Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes was a fan-made ROM modification for the widely-acclaimed SNES RPG Chrono Trigger. I say “was” because Square Enix have sent the fans a Cease-and-Desist letter, letting them know that if the project is released, there will be a lawsuit. The mod “featured ~35 hours of game play, 10 multiple endings, and 23 chapters, much like the original Chrono Trigger; it was around 98% complete.” As ZeaLitY says, the game was made only out of the goodness of fan’s hearts and certainly not for profit. The video above is the trailer for the game, made this year.

I must say that I feel this is a bad show on the part of Square Enix. This was a fan-made mod, with no intent for profit, and people had spent countless hours of their lives in the process of making this game. What harm can a mod like this do? Surely it can only provide free advertisement for their game. My consolations to the fans who put all this work into the game only to have it completely trashed.

YouTube user “TheRealPfhreak” has a girlfriend he loves with all his heart. Naturally, he decided he wanted to make her a keeper. When he decided he’d like to seal the deal, his girlfriend was in the process of a good ol’  Chrono Trigger playthrough. It all made sense. In an effort to create a unique proposal, he decided to meld his innate nerdery with what he’s learned from his Computer Science degree.In proposing to her through a SNES rom hack, he had three main goals:

First. Keep the area in the context of the original game, the proposal should be a surprise.

Second. Get it done quick! I had the ring, I had the Father’s blessing, and you can’t sit on either of those for too long. You’ll notice some of the NPC collision information is missing (the cat runs through a lot of weird places) and I didn’t have time to properly debug every tile.

Third. Place memories that might be poignant enough to remind her of our relationship, while not inadvertently giving away that this was somehow hacked.(See goal #1.)

According to TheRealPfhreak, his girlfriend was amazed by the amount of coincidences throughout the level. Every character was either him or her at one point or another in their relationship. Apparently, she fell for it, hard. Hard enough to say “yes!” After seeing her name on the screen, she glanced over and saw him bent down on one knee holding a ring. She exclaimed, “You are such a huge nerd! I love this!” and nodded. Another happy ending.

Way to go, dude! Best wishes Mr. & Mrs. RealPfhreak!

First, the title screen from Commando.

Now check out this Gundam clip. The track is the same as the one used in Commando.

Finally, here’s Chrono Trigger – the game over screen from Commando is the exact same song.

Source: NeoGAF 

Retro enthusiasts and JRPG lovers alike will be pleased to know that in a press release issued today, Square Enix revealed that the DS remake of Chrono Trigger will be hitting stateside on November 25th, 2008.

Complete with the DS’s touchscreen functionality, Chrono Trigger DS will feature brand new dungeons and arenas that weren’t in the 1995 classic. Hit the jump for Square Enix’s full press release.

CHRONO TRIGGER COMES TO NINTENDO DS ON NOVEMBER 25, 2008
One of the Greatest RPGs of All Time Returns This Holiday Season
Los Angeles (August 18, 2008)

Square Enix, Inc., the publisher of Square Enix® interactive entertainment products in North America, announced today that its highly anticipated Nintendo DS™ title CHRONO TRIGGER® will ship to North American retailers on November 25, 2008. A groundbreaking RPG that became an instant classic, CHRONO TRIGGER is set to be one of the most compelling handheld titles available this holiday season.

Remastered exclusively for Nintendo DS, this newly enhanced edition maintains all of the game’s original elements and spirit while introducing portability, dual-screen presentation and Touch Screen functionality.

Originally released in 1995 on the Super NES® and subsequently shipping more than 2.5 million copies worldwide, CHRONO TRIGGER is critically acclaimed as one of the greatest video games of all time. Praise continued to be showered upon the title at last month’s E3 2008 Media and Business Summit, with CHRONO TRIGGER receiving accolades including “Best RPG” and “Best DS Game.”

Players can look forward to a reunion with CHRONO TRIGGER’s multifaceted storyline, memorable soundtrack and exhilarating gameplay this November.

STORY

When a newly developed teleportation device malfunctions at the Millennial Fair, young Crono must travel through time to rescue his misfortunate companion from an intricate web of past and present perils. The swashbuckling adventure that ensues soon unveils an evil force set to destroy the world, triggering Crono’s race against time to change the course of history and bring about a brighter future.

FEATURES

# A masterpiece with an engaging and unparalleled storyline, leading to the discovery of multiple epic conclusions to a journey that transcends time
# An inspiring musical score created by Yasunori Mitsuda
# Intriguing battle system made possible by the unique combination of the Active Time Battle system and Tech skills
# Famed character designer Akira Toriyama lends his signature art style to create the vibrant world that has captivated gamers around the world
# Taking advantage of the Nintendo DS hardware, CHRONO TRIGGER makes its way onto the portable platform with all-new dual-screen presentation and Touch Screen functionality
# Brand-new dungeons and an Arena mode add exciting new dimensions to this timeless classic

CHRONO TRIGGER is rated E10+ (Everyone 10 and older). Please visit the Entertainment Software Rating Board website at www.esrb.org for more information about ratings. The official website can be found at http://na.square-enix.com/ctds.

About Square Enix Co., Ltd. and Square Enix, Inc.

Square Enix Co., Ltd. (Square Enix), with headquarters in Tokyo, Japan, develops, publishes and distributes entertainment content including interactive entertainment software and publications in Asia, North America and Europe. Square Enix brings two of Japan’s best-selling franchises – FINAL FANTASY®, which has sold over 85 million units worldwide, and DRAGON QUEST®, which has sold over 45 million units worldwide – under one roof. Square Enix is one of the most influential providers of digital entertainment content in the world and continues to push the boundaries of creativity and innovation.

