Chrono Trigger
Developer:	Squaresoft
Publisher:	Squaresoft
Designers:	Hironobu Sakaguchi & Yuji Horii
Release date:	1995; PlayStation 2001
Genre:	Role-playing game
Game modes:	Single player
ESRB rating:	Kids to Adults (K-A)
Platform:	Super Famicom/Super NES; PlayStation
Media:	32-megabit cartridge; CD-ROM

Chrono Trigger (クロノ・トリガー) is a role-playing video 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); it was re-released in 2001 for the Sony PlayStation (PS) as a part of the Final Fantasy Chronicles package, alongside Final Fantasy IV. The game title is often misspelled Crono Trigger, due to the name of the game's protagonist as written in the English version. The game has never been released in Europe.

Chrono Trigger is regarded as one of the best games of all time by many fans. It was made by a group referred to as "The Dream Team". The Dream Team was made up of Hironobu Sakaguchi of the Final Fantasy series, Yuji Horii of the Dragon Quest games, character designer Akira Toriyama of Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Quest, and music composers Yasunori Mitsuda of Xenogears, and Nobuo Uematsu of the Final Fantasy series.

Contents

1 Plot 1.1 Super Famicom/Super Nintendo version 1.2 PlayStation version 2 More information 3 Characters 3.1 Player Characters (PCs) 4 Sequel 5 External links

Plot

Chrono Trigger is about a group of adventurers who travel across time to save the future. Along the way they recruit allies from other time periods in an attempt to defeat the alien parasite Lavos that is slowly destroying the planet. You eventually gain seven playable characters (in the order that they join the group: main hero Crono, rebellious princess Marle, studious inventor Lucca, android Robo , amphibian knight Frog, cave-woman Ayla , and the optional character, the dark wizard Magus). The group travels via time gates and a flying time machine (Epoch) to seven different time periods: the prehistoric times (65 million years in the past), the ice age (12000 B.C.), the Middle Ages (600 A.D.), the present time (1000 A.D.), the apocalypse of Lavos (1999 A.D.), the ruined, post-apocalyptic future (2300 A.D.) and the very End of Time itself.

One interesting note about Chrono Trigger is that the main character, Crono, never talks, though the other characters seem to act as though he does. This seems to be so the player can be in Crono's shoes, and talk for him. The one exception is in the ending "A Slide Show?" in which Crono says one line ("What ARE you two doing?! I thought you said something about a nice little slide show?"). Although this quirk was very common in RPGs years ago, such as Breath of Fire (except in the Final Fantasy series), Crono became almost universally identified with this peculiar 'muteness.'

Another interesting feature of Chrono Trigger is that the player can beat the final boss at almost any time in the game, using one of several means to initiate the final battle. When the final boss is beaten controls the ending of the game, along with some other game-related events in some cases. A complete list of these endings and how to obtain them can be found on the Internet in many places.[1] http://www.personal.psu.edu/faculty/w/r/wrp103/wrp/ct_end.html Once the final boss has been beaten, the player may choose to start a new game or a "New Game +", where the stats of the characters and most of the items and money are retained in the new game.

Chrono Trigger uses an Active Time Battle (ATB) system. Each character in your party of 1-3 attacks after a certain time period has passed. Attacks can be with an equipped weapon (such as swords and bows) or using "techs". Techs are characters' special attacks which use Magic Points (MP). There are many combo-techs that require two or three characters. Chrono Trigger also has unique battles because they take place at the actual spot you meet them (not in a generic battle area). There are no random battles while wandering on the overworld map, and skilled players can avoid most battles in the game if they choose. The positions of the enemy and of your party are important for many techs. For example, some techs will damage multiple enemies only if they are close together. Other techs will attack in a straight line and only damage enemies in that path. Finally, some techs can only be performed if your party members are physically close together.

Super Famicom/Super Nintendo version

Some players consider one of the main problems with the game to be its short playtime. It takes approximately 20 to 25 hours to complete the game, which is a very short timespan for a SFC/SNES RPG (Dragon Quest VI, for instance, takes about 100 hours), although it does take about 60-70 hours to max out everyone's stats. To mitigate the problem of length, the developers of the game created quite a few multiple endings that the player could earn, including several secret endings. The plot of each ending depends on which point in the storyline's progress the game is beaten. Also, they inserted the "New Game +" system, which allows the player to start a new game with all the various rare and powerful equipment, and the experience each character ended another game with. (Money is not kept, however.) This allows the player to reach all 12 endings very quickly.

PlayStation version

The remake for the PlayStation features anime movies spread through the game at key sequences and an "extras mode." Each ending reached unlocks more of the following:

• All 10 of the added anime movies
• 69 songs from the game, including a few unused songs
• Statistics on all of the monsters
• A list of all of the endings with a screenshot from each
• An art gallery with 16 anime-style drawings of characters
• A list of all characters' techs
• Descriptions of the bosses
• a "treasure map" which shows the locations of hidden items

Some people claim that the load times and occasional slowdown hurt this game when compared to the SNES version.

More information

Despite being hailed by many gamers as one of the greatest games of all time, Chrono Trigger appears to have been limited by Squaresoft's time constraints.

Contrary to popular belief, however, the character Schala and a rumored ninth character were never playable. Top ROM hackers have investigated the game's code; entire data structures would have had to be changed for two extra characters to exist, and the code that supposedly proves this assertion, 1981-E46F, only fools the game into thinking one party member exists, allowing the options screen to scroll down two more slots. Despite this, a scrolling character menu would never have been programmed if the game was designed from the start to have seven playable characters (as seven can fit on a single screen without scrolling). Additionally, rumored sprite data and extra animations of Schala have never been found. Only two strange sprites beneath the main party's overworld sprites hint of an unused character, and no conclusions can be drawn.

