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=                           Chrono_Trigger                           =
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                            Introduction
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is a 1995 role-playing video game by Square. It was originally
released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System as the first
entry in the 'Chrono' series. The game's development team included
three designers that Square dubbed the "Dream Team": Hironobu
Sakaguchi, creator of Square's 'Final Fantasy' series; Yuji Horii,
creator of Enix's 'Dragon Quest' series; and Akira Toriyama, character
designer of 'Dragon Quest' and author of the 'Dragon Ball' manga
series. In addition, Takashi Tokita co-directed the game and co-wrote
the scenario, Kazuhiko Aoki produced the game, while Masato Kato wrote
most of the story. The game's plot follows a group of adventurers who
travel through time to prevent a global catastrophe.

'Chrono Trigger' was a critical and commercial success upon release,
receiving multiple accolades from gaming publications, and is
considered one of fourth-generation console gaming's most significant
titles and among the greatest video games of all time. 'Nintendo
Power' magazine described aspects of the game as revolutionary,
including its multiple endings, plot-related side-quests focusing on
character development, unique battle system, and detailed graphics.
The game's soundtrack, scored by Yasunori Mitsuda with assistance from
veteran 'Final Fantasy' composer Nobuo Uematsu, has been hailed as one
of the best video game soundtracks of all time. 'Chrono Trigger' was
the second best-selling game of 1995 in Japan, and the various
incarnations of the game have shipped more than 5 million copies
worldwide.

Distributed in the Japanese and North American markets in 1995, the
game has been re-released on several other platforms with varying
differences. Square published a ported version by Tose in Japan for
the PlayStation in 1999, which was later repackaged with a 'Final
Fantasy IV' port as 'Final Fantasy Chronicles' (2001) exclusively in
North America. A slightly enhanced 'Chrono Trigger', again ported by
Tose, was released for the Nintendo DS in Japan and North America in
2008, and PAL regions in 2009. The game has also been ported to
i-mode, the Virtual Console, the PlayStation Network, iOS, and
Android. In 2018, a higher resolution version was released for Windows
via Steam.


                              Gameplay
======================================================================
'Chrono Trigger' features standard role-playing video game gameplay.
The player controls the protagonist and his companions in the game's
two-dimensional world, consisting of various forests, cities, and
dungeons. Navigation occurs via an overworld map, depicting the
landscape from a scaled-down overhead view. Areas such as forests,
cities, and similar places are depicted as more realistic scaled-down
maps, in which players can converse with locals to procure items and
services, solve puzzles and challenges, or encounter enemies. 'Chrono
Trigger' gameplay deviates from that of traditional Japanese RPGs in
that, rather than appearing in random encounters, many enemies are
openly visible on field maps or lie in wait to ambush the party.
Contact with enemies on a field map initiates a battle that occurs
directly on the map rather than on a separate battle screen.


Players and enemies may use physical or magical attacks to wound
targets during battle, and players may use items to heal or protect
themselves. Each character and enemy has a certain number of hit
points; successful attacks reduce that character's hit points, which
can be restored with potions and spells. When a playable character
loses all hit points, they faint; if all the player's characters fall
in battle, the game ends and must be restored from a previously saved
chapter, except in specific storyline-related battles that allow or
force the player to lose. Between battles, a player can equip their
characters with weapons, armor, helmets, and accessories that provide
special effects (such as increased attack power or defense against
magic), and various consumable items can be used both in and out of
battles. Items and equipment can be purchased in shops or found on
field maps, often in treasure chests. By exploring new areas and
fighting enemies, players progress through 'Chrono Trigger' story.

'Chrono Trigger' uses an "Active Time Battle" system--a recurring
element of Square's 'Final Fantasy' game series designed by Hiroyuki
Ito for 'Final Fantasy IV'--named "Active Time Battle 2.0". Each
character can take action in battle once a personal timer dependent on
the character's speed statistic counts to zero. Magic and special
physical techniques are handled through a system called "Techs". Techs
deplete a character's magic points (a numerical meter similar to hit
points), and often have special areas of effect; some spells damage
huddled monsters, while others can harm enemies spread in a line.
Enemies often change positions during battle, creating opportunities
for tactical Tech use. A unique feature of 'Chrono Trigger' Tech
system is that numerous cooperative techniques exist. Each character
receives eight personal Techs which can be used in conjunction with
others' to create Double and Triple Techs for greater effect. For
instance, Crono's sword-spinning Cyclone Tech can be combined with
Lucca's Flame Toss to create Fire Whirl. When characters with
compatible Techs have enough magic points available to perform their
techniques, the game automatically displays the combo as an option.

'Chrono Trigger' features several other distinct gameplay traits,
including time travel. Players have access to seven eras of the game
world's history, and past actions affect future events. Throughout
history, players find new allies, complete side quests, and search for
keynote villains. Time travel is accomplished via portals and pillars
of light called "time gates", as well as a time machine named 'Epoch'.
The game contains twelve unique endings (thirteen in DS, iOS, Android
and Steam versions); the ending the player receives depends on when
and how they reach and complete the game's final battle. The DS
version of 'Chrono Trigger' features a new ending that can be accessed
from the End of Time upon completion of the final extra dungeon and
optional final boss. 'Chrono Trigger' also introduces a New Game Plus
option; after completing the game, the player may begin a new game
with the same character levels, techniques, and equipment, excluding
money, with which they ended the previous playthrough. However,
certain items central to the storyline are removed and must be found
again, such as the sword Masamune. Square has employed the New Game
Plus concept in later games including 'Chrono Cross' and 'Final
Fantasy XV' among others.


