Some games succeed, others are considered classics, but few define an entire generation and attain legendary status. Judging by the popularity easily observed in the gaming community, this is true of Final Fantasy VII on the original PlayStation, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time on Nintendo 64 and, without a doubt, Chrono Trigger on Super Nintendo.
Reviewing this title is "easy," since it is one of the few games that could receive a "10 out of 10" in every category. The graphics, for example, rank among the best for a Super Nintendo RPG, with beautiful magic effects, attractive settings, and richly animated characters. The story is also easy to understand and flows impressively well, making this the kind of game that feels neither "rushed" nor "too slow," maintaining an excellent pace with music that perfectly "matches" every scene.
Chrono Trigger's artist was Akira Toriyama, the same artist behind Dragon Ball.
Add charismatic characters, gameplay with double and triple techniques, creative bosses, several different endings, and time travel as a gameplay element, and you have everything that makes this game unquestionably excellent. 10 for graphics, 10 for music, 10 for playability, 10 for story, 10 for gameplay, and so on.
However, you have probably played this title "millions of times," know that it came from the "Dream Team" that brought together professionals from Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, and realize that a review would merely be redundant, right? So we decided to select some facts about the title that you probably did not know. If we left out anything interesting, tell us in the comments!
Warning: this section contains spoilers!
One of the title's iconic scenes.
The Musician Became Ill From Working So Much
Initially, Chrono Trigger was to be composed by veteran Nobuo Uematsu, who was responsible for the acclaimed soundtracks of the Final Fantasy games.
However, Yasunori Mitsuda, a sound-effects programmer at the time, was dissatisfied with his salary and role and threatened to leave Squaresoft unless he could compose the music for its next project.
The title's producer, Hironobu Sakaguchi, assigned him the mission of developing the music for Chrono Trigger, saying: "Maybe your salary will go up."
Making the most of the opportunity, Mitsuda said he wanted to "create music that would not fit into any specific genre... perhaps music from an imaginary world." Director Masato Kato said Mitsuda slept in the studios and devoted many hours to the compositions. In addition, a hard drive containing much of the soundtrack he had already composed simply "became corrupted," and he had to redo nearly everything.
When most of the tracks were ready, Mitsuda developed a stomach ulcer and had to be hospitalized. In that context, Nobuo Uematsu ended up composing the final nine remaining tracks.
"Silent Light," "Mystery of the Past," "People Who Threw Away the Will to Live," "Bike Chase," "Underground Sewer," "Primitive Mountain," "Burn! Bobonga!," "Tyran Castle" and "Sealed Door" are the songs composed by Uematsu.
After he recovered, there was still time for him to attend the game's launch celebrations. Upon seeing the finished result, Mitsuda was seen crying after the credits sequence.
Crono: He Was Supposed to Die
The aforementioned director Masato Kato said in an interview that Crono would originally have died after the Ocean Palace scene.
The plan was for the other characters to travel back to a time before the Millennial Fair and return him to his home, but for his death to be inevitable.
However, "orders from above" (presumably from Sakaguchi) said this decision would make the game "too depressing" and suggested changing the story so that he could be revived.
Chrono Trigger Would Have Come to the "PlayStation"
Not the PlayStation we know, but the Super Nintendo peripheral that would have competed with the Mega Drive's Sega CD.
According to an article by the developers in the Seiken Densetsu (Secret of Mana) Music Book, after Final Fantasy IV was completed, the first unofficial discussions began about a project that would explore the vast capacity of a CD.
Its codename was "Maru Island," and it already had some drawings by Akira Toriyama and a few "ideas on paper." When the team realized the CD-ROM would never "see the light of day," the project was completely deleted, and they started "from scratch" to release a cartridge game, moving in a completely different direction. That game became Chrono Trigger.
Elements From the Beta
The cover artwork was inspired by an image from the game's beta version.
Exploring every difference between the beta and final versions would require an article of its own. However, there are some very interesting images from the Chrono Trigger prototypes.
In 1994, producer Hironobu Sakaguchi presented the project during a lecture organized by V-Jump, a Japanese magazine about new anime, manga, and video games.
In the video below (subtitled in English), we see many differences from the final version, including the world map, a scene involving the Epoch that does not exist in the game, and a soundtrack that is also slightly different, especially the battle theme.
In the video below, meanwhile, we hear some tracks that did not make it into the final version:
- 0:00 to 1:30: An alternate version of the first boss theme;
- 1:31 to 3:01 is an unused track for Keeper's Dome in 2300 AD;
- 3:02 to 5:39 is the complete Lavos theme, mistakenly included by the YouTuber
- 5:39 to 6:41 is the game's battle theme, but using different instruments (probably an unfinished version);
- 6:41 to 8:02 is a string piece that was not used in the game.
Chrono Trigger on Nintendo DS Bridges the Gap to Chrono Cross
Chrono Trigger was rereleased for Nintendo DS in 2008, and this is considered the definitive version of the title because it features an improved translation compared with the original release.
In addition, the PlayStation anime scenes are also present, along with some extras that strengthen the connection to Chrono Cross, released for the original PlayStation. If you are not concerned about spoilers or have already played both games, watch the video below.
