Chrono Trigger
Chrono Trigger is a video game released in America in 1995 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES) and re-released in 2001 for the Sony PlayStation as a part of Final Fantasy Chronicles, alongside Final Fantasy IV. The game title is often misspelled Crono Trigger, due to the name of the game's protagonist as written in the English version. The game has never been released in Europe.
Chrono Trigger is regarded as one of the best games of all time by many fans. It was made by a group referred to as "The Dream Team". The Dream Team was made up of Hironobu Sakaguchi of the Final Fantasy series, Yuji Horii of the Dragon Quest games, character designer Akira Toriyama of Dragon Ball Z and music composers Yasunori Mitsuda of Xenogears and Chrono Cross, and Nobuo Uematsu of the Final Fantasy series.
Plot
Chrono Trigger is about a group of adventurers who travel across time to save the future. Along the way they recruit allies from other time periods in an attempt to defeat the alien parasite Lavos that is slowly destroying the planet. You eventually gain seven playable characters (in order of appearance: main hero Crono, rebellious princess Marle, studious inventor Lucca, amphibian knight Frog, android Robo, cave-woman Ayla, and the optional character, the dark wizard Magus). The group travels via time gates and a flying time machine (Epoch) to seven different time periods: the prehistoric times (65 million years in the past), the ice age (12000 B.C.), the Middle Ages (600 A.D.), the present time (1000 A.D.), the apocalypse of Lavos (1999 A.D.), the ruined, post-apocalyptic future (2300 A.D.) and the very End of Time itself.
One interesting note about Chrono Trigger is that the main character, Crono, never talks, though the other characters seem to act as though he does. This seems to be so the player can be in Crono's shoes, and talk for him. The one exception is in the ending "A Slide Show?" in which Crono says one line ("What ARE you two doing?! I thought you said something about a nice little slide show?"). Although this quirk was very common in RPGs years ago, such as Breath of Fire (except in the Final Fantasy series) Chrono become almost universally identified with this peculiar 'muteness.'
Chrono Trigger uses an Active Time Battle (ATB) system. Each character in your party of 1-3 attacks after a certain time period has passed. Attacks can be with an equipped weapon (such as swords and bows) or using "techs". Techs are characters' special attacks which use Magic Points (MP). There are many combo-techs that require two or three characters. Chrono Trigger also has unique battles because they take place at the actual spot you meet them (not in a generic battle area). There are no random battles while wandering on the overworld map, and skilled players can avoid most battles in the game if they choose. The positions of the enemy and of your party are important for many techs. For example, some techs will damage multiple enemies only if if they are close together. Other techs will attack in a straight line and only damage enemies in that path. Finally, some techs can only be performed if your party members are physically close together.
SNES version
Some players consider one of the main problems with the game is its short playtime. It takes approximately 20 to 25 hours to complete the game, which is a very short timespan for a SNES RPG (Dragon Quest VI, for instance, takes about 100 hours). To solve this problem, the developers of the game created quite a few multiple endings that the player could earn, including several secret endings. The plot of each ending depends on which point in the storyline's progress the game is beaten. Also, they inserted the "New Game +" system, which allowed you to start a new game with all the various rare and powerful equipment, gold, and experience you ended another game with. This allowed the player to reach all 12 endings very quickly.
PlayStation version
The remake for the PlayStation features anime movies spread through the game at key sequences and an "extras mode." Each ending reached unlocks more of the following:
- All 10 of the added anime movies
- 69 songs from the game, including a few unused songs
- Statistics on all of the monsters
- A list of all of the endings with a screenshot from each
- An art gallery with 16 anime-style drawings of characters
- A list of all characters' techs
- Descriptions of the bosses
- a "treasure map" which shows the locations of hidden items
Promise cut short?
Despite being hailed by many gamers as one of the greatest games of all time, Chrono Trigger appears to have been limited by Squaresoft's time constraints.
The game contains code to allow the player to select more than just seven characters. To demonstrate, use the Game Genie code 1981-E46F, which gives you nine Cronos. After the title screen, the character switch menu will appear and you'll notice you can scroll up and down. A feature like this would not be included if the game was only supposed to have seven playable characters (as many as will fit on a whole screen at once). More playable characters — most likely two due a limit in the game — were originally planned but not included in the final release, due to time or story constraints.
The character Schala (Sara in the Japanese version) was originally supposed to be playable. She would join your party shortly after losing Crono, and shared double/triple techs with Magus. In the final version, she has the same animations (including battle animations) as the other playable characters. The other playable character — the game seems to have a limit of nine total — is the subject of intense speculation in the Chrono Trigger community. The most likely candidate seems to be Toma, who also has more sprites than were needed for his role in the final release, and has the sidequest of the Rainbow Shell to his potential credit. However, it has also been speculated that Gaspar, the Guru of Time, was the fabled ninth character.
A pre-release beta version was leaked to the Internet in July 1999. Large parts of the game were not programmed, and entering those unfinished areas causes the game to freeze. The music is slightly different in certain areas, and Ayla is missing as a playable character (though her sprites are in the Rom). Many NPCs are missing. The famed "Singing Mountain" area is actually accessible, complete with its music, though it was never finished. Information on the other story, character, map, and battle changes are available from StarNeptune's Chrono Trigger beta FAQ, available below.
Chrono Trigger features an event tracking system, which is used to update the save screen's "chapter title", change certain characters' dialogue, and alter the maps to conform to the current position in the story. It is also used for bug and consistency checking. If events happen out of order (such things can happen if the cartridge save RAM is corrupt, or if the player uses a Game Genie code to walk through walls and skip over certain events), the Nu (as Balthasar) will appear in front of the doorway to Epoch's construction bay in 2300 AD, and proclaim "The Time Axis is out of alignment." Aside from this warning, the game will continue normally, which can allow for such things as already having Magus in your party when you fight Magus in 600 A.D.
Sequel
A side story for Chrono Trigger was released for Nintendo's Satellaview add-on for the SNES and was called Radical Dreamers. Radical Dreamers was completely redone for the PlayStation and released in the U.S. in the year 2000 as Chrono Cross. The original Radical Dreamers was a very short, text-based game, available only in Japan. However, Chrono Cross was redone with many more characters, a total revision of the plot, and other such advancements to convert Radical Dreamers into a full-size RPG, Chrono Cross.