Setting
=========
'Chrono Trigger' takes place in an Earth-like world, with eras such as
the prehistoric age, in which primitive humans and dinosaurs share the
earth; the Middle Ages, replete with knights, monsters, and magic; and
the post-apocalyptic future, where destitute humans and sentient
robots struggle to survive. The characters frequently travel through
time to obtain allies, gather equipment, and learn information to help
them in their quest. The party also gains access to the End of Time
(represented as year ∞), which serves as a hub to travel back to other
time periods. The party eventually acquires a time-machine vehicle
known as the 'Wings of Time,' nicknamed the 'Epoch' (this default name
can be changed by the player when the vehicle is acquired). The
vehicle is capable of time travel between any time period without
first having to travel to the End of Time.


Characters
============
'Chrono Trigger' six playable characters (plus one optional character)
come from different eras of history. 'Chrono Trigger' begins in 1000
AD with Crono, Marle, and Lucca. Crono is the silent protagonist,
characterized as a fearless young man who wields a katana in battle.
Marle, revealed to be Princess Nadia, lives in Guardia Castle; though
sheltered, she is at heart a princess who seeks independence from her
royal identity. Lucca is a childhood friend of Crono's and a
mechanical genius; her home is filled with laboratory equipment and
machinery. From the era of 2300 AD comes Robo, or Prometheus
(designation R-66Y), a robot with a near-human personality created to
assist humans. Lying dormant in the future, Robo is found and repaired
by Lucca, and joins the group out of gratitude. The fiercely confident
Ayla dwells in 65,000,000 BC. Unmatched in raw strength, Ayla is the
chief of Ioka Village and leads her people in war against a species of
humanoid reptiles known as Reptites.

The last two playable characters are Frog and Magus. Frog originated
in 600 AD. He is a former squire once known as Glenn, who was turned
into an anthropomorphic frog by Magus, who also killed his friend
Cyrus. Chivalrous but mired in regret, Frog dedicates his life to
protecting Leene, the queen of Guardia, and avenging Cyrus. Meanwhile,
Guardia in 600 AD is in a state of conflict against the Mystics (known
as Fiends in the US/DS port), a race of demons and intelligent animals
who wage war against humanity under the leadership of Magus, a
powerful sorcerer. Magus's seclusion conceals a long-lost past; he was
formerly known as Janus, the young prince of the Kingdom of Zeal,
which was destroyed by Lavos in 12,000 BC. The incident sent him
forward through time, and as he ages, he plots revenge against Lavos
and broods over the fate of his sister, Schala. Lavos, the game's main
antagonist who awakens and ravages the world in 1999 AD, is an
extraterrestrial, parasitic creature that harvests DNA and the Earth's
energy for its own growth.


Plot
======
In 1000 AD, Crono and Marle watch Lucca and her father demonstrate her
new teleporter at the Millennial Fair in the Kingdom of Guardia. When
Marle volunteers to be teleported, her pendant interferes with the
device and creates a time portal into which she is drawn.  After Crono
and Lucca separately recreate the portal and find themselves in 600
AD, they locate Marle, only to see her vanish before their eyes. Lucca
realizes that this time period's kingdom has mistaken Marle (who is
actually Princess Nadia of Guardia) for Queen Leene, an ancestor of
hers who had been kidnapped, thus putting off the recovery effort for
her ancestor and creating a grandfather paradox. Crono and Lucca, with
the help of Frog, restore history to normal by rescuing Leene. After
the three part ways with Frog and return to the present, Crono is
framed for kidnapping Marle and sentenced to death by the current
chancellor of Guardia. Lucca and Marle help Crono escape prison,
haphazardly using another time portal to evade their pursuers. This
portal lands them in 2300 AD, where they learn that an advanced
civilization has been wiped out by a giant creature known as Lavos
that appeared in 1999 AD, and find the last remnants of humanity
living in underground domes subsisting off of machine energy in place
of food. The three vow to find a way to prevent the future destruction
of their world. After meeting and repairing Robo, Crono and his
friends find Gaspar, an old sage residing in an atemporal space known
as the End of Time, who offers them the ability to travel through time
by way of several pillars of light. (The party is able to challenge
Lavos at any point after this scene, with completion of the game prior
to its final chapter unlocking one of twelve different endings.)

The party discover that a powerful mage named Magus summoned Lavos
into the world in 600 AD. To stop Magus, Frog requires the legendary
sword, Masamune, to open the way to the mage's castle. In search of
ore to re-forge the sword, the party travel to prehistoric times and
meet Ayla, the chief of an ancient hunter-gatherer tribe. The
subsequent battle with Magus disrupts his spell to summon Lavos,
opening a temporal distortion that throws Crono and his friends to
prehistory. The party assist Ayla in battling the Reptites, enemies of
prehistoric humans. The battle is cut short as the party witness the
true origin of Lavos, who descends from deep space and crashes into
the planet before burrowing to its core. Entering a time gate created
by Lavos's impact, the party arrive in the ice age of 12,000 BC.
There, the utopic Kingdom of Zeal resides on islands raised above the
icy surface using energy harnessed from Lavos's body beneath the
earth's crust via a machine housed on the ocean floor. The party are
imprisoned by the Queen of Zeal on the orders of its mysterious
Prophet, and are ultimately banished, with the time gate leading to
12,000 BC sealed by the Prophet. Seeking a way to return, the party
discover a time machine in 2300 AD called the Wings of Time (or
'Epoch'), which can access any time period at will. The party return
to 12,000 BC, where Zeal inadvertently awakens Lavos, leading the
Prophet to reveal himself as Magus, who tries and fails to kill the
creature. Lavos defeats Magus and kills Crono, before the remaining
party are transported to the safety of the surface by Schala, Zeal's
princess. Lavos annihilates the Kingdom of Zeal, whose fallen
continent causes devastating floods that submerge most of the world's
landmass.

