Radical Dreamers

"A game only for serious fans of the Chrono series."

Radical Dreamer's is a text RPG made for the SNES add-on Satellaview in RPG. It was only released in Japan and would have gone completely unnoticed if not for the fact that it was the sequel to the RPG hit Chrono Trigger. It didn't do too well in Japan so most Americans haven't even heard of it, but someone recently translated it and made a patch so those who use emulators can now play the game in English.

Story: Radical Dreamers' plot is about Serge, Kid, and Magil, three people who decide to sneak into a place called Viper Manor and steal a valuable treasure called the Frozen Flame. Sound familiar? Those who have played the PSX game Chrono Cross should recognize the plot and characters from that game since many elements of the plot from Radical Dreamers were reused for the PSX game. It's not presented as well here as it is in Chrono Cross, but it's still good.
Score: 9/10

Graphics: Most of the graphics used are just still animation and aren't that great, although some nice animations are used sometimes. While they aren't bad, Radical Dreamers' graphics do not compare to other games' graphics released in 1996.
Score: 6/10

Sound: In my opinion, this was the best part of the game. Yasunori Mitsuda (the composer of Chrono Trigger's music) returned to compose a great soundtrack for this game. Several of the songs were good enough to be reused in Chrono Cross. The sound effects aren't up to par with the music, but they're better than some other games.
Score: 10/10

Gameplay: Unfortunately, I found this to be the weakest part of the game. It's completely text and very linear, and every now and then you are presented choices on what to do. Your choices move the story forward if they're right, and result in game over if they're wrong. It's an interesting concept, but it's just not as fun as less linear RPGs.
Score: 5/10

Replay Value: Since this game has several scenarios, which each have different endings, replay value is much higher than the average RPG. Although the game isn't very long, the extra scenarios make it worth playing again.
Score: 10/10

Should you Buy this Game? If you can understand Japanese and have a Satellaview, go for it. If you downloaded the ROM and are very paranoid the cops are going to hunt you down, then buy it. It's not worth the cost to import it and get a Satellaview if you do not understand Japanese or are paranoid, though.

Radical Dreamers is a game with a good plot, music, and replay value, and not so good gameplay. Definitely worth checking out if you're a hardcore fan of Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross.

Final Score: 7/10

Reviewer's Score: 7/10, Originally Posted: 06/03/03, Updated 06/03/03