Chrono Trigger
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NBA Jam and Payday top October PSN sales
We get it: every October, it's all about basketball and bank robberies for us, so naturally the top-grossing games on PSN for the month revolve around similar subject matter. The PlayStation Blog reports that the two top games purchased and installed in October are NBA Jam: On Fire Edition and Payday: The Heist in first and second place, respectively. Taking third place was the re-release of Crysis, followed by Chrono Trigger and Resident Evil 4 HD. Also, we're glad to see Odin Sphere debut in the charts at number 15 -- you may recall, its release is part of the "Only on PlayStation Network" campaign where select PS2 games were given new life as PSN titles. We're all for older games (especially good ones) finding a new audience! You can see the full list of October's top-earners through the source link below. Just try not to flip out too much when you see Real Steel rank higher than God Hand.
Chrono Trigger turns back the clock on PSN this Tuesday
Whether you consider it the greatest game ever made or almost the greatest game ever made, for many Chrono Trigger is "the tops," perhaps even "the bee's knees." On Tuesday, October 4, it can be yours through PSN, the PlayStation Blog reports. There's no word on price right now, but for some that probably won't be much of an issue. And if you don't know what Chrono Trigger is, congratulations on being young! Eat some bacon and put on your favorite dubstep number. You're far too busy knowing everything to care about a video game fossil like this.
Square bringing Chrono Trigger, others to iOS (and Android)
The Tokyo Game Show is currently going on in Japan, and here's some news from there that us old school gamers will appreciate: Square Enix is planning on bringing my absolute favorite console RPG ever, Chrono Trigger, over to iOS. Unfortunately, there's not a lot of information on when it'll be out or what's changed from the original (there was a DS version released a few years ago), but I'll wait -- Chrono Trigger is good enough to play through yet again no matter what's different. There are a few other titles also coming to the iPhone and iPad -- Final Fantasy Legends is on its way over, as is Dragon Quest Monsters. It's unclear exactly what Legends is -- it appears to be a new entry in the mobile realm for the Final Fantasy franchise, and nothing to do with the great old GameBoy game Final Fantasy Legend. Dragon Quest Monsters is of course the spin-off series from Enix's Dragon Quest series, so it'll be nice to have that on Apple's platform as well. And there's even more -- a card battle game called Diffusion Million Arthur (your guess is as good as ours on that one), a board game called Itadaki Street, and even a card battling game in conjuction with Epic Games (!) called Demon's Source are all due out at some point. Hopefully all of those will eventually land on the iOS store here in North America. That Epic/Square Enix collab especially sounds really interesting.
Chrono Trigger, World Ends With You discounted on Amazon today
Do you have, like, a couple hundred hours to kill on flights, drives and other commutes in the coming weeks? You should pick up some of Amazon's temporarily discounted Square Enix DS RPGs, including Chrono Trigger and The World Ends With You. Those should fill your hours swimmingly.
The Daily Grind: What classic console game would you like to see made into an MMO?
I recently came across an old 8-bit Nintendo on an excursion to the deep, dark recesses of my attic. Soon after, I stumbled upon a Super NES as well as a treasure trove of old game cartridges. After a few minutes of fumbling around with RCA cables, RF adapters, and finally a trip to the local Radio Shack, I managed to get both systems up and running. A weekend of classic gaming ensued, and as is typical, I set about imagining which old console favorites might make for worthwhile transitions into the realm of the MMORPG. Thus far the Final Fantasy franchise is the most noteworthy console property to make the jump, but there are others -- from multiple platforms -- that would likely make for appealing massively multiplayer settings as well as trigger the nostalgia meter in many an older gamer. Today's Daily Grind is all about your favorite classic console titles. Specifically, which game(s) would you like to see made into an MMO? Every morning, the Massively bloggers probe the minds of their readers with deep, thought-provoking questions about that most serious of topics: massively online gaming. We crave your opinions, so grab your caffeinated beverage of choice and chime in on today's Daily Grind!
