroughs for video games. It was created in November 1995 by Jeff "CJayC" Veasey and was bought by CNET Networks in May 2003. It is currently owned by CBS Interactive. The site has a database of video game information, cheat codes, reviews, game saves,...
video game battle. In 2008, readers of
Dengeki Onlinewas a Japanese publishing company in the Kadokawa Group known for their brand magazines and book labels. The company was merged with ASCII on April 1, 2008, and became ASCII Media Works. These included such well-known magazines as Dengeki Daioh, and Dengeki G's Magazine, along with MediaWorks'...
voted it the eighth best game ever made.
Nintendo PowerNintendo Power magazine is a monthly news and strategy magazine formerly published in-house by Nintendo of America, but now run independently. As of issue #240 , Nintendo contracted publishing duties to Future US....
's twentieth anniversary issue named it the fifth best Super Nintendo game.
Chrono Trigger garnered much critical praise in addition to its brisk sales.
Nintendo PowerNintendo Power magazine is a monthly news and strategy magazine formerly published in-house by Nintendo of America, but now run independently. As of issue #240 , Nintendo contracted publishing duties to Future US....
called it Square's "biggest game ever", citing improved graphics, sound, and gameplay over past RPG titles.
Chrono Trigger won multiple awards from
Electronic Gaming MonthlyElectronic Gaming Monthly is an American video game magazine being re-launched by EGM Media, LLC. It was previously published by Ziff Davis as part of the 1UP Network and released 12 issues a year Electronic Gaming Monthly (often abbreviated to EGM) is an American video game magazine being...
's 1995 video game awards, including Best Role-Playing Game, Best Music in a Cartridge-Based Game, and Best Super NES Game.
Official U.S. PlayStation Magazine described
Trigger as "original and extremely captivating", singling out its graphics, sound and story as particularly impressive. IGN commented that "it may be filled with every imaginable console RPG cliché, but
Chrono Trigger manages to stand out among the pack" with "a [captivating] story that doesn't take itself too serious [sic]" and "one of the best videogame soundtracks ever produced". Other reviewers (such as the staff of
RPGFanRPGFan is a website devoted to electronic role-playing games for console and PC, both domestic and imported. Its content includes previews, reviews, and news of recent and upcoming RPG releases...
and
RPGamerRPGamer is a media and news website dedicated to covering computer and video game RPGs. Its coverage includes North American game news, European game news, Asian game news, gaming industry news, game reviews, game previews, hands-on game impressions, gaming conventions, game merchandise, release...
) have criticized the game's short length and relative ease compared to its peers. Overall, critics lauded
Chrono Trigger for its "fantastic yet not overly complex" story, simple but innovative gameplay, and high replay value afforded by multiple endings. In 2009, Guiness World Records listed it as the 32nd most influential video game in history
Related media
Chrono Trigger inspired several
sequelA sequel is a work in literature, film, or other media that chronologically portrays events following those of a previous work.In many cases, the sequel continues elements of the original story, often with the same characters and settings. A sequel can lead to a series, in which key elements appear...
s and expansion packs or add-ons; the first were three titles released for the
SatellaviewThe was a satellite modem add-on for Nintendo's Super Famicom system in Japan released in 1995. It retailed for ¥18,000 .The Satellaview system was developed and released by Nintendo to receive signals broadcast from satellite TV station WOWOW's satellite radio subsidiary, St.GIGA...
in 1995. They included
Chrono Trigger: Jet Bike Special, a
racing gameA racing video game is a genre of video games, either in the first- or third-person perspective, in which the player partakes in a racing competition with any type of land, air, or sea vehicles. They may be based on anything from real-world racing leagues to entirely fantastical settings...
based on a
minigameA minigame, sometimes called a subgame, is a short video game often contained within another video game. A minigame is always smaller or more simplistic than the game in which it is contained...
from the original;
Chrono Trigger: Character Library, featuring profiles on characters and monsters from the game; and
Chrono Trigger: Music Library, a collection of music from the game's soundtrack. The contents of
Character Library and
Music Library were later included as extras in the PlayStation rerelease of
Chrono Trigger. Production I.G created a 16-minute
OVA, abbreviated , is a term originating from Japanese animation for animated films and series made specially for release in home-video formats...
entitled "
Nuumamonja: Time and Space Adventures" broadcasted at the Japanese
V-Jumpis a Japanese magazine about new manga and video games based on popular manga. The magazine's first debut was in 1993 by Shueisha under the Jump line of magazines.- History :...
Festival of July 31, 1996.
Sequels
Square released a fourth Satellaview game in 1996, named
Radical Dreamers: Nusumenai Hōseki. Feeling that
Trigger ended with "unfinished business", scenarist Masato Kato wrote and directed the game.
