You may know me more as the Sega Genesis guy, and while that is true, I do have some love for the Super Nintendo. In the great 16-bit war that is still fought today, I always take Segaâs side for nostalgic reasons. Despite that, I cannot deny that the SNES was a fantastic console and that both consoles existing at the same time with their impressive library of games represents a peak in the history of video games. One place where the Super Nintendo shined was the RPGs. Though some great RPGs existed on the Genesis, like Phantasy Star IV, Shining Force, and Crusader of Centy, it is hard to compete with the popularity of Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy. Both series were hitting their stride on this console with FF IV-VI still being considered the best of the series by some and DQ V and VI keeping up the quality established from the beginning of the series on the Famicom. While some of those games did not make it to the States until decades later, they all have their place in history in helping to define the console JRPG for generations to come. The masterminds of these series, Yuji Horii and Hironobu Sakaguchi for Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy, respectively, had a mutual admiration for each other and in 1992 sought to combine their efforts (along with famous Dragon Quest and Dragon Ball artist Akira Toriyama) into one masterpiece of an RPG. That game was released in 1995 and was called Chrono Trigger.
My first exposure to this game was in the mid-2000s. Back then, I was starting to dive deep into the history of video games thanks to YouTube and other video sharing websites at the time and due to my blind spot for the SNES, there was a whole library of classics I did not know about, and Chrono Trigger was at or near the top of that list. I was able to figure out a handy way of playing these games on my computer that was not as popular back then, but just as taboo: emulation. I downloaded ZSNES for my old ass Vista family computer and was able to find a ROM for this game and I played maybe an hour or two of it. At that time, the idea of being able to get any game for free to play on my computer was a revolutionary thing and because of that, I went through so many different games across the 8 and 16-bit era of consoles (all my computer could handle at the time) and I was never able to fully immerse myself in these games. You can also blame adolescent ADHD.
Cut to many years later and I'm starting to podcast thanks to lovely SuperPod Network member Chris from A Novel Console. I met him on a different discord where he was promoting his show. I started listening to it and gradually I wormed my way into appearing on his show where our first topic was playing Chrono Trigger for the Nintendo DS. Despite being from 2022, you can hear my lack of good mic tech and even decent podcasting skills, but we all start somewhere right?
For that episode, I was finally able to play Chrono Trigger from start to finish and see what the big deal was with this game.
What's the deal with Chrono Trigger? (cue Seinfeld bassline)
You probably read that title and wondered what I meant by that; well let me explain it to you. Chrono Trigger is the moment where the two titans of JRPGs got together and sought to redefine what the genre was and what it could be. By 1995, we have had five mainline Dragon Quest games, six mainline Final Fantasy games, new series starting to sprout like Breath of Fire, and plenty of single titles looking to create something new or leech off the success of the previously mentioned titles. All of these titles suffered from something that was considered standard for the genre: grindy combat, horrible enemy encounter rates, longer and longer playtimes, and so on. These issues were started by Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy, due to them traversing new water with the idea of a console RPG and finding ways to make it work. Not all of them were great, but these games laid the blueprint for many other games to follow, and that was for the better and the worse. After quite a few years laying the groundwork, they sought to build a new house, one that housed the standard for JRPGs to come and it was so close to becoming that standard. Despite that, this game remains a beloved masterpiece and for good reason.
For starters, the graphics. Akira Toriyama, famous for Dragon Quest and Dragon Ball, was brought into the Dream Team to handle the art and stands as some of his most beloved work. It has all the Toriyama trappings with spiked hair and his standard people faces, but he's talked before about how working on the art for video games was more fulfilling for him than Dragon Ball because he was able to expand beyond what he was doing to make some really interesting designs. Robo and Frog are two characters that stand out to me for his desire to make something different. All in all, this game has graphically aged very well. The 16-bit generation has many games that hold up to this day from a looks perspective and Chrono Trigger stands with them. The music for this game is absolutely superb. The soundtrack is also kind of its own dream team with Noriko Matsueda and Nobuo Uematsu making contributions, but the main composer is Yasunori Mitsuda. Prior to this game, Mitsuda was creating sound effects for Final Fantasy V and Secret of Mana but he was desperate to start making music for these games. Sakaguchi suggested he create the soundtrack for Chrono Trigger and Mitsuda put everything he had in it. From sleeping nights at the studio to contracting stomach ulcers, this was his big shot to prove himself and he really did. This music soars far and above most soundtracks on the system with some gorgeous melodies and memorable tunes throughout. My personal favorite is the track called Corridors of Time, which is heard when you get to The Kingdom of Zeal. This song represents a moment where video game music was becoming so much more than bleeps and bloops and instead creating some of the most beautiful compositions I have ever heard. Seriously, this song has put me to tears many times for how powerful it is.
