History VideoGame / ChronoTrigger

* ArchEnemy: Magus, to Frog.
* TheArcher: Marle. In this case, a crossbow, which takes even ''more'' strength to reload than a normal bow since it's without mechanical assistance.

* BoisterousBruiser: Ayla.

* BoobsOfSteel: Ayla.

* DeadLittleSister: Schala, actually an older sister, although the sequel revealed that [[spoiler:she wasn't really dead.]]
* DeathMountain: Death Peak and the Mountain of Woe.

* DefeatMeansFriendship: [[spoiler:Magus]], although not immediately.

* DisappearedDad: Crono's.

* DiscOneFinalBoss: Magus

* FailureKnight: Frog. The quest chain prior to his recruitment is the party's effort to get his confidence back.

* HairColorSpoiler: [[spoiler:Magus's heritage]].

* HereWeGoAgain: The ''true'' ending.

* {{Meganekko}}: Lucca.

* NatureHero: Ayla.

* NubileSavage: Ayla, made clear by Toriyama's concept artwork (and the Playstation FMV cutscenes).

* OrphansPlotTrinket: Marle's pendant.

* OutsideContextVillain: Lavos.

* PlayingWithFire: Lucca.

* RebelliousPrincess: Marle.
* RedBaron: The DS retranslation gives Magus the (additional) title of "Fiendlord".

* RedHeadedHero: Crono.

* ReligiousAndMythologicalThemeNaming: The Gurus of Zeal were named after the [[TheThreeWiseMen Magi of Christian fame]] in the English localization, but in the original, their names were... Bash, Mash, and Gash.
* RetroactivePrecognition: Magus is able to disguise himself as a great prophet after some accidental time travel knocks him over twelve thousand years into the past. It also helps that he landed in his home time period.
* RippleEffectIndicator: Marle serves as this at the start of the game in 600 A.D.

* ScienceHero: Lucca

* SpoiledSweet: Marle has a few aspects of this. She could hardly be called shallow, but her [[GildedCage sheltered]] upbringing ''has'' left her a trifle [[WideEyedIdealist naïve]], she nurses a definite sweet tooth, and she knows how to give orders to get her own way -- and, if that doesn't work, how to throw proper tantrums. She's also one of the friendliest people you'll ever meet, puts on no airs whatsoever regarding her rank, and her idealism is what leads her to declare that they should ScrewDestiny and [[SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong change history]] by opposing Lavos.
* StabTheSky: Frog with the Masamune in the cutscene where he slices apart a [[BrokenBridge wall blocking your path]]. Triggers a PillarOfLight.
* StaffChick: Marle, minus the "staff" part.

* TearsFromAStone: During the "true" ending, after Lucca tearfully says goodbye to him, Robo stumbles as he walks away... apparently, oil had somehow leaked from his "visual sensors", obstructing his vision. Robo doesn't understand the significance, though Marle's reaction implies that she does.

* TheWatcher: Gaspar.

** Magus: SinisterScythe.

* WhamEpisode: The part where [[spoiler:Crono ''dies''.]]

* WhiteHairedPrettyBoy: Magus, although interestingly, in official art, he's depicted as being fairly ugly.

* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: [[spoiler:Even though Janus was kind of a RoyalBrat, it's hard not to feel sorry for a child thrown tens of thousands of years into the future and adopted by literal monsters.]]
* WorldOfCardboardSpeech: All player characters bar Crono have a short one of these before the final final confrontation with Lavos.
-->'''Frog''': ''My life retain'eth its meaning!''

* WrenchWench: Lucca.

Good morning, Crono, [[DontExplainTheJoke your sentence is being carried out today]].

* AbsurdlyHighLevelCap: Reaching the maximum level of 99 (**) is impossible in a straight playthrough. You have to grind a lot to reach it, and the best place to do this requires you to exploit the respawn of a group of enemies in a dungeon. You really only need a level of about 60 or so to beat the boss reliably.

* SuspiciousVideogameGenerosity: The save room in Guardia Prison is accompanied by an "owner's manual" detailing the weapons and weaknesses of a "[[WakeupCallBoss Dragon Tank]]". Hmmm. Also, inspecting the Supervisor's unconscious body (also lying nearby) yields a whopping FIVE Tonics. Hmmmmmmmmm...

** Magus's two Japanese names keep this trend. [[spoiler:Janus]]'s Japanese name is Jaki, which basically refers to an evil imp, or small demon. His Japanese name is Maou, which basically means "Demon King".

