Chrono Trigger

Chrono Trigger is an SNES RPG developed by Square, now known as Square Enix. Released in 1995, Chrono Trigger had a large impact on the RPG genre and is generally considered one of the best RPGs of all time thanks to its fun & unique turn based battle system, intricate storyline, brilliant music and memorable cast of characters. The characters were designed by famous artist Akira Toriyama.

A sequel, Chrono Cross, was also released for the PlayStation in 2000. Despite being considered one of the top franchises in Square-Enix's profile, ranking among the Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest video games, not much has been heard of a third installment, other than a few trademarked names.

Chrono Trigger revolves around the adventures of Crono from Guardia Village in the year 1000 CE, as well as his friends from his own time, and others that he meets on his travels. The game starts off light-hearted and peaceful, but soon the party finds that the world they live in will meet its destruction in the future.

Plot
When Crono, the main character, leaves for the Millenium Fair, his life is turned upside down. At the fair, he meets up with a young girl named Marle, who turns out to be Princess Nadia of the Royal Family. Crono's friend Lucca demonstrates her latest marvelous invention, an instaneous transportation device! Marle's pendant interferes with the invention and catapults her into the past. The only person who can save Marle is Crono. In a fit of heroism, he too is flung into the past, which begins an adventure into time travel.

Characters

 * Crono is the spikey haired main character. Mute for most of the game except during one secret ending, he uses a Katana and Lightning magic. He grows up with his friend Lucca. He lives in the 1000 CE era.
 * Marle is also known as Princess Nadia, who is the resident healer, but can also cast ice magic. Her main weapon is a crossbow. She is from the 1000 CE era. She has an apparent crush on Crono.
 * Lucca is a talented inventor and a childhood friend of Crono. She is an expert in technology, even able to repair robots from over 1000 years in the future. She excels in Fire magic and uses a handgun.
 * Frog, as indicated by his name, is a humanoid frog. This form is the result of a curse set by Magus. Before his transformation, he was known as Glen, the best friend of a heroic knight named Cyrus. Since then, he has spent time in hiding until Crono's party recruits him. He uses Water magic and the legendary sword, Masamune. He comes from the 600 CE time period.
 * Magus is an infamous dark wizard, who's war against humans in 600 CE is documented history by Crono's time. His goal is to summon Lavos, a powerful monster that lives inside of the Earth. Magus wields a scythe and casts Dark magic. His true origins date back to 12,000 BCE in the magical kingdom of Zeal.
 * Robo comes from 2300 CE, where he is out of commission until Lucca comes and repairs him. Because he is not a living creature, he cannot use magic. However, his lasers have some properties of dark magic. His weapon is his interchangeable fist.
 * Ayla is a female warrior from 65,000,000 BCE, despite her well groomed hair. She is the best warrior in her village and actually coins the term "Lavos". Because she was born before magic was available in 12,000 BCE, she is incapable of doing any magical damage. Her weapon is her fist, which cannot be upgraded through simply buying equipment. Leveling her up can change her fist into an Iron fist much later in the game, followed soon after by a Bronze fist.
 * Lavos is a giant spiky-shelled monster living inside of the Earth. It originated from space like a meteorite, and hibernated for millions of years until it brought about the end of the world in 1999 CE.

Trivia

 * Development Staff: included Hironobu Sakaguchi, Kazuhiko Aoki, Nobuo Uematsu, and Yuuji Horii from the Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest series.
 * Gameplay: Chrono Trigger was one of the first major RPG's to feature multiple endings based on actions taken by the player while playing the game.

Related Video Games

 * Radical Dreamers is a Satellaview game. It was more of a text adventure surrounding characters searching for the Frozen Flame that powered the Mammon Machine.
 * Chrono Cross is the sequel to Chrono Trigger that came out on the PlayStation. It is believed that Radical Dreamers was the basis for Chrono Cross, and should not be considered part of the Chrono storyline.
 * Final Fantasy Chronicles is a remake of the original Chrono Trigger. Packaged in with Final Fantasy IV, this port included some new features such as anime-style cut scenes drawn by students of Akira Toriyama.
 * Chrono Resurrection was to be an unofficial total remake of Chrono Trigger, but the project was shut down when the team received a cease-and-desist order from Square Enix.