The Chrono Cross remaster is real and it's coming to the Nintendo Switch this April! There was a brand new Nintendo Direct on Wednesday in which Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition was announced for the Nintendo Switch officially. This isn't that surprising since rumors have been going around for months at this point. It's still nice to get some confirmation though, and seeing the game in action is a nostalgia trip! The game should come out on April 7th, so mark it on your calendars because we're headed back to 1999.
As I mentioned above Chrono Cross first came out in 1999 for the Playstation 1. That's what many consider the golden age of JRPG's. It's hard to fault them too since we saw releases like both Chrono games, Final Fantasy VII-IX, Xenogears... geez, there are honestly too many awesome JRPG's to list. What's funny about Chrono Cross is that Chrono Trigger came out for the Super Nintendo first. Or at least, that's how I recall it being. I could be wrong, though!
Here's the trailer!
Chrono Cross specifically is kind of insane though. It's about a 17-year-old boy named Serge who ends up in an alternate reality. In this new reality, he's dead, which is probably kind of a bummer. The game also has about 45 different characters you can recruit to your party. It's not as many as Suikoden 2, but it's definitely up there! The game, while many say is not as good as its predecessor, is still considered a masterpiece by many. A lot of people wanted it to be more like Chrono Trigger when it was first released. That's where a lot of the criticisms came from. Ever since the rumors started circulating online fans have been very vocal in their hopes of this remaster being a real thing.
So, you're probably wondering what makes this remaster so awesome? Well, there are a ton of quality of life improvements along with the visual upgrades. You can turn off random encounters, a feature that has become popular with modern JRPG's. The soundtrack has been reworked too. The game also features an addition that will be available for the first time ever in English. When Chrono Cross came out in Japan there was something called Radical Dreamers: Nusumenai Hōseki which was a companion to the main game. At least according to Kotaku. They say "Radical Dreamers was originally released in Japan for the Super Famicom’s Satellaview add-on, making this the first time it’s been officially playable in English.". I'd never heard of it until that article, so thanks for the heads up Kotaku!
I just hope this game doesn't suffer the same fate as some of the other Square-Enix remasters. The pixel remakes were good, so I believe in them! Don't let me down, Square!
Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition will be available on April 7th for the Nintendo Switch and Playstation 4!