Magus confesses to the party that he used to be Prince Janus of Zeal,
Schala's brother, and that in the original timeline, he and the Gurus
of Zeal were scattered across time by Lavos's awakening in 12,000 BC.
Stranded as a child in 600 AD, Janus took the title of Magus and
gained a cult of followers while plotting to summon and kill Lavos in
revenge for the death of his sister. Magus tried once more after the
party's battle in his castle returned him to Zeal, where he disguised
himself as the Prophet. At this point, Magus is either killed by the
party, killed in a duel with Frog, or spared and convinced to join the
party. The ruined Ocean Palace then rises into the air as the Black
Omen, Queen Zeal's floating fortress. The group turns to Gaspar for
help, and he gives them a "Chrono Trigger", a device that allows the
group to replace Crono just before the moment of death with an
identical doppelgänger (doing so is optional, and the game's ending
will change depending on the player's decision). The party then gather
power by helping people across time with Gaspar's instructions. Their
journeys involve defeating the remnants of the Mystics, stopping
Robo's maniacal AI creator, giving Frog closure for Cyrus's death,
locating and charging up the mythical Sun Stone, retrieving the
legendary Rainbow Shell, unmasking Guardia's Chancellor as a saboteur,
restoring a forest destroyed by a desert monster, and preventing an
accident that disabled Lucca's mother. The party then enter the Black
Omen and defeat Queen Zeal, after which they battle Lavos. They
discover that Lavos is self-directing his evolution via absorbing DNA
and energy from every living creature before razing the planet's
surface in 1999 AD, so that it could spawn a new generation to destroy
other worlds and continue the evolutionary cycle. The party slay
Lavos, and celebrate at the final night of the Millennial Fair before
returning to their own times.

If Magus joined the party, he departs to search for Schala. If Crono
was resurrected before defeating Lavos, his sentence for kidnapping
Marle is revoked by her father, King Guardia XXXIII, thanks to
testimonies from Marle's ancestors and descendants, whom Crono had
helped during his journey. Crono's mother accidentally enters the time
gate at the Millennial Fair before it closes, prompting Crono, Marle,
and Lucca to set out in the Epoch to find her while fireworks light up
the night sky. If Crono was not resurrected, Frog, Robo, and Ayla
(along with Magus if he was recruited) chase Gaspar to the Millennial
Fair and back again, revealing that Gaspar knows how to resurrect
Crono; Marle and Lucca then use the Epoch to travel through time to
accomplish this. Alternatively, if the party used the Epoch to break
Lavos's outer shell, Marle will help her father hang Nadia's bell at
the festival and accidentally get carried away by several balloons. If
resurrected, Crono jumps on to help her, but cannot bring them down to
earth. Hanging on in each other's arms, the pair travel through the
cloudy, moonlit sky.

'Chrono Trigger DS' added two new scenarios to the game. In the first,
Crono and his friends can help a "lost sanctum" of Reptites, who
reward powerful items and armor. The second scenario adds ties to
'Trigger' sequel, 'Chrono Cross'. In a New Game Plus, the group can
explore several temporal distortions to combat shadow versions of
Crono, Marle, and Lucca, and to fight Dalton, who promises in defeat
to raise an army in the town of Porre to destroy the Kingdom of
Guardia. The group can then fight the Dream Devourer, a prototypical
form of the 'Time Devourer'--a fusion of Schala and Lavos seen in
'Chrono Cross'. A version of Magus pleads with Schala to resist;
though she recognizes him as her brother, she refuses to be helped and
sends him away. Schala subsequently erases his memories and Magus
awakens in a forest, determined to find what he had lost.


                            Development
======================================================================
'Chrono Trigger' was conceived in October 1992 by Hironobu Sakaguchi,
producer and creator of the 'Final Fantasy' series; Yuji Horii,
writer, game designer and creator of the 'Dragon Quest' series; and
Akira Toriyama, character designer of 'Dragon Quest' and creator of
the 'Dragon Ball' manga series. Traveling to the United States to
research computer graphics, the three, that Square dubbed the "Dream
Team", decided to create something that "no one had done before".
Toriyama's editor, Kazuhiko Torishima, later credited the concept to a
fusion of "Dragon Quest plus Final Fantasy", and arranged for Enix to
lend Yuji Horii to Squaresoft for development. After spending over a
year considering the difficulties of developing a new game, the three
received a call from Kazuhiko Aoki, who offered to produce. The four
met and spent four days brainstorming ideas for the game. Square
convened 50-60 developers, including scenario writer Masato Kato, whom
Square designated story planner; development started in early 1993. An
uncredited Square employee suggested that the team develop a time
travel-themed game, which Kato initially opposed, fearing repetitive,
dull gameplay. Kato and Horii then met several hours per day during
the first year of development to write the game's plot; Horii desired
a silent protagonist from the outset. Square intended to license the
work under the 'Mana' franchise and gave it the working title 'Maru
Island'; Hiromichi Tanaka (the future producer of 'Chrono Cross')
monitored Toriyama's early designs. The team hoped to release it on
Nintendo's planned Super Famicom Disk Drive; when Nintendo canceled
the project, Square reoriented the game for release on a Super Famicom
cartridge and rebranded it as 'Chrono Trigger'. Tanaka credited the
ROM cartridge platform for enabling seamless transition to battles on
the field map. While 'Chrono Trigger' had been planned for a
24-megabit cartridge, Square ultimately chose a 32-megabit platform,
enabling additional graphics and music. Torishima later reflected that
at least one early revision of the game had been scrapped.