The Game Archaeologist sees The Shadow of Yserbius
Really, I blame my parents for not being filthy rich. If they were, we could've afforded the $130/month unlimited subscription fee to the ImagiNation Network (INN) back in the early '90s. Just think! All of the gaming, the socializing, and the roleplaying that you could handle -- for such a low price! I mean, sure, there were hourly options, but who'd want to play for a mere five hours a month? So instead of becoming part of a growing online community, I had to be content with my SNES and copy of Chrono Trigger -- hard times, indeed. Sometimes I think how my life would've been different if we had subscribed to Sierra's colorful online world, because I would've had a chance to get in on one of the first graphical MMOs: The Shadow of Yserbius. It was a step forward in graphic quality from the text-only MUDs of the day but perhaps a step backward from the complexity that many MUDs brought to the table. Still, for a few shining years, it entranced thousands who lined up to delve dungeons deeply alongside their friends (and a couple of complete strangers with odor disorders). Today we're going to take a quick peek at one of the first MMOs that stepped into the realm of lush color and animations and see what made The Shadow of Yserbius so enduring.
NintendoWare Weekly: Chrono Trigger, Gabrielle's Ghostly Groove
It's an oldie, but a goodie -- actually, you know what? It's a bestie. Square Enix's beloved SNES RPG Chrono Trigger arrives on the Wii Virtual Console for 800 Points, giving us yet another platform upon which to totally hang with Robo, Frog, Lucca, the prehistoric one, the princess, and that one wizard guy. Oh, Chrono Trigger. It has obviously been far too long. Other games added today include Big Bass Arcade on DSiWare, in which bass -- preferably big bass -- are pulled from bodies of water using sticks and twine, and Natsume's gothic rhythm title, Gabrielle's Ghostly Groove: Monster Mix for WiiWare. Check out the full list of new releases below!
Chrono Trigger travels to Virtual Console next Monday
It sure feels like we've waited an eternity for Square's timeless Super Nintendo RPG to come to Virtual Console. Begrudgingly, we suppose it's true -- good things do come to those who wait. Next Monday, May 16, marks Chrono Trigger's long overdue release on Virtual Console in North America. Following its press release, Square Enix confirmed that the game will be sold at the standard 800 Wii Points ($8) price for SNES ports on VC (as opposed to the 900-point premium being charged in Japan). That's quite a bargain for pretty much the best game ever. [Image source: Chronopedia]
Chrono Trigger rated by ESRB for Virtual Console
Square Enix's beloved Chrono Trigger has popped up on the ESRB site for "Wii," meaning the SNES classic will also make its way to the North American Virtual Console. The title was previously announced for digital distribution on the Nintendo console for Japan and Europe. No official word on price, but it'll likely be the same 100-point markup as in Japan, making the title a premium 900 Wii Points ($9). The game was also recently rated for PSP and PS3, alluding to a PSN release. Still no word about the mobile version for North America, but at least there's still the DS version.
Chrono Trigger rated for PSP and PS3
Square Enix's pretty-much-the-best-game-ever Super Nintendo RPG Chrono Trigger has the distinct disadvantage of being, as aforementioned, pretty much the best game ever and, simultaneously, pretty expensive in its native SNES format. Fortunately, the game's not too pricey on the DS, but that might not be the only platform to grab it on the cheap in the near future -- the ESRB has rated Chrono Trigger for release on PS3 and PSP. The ESRB listing doesn't provide any additional details about the title, but if we were betting men, we'd say it's the PS1 re-release that was included in the Final Fantasy Chronicles collection (to be distributed through PSN as a "PSOne Classic"). If we were men who were really bad at betting, we'd say it was some kind of magical Direct X11 remake, chock-full of social networking features and support for 3D TVs.
