Chrono Trigger is a timeless gem released during the golden age of JRPGs. Featuring a unique blend of storytelling, gameplay mechanics, and visual artistry, this masterpiece has captivated gamers for decades. Its rich narrative of time travel and the friends you make along the way, combined with the late Akira Toriyama’s iconic character designs, have carved a niche in the hearts of gamers. In the wake of Toriyama’s recent passing, it only feels appropriate to travel back in time and revisit Chrono Trigger as a way to pay tribute to a legend whose work transcended mediums and generations.
Chrono Trigger‘s most celebrated feature was a revolutionary concept at the time of its release. It had multiple and surprisingly fleshed out endings accessible via a New Game Plus mode. Technically, you didn’t need the New Game Plus mode to see some of the endings, but some are exclusive to the mode. It’s easier if you just replay the game with all your accumulated levels, spells, equipment, and money, resulting in a smoother and quicker journey through the game’s rich story.
But the real beauty isn’t just in merely replaying the game from the start. It’s how each playthrough can unfold differently based on choices you made, companions you select, and even battles fought – there’s this one ending where if you beat the final boss early on, you get a chance to “speak” to the developers – making each experience unique.
Because of Chrono Trigger‘s narrative flexibility, it becomes this multilayered experience that can feel like you’re playing multiple different games. In one playthrough, you’ll explore a tragic love story. In another, you’ll make an unlikely ally.
All of this is to say that, in this day and age, when games can feel like they’re too short and too expensive, playing a game likeChrono Trigger can remind you that there was a time when games felt like they could last forever and you still wouldn’t get enough of them.
As for the industry’s current trend towards remakes and remasters, Yoshinori Kitase, a key figure behind Chrono Trigger and a producer in the ongoing Final Fantasy 7 remake trilogy, he recently expressed his thoughts on how they could approach such a project. Previously, Kitase mentioned that remaking older games can be a massive undertaking, saying that something like Final Fantasy 6 would take them decades to remake from the ground up.
Given how much contentChrono Trigger has even without the usual fleshing out that remakes do, it might be best to simply remaster the game in the same vein as the Final Fantasy Pixel Remaster titles and make it available on modern platforms.
As of the moment, the most complete and enhanced versions were released in 2018 on Steam as well as iOS and Android devices.
Whether Chrono Trigger will come to PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S/X, or Nintendo Switch remains to be seen.
For now, revisiting Chrono Trigger, which remains a jewel in the crown of gaming, seems like the apt thing to do to pay homage to Akira Toriyama or to explore the game’s rich narrative and innovative gameplay for the first time.
