Written by DetroitOtaku
Like Final Fantasy VI and Xenogears, this game is on the Mount Rushmore of Square’s best games.
Even as the 5th generation of gaming was well underway with the release of the PlayStation and Sega Saturn in 1994, the best games were still coming out on the 4th generation consoles – the Super Nintendo and the Sega Genesis. RPGs were no exception, and the best RPGs were still coming out on the Super Nintendo especially. After the success of Final Fantasy VI, Square went back to the drawing board for their next big RPG, and assembled a development team known as the “Dream Team.” The Dream Team was made up of Hironobu Sakaguchi, creator of the Final Fantasy series; Yลซji Horii and Akira Toriyama, both known for their work Dragon Quest series, with the latter being famous for the Dragon Ball franchise; Nobuo Uematsu, the composer for Final Fantasy; producer Kazuhiko Aoki; writer Masato Kato, and composer Yasunori Mitsuda. Together, they created not only one of the best RPGs on the Super Nintendo, but also one of the Top 25 greatest games of all time.
This is Chrono Trigger, which came out on the Super Nintendo in 1995. It would be ported to the PS1 in 1999, and was later remastered for the Nintendo DS in 2008.
The Setting
Chrono Trigger is a game about time travel, and the game involves the main cast traveling to five different time periods to prevent a future apocalypse from occurring. The game takes place in a world similar to that of Earth, with eras such as the prehistoric age (65,000,000 BC), the Ice Age (12,000 BC), the Middle Ages (600 AD), present day (1000 AD), and the future (2300 AD). The game involves the main cast visiting those time periods to alter certain events so that the apocalypse would not occur.
The Plot
Chrono Trigger follows three primary protagonists – Crono, the main protagonist; inventor Lucca Ashtear, and Marle Guardia (Princess Nadia), the princess of the Kingdom of Guardia.
The game starts off in 1000 AD, where Crono and Marle watch Lucca and her father give a demonstration of their new Teleporter at the Millennial Fair. Marle agrees to be a volunteer, and when the device is activated, her pendant interferes with it and creates a time portal that she is drawn into. Crono and Lucca recreate the portal to go rescue her, and they find themselves in 600 AD. Both Crono and Lucca manage to locate Marle, but she vanishes before their eyes. They learn that this time period’s kingdom has mistaken Marle for her ancestor, Queen Leene, who has been kidnapped and put off the recovery effort for Leene and created a grandfather paradox.
The two of them then team up with the half-human and half-field known as “Frog”, and they restore history back to normal by rescuing Leene. Crono, Lucca, and Marle temporarily part ways with Frog and head back to the present. However, when they arrive back at the castle, Crono is framed for the kidnapping of Marle, and is arrested and put on trial. After the trial, depending on which verdict you get, the rogue Chancellor will declare that Crono will be executed anyway. Sensing that something is wrong, Lucca and Marle break Crono out of prison, and they haphazardly use another time portal to escape their pursuers.
This time, the trio are transported to 2300 AD. What they discover is shocking – the world they went into has been completely destroyed and left in ruin. While making their way across the wastelands, they arrive at Arris Dome. They learn from the survivors that humanity is on the brink of extinction. To find out more about what happened, they descend into the old command center beneath the dome, where a storehouse is located. Down there, they discover a supercomputer. Lucca uses it to locate a Gate on the far side of the wasteland in Proto Dome. The group then discovers an ancient record on the computer known as the Day of Lavos. In 1999 AD, a great beast called Lavos rises from within the Earth and destroys the surface of the planet, killing off most of humanity. Now in total fear of this revelation, the three of them decide to find a way to stop Lavos from destroying the future.
The trio then add another member to their party in Robo after meeting and repairing him. Crono and his friends then travel to an atemporal space known as the End of Time to find Gaspar, an old sage who offers them the ability to travel to any time period via several pillars of light. The trio learns that a powerful mage named Magus summoned Lavos into the world in 600 AD. To stop Magus, the group learns that Frog requires the legendary sword Masamune, however the sword is in disrepair and must be reforged. In order to find the ore to re-forge the sword, the party travels to 65,000,000 BC to meet Ayla, the chief of an ancient hunter-gatherer tribe. They manage to find the ore, and the Masamune is repaired. The group then battles with Magus in 600 AD to disrupt his spell to summon Lavos, which opens a temporal distortion that throws Crono’s team back to 65,000,000 BC.