Dreamers functioned as a
side storyA side story in fiction is a form of narrative that occurs alongside established stories set within a fictional universe. As opposed to a prequel, sequel, or interquel, a side story takes place within the same time frame as an existing work....
to
Chrono Trigger, resolving a loose subplot from its predecessor. A short,
text-based gameInteractive fiction, often abbreviated IF, describes software simulating environments in which players use text commands to control characters and influence the environment. Works in this form can be understood as literary narratives and as video games. In common usage, the term refers to text...
relying on minimal graphics and atmospheric music, the game never received an official release outside Japan—though it was
translatedA fan translation, in video gaming, refers to an unofficial translation of a computer game or video game.The fan translation practice grew with the rise of video game console emulation in the late 1990s. A community of people developed that were interested in replaying and modifying the games they...
by fans to English in April 2003. Square planned to release
Radical Dreamers as an easter egg in the PlayStation edition of
Chrono Trigger, but Kato was unhappy with his work and halted its inclusion.
Square released
Chrono Crossis a console role-playing game developed and published by Square for the Sony PlayStation video game console. It is the sequel to Chrono Trigger, which was released in 1995 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System...
for the Sony PlayStation in 1999.
Cross is a sequel to
Chrono Trigger featuring a new setting and cast of characters. Presenting a theme of
parallel worldsParallel universe or alternative reality is a self-contained separate reality coexisting with one's own. A specific group of parallel universes is called a multiverse, although this term can also be used to describe the possible parallel universes that constitute physical reality...
, the story followed the protagonist Serge—a teenage boy thrust into an alternate reality in which he died years earlier. With the help of a thief named Kid, Serge endeavors to discover the truth behind his apparent death and obtain the Frozen Flame, a mythical artifact. Regarded by writer and director Masato Kato as an effort to "redo
Radical Dreamers properly",
Chrono Cross borrowed certain themes, scenarios, characters, and settings from
Dreamers. Yasunori Mitsuda also adapted certain songs from
Radical Dreamers while scoring
Cross.
Radical Dreamers was consequently removed from the series' main continuity, considered an alternate dimension.
Chrono Cross shipped 1.5 million copies and was almost universally praised by critics.
There are no plans for a new title, despite a statement from Hironobu Sakaguchi in 2001 that the developers of
Chrono Cross wanted to make a new
Chrono game. The same year, Square applied for a trademark for the names
Chrono BreakChrono Break is the name of a trademark registered by Squaresoft in the United States on December 5, 2001 that was later abandoned. A similar trademark, Chrono Brake, was registered in Japan. Although no official announcement was made, the trademark sparked speculation that Square was working on a...
in the United States and
Chrono Brake in Japan. However, the United States trademark was dropped in 2003. Director Takashi Tokita mentioned "
Chrono Trigger 2" in a 2003 interview which has not been translated to English.
Yuji Horiiis a Japanese video game designer and scenario writer best known as the creator of the Dragon Quest series. He has been said to have created the blueprint for the console role-playing game by gaming magazine Nintendo Power.Horii graduated from Waseda University's Department of Literature...
expressed no interest in returning to the Chrono franchise in 2005, while Hironobu Sakaguchi remarked in April 2007 that his creation
Blue Dragon was an "extension of [Chrono Trigger]." During a Cubed³ interview on February 1, 2007, Square Enix’s Senior Vice President Hiromichi Tanaka said that although no sequel is currently planned, some sort of sequel is still possible if the
Chrono Cross developers can be reunited. Yasunori Mitsuda has expressed interest in scoring a new game, but warned that "there are a lot of politics involved" with the series. He stressed that Masato Kato should participate in development. The February 2008 issue of
Game InformerGame Informer is an American-based monthly magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of popular video games and associated consoles...
ranked the
Chrono series eighth among the "Top Ten Sequels in Demand", naming the games "steadfast legacies in the Square Enix catalogue" and asking, "what's the damn holdup?!" In Electronic Gaming Monthly's June 2008 "Retro Issue", writer Jeremy Parish cited
Chrono as the franchise video game fans would be most thrilled to see a sequel to. In the first May
Famitsu of 2009,
Chrono Trigger placed 14th out of 50 in a vote of most-wanted sequels by the magazine's readers. At
E3The Electronic Entertainment Expo, commonly known as E3, is an annual trade show for the computer and video games industry presented by the Entertainment Software Association . It is used by many video game developers to show off their upcoming games and game-related hardware.E3 was invitation-only...
2009, SE Senior Vice President
Shinji HashimotoShinji Hashimoto is a Japanese game producer. He currently works for Square Enix, which he joined in 1995, and has been the producer for several of their titles, including games in the Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts series...
remarked, "If people want a sequel, they should buy more!"
External links