There have been many versions of the popular Squaresoft title, Chrono Trigger, since its debut on the Super Nintendo in 1995. The last time I played it was when it was re-released on the Playstation with Final Fantasy IV as Final Fantasy Chronicles and to tell you the truth I was looking for a good ole fashioned Japanese RPG on my Nintendo DS as it had been collecting dust. Nintendo and Square thought a resurgence needed to happen and in 2008, they re-released the title again on the multi-screened platform to much acclaim despite the fact that not much has changed on the title--for the good and bad.

Many games have had the concept of time travel, but Chrono Trigger does it the best. You play as Chrono--a young man who meets a girl with a magical pendant. When a freak accident happens concerning Chrono’s friend Lucca at a big festival, they are catapulted into a new era and a big adventure where the people they meet and the decisions they make dictate how the past and future will play out. Ultimately, they must save the world from a devastation that will make it so that time no longer matters. The story is very basic and fits the whole RPG template, but the concept is really where it shines and makes it unforgettable especially almost twenty years later.

The battle system happens in real time where as you are traversing each area you can see the enemies appear and figure out if you want to engage or not. However, there are occasions of surprise attacks and other such happenstances and they do randomly regenerate which is great for leveling up. Battling is turn-based and uses a system extremely similar to the older Final Fantasy games if you are familiar with them. There’s a gauge that tells you when each character has their turn to attack and you are able to use basic attacks, techniques that you learn as you level up, and forms of magic (defensive and offensive). Each character has different techniques, which makes party building crucial especially because you can team-up for a special attack to cripple your enemy’s defenses.

There are a large variety of enemies in the game and a staggering amount of boss fights that force you to rely on strategy in order to defeat them. I’ve played the game a few times through so I sort of knew what to expect, but there were definitely some head-scratching fights that had me ponder a route to victory. In fact, a lot of the optional fights were a little tougher than the main game fights. There are a lot of side-quests that are a lot of fun to tackle off the beaten path later in the game, which would become an awesome little level grinding ‘chore’ in the genre (and something I look forward to in every game).

Environments are varied and lush depending on which era you are in. There’s a playable character named Robo (love this guy) who’s from the future and you have a big portion of the game where you explore his back story and all of the parts in this era are steam-punk themed and industrial whereas you meet another character in the game from the prehistoric age where there are dinosaurs everywhere and stuff of the like.

The graphical presentation is still jaw-dropping and simply gorgeous to behold in your hands on the wonderful DS. For this release they’ve added anime cut-scenes to the mix during key moments in the game and it’s added an interesting value to the mix as well as some positive emotion for a great moment near the end of the game. Overall, the overall quality hasn’t shifted considerably since the SNES days as this seems like a direct port, but the bright and beautiful nature of them represented here again are still breathtaking and hold up remarkably well.

The music composed by Nobuo Uematsu, Yasunori Mitsuda, and Noriko Matsueda truly sets a benchmark in terms of stylistic approach to score in the videogame media. There’s a certain theme to this game that build as you progress and aside from the spritely and bright compositions, there are some dark and pretty numbers that match the tone of Chrono Trigger perfectly. Not to mention audio effects, which add a deeper quality to the impact of the storytelling and sound awesome through the DS speakers. Weirdly enough one of my DS speakers has burned out so I listened to a majority of the tunes through my headphones and that’s where I learned to fully appreciate the music and sound design even more.

It’s crazy how this game simply will not age. As many times as I play it I feel like I grow to appreciate it more with each passing year not just in the historical significance of it…but in the sheer amount of joy it brings me. The quest can be completed in 25-35 hours depending on how much you are willing to take on and the experience will live with you. A sequel was made for the Playstation called Chrono Cross, but the franchise has remained still for all these years. Hopefully with the resurgence of this game on the DS and the strong and positive fan base it has we might actually see a third entry in the series. Until then, you can rest assured that the DS has one of the best RPGs ever made despite the fact that it doesn’t really add anything drastically new to the prior versions you might’ve played. Personally, it's worth buying again if you need a reason to play a DS, but if you already have it there's no real reason to purchase it again.

© Jason Haskins, 2012

Recommended: Yes