Chrono trigger follows the time travelling adventure of a bunch of teenagers and a couple of mythical creatures out to save the world from an impending demise. So what's so special? Sounds like just about every JRPG out there. 

While it did have the typical rules of great graphics and turnbased combat it brought a lot of new things to the table. The graphics were just a little bit better than other JRPGs on the snes and the combat just that much more deep. Talking to characters did not mean you had to stand still until it was over as you could leave a conversation just by running off, battles were no longer spontaneous as all the creatures were clearly visible in the game screen, the same place the battles took place.

One of the better innovations it made was with combined techniques, while single techniques were still available using a different combination of the characters meant you could create combo techniques which dealt far more damage than individual attacks.

Another interesting aspect of the gameplay was manipulating time. For example one side quest involves taking 'the moon stone' from the year 2300AD and placing it in the year 15 billion BC. Travel back forward in time to 2300AD and you find the moon stone is missing, go back in time to the year 999AD and you discover the greedy town mayor has taken it for himself and refuses to give it to you. Travel back to 600AD and you find his distant ancestors. If you offer the mother a gift she decides to raise her children up to be generous people, go back to 999AD and you find the Mayor has changed his tune, his family is happier and he is more than willing to part with the moon stone.



The game was later released on the Playstation with animated cutscenes overseen by 'Bird Studio, founded by the series character designer Akira Toriyama who is best known for creating the Dragon Ball Z manga.


A sequel was made for the Playstation titled 'Chrono Cross', unfortunately it upset some fans as it almost completely did away with combined attacks, had a cast of over 40 playable characters most of whom did not have enough backstory to really connect with, it killed off the original characters and perhaps its worst crime: had a really convluted confusing and at times disjointed storyline. Still Chrono Cross was a more pure JRPG and not a bad game in its own right, it just was not a true sequel to Chrono Trigger.