Chrono Trigger
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| Chrono Trigger | |
| |
| Developer(s) | Square |
|---|---|
| Publisher(s) | Square |
| Release date(s) |  March 11, 1995 August 22, 1995
November 20, 2008 November 25, 2008 2009
|
| Genre(s) | RPG |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Everyone (SNES) ESRB:  Teen (PS)
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| Platform(s) | SNES, Nintendo DS |
| Media | 32-megabit cartridge |
| Followed by | Radical Dreamers |
Chrono Trigger is role playing video game for the SNES that was developed by Square. The game is critically one of the most notable video games for the SNES, and is one of the highest acclaimed RPGs of all time, gracing the top spot or near the top spot on multiple occasions. Like most RPGs, the game stars a group of fighters on a quest to save the world. The game was developed by a team who worked on the Final Fantasy series and the Dragon Quest series (the latter being freelancers). Yasunori Mitsuda also helped on the soundtrack, though had to pass the job onto Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu after becoming ill.
While the game was initially released on the SNES, a port was made for the PlayStation and the Nintendo DS.
[edit] Gameplay
Chrono Trigger's world can be accessed a world map that the player can navigate using the D-pad. Traversing the world map can be done at a rapid pace, allowing him or her to go where he or she wants to rather quickly. The game's dungeons and towns are scaled down on the world map, though once you enter one its true size will be revealed.
One of the dramatic departures from a regular RPG is the fact that there are absolutely no random encounters as there are in Square's previous efforts. Instead, a battle will begin once the player moves his character into an enemy sprite. The ensuing battle will be a basic battle against the enemy, and possibly multiple others. Some enemies, however, will hide right before a character passes by and then ambush them.
During a battle, players are given access to both physical and magical attacks, as well as using his various items in possession. Both enemies and playable character have a set amount of hit points, and being attacked will cause those points to go down. If they hit zero, then that member will be forced to leave the battle and any other battle until he or she is revived. Once, or if, all characters are defeated, then the gameover screen will appear. In some instances, however, the player is required to loose, and thus won't be forced to start the chapter over.
Like many RPGs made by Square at the time, Chrono Trigger uses a similar battle system first implemented in Final Fantasy IV called Active Time Battle. With this system, each character has a timer that will restart once they take action. Once the timer gauge is filled, they'll be allowed to attack, heal or whatever the player wishes once more.
[edit] Plot
The game starts with the protagonist of the story, Crono, being sent back 400 years during the first millennium. During this time period, he first finds himself having to rescue a queen with the help of Frog, one of the game's most notable characters, and Lucca. The queen was kidnapped by a group who worshiped the wizard Magus. Marle, the queen, transports the group back to the year 1,000, though once back he is placed under trial for apparently kidnapping the queen, and is thus sentenced to death. He breaks free, however, and stumble upon a time gate in a nearby forest.
They travel through it into the year 1,999, nearly one thousand years into the future, where they find a destroyed world. Obligated to stop this mess from occurring, they decide to travel back in time, not before recruiting a new member to their party - Robo. They travel to the end of time, where an older man grants them many powers, including access to a variety of time gates.
They soon learn that the only way to stop this event from happening is to wield a special sword that can thwart Lavos. Only a special hero, however, can wield it, and the team conclude that this hero in question is in fact Frog.
[edit] Nintendo DS version
The Nintendo DS version was announced prior to E3 2008 via a Japanese magazine. Soon enough Square Enix opened up a countdown page to an apparently unannounced video game, though the theme of the page, coupled with the fact that the URL featured "ctds", or in other words Chrono Trigger DS. This will be the first time that the game will be released in PAL regions.