Crono and his group assists Ayla in battling the Reptites, the enemies of prehistoric humans. After defeating the Reptites, they witness the true origin of Lavos, who descends from outer space and crashes into the planet before burrowing to its core. The group then enters a time portal created by Lavos’s impact, and they arrive in the ice age of 12,000 BC. Crono’s group learns that the dystopian Kingdom of Zeal rules over the world. The rulers of the Kingdom reside on islands raised above the surface by using energy harnessed from Lavos’s body beneath the Earth’s crust because of a machine housed on the ocean floor. The party are imprisoned by the game’s secondary antagonist – the Queen of Zeal, and are ultimately banished, with the time gate to 12,000 BC being sealed off.
With Crono’s team now knowing the truth about the Queen’s ambitions, they head back to 2300 AD and find a time machine called the Wings of Time (aka “Epoch”), which allows them to access any time period without having to use a portal.
The Gameplay
The gameplay of Chrono Trigger has some similarities to other Square RPGs from this era. In battles, you can use physical or magical attacks to wound targets during battle, and use items to heal or protect themselves. Enemies can change positions during battle as well. You can also equip each of your characters during battle in case your forgot to equip them beforehand.
In Chrono Trigger, magic and other special abilities are handled through the “Tech” command. They deplete each character’s MP, and can either damage one enemy or multiple. Cooperative Tech abilities exist as well, and if your characters know any combo techs, the “Tech” icon will change to a “Comb” icon on the status bar. Each character has eight personal Tech moves they can learn, which can be combined with other characters’ Techs to create Double or Triple Tech moves, which can inflict immense damage on enemies.
Navigation occurs on the game’s overworld map. Here you can travel to nearby towns, ports, or head to the next location to advance the plot. You can also visit shops to stock up on items and equipment for your characters. Once you arrive at a certain location, the place’s name will appear and you can press A to enter.
Areas such as forests, cities, buildings and other places are depicted as scaled-down maps, where you can talk with friendly NPCs to discover hints, gain new items or abilities, buy items as previously mentioned, and more. While you are in these areas, you can solve puzzles, encounter enemies, or head to your next location.
Chrono Trigger is different from previous JRPGs in which battles are mostly triggered by player character contact with enemies, or when the enemy ambushes you. This is similar to how battles are triggered in EarthBound/Mother 2, where Ness can either initiate battles, or enemies will come directly to him to initiate a battle. All battles occur directly on the map instead of a separate screen like in other RPGs.
The primary gameplay trait of Chrono Trigger is that of time travel. You have access to seven different time periods of the game world’s history, and your actions in the past alter future events. Time travel can be accomplished through the use of the time gates, or the time machine Epoch.
Chrono Trigger has a total of 12 different endings you can earn, and it depends on your actions in the different time periods, as well as when you decide to fight the final boss.
Chrono Trigger is also one of the earliest games to offer a New Game Plus function, as well as the first Square title to offer it. New Game Plus allows you to start a new game with everything from your previous playthrough carried over, except money, once you’ve completed the game for the first time. Also, certain plot-related items are removed and must be found again, such as Frog’s sword Masamune.
My Thoughts
Chrono Trigger was one of the games I was trying my hardest to find when I first got a Super Nintendo in my senior year of high school. After seeing how ridiculous prices were, I was hoping for a time when I’d be able to strike a deal for a loose cart. Luckily, that time came, and the rest is history.
I first played it and I was not disappointed one bit. The game is very friendly to RPG newcomers and is very easy to pick up and play. The gameplay is simple, but very effective and engaging. The main game itself is short for a Square RPG, but all the additional side quests you can complete before heading off to fight Lavos more than make up for it. The cast of characters are excellent and very memorable – not a single unlikable character is present in the main cast. The story is one of the greatest in the history of gaming, and I think it could have worked for an anime film as well. Everything about the story is just amazing. Including most of the endings. Almost every moment kept me on my seat and nearly brought me to tears multiple times.
The character designs by the creator of Dragon Ball, the late Akira Toriyama, who recently passed away at the beginning of this month, are great as well and it resembles his work from Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Quest.
Not to mention, the soundtrack is one of the greatest in gaming history, and is one that I dare say rivals that of Final Fantasy VI and Xenogears.
Everything about the soundtrack is pure gold. There is not a single subpar track to be found in it.
Yes, Chrono Trigger has some flaws, but they are relatively minor. The game is actually pretty easy for a Square RPG, especially for one on the SNES, and can get even easier to cruise through once you complete certain side quests. Hence, this is a game for newcomers to Square RPGs, and a good example of what to expect should you choose to play some of their more difficult entries. Another flaw is that the New Game Plus mode doesn’t carry over your money, but that is still minor. It is also easy to miss certain events in this game if you’re aiming for a certain ending. Which is why a guide for this game is necessary.
Chrono Trigger is one of the best RPGs in the Super Nintendo’s library, one of the Top 10 games of the 4th generation of gaming, and one of the Top 25 greatest games of all time. It is a game your must play through at least once in your life.