* TheManBehindTheMonsters
* MeaningfulName:
** Via {{Woolseyism}}. Magus's real name, [[ReligiousAndMythologicalThemeNaming Janus]], comes from the [[HeelFaceTurn two-faced]] Roman god of [[TimeWarp gates]] and doors, and indicated transition. Magus also has mystical connotations, and is the singular form for the three Magi that visited Jesus in Christian mythology... who, in another case of {{Woolseyism}}, are named [[ReligiousAndMythologicalThemeNaming Balthazar, Melchior, and Gaspar]].
** Magus's two Japanese names keep this trend. Janus's Japanese name is Jaki, which basically refers to an evil imp, or small demon. His Japanese name is Maou, which basically means "Demon King".

* HiddenElfVillage: Laruba.

** HiddenElfVillage: Zeal Kingdom.

* DownerEnding:
** [[http://content.ytmnd.com/content/b/f/f/bff3f5eb4ec5d9ef3c1611efb2c36576.gif "But... the future refused to change."]]
** The DS release has an additional ending, [[spoiler:which sets up the drastic change for the worst in the lead-up to ''ChronoCross'']].

* NoPronunciationGuide: A consequence of the game originally coming out before the Internet really took off.

** Defeating Giga Gaia causes the suspension chain to snap on the Mountain of Woe, which collapses into the sea.

* CrystalSpiresAndTogas: Subverted with Zeal. Not many crystals, but...

* CuteKitten: Kitties seem to be a running gag in this game -- so much so that it's possible to have ''eleven'' cats running around Crono's house if you earn enough catfood.

* TertiarySexualCharacteristics: Atropos, who is {{pink|MeansFeminine}} and has a [[EveryGirlIsCuterWithHairDecs ribbon]] that [[spoiler:she bequeaths to Robo upon death]].

* EverythingsCuterWithKittens: Kitties seem to be a running gag in this game -- so much so that it's possible to have ''eleven'' cats running around Crono's house if you earn enough catfood.

** Abandoned Laboratory: The Keeper's Dome. You can visit it on your first visit to the future, when it's still ''habitated'', but you won't get far.

* VideoGamesSettings:

** TechnoWreakage: The various Domes in the future. All of the factories are still humming, though.

* BigBoosHaunt: Magus' Castle is crawling with the dead. Some even plead with you to [[FateWorseThanDeath put them out of their misery]].

* EternalEngine: The Derelict Factory and Geno Dome.

* FloatingContinent: Both Zeal and the Mountain of Woe from 12,000 BC. [[spoiler:But what goes up...]]

* HubLevel: The End of Time takes on this role once it's introduced. For much of the game, you need to cross through it when going between time eras, it's got free healing and a save point, and features an endless source of advice in case you forget [[TimeTravelTenseTrouble when]] you were going to go next.

* MonsterTown: Medina. They don't like you there... until you change history so that it was founded by fiends who didn't mind humans.

* OminousFloatingCastle: They don't get more ominous than the Black Omen.

* PlayerHeadquarters: The End of Time.

* SandIsWater

Crono thought it was going to be an ordinary day. He was heading off to the Millennial Fair, celebrating the dawn of the year 1000 AD, he had met a cute girl, and everything was looking good...until his best friend Lucca's most recent invention went out of control, sending his new friend to parts unknown and drawing him into a struggle to save the world from obliteration.

Such is the setup for Square's classic SNES RPG ''ChronoTrigger''. Released in America 1995, ''ChronoTrigger'' was the last hurrah for the golden age of epic fantasy [=RPGs=] on the SNES, the final game in a sequence that included such great games as ''FinalFantasyVI'' and ''{{Secret of Mana}}''. And what a hurrah! It received critical acclaim and is generally held in extremely high regard by RPG fans; indeed, it's often considered to be one of the greatest games ever made. Did we mention the character designs by AkiraToriyama? [[OnlySixFaces There's a reason]] Crono looks like [[{{Dragonball}} Goku]]. However, despite its American popularity, ''Chrono Trigger'' unfortunately joined the likes of ''FinalFantasyVI'', ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG'' and co. as the association of popular SNES {{RPG}}s which no-one could be arsed to market for [[NoExportForYou Europe]]. ([[AndTheFandomRejoiced They got better]].)

