Chrono Trigger

How do I begin to tell you about Chrono Trigger? It's like talking about Citizen Kane. It is widely regarded as one of the best video games of all time, and last month it was re-released on the Nintendo DS. First, before I talk about Chrono Trigger I want to talk a bit about the Nintendo DS. My wonderful wife bought me this portable wonder for my last birthday, and I have had so much enjoyment out of it. This is where the action is in the Nintendo world. Unfortunately, the Wii is being neglected by both Nintendo and the 3rd party community as it is being used as a casual “party-game” system. While I don't consider myself a “hardcore gamer”, I do enjoy more involved games than what is currently being released on the Wii. The DS, on the other hand, is home to a whole lotta awesomeness right now. Currently on in my “to play” queue I have Final Fantasy IV (I'm about 50% done), Final Fantasy Tactics A2, The World Ends with You (99% done, just the last boss left), Hotel Dusk, and lastly Chrono Trigger. That is pure gaming gold. The funny thing is, there's still more where that came from. I could pick up Dragon Quest IV, and a host of other really great titles if I wanted to. Long live the DS because it is a great handheld system.

Now back to Chrono Trigger. As a testament to its goodness, it is one of the few console games that I have actually beaten. I am famous for getting a game, playing it until I get bored, then putting it on the shelf. I just find that a lot of the time games get repetitive and I don't have the 30-40 hours (at least!) to put into it. I'm a very busy person with school and I certainly can't take 6 hours some Saturday afternoon to sink into a game. I have to chip at it here and there until its done. Anyway, Chrono Trigger is on a very short list of games that held my attention until the very end. I have played it twice before, the first time was in the summer/fall of 2001, then again 2 summers ago. I ended up not beating it the second time, but I did sink probably 15 hours into it. A couple of weeks ago I went and picked up the latest release on the DS. At first, I was very disappointed that it didn't get the remake treatment that Final Fantasy IV received as it is pretty much a straight Super Nintendo port with a couple of DS tweaks. I had been enjoying the FFIV remake a lot, so I was taken aback that this classic wasn't given a similar treatment. In retrospect, I think they made exactly the right choice. After putting about 5 hours into it, I went back and played a little more FFIV and decided I like the older Super Nintendo art style better. You see, in FFIV, they used 3-D polygon rendering for the characters. As awesome as the DS is, it is not a particularly powerful system and thus the polygons are pretty blocky and low resolution. Chrono Trigger is drawn using sprites which are essentially animated 2-D pictures and they are just so colorful and well drawn. I've concluded that I prefer this style to the low poly-count rendering done on FFIV.

Another great feature of the game is the music. I'm quite sure it's considered one of the strongest soundtracks ever put into a game, and perhaps only Final Fantasy VI is its rival. The tunes reflect the tone of the story perfectly. At the beginning of the game at the Millennial Fair, there is an up tempo whimsical song that conveys the happiness of the environment. Later, in the "future" segments, the music is somber as it reflects the predominant emotion of that time period. Spekkio's tune is perhaps my favorite as it cleverly sums up the little creature. It's hard to know what I'm talking about unless you've played it, but take my word for it: this is a strong musical score.

What about the DS improvements? I would like to consider myself somewhat old-school, so I told myself I was going to play this “classic style” as you were given the option use either when playing the game. After about 30 minutes, I decided to turn on the DS style controls and I haven't looked back. It is essentially the same as the classic style controls except that the menus and status bars have been moved down to the lower screen and the upper screen it completely uncluttered allowing the animations not to be blocked. What a great idea. I'm still controlling it using the D-pad and buttons but the new screen layout is great. Another improvement is a slightly tweaked translation. I never found it to be bad before and I have to say that it seems fine now. The most noticeable word change is that the “tabs” that you pick up are now called “capsules”. I just realized that the “tabs” were likely short for “tablets” and that capsules now makes them sound more like pills. It makes so much more sense.

In conclusion, I can't wait to put more time into this game. I'll probably play it quite a bit on the trip over to China, maybe get to Magus's castle. Anyone who has played this game knows what I mean. This DS re-release is great for anyone, even if you have played this game. It's great being able to have this gem at my fingertips whenever I want to play it.