Chrono Trigger
1995 · RPG · SNES
Overview
Chrono Trigger was the product of the 'Dream Team' collaboration between Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi, Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii, and Dragon Ball artist Akira Toriyama. A time-travel RPG spanning prehistoric times to the apocalyptic future, it featured a battle system with no random encounters, dual and triple character combo attacks, and 13 different endings.
Deep Dive
Chrono Trigger's development brought together three of Japan's most prominent creators in separate domains: Sakaguchi from Final Fantasy, Horii from Dragon Quest, and Toriyama from Dragon Ball. The resulting game synthesised their approaches. The battle system — in which enemies were visible on screen before combat began, eliminating random encounters — and the tech system — allowing character pairs and triples to combine abilities — were innovations the genre had not previously seen.
Developer Story
Chrono Trigger was developed by Square's 'Dream Team' — Hironobu Sakaguchi, Yuji Horii, and Akira Toriyama — in approximately two years. The game's exceptionally high production budget came from Square's strong financial position following Final Fantasy VI's success. It launched in Japan in March 1995.
Did You Know?
- Chrono Trigger was produced with a development budget estimated at $11 million — the largest budget for any video game at the time of its 1995 release.
- The game has 13 distinct endings, each accessible from different points in the story, encouraging players to approach the final boss at various stages of the game.
- The 'New Game+' feature — starting the game again with all equipment and abilities from the previous playthrough — was invented in Chrono Trigger and subsequently adopted widely across the industry.
- Nobuo Uematsu composed the score alongside Yasunori Mitsuda, who had demanded Sakaguchi let him compose for a major project or he would resign from Square.