Crono and his friends(pictured above) are fighting to save the world from consumption at the hands of the [[EldritchAbomination extraterrestrial creature known as Lavos]], which descended to earth in the prehistoric era and will rise again in 1999, causing apocalyptic destruction. To do so, [[DualWorldGameplay they travel from era to era]], including the Middle Ages where humans battle the monstrous Fiends, the [[AfterTheEnd dark and ruined future]] of 2300 where the disenfranchised human survivors eke out a precarious existence against genetic mutants and psychopathic, genocidal robots, and the mysterious [[TheTimeOfMyths Age of Magic]], where the inhabitants of the FloatingContinent of Zeal attempt to harness the dormant power of Lavos for their own ends. In between they'll meet lots of interesting characters, and did we mention the fighting? Lots of fighting. Though that in itself wasn't a big problem, due to the game's creative combat engine.

The game was followed up with two sequels, ''RadicalDreamers'' for the SNES [[NoExportForYou which has not seen the light of day outside of Japan]], though a translated ROM is available online, and the [[ContestedSequel controversial]] sequel ''ChronoCross'', in 2000. The original game has a Playstation 1 port that added some additional anime cutscenes and a little bit of modification to the plot to get it in sync with ''ChronoCross'' (which at the time of the port's Japanese release was still in development). It also came with massive technical problems and is generally considered a waste of time. The long-awaited UpdatedRerelease was released in America late 2008 for the Nintendo DS, which retained the good parts of the [=PS1=] port, retranslated the script to overcome the hurdles of mid-90s memory limitations and censorship, and threw in some bonus dungeons and a new ending for good measure. Perhaps surprisingly, it even saw European shores in 2009!

A fan-made {{interquel}} connecting this game with the events of ''Cross'', known as ''ChronoTriggerCrimsonEchoes'', was in the works, but cease-and-desist'd by SquareEnix at the 11th hour. Motives for doing so remain under speculation - though it can still be played if you can find the leaked rom on the Internet.

* ArbitraryHeadCountLimit: Your party cannot have more than three people in it at a time. This is [[HandWave "justified"]] in-game that groups larger than three cannot make it through the time-warp without being spit out at the End of Time. Strangely, the game breaks this rule numerous times... it seems it never occurred to the heroes that they could send people through one at a time although that they only have one gatekey might be a big reason.

* ArbitraryHeadCountLimit: Your party cannot have more than three people in it at a time. This is [[HandWave "justified"]] in-game that groups larger than three cannot make it through the time-warp without being spit out at the End of Time. Strangely, the game breaks this rule numerous times... it seems it never occurred to the heroes that they could send people through one at a time until the ending.

Such is the setup for Square's classic SNES RPG ''ChronoTrigger''. Released in America 1995, ''ChronoTrigger'' was the last hurrah for the golden age of epic fantasy [=RPGs=] on the SNES, the final game in a sequence that included such great games as ''FinalFantasyVI'' and ''{{Secret of Mana}}''. It received critical acclaim and is generally held in extremely high regard by RPG fans; indeed, it's often considered to be one of the greatest games ever made. Did we mention the character designs by AkiraToriyama? [[OnlySixFaces There's a reason]] Crono looks like [[{{Dragonball}} Goku]]. However, despite its American popularity, ''Chrono Trigger'' unfortunately joined the likes of ''FinalFantasyVI'', ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG'' and co. as the association of popular SNES {{RPG}}s which no-one could be arsed to market for [[NoExportForYou Europe]]. ([[AndTheFandomRejoiced They got better]].)

Crono and his friends (including RebelliousPrincess Marle, TeenGenius Lucca, the anthropomorphic and amphibious FailureKnight Frog, the malfunctioning but friendly RobotBuddy Robo, the wild [[NubileSavage cavewoman]] chief Ayla, and potentially [[spoiler:the mysterious and malevolent sorcerer "Magus"]]) are fighting to save the world from consumption at the hands of the [[EldritchAbomination extraterrestrial creature known as Lavos]], which descended to earth in the prehistoric era and will rise again in 1999, causing apocalyptic destruction. To do so, [[DualWorldGameplay they travel from era to era]], including the Middle Ages where humans battle the monstrous Fiends, the [[AfterTheEnd dark and ruined future]] of 2300 where the disenfranchised human survivors eke out a precarious existence against genetic mutants and psychopathic, genocidal robots, and the mysterious [[TheTimeOfMyths Age of Magic]], where the inhabitants of the FloatingContinent of Zeal attempt to harness the dormant power of Lavos for their own ends. In between they'll meet lots of interesting characters, and did we mention the fighting? Lots of fighting. Though that in itself wasn't a big problem, due to the game's creative combat engine.