Chrono Trigger

"Time travel has never been so exciting!"

Anyone who is reading this review has probably at least heard of this game and how great people make it out to be. Well, the truth of the matter is, it *is* that good. The game was first released for the Super Nintendo back in September of 1995, and it was later ported to the PlayStation in 1999 for Japan and 2001 for the US. And now, it has been ported once again, in 2008, this time to the Nintendo DS, and although it's essentially the same as the SNES version except with some additions, it's arguably the best version to date. You may be wondering if this port is worth it if you already own the game either on the SNES, PlayStation, or both. Many people say no, but I say yes. For one, you can't possibly go wrong with Chrono Trigger on the go. For two, it has all of the stuff the PlayStation version has (which has more than the SNES version has), plus more, only this time there's no lag as you engage in a battle. This has been corrected from the PSX version. The anime-style cutscenes are back; in case you don't know about them, they're scenes with anime graphics and style that play during the most important parts of the game. There is also an "Extras" option on the main menu; this allows you to view the bestiary, the items, all of the endings you've obtained (more on that later), etc. All of this was present in the PSX port and has returned in this version. The story revolves around time-traveling. It starts with a teenage boy named Crono; it is the day of the Millenial Fair, and he is really excited to go. His mother wakes him up and then he sets out for the Leene Square where said festival is being held.

However, things don't go quite as planned. He bumps into a young lady named Marle, and takes her with him to see the newest invention of his lady friend, Lucca. She has built two Telepods, which transports a person from one Telepod to the next. Typically, she wants Crono to try it, and so he does, and then Marle gets all excited and wants to try it as well. However, the pod reacts to her pendant as she is sent through a portal. Crono then attempts to follow her in the same fashion, by getting himself transported through the same portal. Thus begins our journey. The story has many twists and turns, and I'll leave it to you to find out what they all are by playing the game. The battle system is unique and was not present in most RPGs for its time. Instead of having to run around and get into a random battle to fight, enemies are present on the field. Come in contact with them, and you'll engage in a battle with no screen transition; you fight them in the same spot you found them in. There are *some* encounters that are forced, but those are very few in numbers in comparison to how many battles you can easily avoid. As for battling itself, it is also part of what makes the system as a whole unique. Most enemies will move around in battle, and you can use this to your advantage by performing certain techs you'll learn by gaining Tech Points. Depending on the range of the attack you use and where the enemies are currently standing, you can hit as many as five, or even six at once!

Let's take Crono's Cyclone tech for an example. If two enemies gathered up right next to each other, you could use Cyclone with Crono and hit both of them. Granted, there are some attacks that are single-target only; not all attacks can hit multiple enemies. But there's more; not only are there Single Techs, but also Dual and Triple Techs. Dual Techs are, obviously, performed by two characters at once, whereas with a Triple Tech, you have to use all three characters. Dual Techs are far greater in number than Triple ones, which you really won't find yourself using very much simply because it's not really necessary at all. You will have to learn a Dual Tech before you can use it, but not exactly in the same way as Single Techs. You must learn the Single Techs required to use a Dual Tech with both characters; for example, to learn the Antipode Bomb, Marle needs to learn Ice and Lucca needs to learn Fire. With those two elements, they can perform a Dual Tech to deal extra damage. Simply win a battle after learning the required Single Techs with both of the characters in your party to learn the Dual Tech. There are several combinations with each of your party members, so you can experiment to your heart's desire and see which ones you like and which ones you hate. Triple Techs, on the other hand, are a different story entirely. Some of them can be learned in the same way as Dual Techs, except three characters need to learn their spells instead of two. Others can only be learned by equipping a certain accessory.

Generally, you'll find yourself using Dual Techs far more often, and using the other party member to either use an attack of their own or for support. This game isn't too difficult by itself, but it can be somewhat challenging for a newcomer since the bosses in this game can't just be defeated by mashing the A Button, for the most part, unlike most old-school RPGs and RPGs in general. And now I will tell you about the additions to this port. There are two extra dungeons and one additional area to explore, though the additional area is pretty bland and not very fun. The first extra dungeon, the Lost Sanctum, consists of finding items for fellow reptites (green, scaly-skinned creatures) and giving it to them to be rewarded with pieces of equipment and stuff. This is done poorly, however, as you are having to go back through the same areas over and over and over again (you have to go to the top of a mountain at *least* 10 times). Combined with the forced encounter in each area, this can get tedious and boring very quickly. Fortunately, it's made up for somewhat by what little good equipment you do obtain. It's in no way necessary to obtain this equipment, but it does certainly help. In short, this "dungeon" was a good idea in theory, but executed poorly. The next additional dungeon, the Dimensional Vortex, can only be accessed after beating the game once. You get the option to save the data on your file (this just saves things you unlock, like endings; it DOESN'T actually save over your file).

This dungeon is much better than the Lost Sanctum, but even there you'll find yourself repeating the same areas you've been to throughout the game for the first half of the dungeon. It is beaten over the course of three different eras. You go through one area and get teleported to the next, and you basically repeat this until you reach the boss at the end. There's a boss at the end in each era. It's definitely not as repetitive as the Lost Sanctum, however, and is not nearly as tedious; it's actually a bit fun. Finally, the third additional thing that was added is the Arena of the Ages. I was sorely disappointed in it; I was expecting you to be able to battle with your characters or something, and actually have control, but it's something completely different. Basically, you have to train a monster of your own by sending him to one of the eras you've currently visited, and then come back later and its stats will increase. Which stats increase depend on what era you sent it to. Once it's trained, it can fight against other monsters in "tier" battles for prizes. You have no control over the monster, however, and you simply have to watch it fight and hope it wins. You can give your monster items to help it, but it doesn't add much and is no excuse for the poor arena Square has given us. The prizes usually aren't worth receiving, so you're better off not wasting your time with the arena after trying it out once or twice. Also, the music in this game is simply fantastic. It was composed by Yasunori Mitsuda and Nobuo Uematsu, my two favorite music composers for RPGs. They did a wonderful job with it, and even if you don't like the game, chances are you'll love the music.

In this port, you can control the game in pretty much any way you want. There are two modes: DS and Classic. The DS mode displays all of the enemy information and such on the bottom screen, and you can use a stylus to choose commands that way (alternately, you can use the buttons on the DS itself). Classic is just like the SNES and PSX versions: all of the battle commands, enemy names, etc., are displayed on the top screen (enemy names can still be seen on the bottom, but you can't use any commands on it). With both modes, you can either move using the D-Pad or the stylus; you're free to choose whichever makes you feel the most comfortable. And finally, there are thirteen different endings in the game. Each one is worth playing through on New Game + to get; it adds quite a bit of replay value to the game. And the thirteenth ending is exclusive to this version; it explains some things about Chrono Cross, and even non-CC fans should enjoy the extra ending. There's also a new translation in this game, which is actually way better than the previous versions.

Overall, however, this game is nearly perfect; the only thing that stops it from getting a perfect is the Lost Sanctum and the Arena of the Ages, both of which had great potential but were not executed well at all. However, if you're an avid RPG fan, or a fan of Chrono Trigger/the Chrono series in general, get this game. The additional content alone may not make this worth the purchase if you already own the game, but the portability sure does.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/12/09

Game Release: Chrono Trigger (US, 11/25/08)