| Graphics: |  5 |
| SFX: |  4 |
| Music: | 5 |
| Gameplay: | 5 |
| Challenge: | 5 |
| Replay: | 5 |
| Overall: | 5 |
| Genre: | RPG |
| Reading ability: | U.S. Release |
| Company: | Squaresoft |
Background:
In case there are still those of you who do not yet know this, all the character designs for this game are courtesy of Akira Toriyama, the artist of the Dragonball series. Fans of the series who like the character designs will enjoy the art in this game. The sequel, Chrono Cross, will be coming out for the Sony Playstation. Also, the original Super Famicom Chrono Trigger will be converted to the Playstation and will have additional Akira Toriyama anime sequences built-in. It was initially rumored that it will be included with it's sequel in a special bundle, but I'm not sure about this. Chorono Cross will probably be released in America, but I imagine that the re-release of Chrono Trigger in America will probably depend on the success of Square's retro Final Fantasy Anthology.
The Game:
The game starts out simple: your character Crono visits the town's Millenial Fair and runs into a pretty girl named Marle and befriends her. He goes to visit his friend Lucca who who has invented a teleportation device. Something goes wrong during the demonstration, and Marle suddenly vanishes. Lucca decides that she was not teleported to another location, but that she was sent somewhere in time. Thus the adventure begins as the characters embark on a journey through time. They travel to many periods in time: from prehistoric times to the distant future, and even to the end of time.
You only control up to three characters at a time, so there isn't a whole roster of heroes to keep tract of as in the Final Fantasy series for the Super Nintendo. (Apparently Squaresoft stopped doing this because Final Fantasy VII has you control only three at a time as well.) Because of this, the characters' personalities become more developed and they become more personable to the gamer.
The main character is a young man named Crono, who has developed swordsman skills and lives with his mother and his pet cat (his father is nowhere to be seen). His best friend is Lucca, a girl who has devoted her life to science with her father, although her motives lie in her bitter memories of how her mother was crippled for life. Marle is a strong willed girl struggling to free herself from her overbearing father, whom she blames for her mother's death. Robo is a robot from the future, who was programmed to study humans and is shunned by his robot peers for his decision to aid his human friends. Ayla is a strong amazon from the prehistoric era, and she allies herself with Crono to protect her tribe from her enemies. Frog is a swordsman from the Middle Ages who has sworn himself to defend and protect Queen Leene, and was once an assistant to the great knight Cyrus. Cyrus was killed by the great magician Magus, and Frog was spared from sharing his friend's fate by being cursed by Magus and turned into a frog. He blames himself for his failures, and doubts his abilities as a knight. Magus is the powerful Mystic, an enemy of the human race. He stands in Crono's way, but they share a common enemy: the horrible evil known as Lavos...
Although you don't actually control the fighting as in Secret of Mana, The fighting is a bit better than the Final Fantasy series of games for the Super Nintendo, where your characters line up on one side of the screen and the enemies line up on the other. Your characters stand their ground and assume defensive positions, giving the fight scenes a more realistic feel to them. And one of the best features of the fighting system is that you can actually see the enemies coming, instead of annoying random encounters. In this game, you can see the enemies and can try to sneak by them if you so choose to avoid a fight. Excellent!
The Good:
This game is awesome. The game carries on the Squaresoft tradition of addicting RPGs with beautiful music, stunning graphics, and a great storyplot. Plus, depending on your behavior and decisions you make in the game, it affects the outcome of the game. There are several different endings to the game. This motivates the gamer to play the game several times through in order to see all of the possible endings. Thus, the game has a high re-play value. I have only beaten the game once so far, but this is definitely not a game to shelve once you complete it once. And once again with Squaresoft, Chrono Trigger is a perfect blend of science fiction and fantasy.
The Bad:
Gosh, what can I say that's bad about this game? It's nearly perfect. There are only minor flaws. For instance, I think it's lame how some of the minor characters like the chancellor jump up and down. Also, it's dumb how everybody gets sloshed on soup and soda pop instead of alcohol, but that's American censorship for you. There's a guy who neglects his family to spend all his time at the inn, drinking soda pop. The bartender says, "Haven't you had enough soda for one day?" Pff. As if a bunch of kids are going to go out drinking alcohol after playing Chrono Trigger. But, all I can really say is that if you like Squaresoft RPGs and you've never played Chrono Trigger, you need to do so.
Overall:
In my humble opinion, this is the best Squaresoft RPG for the SNES. I finally found a place on the net that could sell it to me. Even after nearly three years, Chrono Trigger is still a hot buy. This amazing game will demonstrate the capabilities of your SNES very well. Excellent presentation and dynamic storyline makes this game a must-have for your RPG collection.
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