On the eve of Chrono Cross’ 25th anniversary, it’s a good time to dive back into Square Enix’s weirdest direct sequel ever, and one of the more underappreciated RPGs from the PS1 era. The remastered version is also 50 percent off right now on PSN, making it an easy retro pickup for the PlayStation 5 or PS4.
A sequel to Chrono Trigger on the SNES, which comfortably sits near the top of many people’s best-games-of-all-time lists, Chrono Cross took one corner of the world established in the first game and blew it out into a sprawling, mind-bending adventure that goes to incredible places, from the goofy and cliche to the unnerving and emotionally profound. Its amazing art style and evocative musical score are first-class, even if it’s a lot more uneven and esoteric than the crowd-pleasing original. Plus there are 45 playable characters to recruit, including magicians, pirates, rockstars, and a literal human mushroom (he’s called “Funguy” for all you sickos who enjoy puns out there).
I wasn’t a big fan of the remaster, Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition, when it launched back in April 2022. The port felt pretty barebones, and mileage on the quality of higher-resolution backgrounds and the framerate performance varied a lot. It felt like a missed opportunity to give the game the comeback it deserved. A year later, however, Square Enix released an update that significantly improved performance, and now the game is currently just $10 until June 6 on the PlayStation Store. That’s about how much the PS1 classic version was before it was ripped from the PS Vita and PS3 stores.
That makes it a no-brainer if you’re looking for a dense retro RPG to pass those nostalgic Saturday morning and hot summer nights. Some quality-of-life options like turning off enemy encounters or speeding up the game also go a long way to cutting down on the occasional tedium of repetitive turn-based battles and dungeon backtracking. Plus, the Radical Dreamers edition includes the never-before-localized visual novel that connects Chrono Cross and Chrono Trigger together. Beating both reveals a brief new ending to the saga. And the Platinum trophy is pretty fun and straightforward to get.
For all its flaws, Chrono Cross still lives in my head rent free like it does for so many other fans who first played it back in the day. The Dead Sea will forever haunt my dreams.