Square Enix, Inc. is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Square Enix Co., Ltd. with offices in Los Angeles, California. It handles operations in North America, including development, localization, marketing and publishing of Square Enix titles. More information on Square Enix can be found on the Internet at http://www.square-enix.com

CHRONO TRIGGER, DRAGON QUEST, FINAL FANTASY, SQUARE ENIX and the SQUARE ENIX logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Square Enix Co., Ltd. in the United States and/or other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. Nintendo DS and Super NES are trademarks of Nintendo.

Reports have surfaced that the SNES critic/fan-favorite RPG Chrono Trigger may be making its way to Nintendo’s ever-successful DS by Winter in ‘enhanced’ form. Just how enhanced, altered, or improved it may be, is still undetermined has been detailed here. As of now, all we have is a scan from the Japanese Jump magazine.

Honestly, I am finding myself thoroughly confused. This makes entirely too much sense – it has near unanimous praise and it sells moderately well? Square-Enix wouldn’t do this. Wouldn’t they rather shit out the eighth version of Final Fantasy II?

And with the state of Photoshop and the internet, who’s to say that this isn’t a cruel hoax formulated by one unbelievably mean-spirited individual whom deserves to burn in the deepest darkest depths of hell? Ahem. Although unsubstantiated, I’m holding out hope for whatever foolish reasons. I’m just setting myself up for heartache, aren’t I?

UPDATE (on an update): Rumor no more. Destructoid points us to the official website, where we all just fall on the floor in happiness. I just want to leave my laptop ticking till it comes out…

Source: Destructoid

One of the flat-out coolest endeavours I’ve seen in awhile comes from “hattoriyaro,” who’s using a specialized program to turn the individual notes of MIDI music into complex animations. Among his creations are several dedicated to classic video games from Megaman 2 to *ahem* “cult classic” Cheetahmen. Hit the jump for videos and more information on how it’s done.

Looking not unlike some crazy Beatmania video, Hattoriyaro’s creations seem to be inspired by the way that we “see” music. Not merely flashy background animations, but the kinds of patterns that emerge as a waterfall of notes cascades from the top to bottom of your screen (as shown above), or when a series of explosions look more like an elaborate bed of flowers in Every Extend Extra.

Combining that principal (and some creativity) with a freeware program called The Music Animation Machine (which represents music in terms of colored bars as opposed to traditional notes on a scale) results in the following:

Dr. Mario
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Mega Man 2 Dr. Wiley Stage
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and my personal favorite…

Chrono Trigger
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You can check out several more of these game-inspired videos on Hattoriyaro’s Youtube page, and there are many from other musical genres located at the MAM site linked above. The actual representations may vary in complexity, but even the most abstract moments carry with them a subtle beauty any nostalgic gamer can appreciate.

Some developers draw inspiration from a particular genre. Electronic Arts built up some of the most successful franchises in the sports world, Id Software concentrated mainly on first person shooters like DOOM and Wolfenstein, and Lucasarts grew its fan base by creating excellent adventure games. Square Enix falls into this category as well. Their area of expertise is the RPG.

As many already know, Square and Enix started their relationship under very different circumstances than today. They were originally rivals in Japan, vying for the attention of RPG consumers in a very competitive market.

Enix made its big splash with the Dragon Quest series (known as Dragon Warrior to Western audiences). The NES game would introduce many characters, weapons, and plot lines that still appear in the series today. It turned out to be hugely successful for Enix and gave them a foothold in the Japanese role-playing game market.

What’s interesting is that Enix didn’t actually develop these games themselves. The creation process of the first five Dragon Quest games was handled by a company known as Chunsoft. Enix would merely act as publisher and maintain the copyrights.

Square, on the other hand, was a publisher. During the company’s toddler years there was the danger of having to declare bankruptcy due to some unsuccessful early releases. This impending doom led Hironobu Sakaguchi to name their last entry into the gaming industry Final Fantasy, a name that was selected to signify the company’s inevitable demise. However, the game proved to be successful, and Square was saved from the chopping block.

Many consider Final Fantasy to be the pinnacle of any role-playing series available. Fans of the FF releases could debate for hours which game has the best story line, most useless power-up, or most annoying character. Final Fantasy is one of the most loved franchises in the history of videogames and it continues to grow to this day.

Genre lines have been crossed, movies have been made, and figurines have been manufactured. Final Fantasy has gone from a last attempt at success to a household name. And through the years, the talented people at Square have been there to steer their ship into areas of new discovery.

Games like Secret of Mana, Chrono Trigger, Front Mission and Kingdom Hearts pushed role-playing genre into new territory, while Final Fantasy kept sailing on with new plot situations, battle systems, and characters. But that’s not to say that Square always had to stay within the RPG genre. The company had great success with the car racing classic Rad Racer on the Nintendo Entertainment System. They also made a nice addition to the survival horror genre with the Parasite Eve games on the Sony Playstation. But for the most part, Square has continued to create what comes naturally to them– RPGs.

On April Fools Day in 2003, Square and Enix made one of the biggest mergers in video game history. The two rivals would shake hands (or bow, actually) and continue their monopolizing of the JRPG market as an unstoppable duo. The absorption of Square by Enix would bring together two of the most influential companies in gaming history, and fuse two of the most well-loved and respected catalogs by any company found in Japan or abroad.

What the future holds is yet to be seen. But if the past is any judge, these fantasies aren’t showing any signs of finality.

Must Haves:
Final Fantasy III (SNES),
Final Fantasy VII (PS),
Secret of Mana (SNES),
Dragon Quest IV (NES)

Have Nots:
Chocobo Racing (PS)

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