Actual Grade 9.5 You ever hear about this game? I hope so, whenever someone makes a Top list of Super Nintendo games this is always number one, everybody raves about this game, and I have to agree with them this game was way before it's time, Sure I wouldn't say this is the best game on the Super Nintendo but I would say it's definitly close.
Story: The story basically starts you out with your main character Chrono, he is a silent protagonist but his movement and his facial expresses tell you everything you need to know, Chrono is awoken by his mother and his mother tells him that he should go check out the Gurdia Millenial Fair this year, and so Chrono does, as he is visiting he bumps into a girl by the name of Marle(not Marie for some crazy reason I thought her name was Marie and not only that but many other people thought so to because I think the l must look like an I), she is actually the princess of this era in time, she is very rebellious and dosen't want to be a princess she just wants to have a good time, she meets Chrono and they become friends, she is you first party member in you group, her magic power is one of the best on the team and not only that but she is quite a good healer, her attack power isn't that great though, She is a great character throughout during her character development in the story we learn that she is in love with Chrono and also that her father isn't the nicest too her which isn't so suprising since she dosen't act like a princess but her father can be quite a jerk in this game. Marle and Chrono become friends and go farther in the fair to see Chronos other friend Lucca she is your next party member she is probably the strongest when it comes to magic her attacks can be quite great also later in the game her father is a big inventor and she follows in his footsteps, as you learn more about her later in the story we learn that her mother lost her ability to walk because of a machine that did something terrible to it and Lucca was in the room, she tried to help and couldn't so that event was a lot on her. Lucca is testing a machine that transports you to different spots. Marle wants to try this but for some reason she dissapears and all that is left of her is her necklace, Lucca comes to the assumption that somehow she had made a tear in time and has gone back in time, so Chrono and Lucca decide to go after her, they go way back in time to find out that the queen of this area is missing but later on found and Marle is basically being her because she looks exactly like her, however it turns out that the queen of this world is Marles ancestor and because they aren't searching for her Marle dissapears so Chrono and Lucca and a new character by the name of Frog must find the queen. Frog is just what his name says he is a Frog, well technically he is a human that was turned into a frog by the evil Magus(we will learn more about him later) it turns out Magus kills his bestfreind Cyrus and Turns Glenn(Frogs real name) into a frog. Frog's is good at both magic and attack, so he is a good addition to your arsenal. and once you do save the real queen Marle reappears, and they go back to their own time but they get a glimpse of the future and what they see is shocking. Basically the earth had been destroyed by a giant being by the name of Lavos, and the earth is not able to sustain life, Chrono and friends agree to fix this future, this is the main plot to this game, I will explain more later in this review but there is so much to this story, if you want more of a full in depth story play the game, besides that the story is amazing. I also wanted to mention the other characters you meet up with in the game before I end this section, Robo who is a robot that was nearly destroyed in his time period but later fixed up by Lucca who changed his programming and made him a good robot, he is a great healer and is decent with magic and also very good with attack. Next we have Ayla who who is a cavewomen we meet way back in the caveman era She is a little bit annoying at times but her attack power is the best out of any character and that is all she relies on so she is a great character for your party if you want raw power. To most who play this their first time they might think that this is all the characters in this game, but there is one more character you can get, and thats Magus, thats right the guy that wants you all destroyed will join your party if you choose not to fight him a second time, I would say after Chrono he is the best teamate you can have, his magic is really good, his attack is all right but his magic more then makes up for it, he really has a lot of great techniques also, there is so much to the story like I said you will have to play the game to witness possibly the most expansive story of the sixteen bit era, the story is outstanding.
Presentation:This games presentation is perfect it literally can not get better. The graphics in this game hands down are the best graphics for the sixteen bit era and thats because Chrono Triggers cartridge contained a thirty two Megabit Rom meaning it was in other words a thirty two bit game which I have to say is not suprising The visiuals in this game look amazing even now for a Super Nintendo game, this could have definitly gotten away with a next gen console. I'm sure everybody thought that for sure this game would be made by the fan favorite square composer Nobuo Uematsu, and while he did contribute to some songs most of the soundtracks were actually made by Yasunori Mitsuda, this soundtrack is known to be one of the best soundtracks in gaming and I agree in fact this might even be the best soundtrack in gaming there is not one tune in this soundtrack that is not memorable and I love everysingle one. The character development in this game is pretty good I wouldn't say the characters are as memorable as say the characters in another Squaresoft title Final Fantasy six they still are quite memorable in this game though, in fact I kind of always thought of them as just a really great group of friends, and all the characters in this game are just great I really like them. The presentation is perfect.
