Chrono Trigger scores 9/10 in the verdict of The Games Market editorial team.
Once Upon a Time
Chrono Trigger, the adventure that changed RPGs!
by Simon Larocca·September 7, 2025
Tempo.
A constant that is indispensable for the human being, accustomed to measuring what surrounds him according to his own standards and through the five senses with which things, people, and events acquire a semblance of meaning.
And yet Time, as we understand it, does not exist, elusive as Marle, the fearless and reckless heroine catapulted into the past of a fascinating and chaotic Earth, as well as an alternative one: Chrono Trigger is the video game par excellence in the landscape of RPGs in which we will find her, her and all the other protagonists of an adventure without... Time.
Like wanting to retrace the weave of its intricate gameplay plot, the title’s official history, produced and developed by Square, also unfolds across multiple eras: originally released in 1995 on the Super Nintendo, Chrono Trigger was taken up and reintroduced many times in the years that followed, eventually leading to a successfully accomplished port on the handheld console that dominated the first decade of the 2000s, namely the Nintendo DS in 2008.
Reinventing the classic canons of Fantasy as we know it, packed full of stoic and granite-like armored warriors, the indispensable dragons and wizards with a mysterious appearance and reluctant to reveal vital information at the right moment, Chrono Trigger shuttles the game party from one era to another, drastically changing settings and secondary storylines.
Back then, the trio of legendary personalities who worked on the game were even referred to as a “Dream Team” by industry insiders. If I mention Hironobu Sakaguchi, Yuji Horii, and Akira Toriyama, perhaps most of you will have heard only of the last one I named, but we are talking respectively about the creator of Final Fantasy and the de facto father of the multifaceted world of Dragon Quest!
Con la sua caratteristica grafica bidimensionale e le ambientazioni curate al dettaglio, sia per geografia che per differenti epoche con caratteristiche univoche, Chrono Trigger presents itself as a classic Japanese-style role-playing game filled with enemies, monsters and dungeons, as well as an infinity of secrets to uncover, plot twists worthy of a Nolan film (with which it shares parallels that I invite you to discover by playing it) and many well-characterized characters who will go on to swell the ranks of your party.
Tutto begins with a fair in which Crono, the game’s first protagonist whose name says it all, as you can imagine, meets the rebellious Marle during an experiment by another unforgettable character, Lucca: playing with time and space is never a good idea, especially when there’s a risk that your inventions might actually succeed, and that’s exactly what happens: Marle is sent into the past and it will be up to Crono and Lucca to repair the damage, together with other characters you will meet, see the entry on Temporal Paradoxes.
Con these premises and a curriculum that would make even Kojima and Druckmann pale, the trinity of RPGs gave life to a powerful title, incredibly well-characterized characters, and gameplay that drew from the tradition of the most classic RPGs, while also delivering a whole series of improvements and innovations that even today are a benchmark for the new generations of role-playing games.
The endings are many, determined by the actions and choices we will make throughout the main narrative arc, while the setup of random battles, typical of JRPGs, remains even if enemies are visible on the map, another decidedly noteworthy new feature.
Atmospheric music, inspired by, born from the creative spirit of another giant, Nobuo Uematsu, which emphasizes the battle scenes and delivers melancholic notes when all seems lost and the End of Time looms threateningly over the characters and the world in danger: Chrono Trigger still moves us today, and never more than in this case do I recommend that you get it and play it because, just like when you are in love, one must not... waste Time.
9
Pro
Exceptional and gripping storyline, written with the inspiration that only great video game masterpieces can boast: plot twists, fabulous settings, and multiple endings
Top-tier soundtrack; if you love the soundtracks of classic role-playing video games, Chrono Trigger delivers musical themes that will stay in your head for days and days
A rich bestiary of creatures of every kind, each setting is characterized by ad hoc enemies
Contro
Strictly speaking, Chrono Trigger isn’t exactly a very long adventure: without the side quests, it might not fully satisfy fans of “epic-scale” RPGs.
Mi chiamo Simon Larocca, e sono un videogiocatore, collezionista e amante della cultura pop in tutte le sue forme. Vado al cinema ogni volta che posso, leggo da quando porto gli occhiali, quindi da sempre, e ho la passione per lo storytelling in tutte le sue forme, così dirompente da farla diventare una professione. Ma come direbbe Doc di Ritorno al Futuro, non ci sarebbe presente se non si guardasse al passato con rispetto e ammirazione, ed è il Simon bambino di più di trent’anni fa, anno più anno meno.
Simon Larocca
Mi chiamo Simon Larocca, e sono un videogiocatore, collezionista e amante della cultura pop in tutte le sue forme. Vado al cinema ogni volta che posso, leggo da quando porto gli occhiali, quindi da sempre, e ho la passione per lo storytelling in tutte le sue forme, così dirompente da farla diventare una professione. Ma come direbbe Doc di Ritorno al Futuro, non ci sarebbe presente se non si guardasse al passato con rispetto e ammirazione, ed è il Simon bambino di più di trent’anni fa, anno più anno meno.
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