Information AboutChrono Trigger |
is a Role-playing Game that was released in Japan on March 11, 1995 for the Super Famicom and in North America on August 22 , 1995 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System (SNES). The game was re-released in 1999 for the Sony PlayStation (PS) in Japan and in 2001 as a part of the '' Final Fantasy Chronicles '' package in North America, alongside '' Final Fantasy IV ''. The game has never been released in PAL territories. ''Chrono Trigger'' was supervised by a group referred to as " The Dream Team ", consisting of Hironobu Sakaguchi (producer of the '' Final Fantasy '' series), Yuji Horii (director of the '' Dragon Quest '' games), character designer Akira Toriyama (of '' Dragon Ball '' and '' Dragon Quest '' fame), venerable producer Kazuhiko Aoki , and Nobuo Uematsu (of '' Final Fantasy '' fame). Other noteworthy people involved in the game development were the music composer Yasunori Mitsuda , who composed over 80% of the score, and scenarist Masato Kato , both unknown at that time but later famous for '' Xenogears '' and '' Xenosaga ''. At the time of its release the ideas behind the game were seen as revolutionary, involving multiple endings, a dramatic story with multiple character-enhancing side-stories, a novel battle system, and detailed and beautiful graphics. It also makes many references to names and events in mythology, legends and history. It is still hailed by fans as one of the greatest games of all time; ''Chrono Trigger'' placed highly in all three versions of IGN 's top 100 games of all time. The first version in 2002 listed it as the fourth greatest, the second in early 2005 as the sixth, and the third in late 2005 as the thirteenth. ''Chrono Trigger'' was also included in Gamespot 's ''Best Games of All Time'' list released in April 2006 . PLOT ''Chrono Trigger'' is about a group of adventurers who era ( 65,000,000 B.C. ), the Dark Ages ( 12,000 B.C. ), the Middle Ages ( A.D. 600 ), the Present time ( A.D. 1000 ), the Apocalypse ( A.D. 1999 ), the post-apocalyptic Future ( A.D. 2300 ), and the very End Of Time itself. The Chrono Trigger The titular Chrono Trigger (also known as the ''Time Egg'') is a small device that manipulates the flow of Causality . As Gaspar explains, the Chrono Trigger will have an effect equal to the effort one puts into its use; no more, no less. Crono, who perishes at the hands of Lavos in 12,000 B.C., is critical to the Space-time Continuum and his friends spare no expense in their efforts to revive him (or more correctly, prevent him from ever dying). The Chrono Trigger, receiving both these sentiments, hatches and thus revives Crono to life. It should be noted, however, that this event is entirely optional and prompts different endings depending on the player's choice. ''Chrono Trigger's'' sequel, '' Chrono Cross '', later explained that the phrase "Chrono Trigger" is a reference to anything that has the power to unleash its will and change history. GAMEPLAY CHARACTERISTICS While all of the other characters have many lines of dialogue, Crono is a Silent Protagonist , who is never given voiced dialogue (except briefly in the "A Slide Show" ending), although characters do react to him when the player makes a plot-point decision. Although this quirk was very common in RPGs of the time, such as '' Breath Of Fire '' or '' Suikoden '', Crono and ''Chrono Trigger'' have become almost universally identified as originating the archetypal silent protagonist. ''Chrono Trigger'' uses an Active Time Battle (ATB) system. Each character in the player's three-member party can take action after a certain period of time has passed, which is dependent on the character's Speed stat. Characters can attack with an equipped weapon, use items, or invoke "Techs". The game also features no battles on the overworld map that were commonplace in many other RPGs of its time. Instead, monsters only appear in the game's dungeons, where they can be seen wandering about onscreen and possibly avoided, if the player so desires. Should the encounter happen, however, the enemies will jump into combat directly on the map, instead of the game moving to a removed and generic battle screen, which was unique and is still one of the most identifiable aspects of this game, because it is seldom seen, if at all. In battle, all the Player Character s can use unique skills called Techs. Techs are special attacks or support abilities that, when used, deplete a character's Magic Points (MP). The stronger the Tech, the more MP it requires. Each character has eight different Techs, many of which can be combined with another character's Techs to create Double and Triple Techs (assuming that all participants are free to act). For instance, Crono's "Cyclone" Tech (a Link -style sword spin) can be combined with Lucca's "Fire Toss" to create "Fire Whirl." The positions of the player's characters, relative to enemy monsters, are important for many techs. For example, Crono's "Slash" will only hit enemies who are aligned in a straight line. Other Techs hit only enemies within a certain radius, only those near the character who uses them, or simply all enemies on the screen. A feature of the ''Chrono Trigger'' Engine is its 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's save RAM (SRAM) is corrupt, or if the player uses a Game Genie code to walk through walls and skip over certain events), the Nu will appear in front of the doorway to Epoch's construction bay in 2300 A.D. 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 the character Magus in one's party during a scripted battle against this character. Some players consider one of the main problems with the game to be its short play time. It takes approximately 20 to 30 hours to complete the game, which is a very short time span for an SFC/SNES '' and '' Final Fantasy X-2 ''. PLAYABLE CHARACTERS
TIME PERIODS In ''Chrono Trigger'', the characters can visit six different eras via portals known as gates or pillars of light, and the .
