Like many publishers these days, remasters and remakes have become a big part of Square Enix‘s business. In just the last 5 years alone, the Japanese game giant has enhanced more than a dozen of its classic JRPGs for modern platforms. Some of these titles include fan favorites, like Crisis Core: Final Fantasy 7 and Dragon Quest 3, and cult classics, such as Romancing SaGa 2 and Live A Live. In spite of Square Enix‘s recent efforts, though, there are still a plethora of gems within the company’s library that have surprisingly yet to be remastered or remade for current-gen systems.
One of the retro Square Enix games that fans have most often requested a remaster or remake of is Chrono Trigger. Initially released back in 1995 for the Super Nintendo, this turn-based JRPG had an all-star team of talent behind it, which Square often referred to as the “Dream Team.” Not only did Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi and Dragon Quest maker Yuji Horii work on this game, but the late, great Dragon Ball author Akira Toriyama was involved with it, as well. Although Chrono Trigger‘s gameplay and narrative still hold up today, the game deserves a modern re-release, especially now more than ever.
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Square Enix Plans to Celebrate Chrono Trigger’s 30th Anniversary With New Projects
2025 is the year of Chrono Trigger‘s 30th anniversary and, to celebrate, Square Enix plans to launch several new projects related to the game in the near future. The company recently announced this news on its Japanese Twitter account and, although it didn’t get into specifics about what these projects would entail, it said that they’d “go beyond the world of the game.” The wording of this statement seems to suggest that Square Enix is preparing to release multimedia projects like books, anime, and plays based on Chrono Trigger instead of new games. If Square does actually plan to do something gaming-related, though, hopefully it pertains to bringing Chrono Trigger to current-gen consoles.
Although It Is on PC & Mobile, Chrono Trigger isn’t Widely Available on Modern Consoles
Even though it’s one of the most influential Japanese role-playing games of all time, Chrono Trigger is not easily accessible nowadays. The game has been ported to many systems over the last 30 years, including the PS1, Nintendo DS, iOS, Android, and even i-Mode, but it oddly hasn’t made its way to PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, or Nintendo Switch. What makes this situation even stranger is that Chrono Cross, the 1999 sequel to Chrono Trigger, was remastered for all platforms a few years ago, but the same was never done for its predecessor.
Technically, a Chrono Trigger “remaster” does exist, but it’s not available on current-gen consoles. Back in 2018, Square Enix released an enhanced port of the critically-acclaimed JRPG for Windows PCs via Steam. This version of the game included most of the bonus content that was introduced in Chrono Trigger‘s Nintendo DS port, but it was lambasted at launch for, among other things, graphical issues and poor keyboard and mouse support. Square Enix eventually fixed the PC port with consistent updates over the years and, thanks to this, it has now become a good way to experience the game.
Ironically, the Chrono Cross remaster also had notoriously bad performance and graphics at launch, but they were later fixed by Square Enix in subsequent updates.
A Chrono Trigger Console Port Would Be a Great Way to Celebrate Its 30th Anniversary
Since a perfectly competent port of Chrono Trigger already exists on modern hardware, it would make a lot of sense for Square Enix to bring it to PlayStation, Xbox, and Nintendo consoles this year. The announcement of such a port would be the perfect way to commemorate Chrono Trigger‘s 30th anniversary. Of course, some fans may not be satisfied by a mere remaster and may prefer an Octopath Traveler-style HD-2D remake of the game instead. However, if Square Enix doesn’t currently have the resources to rebuild Chrono Trigger from the ground up, a simple remaster would probably be good enough for a lot of gamers.
- Released
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March 11, 1995
- ESRB
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T for Teen: Fantasy Violence, Mild Blood