Aoki ultimately produced 'Chrono Trigger', while director credits were
attributed to Akihiko Matsui, Yoshinori Kitase and Takashi Tokita.
Toriyama designed the game's aesthetic, including characters,
monsters, vehicles, and the look of each era. Masato Kato also
contributed character ideas and designs. Kato planned to feature
Gaspar as a playable character and Toriyama sketched him, but he was
cut early in development. The development staff studied the drawings
of Toriyama to approximate his style. Sakaguchi and Horii supervised;
Sakaguchi was responsible for the game's overall system and
contributed several monster ideas. Other notable designers include
Tetsuya Takahashi, the graphic director, and Yasuyuki Honne, Tetsuya
Nomura, and Yusuke Naora, who worked as field graphic artists.
Yasuhiko Kamata programmed graphics, and cited Ridley Scott's visual
work in the film 'Alien' as an inspiration for the game's lighting.
Kamata made the game's luminosity and color choice lay between that of
'Secret of Mana' and the 'Final Fantasy' series. Features originally
intended to be used in 'Secret of Mana' or 'Final Fantasy IV', also
under development at the same time, were appropriated by the 'Chrono
Trigger' team. According to Tanaka, 'Secret of Mana' (which itself was
originally intended to be 'Final Fantasy IV') was codenamed "'Chrono
Trigger'" during development before being called 'Seiken Densetsu 2'
('Secret of Mana'), and then the name 'Chrono Trigger' was adopted for
a new project. After its release, the development team of 'Final
Fantasy VI' was folded into the 'Chrono Trigger' team.


Yuji Horii, a fan of time travel fiction (such as the TV series 'The
Time Tunnel'), fostered a theme of time travel in his general story
outline of 'Chrono Trigger' with input from Akira Toriyama. Horii
liked the scenario of the grandfather paradox surrounding Marle.
Concerning story planning, Horii commented, "If there's a fairground,
I just write that there's a fairground; I don't write down any of the
details. Then the staff brainstorm and come up with a variety of
attractions to put in." Horii also devised Lavos as the final boss,
having wanted the final boss to be an ancient evil. Sakaguchi
contributed some minor elements, including the character Gato; he
liked Marle's drama and reconciliation with her father. Masato Kato
subsequently edited and completed the outline by writing the majority
of the game's story, including all the events of the 12,000 BC era. He
took pains to avoid what he described as "a long string of errands
[...] [such as] 'do this', 'take this', 'defeat these monsters', or
'plant this flag'." Kato and other developers held a series of
meetings to ensure continuity, usually attended by around 30
personnel. Kato and Horii initially proposed Crono's death, though
they intended he stay dead; the party would have retrieved an earlier,
living version of him to complete the quest. Square deemed the
scenario too depressing and asked that Crono be brought back to life
later in the story. Kato also devised the system of multiple endings
because he could not branch the story out to different paths.
Yoshinori Kitase and Takashi Tokita then wrote various subplots. They
also devised an "Active Time Event Logic" system, "where you can move
your character around during scenes, even when an NPC is talking to
you", and with players "talking to different people and steering the
conversation in different directions", allowing each scene to "have
many permutations." Kato became friends with composer Yasunori Mitsuda
during development, and they would collaborate on several future
projects. Katsuhisa Higuchi programmed the battle system, which hosted
combat on the map without transition to a special battleground as most
previous Square games had done. Higuchi noted extreme difficulty in
loading battles properly without slow-downs or a brief, black loading
screen. The game's use of animated monster sprites consumed much more
memory than previous 'Final Fantasy' games, which used static enemy
graphics.

Hironobu Sakaguchi likened the development of 'Chrono Trigger' to
"play[ing] around with Toriyama's universe," citing the inclusion of
humorous sequences in the game that would have been "impossible with
something like 'Final Fantasy'." When Square suggested a non-human
player character, developers created Frog by adapting one of
Toriyama's sketches. The team created the End of Time to help players
with hints, worrying that they might become stuck and need to consult
a walkthrough. The game's testers had previously complained that
'Chrono Trigger' was too difficult; as Horii explained, "It's because
we know too much. The developers think the game's just right; that
they're being too soft. They're thinking from their own experience.
The puzzles were the same. Lots of players didn't figure out things we
thought they'd get easily." Sakaguchi later cited the unusual desire
of beta testers to play the game a second time or "travel through time
again" as an affirmation of the New Game Plus feature: "Wherever we
could, we tried to make it so that a slight change in your behavior
caused subtle differences in people's reactions, even down to the
smallest details [...] I think the second playthrough will hold a
whole new interest." The game's reuse of locations due to time
traveling made bug-fixing difficult, as corrections would cause
unintended consequences in other eras.


