The Chrono Series Needs To Return

The Chrono Series Needs To Return August 11, 2017 By Ryan Porzl

Since it's debut in 1995, the Chrono Series has been one of the most critically acclaimed series in video game history despite only having two games. Not only fun RPG games, they were also way ahead of their time with the games either focusing on time travel or traveling through dimensions while also featuring multiple endings, side quest, and even having over 30 playable characters. Sadly, despite the games popularity and success, Square has discontinued the series after only two games and potentially cancelled a third game. It's time for Square to get it's act together and bring it back. For starters, there's clearly an audience out there as both Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross have been ported multiple times with Trigger being ported at least seven times while Cross was ported once. Meanwhile, Trigger's re-releases on Playstation and Nintendo DS even had new features added included cut scenes animated by Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama, new fights, and bonus features like being able to re-watch endings and being able to listen to the soundtrack. Both games have also been hugely successful as Trigger was the third highest selling video game in 1995 and in only eight years sold over 2.65 million copies with both the Super Nintendo and Playstation versions by March 2003 while the DS version sold over 790,000 copies by March 2009 which was only four months after it's November 2008 release in Japan and America while only having been out a month in Europe and the Australia/New Zealand area. Cross has sold over 1.5 copies and was re-released as part of Playstation's "Greatest Hits" re-release series and in Japan as part of the "Ultimate Hits" series. The games have also been praised as masterpieces by critics and won many awards with Trigger winning Electronic Gaming Monthly's Game of the Year for 1995 as well as Best Role-Playing Game and Best Music in a Cartridge-Based Game awards while winning Gamepro's Best RPG Award. Meanwhile, Trigger has consistently been a top 20 on all six of IGN's 100 Greatest Games of All Time with it ranking as high as 2 in 2006 and 2008 while Cross was only one of nine games to get a perfect ten score from Gamespot out of 40,000 games reviewed. So given the sales, the awards, and praise, there's clearly fans out there who love the series and it almost guaranteed to be money in the bank for Square Enix if they act on it instead of just letting it sit on the table. Then there's the fact that Chrono games could fill holes in Square Enix's calendars. In this day and age, it's impossible to release great games from the same franchise every year. Square Enix is going to have years where they can't release a Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest game and even if they did, they run them into the ground. For the years where there is no Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest game coming out, a new Chrono game can come out instead. A Chrono game can keep the fans busy in between new Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest games which can give Square Enix more breathing room without having to rush a game out and can take their time on the next Final Fantasy or Dragon Quest game. It also can establish Chrono as a new money making franchise so Square has another one to bank off of. There's still plenty of stories to tell namely what occurred between Trigger and Cross. At the end of the Playstation and DS versions, we get a full motion video of The Kingdom of Guardia falling and the disappearance of the Masamune. What happened? Did Crono and Marle survive? Was this the reason why the Masamune became the blood stained sword of evil? What about the other characters. There could also be a team up with Crono and Serge in one big final mission of the Trigger and Cross stories. These ideas could be great for certain fans as there were fans who were disappointed that Cross was not a direct sequel to Trigger. So maybe making a game based off these ideas or featuring the original crew can give those fans the Chrono game they've wanted for two decades. We could also see new stories with new characters who could time travel or travel through dimensions. Square got a lot out of those stories with systems like Super Nintendo and Playstation that were around in the 1990s. As mentioned, it's been seventeen years since Cross was released in America and we've gone through at least two generations of systems so imagine what Square could do with time travel and traveling through dimensions with current systems like Playstation 4, XBox One, or The Switch. Plus, there's other things they could explore like maybe a game where characters explore Dreams or Fantasy or Illusions while going back and forth to the "real world". A new game would be fresh as Chrono Cross was released in 1999 in Japan and 2000 in The United States which means we haven't had a new game in seventeen years. Not to mention there's only been two games so a new game would be fresh since it would not only be the first one in a long time but it would only be the third game. While games like Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest are beloved and great, it would be nice to get something different especially since both have at least twenty games each counting the main series, sequels, and spin offs. All game companies have the same issue where they focus on the franchises that cater to all types specifically casual fans while some franchises get lost and gather dust for years or decades that a group of hardcore gamers would love to see back. Nintendo is perhaps the best example as they always consistently release new Mario games and Legend of Zelda games as they're guaranteed money makers while hardcore gamers would love to see more games from their other series' like Metroid, Mother/Earthbound, Star Fox, and Punch Out!! make comebacks or at least release games more regularly. Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest are classics franchises but I'm sure there are fans who are bored with them and love to see a new Chrono game instead. A new Chrono game could provide a change of pace and something different. Established franchises can be great and many are but sometimes you want something different instead of the same old same old no matter how much you love it. Plus, many fans would likely be excited because they haven't had a new game in two decades. Gamers would likely flock to get it because they haven't had a new Chrono game for so long and would likely check it out to see how it is. After more than seventeen years of waiting, Square should finally bring the Chrono series back. Fans around the world would welcome it and business would likely be great for Square to bring the long dormant franchise back. As I've said, it's money in the bank but only if Square capitalizes on it otherwise it's just money they're leaving on table.