SOUNDTRACK ''Main article: Chrono Trigger (soundtrack) '' The Soundtrack to ''Chrono Trigger'' is very popular with the '' Chrono Trigger Original Sound Track '' available as well as many symphonic versions. It was primarily composed and arranged by , while Mitsuda's work totaled in at fifty-four. He would later compose four additional pieces for the Extras menu of the Playstation Release ; two of them - ''One Sunny Day When We Met'' and ''A Meeting with Destiny'' - have been noted by famed '' Doom '' creator John Romero as being among his favorite video game music {Link without Title} . The soundtrack is one of the most heavily-remixed collection of music by fans on both sides of the Pacific, whose tributes number over 300. While North American and European fans of the game create and submit most their work to remixing sites such as OverClocked ReMix and VGMix , Japanese fans often sell their work in remix compilation albums popularly called 'doujins' by Western fans. In fact, OverClocked ReMix released a ''Chrono Trigger'' remix compilation album titled '' Chrono Symphonic '' on January 3 , 2006 . There is also another remix made by a hip hop production team called Compromised. They have used original songs from ''Chrono Trigger'' and created rap instrumentals out of them. {Link without Title} VERSIONS Super Famicom/Super Nintendo version The original version of ''Chrono Trigger'' is a 32-Mbit (4 MB cartridge, which is quite large for a SNES game) Cartridge with battery-backed RAM for Save Game s. It does not use any special on-cartridge coprocessors. A popular misconception about the Super NES version of ''Chrono Trigger'' is that it is rare. EBay auctions frequently describe the game as rare, and the prices have gone as high as $50 for the cartridge alone with a complete version going for well over $100 in some cases. The game is not as rare as some believe, and one rarity guide actually lists the game as not very rare at all. This rarity guide was compiled using auction data from sites such as eBay to determine the scarcity of these games. On a regular basis there can be 40 or more cartridges being sold on eBay at one time, which is as high as some of the most high profile and lower priced games for the Super Nintendo system. When the original Super Famicom version was slated for release in Japan, individuals who preordered the game received one of several limited edition holographic foil collector's cards. Each card had a piece of game artwork on the front: either the American box cover (commonly referred to as the "snow battle"), the battle with Magus found on the inside of the American manual, a flight in the Epoch, or a character portrait. Also a contributor to the 'rare' nature of Chrono trigger is its never having been released in Europe despite there being a strong RPG following there (especially since the release of Final Fantasy 7 ) and as such in Europe it is rare. The beta version and ROM hacks Many rumors and legends have surrounded the game since its development due to its plot depth and unresolved ends. While some of these claims, such as a mountain area in 65,000,000 B.C., were true concerning a beta of the game, many are fabrications. For instance, it has long been held that the traveler Toma and the princess Schala were at one time intended to be playable characters; the supposed proof lies in manipulation of the player character selection screen via Game Genie or Pro Action Replay codes. However, closer inspection and the aid of ROM hackers have revealed that while very few faculties in the code for an eighth character do exist, lacking graphics, the game is hardwired and designed specifically for the featured seven. There is also no corroborating evidence from the beta version of the game released to stores itself or preview shots in magazines; examination of the beta also establishes that no extra animations for Toma or Schala existed. The beta version mentioned above is commonly called the ''Chrono Trigger'' Prerelease; it was given to game retailers to secure sales before the final version debuted, and was leaked to the internet in 1999. Within the beta, many areas have no event code (rendering them unplayable), the music is slightly different in certain areas, Ayla is missing as a playable character (though her sprites are in the ROM), and two sprites for an eighth character's Overworld walking animations exist (most likely, this was an NPC guard blocking off an area). Additionally, some areas not found in the final game are present, along with palette swapped and alternate monsters. Of note are the "Zeal Dungeon" and the famous "Singing Mountain" area, which originally bore the unused music track "Singing Mountain" in the final version's ROM data. The differences and abandoned features were documented in StarNeptune's ''Chrono Trigger'' FAQ at GameFAQs , but the formative topics used in the FAQ's creation contained erroneous information added by discussers. In 2004, the Chrono Compendium undertook an exhaustive