Music
=======
'Chrono Trigger' was scored primarily by Yasunori Mitsuda, with
contributions from veteran 'Final Fantasy' composer Nobuo Uematsu and
one track by Noriko Matsueda. A sound programmer at the time, Mitsuda
was unhappy with his pay and threatened to leave Square if he could
not compose music. Hironobu Sakaguchi suggested he score 'Chrono
Trigger', remarking, "maybe your salary will go up." Mitsuda composed
new music and drew on a personal collection of pieces composed over
the previous two years. He reflected, "I wanted to create music that
wouldn't fit into any established genre [...] music of an imaginary
world. The game's director, Masato Kato, was my close friend, and so
I'd always talk with him about the setting and the scene before going
into writing." Mitsuda slept in his studio several nights, and
attributed certain pieces--such as the game's ending theme, "To Far
Away Times"--to inspiring dreams. He later attributed this song to an
idea he was developing before 'Chrono Trigger', reflecting that the
tune was made in dedication to "a certain person with whom [he] wanted
to share a generation". He also tried to use leitmotifs of the 'Chrono
Trigger' main theme to create a sense of consistency in the
soundtrack. Mitsuda wrote each tune to be around two minutes long
before repeating, unusual for Square's games at the time. Mitsuda
suffered a hard drive crash that lost around forty in-progress tracks.
After Mitsuda contracted stomach ulcers, Uematsu joined the project to
compose ten pieces and finish the score. Mitsuda returned to watch the
ending with the staff before the game's release, crying upon seeing
the finished scene.


At the time of the game's release, the number of tracks and sound
effects was unprecedented--the soundtrack spanned three discs in its
1995 commercial pressing. Square also released a one-disc acid jazz
arrangement called 'The Brink of Time' by Guido that year. 'The Brink
of Time' came about because Mitsuda wanted to do something that no one
else was doing, and he noted that acid jazz and its related genres
were uncommon in the Japanese market. Mitsuda considers 'Chrono
Trigger' a landmark game which helped mature his talent. While Mitsuda
later held that the title piece was "rough around the edges", he
maintains that it had "significant influence on [his] life as a
composer". In 1999, Square produced another one-disc soundtrack to
complement the PlayStation release of the game, featuring orchestral
tracks used in cutscenes. Tsuyoshi Sekito composed four new pieces for
the game's bonus features which weren't included on the soundtrack.
Some fans were displeased by Mitsuda's absence in creating the port,
whose instruments sometimes aurally differed from the original game's.
Mitsuda arranged versions of music from the 'Chrono' series for Play!
video game music concerts, presenting the main theme, "Frog's Theme",
and "To Far Away Times". He worked with Square Enix to ensure that the
music for the Nintendo DS would sound closer to the Super NES version.
Mitsuda encouraged feedback about the game's soundtrack from
contemporary children (who he thought would expect "full symphonic
scores blaring out of the speakers"). Fans who preordered the DS
version received a special music disc containing two orchestral
arrangements of the game's music directed by Natsumi Kameoka; Square
Enix also held a random prize drawing for two signed copies of 'Chrono
Trigger' sheet music. Mitsuda expressed difficulty in selecting the
tune for the orchestral medley, eventually picking a tune from each
era and certain character themes. Mitsuda later wrote:



Music from the game was performed live by the Tokyo Symphony Orchestra
in 1996 at the Orchestral Game Concert in Tokyo, Japan. A suite of
music including 'Chrono Trigger' is a part of the symphonic world-tour
with video game music Play! A Video Game Symphony, where Mitsuda was
in attendance for the concert's world-premiere in Chicago on May 27,
2006. His suite of 'Chrono' music, comprising "Reminiscence", "Chrono
Trigger", "Chrono Cross~Time's Scar", "Frog's Theme", and "To Far Away
Times" was performed. Mitsuda has also appeared with the Eminence
Symphony Orchestra as a special guest. Video Games Live has also
featured medleys from 'Chrono Trigger' and 'Chrono Cross'. A medley of
Music from 'Chrono Trigger' made of one of the four suites of the
"Symphonic Fantasies" concerts in September 2009 which was produced by
the creators of the Symphonic Game Music Concert series, conducted by
Arnie Roth. Square Enix re-released the game's soundtrack, along with
a video interview with Mitsuda in July 2009. "Frog's Theme" and
"Robo's Theme" were among the video game music performed during the
2020 Summer Olympics opening ceremony. In 2022, the main theme
continued to feature in the setlist of the 8-Bit Big Band, led by
Charlie Rosen.


                              Release
======================================================================
The team planned to release 'Chrono Trigger' in late 1994, but release
was pushed back to the following year. Early alpha versions of 'Chrono
Trigger' were demonstrated at the 1994 and 1995 'V Jump' festivals in
Japan. A few months prior to the game's release, Square shipped a beta
version to magazine reviewers and game stores for review. An
unfinished build of the game dated November 17, 1994, it contains
unused music tracks, locations, and other features changed or removed
from the final release--such as a dungeon named "Singing Mountain" and
its eponymous tune. Some names also differed; the character Soysaw
(Slash in the US version) was known as Wiener, while Mayonnay (Flea in
the US version) was named Ketchappa. The ROM image for this early
version was eventually uploaded to the internet, prompting fans to
explore and document the game's differences, including two unused
world map NPC character sprites and presumed additional sprites for
certain non-player characters. Around the game's release, Yuji Horii
commented that 'Chrono Trigger' "went beyond [the development team's]
expectations", and Hironobu Sakaguchi congratulated the game's graphic
artists and field designers. Sakaguchi intended to perfect the "sense
of dancing you get from exploring Toriyama's worlds" in the event that
they would make a sequel.

