Chrono Trigger | The Legacy Of JRPG games

You don't have to be a video game connoisseur to know Chrono Trigger, because Square, at that time Square Soft, made one of the most praised games in the genre that exists, and it is well deserved. It is not only considered as one of the jewels of the Super Nintendo, but also of the genre and history. At the time it was a revolution, and today, more than two decades later, it is still a game that inspired the genre together with Final Fantasy, and that is evident in the large number of games in the genre that use the base that was left by greats like FF, Dragon Quest and today's case.

A Dream Game

Much of Chrono Trigger's success was due more than anything to the fact that it was created by a dream team among video games. The creators of the Final Fantasy (Hironobu Sakaguchi) and Dragon Quest (Yuji Horii) sagas teamed up with the talented artist of greatest hits like Dragon Ball, Akira Toriyama. The mix of such important people made this game a group of excellent ideas that were mixed with the story written by Masato Kato and the soundtrack composed by Yasunori Mitsuda, which would result in one of the best games in history and in the genre.

His Charismatic Characters

It is likely that what we remember most about this game are its characters, since they were not only charismatic, but they also transmitted very well the essence of the times we visited in the game. Its protagonist, Crono, is the typical silent character, but that does not mean it lacks personality.

The female characters also stood out a lot, from Marle and Lucca who accompanied us from the beginning of the adventure, to Ayla, whom we met in prehistory. The addition of somewhat bizarre characters like Robo and Frog gave an interesting touch to the future and the past, while characters like Magus were very mysterious and intriguing.

An Ambitious Story

Among the many wonders done in this dream game, one of the brightest was the narrative. Far from following the tradition of games of the genre, Chrono Trigger opted for a more ambitious story, in which changes over time and the actions we took in the game, affected the environment. The idea of ​​jumping between different times, each radically different, caused the script to be complicated in an interesting way, which made us have a memorable story with many unexpected twists and charismatic characters.

In addition to the complete and ambitious story for that time, the game had a lot of replayability thanks to the decisions and the inclusion of alternative endings. Everyone who has played it will remember the moment of judgment near the start of the game where many of the actions that were perhaps very simple were remembered but we had in one of the first scenes; It was surprising to see how practically everything we did was reflected in the game itself and in its history in some way, and more with the thirteen endings it has.

Although we love the work of great composers like Koji Kondo or Nobuo Uematsu, the work that Yasunori Mitsuda did in Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross is to be admired. Achieving such a memorable soundtrack is not easy, as the fact that it is good does not guarantee that it will go down in history among players, but the case of Chrono Trigger is that it is memorable to the present day, it is still one of the most remembered from video games.

The Art of Akira Toriyama

Along with great minds like that of Hironobu Sakaguchi or Masato Kato, the famous Akira Toriyama was the mind behind the game's art design. In fact, it is obvious that when we see the design of the characters in the game we remember Dragon Ball a lot, of course his most famous work. The legendary illustrator's work was perfectly tailored to the game's beautiful sprites. Having so many masterminds was obvious that would make the experience even more memorable.

We must recognize the excellent translation and localization of the game for America, Sakaguchi asked the American translator and producer Ted Woolsey to do the work of adapting Chrono Trigger for America, which he did in just 30 days.

In short, this is a game that has no presentation, it is undoubtedly one of the best known of the genre, and it is well deserved, because thanks to the union between two companies they gave us one of the best jewels of that generation, and even Today you can see the legacy that these minds left behind Chrono Trigger. Its characters, its history, its soundtrack, its setting and its ideas were some of the highlights of the game, and although more than two decades have passed since its launch, you can still enjoy this experience on various platforms, including mobile and the PC.