Gameplay: Chrono Trigger is your typical RPG the enemies in the game are visible in the game and are not random which is always nice, You have either an attack option to just attack normaly or you can use magic, you learn this later in the game by a guy by the name of Spekkio each person in your group learns a different type of Magic, for example Chrono learns lightning, Lucca learns Fire, Marie learns water, Frog also learns water, and Magus learns shadow abillites, the other group members learn regular fighting techniques and some other techniques that can be counted as elemental magic attacks, there is only really one flaw I can think of in this game and I would have to say the way you learn techniques in this game, the only way you can learn more techniques in this game is by keeping that party member in your group, because after each battle you earn tech point, however this only goes to the members who are fighting in your party, this dosen't really make much sense because your party members still gain experience even when they aren't in your party so whats the point? I just think thats kind of a dumb way of doing it. Attack animations in this game are the best you will see in this generation of gaming, each one is creative and just visually looks spectacular. There is one thing that people really love in this game and that would be the lack of grinding, you really don't need to grind as long as you go through a steady pace of enemies, I'm really not that happy with this, I know grinding can get annoying when you have to do it all the time in an RPG, but I do like to do it once in a while, I mean lets be honest thats what a lot of RPG's are about and thats why I like RPG's but I wouldn't call this a bad thing either just not that great for me. Most of the gameplay is going through a bunch of time periods also, this game is literally huge, enourmous for a sixteen bit console, and not only that but not one area in the game feels the same, they went for both quality and quantity and they just nailed it so well. You wouldn't believe how many areas you can explore in this game, you aren't just exploring the time period you are exploring various areas inside that time period the amount of places to explore in this game is astounding, just incredible. Difficulty wise as I mentioned you don't really need to grind in this game so that should mean that this game is easy right? No this game isn't the hardest RPG you will play but it's definitly not going to just let you win the game also, the ending boss can be quite difficult. I also wanted to mention that their our tons of endings in this game, depending on how you beat this game through certain aspects, you can get up to seven endings their might even be more I'm not even totally sure on that, at this time in gaming this was unheard, in fact even today most gaming companys don't take the chance of doing this either, simply amazing. When it comes to Chrono Trigger's gameplay their should be no argument it was way ahead of it's time and it's perfect.
(Spoiler Alert)As you go further into the game Chrono will actually end up dying... I kid you not they kill of the main character in the game, however... there is a way of getting him back and through some arduous(arduous not as annoying but arduous as something that is going to take some effort) task you bring him back to life After a few other task it's time to fight Lavos, his first form is actually not that hard if you are ready for him, the boss battle will consist of Lavos using techniques from past boss battles as you progress through each one and defeat Lavos you must enter his shell to come to a shocking conclusion that the inside of Lavos is being controlled by aliens who come to one world suck the life out of it and move on to the next one, this isn't the hardest boss battle of all time but you might die a couple times, but when you get a decent strategy down you should beat them. After this that it time to party at the millennial guardia fair, but the problem is that all your friend must travel back to your time period, I didn't realize at the end of this game how attached I got to these characters and I was really disappointed to see them go, however Chronos mom accidentally goes into the time machine to catch one of the cats she's been chasing, so looks like Chrono and friends can see each other for one last journey. That's pretty much the end, and I have to say I love it, this story may not be as complex as other really special RPG's but for some reason it just resonates with you so much and I get why so many people love this game, this might not be the most developed story ever in an RPG but it just works so well, the characters are perfect, and they way the story is presented is just perfect The story is gold.
Overall Chrono Trigger can be a bit expensive if you are going to get it for the Snes, in fact it can be up to eighty dollars, but you know what this game is worth every penny for it and probably some more, this is one of the best games on the Snes and you don't deserve to play the Snes if you don't choose to buy this game at some point it's simply amazing,