Chrono Cross, while sharing many themes, concepts (especially time travel and the related concepts), characters, and places, Cross is not a direct sequel, but (as Masato Kato put it) a "result" of Chrono Trigger. Radical Dreamers is a text adventure with a variety of still and animated images, and limited player control very different from other games in the franchise.ĭespite not having the backing of the "dream team," several members of the original Chrono Trigger staff (including writer Masato Kato and composer Yasunori Mitsuda) went on to develop Chrono Cross in 1999. While not officially recognized as a sequel in advertisements, Radical Dreamers shares many key characters and helps link the plot of Chrono Trigger to Chrono Cross. Masato Kato has worked on every game in the franchise as a writer.Īnother writer who was working on Chrono Trigger, Masato Kato, worked with a portion of the Chrono Trigger staff in 1996 to develop Radical Dreamers: Nusumenai Houseki. A number of well-known individuals were also involved, creating what became known as a "dream team." Among these were Hironobu Sakaguchi (supervisor, and creator of the Final Fantasy franchise), Yuuji Horii (supervisor, and creator of the Dragon Quest franchise), Akira Toriyama (character designer, and creator of the Dragon Ball franchise), and Nobuo Uematsu (composer, well known for other Final Fantasy soundtracks). The development of Chrono Trigger was a collaboration between two competing Japanese developers, Square and Enix (before their merger).
Chrono Cross was met with success near to that of the SNES game, selling about 1.5 million copies worldwide, triggering it to be released as a "Greatest Hits" title for the PlayStation. The DS version of Chrono Trigger did not fare as well, selling 710,000 copies worldwide. The original Chrono Trigger, released in 1995, sold 2.36 million copies in Japan alone, while selling approximately 290,000 copies in other regions. Chrono Trigger ranks at 95% aggregate score (for both the DS and SNES versions) while Chrono Cross ranks at a 92% aggregate score (both scores according to Game Rankings).
The franchise has received numerous "Best Game of All Time" rankings for Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross, from publications such as IGN, GameSpot, Famitsu, Nintendo Power, and Electronic Gaming Monthly.
The series has always been both critically and commercially well received. Overview The Chrono franchise, while only consisting of three games, are among some of the best critically received role-playing games of all time.