Chrono Trigger, Mega Man X coming to Virtual Console in Japan
Nintendo's Virtual Console release schedule for April includes just three games -- quite a contrast from the service's high points in 2007 and 2008, when the monthly additions would routinely top a dozen. However, even with just three releases, Nintendo of Japan manages to make us totally jealous, because one of those releases is Chrono Trigger. Nintendo (or Square Enix) has decided to charge a premium 900 Wii Points for the Super Nintendo RPG, a 100-point markup that is usually reserved for games "imported" from other regions, but used here basically because they can. That's still cheaper than the current (discounted) price for the DS version in the US. In case we hadn't achieved sufficient jealousy levels, the other planned SNES release for next month is Mega Man X, which will sell for the standard 800-point price in Japan. Also on the schedule: King of the Monsters 2 for Neo Geo.
Fan-made Chrono Trigger sequel finds release
Square Enix raised some ire by sending out a cease and desist against the release of a fan-made Chrono Trigger sequel, but the game has found its way out to the Internet anyway. Reddit user buu700 has posted what he says is a final build of Crimson Echoes, the sequel made by fans reusing the original game's sprites. He also leaked a game called Flames of Eternity a couple of weeks back, supposedly a fork of the fanmade title, which "diverged fairly heavily from what Crimson Echoes was intended to be." Fans who've played the game say the characters are a little different than they remember (main character Crono, silent in the original, speaks, and a few of the dialects aren't quite right). But those hungry for some of the old 16-bit RPG magic will have to take what they can get -- at least until Squeenix's lawyers hear about it.
Chrono Trigger coming to Japanese mobile phones, we arrive at the future
We're almost certainly approaching the apocalyptic future portrayed in Square Enix's best game ever, Chrono Trigger, as evidenced by the fact that the time-traveling epic RPG will soon be playable on the thing you use to make phone calls. A teaser site for a mobile version of Chrono Trigger has been uploaded in anticipation of Squeenix's Jump Festa 2011 presentation, revealing zero details about the project except for its Spring 2011 launch window. It's far too early to guess whether the cellular iteration of the game will come stateside, though we imagine it would do quite well on the App Store circuit. We know we'd certainly buy it -- then, we'd send the phone back through time to ourselves in 1995, and watch our heads literally explode.
The Road to Mordor: Will our journey take us back to The Hobbit?
The next few years promise to be exciting ones for fans of Middle-earth. Ever since The Return of the King debuted in theaters in 2003, audiences have clamored for more of Tolkien on the big screen -- specifically, The Hobbit. After nearly a decade of back-and-forth negotiating and legal entanglements, it appears that this The Hobbit movies are finally going to happen, with Sir Peter Jackson once again in the director's chair and Martin Freeman taking on the lead role as Bilbo. That's smashing news for movie buffs, but what does this have to do with Lord of the Rings Online -- y'know, that MMO we sometimes talk about in this column? It could be "very little," with Turbine proceeding on its merry way and perhaps enjoying the free boost to playership as movie buffs hunt around for a game to extend the experience. However, if the company were smart, it would be laying out the groundwork right now to synergize the heck out of the movie with a similar in-game experience. For a while now, I've been chewing on the notion that Turbine could incorporate the events, locations and characters of The Hobbit into LotRO -- in fact, several of the key pieces are already in place. Could our journey in LotRO eventually take us back to the era of Bilbo's grand adventure? How would such a thing even work? Hit the jump and I will smack your brain so hard with ideas that you'll forget all of your piano lessons. It's OK -- you didn't really need them.
Square Enix DS games DScounted on Amazon
Got a long road trip, awfully boring class or extended house arrest session coming up soon? You might want to spring for Amazon's Deal of the Day, which has reduced the prices of The World Ends With You, Chrono Trigger and Kingdom Hearts: 358/2 Days by around 25 percent.
