Characters (CTP)

General Information

Playable

Dispelling Rumors

There have been several claims of extra characters available in the Prerelease. None is true. There is no eighth character slot. Though Game Genie or PAR codes can manipulate the game into simulating one, it's simply pulling data from nowhere. Rumorists have also alleged that extra frames exist for certain characters (such as running animations). There are none to be found, even for Schala. View this comparison:

No NPC could be used as a playable character anyhow, as their graphics are compressed. Any game that requires lots readily-available graphics that need to be animated quickly cannot have these graphics compressed, or the game suffers severe lag as the CPU must decompress the graphics on the fly. This is why the sprite sets for Crono, Marle, Lucca, and the rest of the PCs are stored raw in the ROM. Schala, Toma, and Gaspar's graphics, however, are compressed and therefore wouldn't be suitable as a playable character.

The Overworld NPC

There is a strange sprite in the overworld sprite data.

It looks like a guard. JLukas analyzed this sprite and found that the game pulls it from NPC data, meaning it probably was a guard meant to block off a location. Apparently, the developers found a way to do it with landscape and scrapped the guard while implementing idle player character animations. Some may argue that this guard looks like the one from Final Fantasy 6, and that Chrono Trigger was built off that game's engine. However, the coding of each game is irreconciliably different.

Non-Playable

Gobb

Home Area: Gobb's house

"Gobb" is a character who has his own house. Unfortunately, the house, and apparently Gobb, were both taken out of the game before its final release. He may have simply been a Mystic who owned a house also taken out of the final release; see Medina Residence (CTP). Gobb also may simply be one of the helpful Imps who live in the house which contains a Gate in the cabinet.

Modern Little Girl

Species: Human
Home Time: 1000 A.D.
Home Area: Porre Mayor's Manor

This NPC sprite was apparently used before the final's Modern Little Girl sprite was developed. It can be found in the Porre Mayor's Manor.

Prehistoric Child

Species: Early Human
Home Time: 65000000 B.C.

This is the normal Prehistoric Child sprite with a palette swap.

Zeal Old Man

Species: Human
Home Time: 12000 B.C.
Home Area: Kajar, Zeal

This is the Zeal Old Man sprite with a palette swap; he appears in Kajar.

From: Chrono Trigger Prerelease
From: Characters (Chrono Trigger)