Chrono Trigger

SNES

Squaresoft - 1995

This is one of the few games that have been made that possess the ability to bring people from all walks of life together. Of all the games I have played, only 4 really come to mind that can do this marvelous feat. Grand Theft Auto 3, Tony Hawk 2 (or 3), Dead or Alive 2 (or Hardcore), and Chrono Trigger. Now you, the reader, is thinking, "Tony Hawk, Grand Theft and DOA I understand, for these are really well-made games with very high fun-factors. But Chrono Trigger? That's an RPG! There are people out there in the world who D-E-TEST rpgs, and run from them A-S-AP. Well my niave compadre, there are also people who detest such things a 'videogames,' yet most all of them have played Chrono Trigger at least once. Take Evil X for example. He claims to be a gamer, but won't touch an rpg for a pack of pookie-bears. And that's saying a lot. But here, let's try another example as well.

For this demonstration we will need my roommate. My roomie plays videogames, it's true. If he didn't play videogames, he wouldn't be my roomie. That's also true. His favorite games though are GTA3 and Tony Hawk games. Understandable. Everyone and their red-headed stepchild loves to play these games. It's a no-brainer. But other games? They have to be really well made, set in modern times, involve lots of action and blood, and capitalize on a franchise that is popular with college students as of right now.

In other words, he wouldn't touch games like Mario, Zelda, or most any rpg. For what detracts rpgs from the average gamer? The random battles, beaucoups of plot, longievity and random battles. But he played Chrono Trigger. And loved it. Just like everyone else who played it.

Ok, well, we should probably take into account that he played the game back when it came out on the SNES back in the old heydays when the sky was blue, books were still a commonplace term, the internet was still in the back of people's minds, our children were not born yet, well, mine were, but your's probably weren't, and Square had just done rather well selling their game, Final Fantasy III (in America.) So what did Square do, you ask? Sure, I will tell you, afterall, I am in a generous mood. They released a game over to the grand ole US of America that they probably wouldn't have if FF3 did any worse. That game was of course Chrono Trigger. What did you think I would say, Super Mario RPG? That comes later, bub. This game, although not advertised very well, by that I mean on MTV like FF7 was to be, still pulled out some amazing sales. To this day, when a poll of favorite SNES games goes out, Square comes up second only to Nintendo games, and one or two Rare games, and Chrono Trigger is always top 5.

So you are asking, "What is this game, Chrono Trigger, anyways? You have given us enough history about the sales of the game, now review it like any descent human being." Ok, fine. Here we go. Chrono Trigger is the story of a red-head named Crono, hmm, whodathunk, who saves the world in the future by going thru time and changing history. Along the way he meets many friends, in fact one from each time period he visits, and they go on beaucoups of sidequests, just like any normal rpg. So what's so special about this game anyways? Well, it is the first rpg with enemies on the screen, so you can dodge them well enough. Also, that DragonBallZ guy made the characters. But this was before most anyone had even heard of him, so that's not a very important fact. I could go into detail on how Akira Toriyama worked on the Dragon Quest/Warrior games for Enix, and with him working for the rival company, Square was a big deal, but I won't. I'll skip to the reason why Chrono Trigger, in my eyes, was such a sure-fire hit.

The game allowed you to play it multiple times with built-up characters. This means you could use your level 50ish characters from beating the game, and start over with EVERYTHING you had gotten, weapons, levels, items, everything! Beat that daddio. This was a very helpful thing for the game had over 15 endings, all very different, and required you to beat Lavos, the final boss at different time periods and points in the game. So you had to beat the game over 15 times to get all the endings. This was quite the thing to strive for, and garnished the attention it deserved in an American market full of platform clones, fighters, and bad sports games.

Now, before we go any futher, I will answer some questions. "Yes, um, I don't have a SNES/ I can't find this game for SNES." Here's what you do. Luckily for you, Square rereleased the game for the playstation along with Final Fantasy II (IV in japan.) You can find these games in a package called: Final Fantasy Collection. Go buy them there, since with that package you can get a lot of extras. You get a butt-load of Akira Toriyama's anime cut-scenes, and it records every ending you get, with a lot of secrets, like every item in every map location, every monster and their weakness, every song in the game, and more. Just beat every ending, and it will open those up for you. So go get a copy now.

What liked: The multiple endings, the ability to see enemies before fighting them, the really well thought-out plot and characters, and especially the New Game + option to play with built up characters.

What disliked: While the final boss never spoke a word, and was an animal made it hard to feel sorry for it, it also added another change to the normal human nemesi in rpgs. I don't know if that is a bad thing or not, to tell the truth.

What to expect: Nothing short of greatness.

What not to expect: Nothing less than greatness.

What's so different from this and other games of it's genre: See above. I'm lazy.

Ratings on:

Control: 8 - Fine controls. SNES rpgs by definition have great controls, 'cause all you do is move up, down, left and right.

Graphics: 9 - Some of the best sprites I have ever seen, very detailed. I haven't seen better sprites until Suikoden II.

Sound: 10 - Wonderful soundtrack. I still listen to it on my computer every day.

Style: 10 - New Game +. Monsters you could see. Added such new stuff to the genre that is now used all the time in RPGs. It deserves a ten.

1st hour: 10 - Leene Square Millinial Festival. Ahh, brings back such memories. Oh no, bad memory! Go away! Ok, that's better.

5th hour: 9 - Still extremely fun. I'm only sad that Frog left.

1st week: 10 - Frog's back! This game never gets boring. It just gets hard at some points.

5th week: 10 - Hard? Hah, I've beaten the game beaucoups of times. I am your master, Chrono Trigger! You are my slave, watch me Utterly Destroy Lavos! Take that, slave, who is also my friend.

#1 reason why I hate this game: When they rereleased it for PSX, I had to start all over building up my guys.

by Hawke