examination of the Prerelease, including images, maps, and research regarding the eighth character Additionally, the ROM hacker JLukas has developed codes that enable exploration of the areas that previously caused the games to crash, such as Death Peak and the Ocean Palace[http://www.chronocompendium.com/Term/Codes_(CTP) . Lastly, Geiger, a longtime ROM hacker and modifier, released an editor for ''Chrono Trigger'' called ''Temporal Flux'' that allows the free drawing and editing of any Location or Overworld in the ROM, the changing of any text string in the game, and the altering of event code. Though this allows most aspects of ''Chrono Trigger'' to be changed and restructured, editing event code is still very difficult, and support has not yet been added for sprite editing and other features. Currently, Geiger plans to update the program to support editing Overworld features and ROM expansion, and then move on to other projects. On ''Chrono Trigger'''s tenth birthday, August 22nd, 2005, the first serious ROM hack created with the program debuted -- a demo for a new adventure featuring the original team. It was released as an IPS Patch Zipped with a Readme file containing instructions. {Link without Title} PlayStation version An enhanced Port of ''Chrono Trigger'' for the Sony PlayStation was released 1999 in Japan. This port with the original translation by Ted Woolsey was released in the US together with a "remastered" version of '' Final Fantasy IV '' as '' Final Fantasy Chronicles '' in 2001 . It features Anime cutscenes done by original character designer Akira Toriyama's Bird Studio spread throughout the game at key sequences and an "extras mode." Each ending reached unlocks more of the following:
Poor conversion of the cartridge to the PlayStation's Compact Disc medium caused many common actions, like opening a menu screen or beginning a battle, to take several seconds due to load time, much to the unpleasant surprise of many gamers. Baffling fans, Square Enix did not correct this problem with the Greatest Hits re-release of ''Final Fantasy Chronicles''. It should be noted, however, that the Japanese port of the game had no loading times. Unofficial remakes There have been a few notable attempts by groups of ''Chrono Trigger'' fans to unofficially remake the game for the PC and with a 3D graphics engine. The most prominent projects, such as ''Chrono Resurrection'' and ''Chrono Trigger Remake Project'' [http://www.chrono-trigger.com/ were forcibly terminated by Square-Enix with a Cease And Desist order. Some fans hope that Square-Enix has plans for an official remake of ''Chrono Trigger''. However, other fans view a possible official remake as being detrimental to the series. Masato Kato and his team have stated that while making '' Chrono Cross '', they were focused on innovating and not rehashing old games in their work. This, coupled with Kato's status as a freelance scenarist and Yasunori Mitsuda 's status as a freelance scorer, strongly suggests a hypothetical remake would not be headed by the original creators or team. SEQUELS Satellaview sequel series (1995) Released on the Satellaview were the ''Chrono Trigger: Jet Bike Special'' (1995), ''Chrono Trigger: Character Library'' (1995), and ''Chrono Trigger: Music Library'' (1995). The Character and Music Libraries from this game were added into the Playstation version of ''Chrono Trigger''. ''Radical Dreamers'' (1996) See Also: Radical Dreamers A Side Story for ''Chrono Trigger'' was released for Nintendo's Satellaview add-on for the Super Famicom and was called '' Radical Dreamers ''. The original ''Radical Dreamers'' was a very short, Text-based Game , available only in Japan . ''Radical Dreamers'' was later remade to form the beginning sequence of ''Chrono Trigger'''s better known PlayStation sequel, '' Chrono Cross ''. Interesting enough a computer in Chrono Cross implies that Radical Dreamers may be yet another "alternate dimension". ''Chrono Cross'' (1999) See Also: Chrono Cross While it has been contended that ''Chrono Cross'' is not the sequel to ''Trigger'' because of developer remarks stating such, it is important to note that these battle programmers were speaking of wanting to avoid rehashing the system and locations of ''Trigger'' rather than innovating with new ideas, and that ''Chrono Cross'' sufficiently expands on the plot of its predecessor. According to the ''Chrono Cross'' carton, the game takes place 20 years after Chrono Trigger, but involves a new group of adventurers. POTENTIAL FUTURE SEQUELS When SquareEnix copyrighted the names ''Chrono Brake'' in Japan and '' Chrono Break '' in the United States, it attracted the attention of ''Chrono'' fans, who were thrilled that another sequel might be forthcoming. Their hopes were diminished when the name registration was dropped in the US, but due to the Japanese name still being copyrighted, many fans continue to hope for a possible second sequel. PACKAGING ARTWORK |
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