Another thing this game is known for is the story. While it doesn't have the most groundbreaking story in existence, even for the time, it still leaves an impression. Starting from Chrono's bed, it evolves into a time-travelling romp from the distant past to The End of Time in order to prevent Lavos, the main villain, from awakening in 1999 A.D. and causing a global catastrophe. Along the way, Chrono meets many friends like Marle and Lucca, who are his two best friends from his time, along with recruiting Frog from the past and Robo from the future. You also meet the unforgettable Ayla in the distant past, who is the leader of a hunter-gatherer tribe. You get her to join your party by beating her in a drinking contest. This game has quite a few interesting twists and turns, which is much to the game's credit. Most JRPGs at that time had very rigid stories and for this one to have something more flexible was a breath of fresh air. We also have multiple endings. With this game being focused on time travel, once you acquire the Epoch, you can then travel to any of the time periods and one of them can lead you straight to Lavos, the final boss. Defeating him at specific points in the game can lead to those different endings and overall there is about a dozen, depending on what you choose to do. I would not call this game open-ended or even open-world. It almost reminds me of Super Metroid in that you can sequence break. Chrono Trigger allows for specified sequence breaking for the most hardcore of fans. What's not to love?!?
The combat in this game is the highlight for me. While this has the ATB system of Final Fantasy at the time (which I'm not the biggest fan of), Chrono Trigger is able to make it actually fun. Gone are the battle screens; here you fight the enemies where you found them! I think this is a really cool change and allows the world to be more immersive without doing too much. Instead of random encounters, you see the enemies on the map before you fight them. This was revolutionary for RPGs of the time, and it allows for level grinding to be much more concentrated and takes less time because you can see which enemies are the best to level grind on and go to them rather than hoping for some good ones every time. Due to the nature of the battle maps this time around, characters and enemies can move around, which makes using area attacks or magic much more of a gamble. You can also have your allies team up and use special abilities in battle and this leads to some great battle animations. This game is full of that as well as some great summons, like the GIANT FUCKING FROG!
I found the combat to be very fun and exciting, without being too grindy or forced. The great thing about Chrono Trigger is you rarely have to grind. XP is handed out in such a way that if you don't run away from battles while you are doing the main quest, you will be set for fighting the various battles and tougher sections of the game. The only time you would have to grind is near the end to get ready to fight Lavos. The best part is you have various side quests relating to your party, so you can go do those while leveling up and you'll be killing two frogs with one sword. Brilliant!
When Chrono Trigger released on March 11, 1995 in Japan and August 11, 1995 in the United States, it made an impact almost immediately. Selling over two million copies in Japan and almost 300k units in the States, it was met with critical praise. Over the years, it has become an icon of the genre with many games citing it as an influence, such as Radiant Historia, Sea of Stars, and even Like a Dragon. Yet, despite all of this, you may still be wondering why this game did not become the JRPG standard even though it has everything going for it. Well, there are two reasons for that. The first is the game did very well for an RPG, but outside of Japan, these games were not the most popular type of game and many territories would not even receive these games. Europe who did not get Chrono Trigger until the DS port in 2009. The second is about two years after this game, another RPG came around that became the standard. This game is known as Final Fantasy VII.
Final Fantasy VII is the Smells Like Teen Spirit of JRPGs. Coming right the fuck out of the nowhere and becoming such a smash success that it redefined what they were and introduced them to hordes of newcomers. Ten million+ copies later and Chrono Trigger becomes a footnote in the pre-FFVII era. In the post-FFVII era, we did get a sequel called Chrono Cross. While I have not played it so I cannot comment on the quality of that game, from what I have seen of it, it feels like they took the Chrono IP and tried to make it fit into a FFVII type of mold that ultimately wasn't very successful. Despite the love people have for this game, it does not match the love people have for Chrono Trigger.
In the present day, JRPGs are thriving more than ever. From indie throwbacks, to AAA bangers and loads of remasters and re-releases, Chrono Trigger is no stranger to his phenomenon. In 2009, we got the aforementioned DS port which is considered the best version by fans, we have mobile ports that released in the early 2010s, and a much maligned PC port in 2018 that has seen numerous fixes that make it closer to a great way to play the game. It has not seen a console port since the early 2000s when it was ported to PS1, but we are overdue for a new shiny version of Chrono Trigger. It still stands as one of the most beloved and celebrated RPGs of all time and after playing it, I can conclude that it lives up to the hype and stands as my favorite SNES game I have ever played.