'Chrono Trigger' used a 32-megabit ROM cartridge with battery-backed
RAM for saved games, lacking special on-cartridge coprocessors. The
Japanese release of 'Chrono Trigger' included art for the game's
ending and running counts of items in the player's status menu.
Developers created the North American version before adding these
features to the original build, inadvertently leaving in vestiges of
'Chrono Trigger' early development (such as the piece "Singing
Mountain"). Hironobu Sakaguchi asked translator Ted Woolsey to
localize 'Chrono Trigger' for English audiences and gave him roughly
thirty days to work. Lacking the help of a modern translation team, he
memorized scenarios and looked at drafts of commercial player's guides
to put dialogue in context. Woolsey later reflected that he would have
preferred  months, and blames his rushed schedule on the prevailing
attitude in Japan that games were children's toys rather than serious
works. Some of his work was cut due to space constraints, though he
still considered 'Trigger' "one of the most satisfying games [he] ever
worked on or played". Nintendo of America censored certain dialogue,
including references to breastfeeding, consumption of alcohol, and
religion.

The original SNES edition of 'Chrono Trigger' was released on the Wii
download service Virtual Console in Japan on April 26, 2011, in the US
on May 16, 2011, and in Europe on May 20, 2011. Previously in April
2008, a 'Nintendo Power' reader poll had identified 'Chrono Trigger'
as the third-most wanted game for the Virtual Console. The game has
also been ported to i-mode, the Virtual Console, the PlayStation
Network, iOS, Android, and Windows.


PlayStation
=============
Square released an enhanced port of 'Chrono Trigger' developed by Tose
in Japan for the Sony PlayStation in 1999. Square timed its release
before that of 'Chrono Cross', the 1999 sequel to 'Chrono Trigger', to
familiarize new players with the story leading up to it. This version
included anime cutscenes created by original character designer Akira
Toriyama's Bird Studio and animated at Toei Animation, as well as
several bonus features, accessible after achieving various endings in
the game. Scenarist Masato Kato attended planning meetings at Bird
Studio to discuss how the ending cutscenes would illustrate subtle
ties to 'Chrono Cross'. The port was released in North America in
2001--along with a newly translated version of 'Final Fantasy IV'--as
'Final Fantasy Chronicles'. Reviewers criticized 'Chronicles' for its
lengthy load times and an absence of new in-game features. This same
iteration was also re-released as a downloadable game on the
PlayStation Network on October 4, 2011, for the PlayStation 3,
PlayStation Vita, and PlayStation Portable.


Nintendo DS
=============
On July 2, 2008, Square Enix announced that they were planning to
bring 'Chrono Trigger' to the Nintendo DS handheld platform. Composer
Yasunori Mitsuda was pleased with the project, exclaiming "finally!"
after receiving the news from Square Enix and maintaining, "it's still
a very deep, very high-quality game even when you play it today. I'm
very interested in seeing what kids today think about it when they
play it." Square retained Masato Kato to oversee the port, and Tose to
program it. Kato explained, "I wanted it to be based on the original
Super NES release rather than the PlayStation version. I thought we
should look at the additional elements from the PlayStation version,
re-examine and re-work them to make it a complete edition. That's how
it struck me and I told the staff so later on." Square Enix touted the
game by displaying Akira Toriyama's original art at the 2008 Tokyo
Game Show.

The DS re-release contains all of the bonus material from the
PlayStation port, as well as other enhancements. The added features
include a more accurate and revised translation by Tom Slattery, a
dual-screen mode which clears the top screen of all menus, a
self-completing map screen, and a default "run" option. It also
features the option to choose between two control schemes: one
mirroring the original SNES controls, and the other making use of the
DS's touch screen. Masato Kato participated in development, overseeing
the addition of the monster-battling Arena, two new areas, the Lost
Sanctum and the Dimensional Vortex, and a new ending that further
foreshadows the events of 'Chrono Cross'. One of the areas within the
Vortex uses the "Singing Mountain" song that was featured on the
original 'Chrono Trigger' soundtrack. Additionally, one of the
dungeons absent from the original game was remade within the Vortex.
These new dungeons met with mixed reviews; GameSpot called them
"frustrating" and "repetitive", while 'IGN' noted that "the extra
quests in the game connect extremely well." It was a nominee for "Best
RPG for the Nintendo DS" in 'IGN's' 2008 video game awards. The
Nintendo DS version of 'Chrono Trigger' was the 22nd best-selling game
of 2008 in Japan.


Mobile
========
A cellphone version was released in Japan on i-mode distribution
service on August 25, 2011. An iOS version was released on December 8,
2011. This version is based on the Nintendo DS version, with graphics
optimized for iOS. The game was later released for Android on October
29, 2012. An update incorporating most of the features of the Windows
version--including the reintroduction of the animated cutscenes, which
had been absent from the initial mobile release--was released on
February 27, 2018, for both iOS and Android.


Windows
=========
Square Enix released 'Chrono Trigger' without an announcement for
Windows via Steam on February 27, 2018. This version includes most
content from the Nintendo DS port besides the arena mode, as well as
the higher resolution graphics from the mobile device releases,
support for mouse and keyboard controls, and autosave features, along
with additional content such as wallpapers and music. The PC port
initially received a negative reception due to its inferior graphical
quality, additional glitches, UI adapted for touchscreens, and failure
to properly adapt the control scheme for keyboards and controllers. In
response, Square Enix provided various UI updates and several other
improvements including adding an original graphics option based on the
game's original version, fixing glitches introduced, and adding a true
16:9 widescreen presentation for the first time, to address the
aforementioned complaints. In total, five major updates were
released--the first on April 10, 2018, and the last on August 3,
2018--all of which have substantially improved its overall reception.
On March 11, 2022, a sixth major patch was released; it added
ultrawide 21:9 support and other quality of life features and
improvements.