A pre-release beta version was leaked to the Internet in July 1999. Large parts of the game were not programmed, and entering those unfinished areas causes the game to freeze. The music is slightly different in certain areas, and Ayla is missing as a playable character (though her sprites are in the Rom). Many NPCs are missing. The famed "Singing Mountain" area is actually accessible, complete with its music, though the area was never finished. Information on the other story, character, map, and battle changes are available in StarNeptune's Chrono Trigger beta FAQ, available below. However, StarNeptune's FAQ was created by GameFAQs users, who included several false assertions (such as the "extra playable characters" rumor, that 65000000 B.C.'s continent is much larger, that entering the bookcase in Schala's room takes one to an unfinished area, and others). The differences within Prerelease have been fully documented and mapped as images by the Chrono Compendium (see external links).

Chrono Trigger features an 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 save RAM is corrupt, or if the player uses a Game Genie code to walk through walls and skip over certain events), the Nu (as Balthasar) will appear in front of the doorway to Epoch's construction bay in 2300 AD, 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 Magus in your party when you fight Magus in 600 A.D.

Lastly, Evil Peer, a longtime ROM hacker and modifier, has 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. However, updates are planned (see external links).

Characters

Player Characters (PCs)

• Crono - The main character. He lives with his mother (Gina, in the Japanese version) in the town of Truce, under the rule of the Guardia Kingdom. He meets Marle at the Millennial Fair, and is later accused of kidnapping her. In 12000 B.C., when the party is confronted with Lavos in the Ocean Palace of the Zeal Kingdom, he sacrifices himself to save his friends. Later, using the Time Egg , he is revived. He never talks, and uses a katana as a weapon. Once he obtains magical ability, his techs are lightning oriented.
• Marle - The tomboy princess of Guardia. Due to her stifled lifestyle, she leaves the castle to go to the Millennial Fair in Truce. Here she meets Chrono, and tries Lucca's teleporter, but ends up getting transported to 600 A.D., where she is mistaken for Queen Leene. This causes the search for the real Leene to be called off, causing a paradox, which destroys Marle. Her real name is Nadia, and she uses a crossbow. Once she gains magic, her techs become ice oriented.
• Lucca - Lucca is Chrono's genius friend. With her intelligence she has made many devices, such as Gato the training robot, and a teleporter. When Marle uses her teleporter at the Millennial Fair, the machine reacts with the pendant Marle wears, sending her back in time. Lucca uses a gun, and uses fire magic when spells become available.
• Frog - A knight from 600 A.D. He worked under the knight Cyrus, but after Magus killed Cyrus, he was turned into a frog. He dedicates his life to protecting Queen Leene, and vows to avenge Cyrus by killing Magus. Later, he puts Cyrus' ghost to rest, and can either defeat or ally with Magus. If you defeat Magus a second time, Frog will become a human again at the end of the game. Frog's real name is Glenn, and uses a broad sword, as well as water magic.
• Robo - A robot from 2300 A.D. His original purpose was to observe the era's people in order to find a weakness which the robots could exploit in order to exterminate the human race. After being left dormant for an undetermined amount of time, he is found and repaired by Lucca; upon his reactivation, he has no memory of his initial purpose, and joins the party. His real name is Prometheus, and his serial number is R-66Y. He uses his fist as a weapon, and gains no magic (although he is equipped with laser weapons which mimic the shadow element).
• Ayla - The chief of the Ioka village who is in a constant war against the Reptites, the evolved, intelligent race of reptiles who also live in her era of 65,000,000 B.C. After Lavos hits the planet, there is enough dust blasted into the atmosphere to block out the sun. This causes an ice age, which kills the Reptites. She has no magic (as she was born before the age of magic), but is very physically strong. It is believed by many that Ayla is taken from Jean Auel's "Earth's Children" series, the protagonist of which is a tall, blonde-haired, blue eyed, prehistoric girl named Ayla.
• Magus - After an encounter with Lavos in 12000 B.C., Janus was sent via a Gate to 600 A.D. Here, he met the Mystic named Ozzie, and recruited an army of Mystics to challenge the kingdom of Guardia. His real purposes in this plan was to gain enough power to destroy Lavos. He uses a scythe, as well as a combination of all types of magic (fire, ice, lightning, and shadow).

Sequel

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 remade to form the beginning sequence of Chrono Triggers better known PlayStation sequel, Chrono Cross.

External links

• MobyGame's entry for Chrono Trigger http://www.mobygames.com/game/sheet/gameId,4501/
• GameFAQs' Chrono Trigger FAQs; Meowthnum1's includes pre-release information by StarNeptune http://www.gamefaqs.com/console/snes/game/8914.html
• Wiki for the Chrono series http://www.chronocompendium.com , including a complete guide to the Chrono Trigger Prerelease with images
• Chrono Trigger was being remade by fans in 3D http://www.opcoder.com/projects/chrono/ but was stopped after a cease and desist letter from Square Enix
• Kingdom of Zeal http://s3.invisionfree.com/Kingdom_Of_Zeal/index.php?act=idx is dedicated to another Chrono Trigger remake, and has links to other ones as well.
• List of all the endings and how to see them http://www.personal.psu.edu/faculty/w/r/wrp103/wrp/ct_end.html
• Crypt of the Evil Peer, home of Temporal Flux http://evilpeer.net/crypt/