Chrono series
The Chrono series is a video game franchise owned by Square Enix. It began in 1995 with the RPG Chrono Trigger, which spawned two continuations, Radical Dreamers and Chrono Cross. A promotional anime called Dimensional Adventure Numa Monjar and a port of Chrono Trigger for the Sony Playstation and Nintendo DS were also produced. As of March 31, 2003, Chrono Trigger was, with 2.65 million units, Square Enix's 12th best-selling game based on copies shipped; Chrono Cross was, with 1.5 million units, the 24th.
Music
- Main articles: Chrono Trigger Original Sound Version, The Brink of Time, and Chrono Cross Original Soundtrack
The music of the Chrono series was mainly composed by Yasunori Mitsuda. Chrono Trigger was the first for which he had served as composer. However, after Mitsuda contracted stomach ulcers, composer Nobuo Uematsu was brought onto the project to compose ten songs. At the time of the game's release, the quantity of its tracks and sound effects were unprecedented. Additionally, a one-disc acid jazz arrangement called The Brink of Time was also released. Mitsuda went on to compose the soundtrack for Radical Dreamers, which was never commercially released as an album.
In 1999, Yasunori Mitsuda, now a freelance composer, returned to score the soundtrack for Chrono Cross after being contacted by Masato Kato. Mitsuda decided to center his work around old world cultural influences. Xenogears contributor Tomohiko Kira played guitar on the beginning and ending themes. Noriko Mitose, as selected by Masato Kato, sang the ending song, "Radical Dreamers ~ Le Trésor Interdit". Certain songs were ported from the score of Radical Dreamers, while other entries in the soundtrack contain leitmotifs from both Chrono Trigger and Radical Dreamers.
In 2006, Yasunori Mitsuda arranged versions of music from the Chrono series for Play! video game music concerts, presenting the Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross main themes, as well as "Frog's Theme" and "To Far Away Times".
Games
There are currently three main games in the Chrono series.
Chrono Break
- Main article: Chrono Break
Other games
Additionally, three titles were released for the Satellaview in 1995. They were Chrono Trigger: Jet Bike Special, a racing game based on a minigame from the original, Chrono Trigger: Character Library, featuring profiles on characters and monsters from the game, and Chrono Trigger: Music Library, a collection of music from the game's soundtrack. The contents of Character Library and Music Library were later included as extras in the PlayStation rerelease of Chrono Trigger.
Dimensional Adventure Numa Monjar
- Main article: Dimensional Adventure Numa Monjar
Reception
The Chrono series has been very successful in game rankings and sales. Chrono Trigger sold more than 2.36 million copies in Japan and 290,000 abroad. The first two million copies sold in Japan were delivered in only two months. The game was met with substantial success upon release in North America, and its re-release on the PlayStation as part of the Final Fantasy Chronicles package topped the NPD TRSTS PlayStation sales charts for over six weeks.
Chrono Trigger has recently placed highly on all five of multimedia website IGN's "top 100 games of all time" lists—4th in 2002, 6th in early 2005, 13th in late 2005, 2nd in 2006, and 18th in 2007. GameSpot included Chrono Trigger in "The Greatest Games of All Time" list released in April 2006, and it also appeared as 28th on an "All Time Top 100" list in a poll conducted by Japanese magazine Famitsu.
The music of the series has been very highly regarded and enjoyed wide popularity. IGN commented that Chrono Trigger has "one of the best videogame soundtracks ever produced."
The DS version of Chrono Trigger was the 22nd best-selling game of Japan in 2008.