SNES release
==============
'Chrono Trigger' received critical acclaim upon its original SNES
release. The gameplay received praise, with 'Nintendo Power' and 'Next
Generation' considering it innovative. Both magazines and 'Super Play'
cited the visibility of enemies in the overworld map and the use of
combos as reasons for their enjoyment. Both 'Edge' and 'GamePro' felt
the game was easier than 'Final Fantasy VI', though 'GamePro' enjoyed
it nonetheless. The graphics and music received praise by 'Nintendo
Power', 'Electronic Gaming Monthly', and 'Nintendo Magazine System'.
'GamePro' found them better than in prior role-playing video games
such as 'Final Fantasy VI', and 'Game Informer' felt the graphical
upgrades shortened the quests, though 'Edge' considered them lacking
'Final Fantasy VI' grandness. Evaluations of the story and characters
were more mixed. The critics for 'Electronic Gaming Monthly' generally
found the storyline compelling, and 'Game Informer' felt that the
game's character arcs were well-developed. 'Next Generation' and
'Super Play' disagreed; they both negatively compared the character
arcs to 'Final Fantasy VI', with 'Super Play' finding Frog's story to
be the only meaningful one.


Windows release
=================
In contrast to the critical acclaim of 'Chrono Triggers original SNES
release, the 2018 Windows port of 'Chrono Trigger' was critically
panned. Grievances noted by reviewers included tiling errors on
textures, the addition of aesthetically intrusive sprite filters, an
unattractive GUI carried over from the 2011 mobile release, a lack of
graphic customization options, and the inability to remap controls. In
describing the port, 'Forbes' commented: "From pretty awful graphical
issues, such as tiling textures and quite a painful menu system, this
port really doesn't do this classic game justice." 'USGamer'
characterized the Windows release as carrying "all the markings of a
project farmed out to the lowest bidder. It's a shrug in Square-Enix's
mind, seemingly not worth the money or effort necessary for a
half-decent port." In a Twitter post detailing his experiences with
the Windows version, indie developer Fred Wood derisively compared the
port to "someone's first attempt at an RPG Maker game", a comment
which was republished across numerous articles addressing the poor
quality of the rerelease. Square Enix released six major updates to
address the complaints, thus improving its overall reception; Alex
Donaldson of 'VG247', commenting on the improvements, wrote that
"Square Enix took the criticism to heart and over the course of a
string of hefty patches have slowly turned this into something that
actually could be argued as the best version of 'Chrono Trigger'."


Sales
=======
The game was a best-seller in Japan, where two million copies were
sold in only two months. It ended the year as the second best-selling
game of 1995 in Japan, below 'Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation'.
'Chrono Trigger' was also met with substantial success upon release in
North America, and its re-release on the PlayStation as part of the
'Final Fantasy Chronicles' package topped the NPD TRSTS PlayStation
sales charts for over six weeks. By March 2003, the game's SNES and
PS1 iterations had shipped  copies worldwide, including 2.36 million
in Japan and 290,000 abroad. The PS1 version was re-released in 2003
as part of Sony's Greatest Hits line. The original SNES version had
sold 2.5 million copies by 2006. 'Chrono Trigger DS' sold 790,000
copies worldwide, as of March 2009, including 490,000 in Japan,
240,000 in North America and 60,000 in Europe. The SNES, PS1 and DS
versions shipped a combined  copies worldwide by March 2009. Excluding
the PC version, the game had shipped over 3.5 million copies worldwide
by February 2018. As of March 2025, all versions together have shipped
more than 5 million copies worldwide.


Awards and accolades
======================
'Chrono Trigger' is frequently listed among the greatest video games
of all time. In 1997 'Electronic Gaming Monthly' ranked it the 29th
best console video game of all time; while noting that it was not as
good as 'Final Fantasy VI' (which ranked 9th), they gave superlative
praise to its handling of time travel and its combat engine. It has
placed highly on all six of multimedia website 'IGN's' "top 100 games
of all time" lists--4th in 2002, 6th in early 2005, 13th in late 2005,
2nd in 2006, 18th in 2007, and 2nd in 2008. 'Game Informer' called it
its 15th favorite game in 2001. Its staff thought that it was the best
non-'Final Fantasy' game Square had produced at the time. 'GameSpot'
included 'Chrono Trigger' in "The Greatest Games of All Time" list
released in April 2006, and it also appeared as 28th on an "All Time
Top 100" list in a poll conducted by Japanese magazine 'Famitsu' the
same year. In 2004, 'Chrono Trigger' finished runner up to 'Final
Fantasy VII' in the inaugural GameFAQs video game battle. In 2008,
readers of 'Dengeki Online' voted it the eighth best game ever made.
'Nintendo Power' twentieth anniversary issue named it the fifth best
Super NES game. In 2009, 'Official Nintendo Magazine' ranked the DS
version of the game 31st on a list of greatest Nintendo games. In
2012, it came 32nd place on 'GamesRadars "100 best games of all time"
list, and 1st place on its "Best JRPGs" list. 'GamesRadar' named
'Chrono Trigger' the 2nd best Super NES game of all time, behind
'Super Metroid'. In 2023, Time Extension included the game on their
"Best JRPGs of All Time" list.


