A Touch of Nostalgia: Re-Playing Chrono Trigger After A Decade

Old But Gold

Ever heard of the game Chrono Trigger for the Super Nintendo System (SNES)? It’s a game created by the now defunct Square in March of 1995 in collaboration with Akira Toriyama, the author and creator of ever popular Dragon Ball series.

I first played this game in 2010 in an emulator on my pc running Windows XP Professional (yup, I skipped Vista and Windows 7). Anyways, I could only play the game on an emulator as I don’t own the actual console. Fortunately, SNES is a very old gaming system and emulators for it are all well-developed even back then. So although I couldn’t play on the actual console, I still had a lot of fun playing it.

Speaking of gaming experience, Chrono Trigger is probably one of the best JRPG that was ever developed. The story and gameplay was in my opinion, definitely, among the best. And although it couldn’t hold a candle to today’s modern games in term of graphics, it was still a very good-looking game. But then again, it was made in 1995 where pixels and sprites are the norms so what do you expect?

That being said, despite the games age and its outdated graphics (in today’s standard), it was still an overall solid game that can be enjoyed by gamers of all ages. Moreover, as a game developed for an old gaming system, it has the advantage in being playable on almost all modern devices – including our mobile phones.

Yes, mobile phones. Besides re-playing Chrono Trigger on my laptop, I also play the game on my phone. There’s really nothing much to it, using a phone to play retro games is just that convenient and fun.

Actually, one of the best ways to enjoy the game (IMHO) was to play it on the phone through a SNES or PSX emulator. Not only is it an easy game to run, its pixelated graphics looks really good on the small screen of our phones. Of course, it you decided to play it on your phone, I suggest using a Bluetooth controller as the emulator’s on-screen control doesn’t give a very enjoyable experience.

Why Is Chrono Trigger So Great?

Many gamers considered Chrono Trigger one of the best JRPG of its time and one of the best game ever created, and for good reasons.

Story – At first glance, the story of Chrono Trigger seemed to be your regular run-of-the-mill RPG where the main protagonist saved a fantasy princess, her kingdom, and eventually the world. And although the game indeed have such clichés, it made it fresh by integrating bunch of concepts like time travel, otherworldly being (aliens from another world), and multiple endings. Moreover, the concepts were so seamlessly integrated in the story and the script so well-written that it didn’t look out of place at all.

There were also other things that made the story in Chrono Trigger more interesting in comparison to other RPGs of the time but mentioning them is entering spoiler territory so I will be stopping here.

Battle System and Gameplay – Chrono Trigger’s battle system had received great praise from critics and gamers alike after upon its release. Although it also uses the same ATB or Active Time Battle system as Square’s other IP (Intellectual Property), the Final Fantasy series, it differentiate itself by seamlessly implementing combination attacks, along with single attacks. By waiting for other characters to completely fill up their ATB bars, one could unleash devastating combination attacks. Before Chrono Trigger, no other JRPG had such concept.

Random Encounter – Ah yes, the random encounter; a staple of all Role Playing Games (RPG). The random encounter in Chrono Trigger was vastly different from that of traditional RPGs of the time. Instead of constantly encountering “invisible” enemies in the map, the enemies in Chrono Trigger could be seen and could be avoided if one wanted to.

Moreover, instead of entering a new map every time one enters battle which adds to the annoying loading time; Chrono Trigger forgo such outdated practice and instead allow the player to battle the enemies in the same map where they encounter them. Not only does this save time and lessen the annoyance, it also makes every enemy encounter more “realistic.”

Exploration – Exploration is a big part of every RPG, and Chrono Trigger has it in spades. Secret enemies, bosses, items, and even hidden side stories; Chrono Trigger rewards player that diligently explore its huge and expansive world. And coupling that with the game’s innovative battle system and gameplay, one was ensure to have a very enjoyable experience.

Nostalgia Hitting Like A Truck

The reason I started playing Chrono Trigger after all this time was because of nostalgia. As one of my favorite video games of all time, and a game that I played during my childhood, it invoked a lot of good memories.

So when I saw a YouTube video of the game being tested on a handheld retro console, a wave of nostalgia hit me and I just couldn’t help myself but download the rom and the emulator for both my laptop and my mobile phone. After that, the rest is history.

Having not played Chrono Trigger for more than 10 years, I have pretty much forgotten much of the story of the game.  Even the gameplay seemed fresh to me which was great as it felt like playing the game for the first time all over again. Of course, as played more of the game the familiarity returned. But despite the returning familiarity, it still didn’t affect my enjoyment which I think is one of the strength of the game.

I haven’t gone that too far in the game yet as I’ve only been playing for a few days now. Moreover, I planned on taking my time to explore all of the secs in the game and aim for 100% completion which means that I will also try to unlock all of the game’s multiple endings. With all the things I have to do in-game, I’m sure to be very “busy” for a while. Not that I regret playing the game again though as I’m enjoying every moment of it.

How about you? Do you have a game that invoked such nostalgia in you that you’re willing to replay it again? If you do, please write it in the comment section.

Thank you for reading.

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Image source: I used Window's Snipping Tool to take in-game screenshots of the game.

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