The zenith of the JRPG in the Brain of the Beast has its own name: Chrono Trigger. Squaresoft’s 16-bit masterpiece born from the combined talent of Akira Toriyama (author of Dragon Ball), Hironobu Sakaguchi (creator of Final Fantasy) and Yuji Horii (Dragon Quest series). The bar left by that Dream Team was and continues to be almost unattainable, but that does not prevent us from considering the obvious: Why wasn’t there a sequel? Since Square Enix did not make a move, at one point Kajar Laboratories dared to do it.
Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes was an apocryphal sequel built on top of a highly modified version of the original ROM. We met again with Crono and the same characters from Chrono Trigger five years after what happened in a new adventure with original settings and events and, for that matter, new endings and more mini-games were added. Why not? That said, one of the great singularities is that, despite being made by fans, in addition to being a complete video game, it served as a bridge between the cult classic and Chrono Cross. Too big claims.
At this point, perhaps it is time to clarify something: Squaresoft did not give Chrono Trigger a direct continuation, but opted to make the players return to that same world through the aforementioned Chrono Cross. And despite the absence of the original Dream Team, it was in the hands of a sensational new team of talents with art by Nobuteru Yuki (the same one from The Vision of Escaflowne) and directed by Masato Kato. A JRPG that is many things at once, and all very good, but it is not “Chrono Trigger 2”.
Which, on the other hand, leaves us with several questions on the table: How did the idea of making a sequel start, what was achieved during the development of Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes and what was it all about? Starting with the last, and as we already told you in the title, Square Enix decided that despite being a project made by fans, the idea of giving an apocryphal sequel to the classic it couldn’t be.
Crimson Echoes, the sequel to Chrono Trigger that never was
The idea of giving a genuine direct sequel to Chrono Trigger
The premise, broadly speaking, was to revisit the 1994 game and tell what had happened to its protagonists while, little by little, the threads were drawn between the SNES game and the game itself. Chrono Cross of the first PlayStation taking advantage of the fact that both works take place in the same world. To define it in some way, it was both a love letter to the saga and the missing link, as an interquel, between both Squaresoft titles.
In fact, despite being a fan-made project, Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes had no less than two directors: ZeaLitY, who was one of the main promoters of the idea from its beginnings, and a Chrono’99 whose name already established the enormous devotion to the original works. Together they led a group of fans spread across different countries who worked on the project without commercial intentions with the signing of Kajar Laboratories.
That said, and despite the fact that all the work wanted to adhere and be faithful to the lore of both games, it goes without saying that the story is still a great fanfic that, throughout the creative and development process, it got out of hand for everyone involved. So much so that the development time of the project ended up being practically four and a half years, which more or less equals professional productions.
The problem? The foundation on which Kajar Laboratories was building everything related to Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes It was also its own Achilles heel: for all intents and purposes, that apocryphal sequel was still a modified ROM that, in fact, used the same engine as the original Chrono Trigger. And that, along with the original rights to both games, was all Square Enix needed to kill the project completely legally. Even when It was 98% finished.
Which brings us to the next point: what did Crimson Echoes to the original games.
What Chrono Trigger would have been like five years later (according to fans)
It is the year 1005 AD. c. Five years have passed since Crono, Marle and Lucca’s great adventure through the ages, but the most essential thing has not changed: our hero continues at his mother’s house dreaming of a better future. More specifically, what new adventure destiny has in store for you. The answer, in fact, will be the next day.
After a delicate political conflict with an unwanted guest, the three adventurers end up trapped in an unstable Time Gate that sends them on a new succession of time travel that will extend throughout 23 chaptersdiscovering new events and original scenarios while Crono and her friends reunite with those traveling companions in the face of new threats and, of course, a new adventure. A 100% original story, and 100% apocryphal.
A nivel visual, Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes It is a carbon copy of the Squaresoft game released in 1994. And development began in 2005. This is because basically, as the directors made clear, the characters and many of the original settings were reused. Being fully aware that They did not have the authorization of Square Enix. Something they made very clear when starting a new game.
Oh, great! Welcome to Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes! We want to take a minute from you to talk about the project. As soon as you save the game, this message will no longer appear.
This is a fan-made game and has no relation to Square Enix. In fact, both the characters and the worlds you will see are property of Square Enix. We have simply given them a new story as an interquel between Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross.
Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes was created by fans of the original game during their free time. What happens in it is not canon, nor is it intended to be. So we work with the canon of the other games in interesting ways. And, well, it’s not perfect. Don’t expect it to be another Chrono Trigger, okay?
We’ve all put a lot of work into this game, but no one has been paid for it. And, believe it or not, each of us has our own life. So if you’re playing you should have your own copy of [Chrono Trigger]. And if not…go and buy it right now!
Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes He contributed original ideas. From the outset, unlike other JRPGs and the original game, we found that the character of Crono had a voice within the game. That is, he responded and had his own dialogue instead of simply interacting and nodding from time to time when passing other characters. This is because Kajar Laboratories wanted its game to not have a single protagonist, but rather all the heroes could be one.
Regarding the dynamics of the combats, Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes It followed what was already seen in the original game and its Active Time Battle system. However, despite reusing many contents, new settings, characters, visual elements of all kinds and tons of dialogues were created that, added together, had to translate into nothing less than 35 hours of gameplay and up to ten different endings.
That was a big dream for any fan of Chrono Trigger. However, like Crono himself, sooner or later it’s time to wake up.
Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes, a lost timeline for a cult saga
You could say that Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes It was practically finished. At least 98% according to its creators. There were errors, but after more than four years of design and months of testing, a release date was even announced and scheduled like the great JRPGs: on May 31, 2009. That date will be called “The Month That Could Have Been).
On May 8, on the eve of the game’s release, Kajar Laboratories received a serious wake-up call: Square Enix asked everyone responsible for the project Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes to stop what they were doing with immediate effect through a desist order. If they continued, they faced charges of up to $150,000 per work according to Copyright law.
At Kajar Laboratories they knew that the Japanese were right. That, in the end, Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes and everything related to their project was still a colossal modification of the original game carried out without any type of permission from its legitimate owners and creators and, despite the fact that the notification reached them only three weeks before the launch, there was nothing to do .
Despite this, and given that the project was carried out by a team of volunteers working in a decentralized manner, versions still in development of the project appeared on the Internet. Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes. Something that was condemned by its creators and not only because of what was at stake, but also because the final state of the project was not reflected after a development that had cost them so much time and effort.
However, it is possible to find almost finished versions of Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes on YouTube, including its own account created expressly for the preservation of Kajar Laboratories’ work. For its part, many of the tributes from fans and much of the visual work done by Kajar Laboratories were shared en Chrono Compendium. Something that makes a lot of sense, given that that was where it all began.
What Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes Whether it was a worthy (although apocryphal) sequel to the original game is something that doesn’t make much sense to debate today. And it is not the only modified version that the game has received, despite being the largest and most ambitious of all to date. However, it is time to stay with the most essential: Chrono Trigger remains a timeless masterpieceand in the absence of an official sequel, it is time to relaunch the adventures of Crono, Marle and Lucca beyond PC and mobile phones on new systems. Or, at least, rescue it in the same places where Chrono Cross is played today.
All images are property of Square Enix / Bird Studio
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