SNES Games I Love #26: Chrono Trigger

On 02/26/2020 at 08:44 AM by The Last Ninja

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Developer: Squaresoft

Publisher: Squaresoft

Genre: RPG

Release: 1995

Currently available on: PS1, DS, iOS, Android, Windows

About the game: This game was heavily touted because the "Dream Team" was behind it: Hironobu Sakaguchi (Final Fantasy), Yuji Horii (Dragon Quest), and Akira Toriyama (artist of Dragon Ball). The end result was incredible. CT is a time travelling epic in which characters from different eras join forces to defeat an alien parasite that wants to destroy the world. This game was very forward-thinking. The story is amazing, allowing you to do side quests that will change the ending. Oh yeah, there are a dozen different endings. Don't worry, the game has New Game Plus, which allows you to play through the adventure again with all your stats carrying over. The battle system allows characters to combine abilities to pull off unique and powerful attacks. When you get the Epoch (your ship), you can go to any time period and do whatever you want. You can even go straight to the final boss, if you like. Music and graphics are both top-notch as well. Basically, CT is the most well-rounded game you will find on the SNES, and is still touted as possibly the greatest RPG ever made.

Why I love it: What's not to love? This is an amazing game! Some tend to think that it's overrated, but it's not! This game still blows me away! The story, the characters, the battle system, the endings, the graphics, the music--all of it is so perfect! In fact, the game is so good that its sequel (Chrono Cross) pales in comparison and is often forgotten. It is by far the best RPG on SNES (which is saying something when you have such behemoths as Final Fantasy VI, Secret of Mana, and Terranigma on the same console). So why do I personally love this game? Well, I love time travel stories, and this game has one of the best time travel stories of any video game. It's so cool to be able to travel to different time periods and interact with the people of said periods. The characters are all so likable. And the music! This is one of my favorite game soundtracks, and what's so impressive here is that this was Yasunori Mitsuda's FIRST time doing a VG soundtrack. Dude, you knocked it outta' the park! He did have some help from Nobuo Uematsu, but still, his work here is legendary.

mothman

02/26/2020 at 04:07 PM

I have played through this game a few times and I'm always impressed that it is so well put together you forget that it's a 16 bit game from days of yore. I think I played the PS1 version first so I was late to the party. I had the DS version but stupidly sold it.

The Last Ninja

02/27/2020 at 12:16 AM

The PS1 version has those sweet cut scenes, but the DS version is supposed to be the definitive version. I just want the SNES cart.

SanAndreas

02/26/2020 at 04:18 PM

Pretty solid game, though FF6 remains my favorite 16-bit RPG. I wanted it for my birthday, got Revolution-X for SNES instead, LOL. I had it on DS but that version got stolen, which is a shame because other than being on DS, it's a pretty definitive version. The PS1 port is horrible, though, the loading times completely kill it for me. How they managed to screw it up so badly I don't know.

02/27/2020 at 12:17 AM

The PS1 port of FF6 isn't that great either. The DS version is the best version, although I'm just interested in getting the SNES cart.

Cary Woodham

02/28/2020 at 03:31 PM

While I like Final Fantasy 6 just a teeny tiny bit more in the gameplay department, Chrono Trigger is still the pinnacle of SNES RPGs. It has one of the best stories in a video game ever, graphics that really reflect the art style of the character desinger, and revolutionary for the time features like New Game+.

My brother Jeff loved to watch me play this game. He called it Chwono Twigger. On our second playthrough, he made me name the characters after people he knew. So Chrono become Jeff, I think he named Frog after me, etc. When it came time to name the time machine, he only knew my friend's big gray truck, so we called the time machine "Truck" instead of Epoch. That made for some really funny lines.

Super Step Contributing Writer

02/28/2020 at 05:16 PM

This is why I want to like JRPGs ... some day I will get around to this.

02/28/2020 at 11:47 PM

Don't give up, just be willing to put in the time. I used to be the same way

KnightDriver

03/02/2020 at 07:51 PM

Same here. One day. It seems like a game way ahead of its time too with those different endings and the ability to start over with all your stats and go anywhere. A lot of new games could use that sort of thing.

PixlBit