Obsidian leads talk about their favorite Square Enix franchise
In a recent interview with Siliconera, Obsidian Entertainment CEO Feargus Urquhart and lead designer Nathan Chapman pondered which of Square Enix's other RPG franchises they'd like to get their hands on post-Dungeon Siege 3. Their decision was unanimous: "If I could come across everything that I played I would have to go with Chrono Trigger," Urquhart explained. "I think Chrono Trigger was one I really enjoyed." "I think we're going with Chrono Trigger because it has elements of a Western RPG," Chapman added. "It's more open, it's still mostly linear, but there are parts you can explore more." Yeah, we guess that's a good reason to go with Chrono Trigger. You know what's another good reason to go with Chrono Trigger? How about because Chrono Trigger is the best game ever made, and every video game developer in the world secretly wants to work on the next Chrono Trigger. We think that's a pretty good reason, too.
A set of Chrono Trigger figurines that you'll want
You have an empty shelf, right? Of course you do. So there's really no choice in the matter: You've got to fill it with something, and that something might as well be game merchandise. As luck would have it, we've got some particularly sweet merchandise in mind just for you. Specifically, we're talking about the nifty Chrono Trigger figures you see above -- or "Chrono Figures," if you prefer. As Destructoid points out, the statues recreate scenes from the original SNES instruction booklet. Entertainment Earth has the figurines available for pre-order -- scheduled to ship this October -- with the set of 4 statues available for $40. There's no indication of the actual dimensions of each statue, though each certainly appears detailed. The only question that remains: Where's Marle? [Via Destructoid]
Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger creator working on an iPhone project
Good news for the new year from Touch Arcade: Hironobu Sakaguchi is developing games for the iPhone. Just in case that name doesn't ring a bell for you, maybe the games he's helped create might: Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, Super Mario RPG, and Xenogears. Yes, those of you who know your console RPG history will know that those are some of the best role-playing games ever made, and if you don't know that, then walk away from whatever you're doing right now and go play all of them -- they're brilliant. Sakaguchi announced over on the blog for his latest company, Mistwalker, that his team was working on a brand new "blockbuster project" in 2010, and they're also working on releasing something for the iPhone. He doesn't share much at all about either, though he does say that we'll see the iPhone project on the App Store soon. We can't wait -- having a legendary developer like this working on the iPhone platform just shows that while 2009 was a great year for iPhone gaming, 2010 has plenty of potential as well.
790K people bought Chrono Trigger DS (and other Square sales figures)
Note: numbers reflect 10k increments Square Enix has released an accounting of its software sales for fiscal year 2009 -- which ended March 31 -- and remakes ruled. Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride, a refresh of the 1992 Super Famicom installment in the famous role-playing series, sold 1.35 million copies globally -- placing Dissidia: Final Fantasy, a new property, in second place with combined sales of 930,000 teeny-tiny UMDs.Let there be no questioning of Chrono Trigger's lasting appeal: the DS re-release managed to make it into the hands on 790k gamers, many of which were no doubt buying the game for the second or third time since the 16-bit original's 1995 launch.European gamers gobbled up Crisis Core: Final Fantasy VII with half a million units sold in the territory, although the region came in third in overall sales for Square Enix. The US actually proved to be its most lucrative market with 1.69 million games sold, versus 1.51M for Japan. Part of the success in the West: The Last Remnant and Infinite Undiscovery, which sold better in the States than anywhere else.[Via Siliconera]
Square Enix pulls the trigger on Chrono Trigger fan projects
Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes was to be an original sequel to Chrono Trigger, created by a team of fans using Chrono Trigger sprites. We say was, because on the 8th, just weeks away from the game's scheduled release date, Square Enix sent the team a frightening cease-and-desist letter (PDF) ordering the project to be halted and all known copies to be destroyed.Square Enix also sent letters to other fan projects, including the Chrono Compendium, which responded by taking down all pages and forums related to rom-hacking projects. "We do not accept the validity of Square Enix's claims," Chrono Compendium's ZeaLitY said, "nor the legal rationale underpinning their position. Nonetheless, we are complying with their demands so as to avoid the expenses and burdens of litigation, because, frankly, they can afford a frivolous lawsuit more than we can." After the break, footage of the promising, but now dead, Crimson Echoes, made by people who, until last week, liked Chrono Trigger a lot.[Via Kombo; thanks, Booxatron!]