Add-ons
=========
'Chrono Trigger' inspired several related releases; the first were
three games released for the Satellaview on July 31, 1995. They
included 'Chrono Trigger: Jet Bike Special', a racing video game based
on a minigame from the original; 'Chrono Trigger: Character Library',
featuring profiles on characters and monsters from the game; and
'Chrono Trigger: Music Library', a collection of music from the game's
soundtrack. The contents of 'Character Library' and 'Music Library'
were later included as extras in the PlayStation rerelease of 'Chrono
Trigger'. Production I.G created a 16-minute OVA, 'Dimensional
Adventure Numa Monjar', which was shown at the Japanese 'V Jump'
festival of July 31, 1996.


Fangames
==========
There have been two notable attempts by 'Chrono Trigger' fans to
unofficially remake parts of the game for PC with a 3D graphics
engine. 'Chrono Resurrection', an attempt at remaking ten small
interactive cutscenes from 'Chrono Trigger', and 'Chrono Trigger
Remake Project', which sought to remake the entire game, were forcibly
terminated by Square Enix by way of a cease and desist order. Another
group of fans created a sequel via a ROM hack of 'Chrono Trigger'
called 'Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes'; developed from 2004 to 2009;
although feature-length and virtually finished, it also was terminated
through a cease & desist letter days before its May 2009 release.
The letter also forbade the dissemination of existing 'Chrono Trigger'
ROM hacks and documentation. After the cease and desist was issued, an
incomplete version of the game was leaked in May 2009, though due to
the early state of the game, playability was limited.
This was followed by a more complete ROM leak in January 2011, which
allowed the game to be played from beginning to end.


Sequels
=========
Square released a related Satellaview game in 1996, named 'Radical
Dreamers'. Having thought that 'Trigger' ended with "unfinished
business", scenarist Masato Kato wrote and directed the game.
'Dreamers' functioned as a side story to 'Chrono Trigger', resolving a
loose subplot from its predecessor. A short, text-based game relying
on minimal graphics and atmospheric music, the game never received an
official release outside Japan--though it was translated by fans to
English in April 2003. Square planned to release 'Radical Dreamers' as
an easter egg in the PlayStation edition of 'Chrono Trigger', but Kato
was unhappy with his work and halted its inclusion.

Square released 'Chrono Cross' for the Sony PlayStation in 1999.
'Cross' is a sequel to 'Chrono Trigger' featuring a new setting and
cast of characters. Presenting a theme of parallel worlds, the story
followed the protagonist Serge--a teenage boy thrust into an alternate
reality in which he died years earlier. With the help of a thief named
Kid, Serge endeavors to discover the truth behind his apparent death
and obtain the Frozen Flame, a mythical artifact. Regarded by writer
and director Masato Kato as an effort to "redo 'Radical Dreamers'
properly", 'Chrono Cross' borrowed certain themes, scenarios,
characters, and settings from 'Dreamers'. Yasunori Mitsuda also
adapted certain songs from 'Radical Dreamers' while scoring 'Cross'.
'Radical Dreamers' was consequently removed from the series' main
continuity, considered an alternate dimension. 'Chrono Cross' shipped
1.5 million copies and was widely praised by critics.

There are no plans  for a new title, despite a statement from Hironobu
Sakaguchi in 2001 that the developers of 'Chrono Cross' wanted to make
a new 'Chrono' game. The same year, Square applied for a trademark for
the names 'Chrono Break' in the United States and 'Chrono Brake' in
Japan. However, the United States trademark was dropped in 2003.
Director Takashi Tokita mentioned "'Chrono Trigger 2'" in a 2003
interview which has not been translated to English. Yuji Horii
expressed no interest in returning to the Chrono franchise in 2005,
while Hironobu Sakaguchi remarked in April 2007 that his creation
'Blue Dragon' was an "extension of [Chrono Trigger]." During a Cubed³
interview on February 1, 2007, Square Enix's Senior Vice President
Hiromichi Tanaka said that although no sequel is currently planned,
some sort of sequel is still possible if the 'Chrono Cross' developers
can be reunited. Yasunori Mitsuda has expressed interest in scoring a
new game, but warned that "there are a lot of politics involved" with
the series. He stressed that Masato Kato should participate in
development. The February 2008 issue of 'Game Informer' ranked the
'Chrono' series eighth among the "Top Ten Sequels in Demand", naming
the games "steadfast legacies in the Square Enix catalogue" and
asking, "what's the damn holdup?!" In Electronic Gaming Monthly's June
2008 "Retro Issue", writer Jeremy Parish cited 'Chrono' as the
franchise video game fans would be most thrilled to see a sequel to.
In the first May 'Famitsu' of 2009, 'Chrono Trigger' placed 14th out
of 50 in a vote of most-wanted sequels by the magazine's readers. At
E3 2009, SE Senior Vice President Shinji Hashimoto remarked, "If
people want a sequel, they should buy more!"

In July 2010, Obsidian Entertainment designer Feargus Urquhart,
replying to an interview question about what franchises he would like
to work on, said that "if [he] could come across everything that [he]
played", he would choose a 'Chrono Trigger' game. At the time,
Obsidian was making 'Dungeon Siege III' for Square Enix. Urquhart
said: "You make RPGs, we make RPGs, it would be great to see what we
could do together. And they really wanted to start getting into
Western RPGs. And, so it kind of all ended up fitting together."
Yoshinori Kitase stated that he used the time travel mechanics of
'Chrono Trigger' as a starting point for that of 'Final Fantasy
XIII-2'.


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