Size of Chrono Trigger

[Nangbaby]

This may not be one of the best questions, but I'm going to ask it anyway.  I've noticed that people claim that Chrono Trigger is the biggest SNES RPG, referring specifically to its size.  What precisely is meant by this?  Furthermore, specifically what aspects of the game make it so big?  Is it the number of Techs and combinations, the sprite animations, the number of freely explorable eras, the number and size of dungeons, or the battle system itself and enemy placement?

[Mr Bekkler]

I believe it refers to the amount of data that could fit on an snes cartridge. As for what took up so much space, idunna. Anybody who worked on TF back in the "before time"  may be able to tell you.

[ONSLAUGHT]

Well, the graphics are probably the best on SNES for one. The worlds are massive, many abilities, you listed a lot of them. Everything added up it is the biggest.

Or the people might just mean that it's the best one they've played since most people agree it's the best RPG on the system and possibly of all time(my opinion certainly).

[FaustWolf]

The ROM size was 32...was it Megabits or Megabytes? I'm horrible at this. Compressed, though, the data weighs in at around 4MB, so maybe I'm looking for the Mega"bits" term after all.

[tripehound]

8 bits to a byte.

32 / 8 = 4

Yeah, I'd go with bits. 

[Lakonthegreat]

As for the graphics, good. But they definitely weren't the BEST the system had to offer. Limited MODE7 animations in the game really set it behind other games like Terranigma that used it almost the whole game. Also, imagine what Chrono Trigger would have looked like with some Super FX support, huh? But they couldn't do that due to the battery RAM save feature that took up a lot of cartridge space back then.

[ONSLAUGHT]

Crono DOES have the best graphics!

SHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUPSHUTUP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[V_Translanka]

idk how big of a deal it was or if it contributed largely, but there was a lot of dialog with many alternative text for specific characters (some dependent upon party formation even)...I think it only hit the 32 bit size limit with the English version, anyway...Or maybe not and that's part of why the English version's script got torn to hell...

[GenesisOne]

So, which version of the English script was more true to the original Japanese Script:

The SNES release or DS release?

[V_Translanka]

The DS, obviously...but the Compendium, really.

[Lakonthegreat]

So, which version of the English script was more true to the original Japanese Script:

The SNES release or DS release?

Well the DS version did get rid of a lot of the common "Woolsey-isms", however I still believe that neither of them really convey some of the same feelings as the Japanese script does. Parts of their language just don't make the transfer to English well, any way you slice it.

[MDenham]

I believe it refers to the amount of data that could fit on an snes cartridge. As for what took up so much space, idunna. Anybody who worked on TF back in the "before time"  may be able to tell you.

The first Star Ocean and Tales of Phantasia both use a 48MBit cartridge (and Star Ocean still has to compress stuff quite a bit to fit into that).

But yeah, it's definitely up near the top end of cartridge size.

[ZaichikArky]

Interesting. Though, I also agree that CT didn't live up to the potential of SNES graphics, however it did do a good job : ). I dunno which games had better graphics. I think the Donkey Kong Country series looked very nice(probably my personal choice. The underwater levels just look stunning) . As did Tales of Phantasia. Also, for different reasons, the fake 3d in Super Mario RPG was pretty awesome too.

[Nangbaby]

It's a little late, but thanks for the replies.  It's a testament to the game's uniqueness that you can't point out one specific thing which makes it so large, but all of the wonderful parts put together seamlessly make playing it such an innovative and irreplaceable experience.