Chrono Trigger DS

Welcome to the Chrono Trigger DS preview page! Here, we'll post screenshots and other information pertaining to Chrono Trigger's port to the DS. Chrono Trigger DS is a chance to show a ton of support for the Chrono franchise, and that Square is putting it out demonstrates that the franchise has not been relegated to the dust bin. If there are enough sales, it's possible Square will have the incentive to even produce a new Chrono game. Square also apparently felt that Chrono Trigger would sell better on the DS than on the Virtual Console, and this is a good thing as far as the franchise goes. Support it; buy it; convince your friends to buy it. Not only will we show support for the Chrono series, but we'll also help create a new generation of fans.

News

July 1-2 - Teaser Site and Press Release

On July 1, 2008, someone at 2chan uploaded a scan from a Japanese video game announcing Chrono Trigger DS. That night, people discovered http://www.square-enix.co.jp/ctds/ and its American counterpart, http://na.square-enix.com/ctds/. These websites, with the title COUNTDOWN SITE, depicted a clock synchronized to the viewer's computer time and the ticking sound from A Premonition, the pre-title screen track to Chrono Trigger. Square Enix's Japanese news feed also touted the date July 7. On July 2, a press release appeared on Yahoo Business confirming several things.

A holiday release for Japan and North America
Touch-Screen functionality
"Wireless Play mode"
Dual screen presentation
A new dungeon

On July 4, a countdown to July 7 was added to the sites.

July 7 - Trailer Debut

At the break of July 7 in Japan, chronotrigger.jp launched with a trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2Au0Vmu8yg

Here's a translation of the trailer and the information card displayed at the end, thanks to Ichiro78:

~

After 13 years have passed...

..."time" once again is set in motion.

CHRONO

MARL

LUCCA

To the unforgettable past...

KAERU (Frog)

EIRA (Ayla)

... the distant future...

ROBO

...and finally, the end of all time.

The curtain opens for a great adventure to save the planet's life, passing time and space again and again.

2008.Winter

After 13 years have passed "time" once again is set in motion. The decade-surpassing, everlasting classic "Chrono Trigger" finally comes to the Nintendo DS!

This is a perfect port of the 1995 Super Famicom exclusive title "Chrono Trigger". It will go on sale in winter 2008 using the hardware's double screens and featuring a new system, as well as new, fun elements.

CHRONO TRIGGER

System: Nintendo DS
Genre: RPG
Players: 1 (1-4)
Release date: Winter 2008
Price: Not yet fixed
CERO age rating: Inspection pending

July 9 - Weekly Famitsu Coverage

On July 9, four new magazine scans appeared, with the last seeming to have some kind of mini-interview with Yasunori Mitsuda. The scans confirmed that

Mitsuda is on board to keep the music close to the SNES aesthetic
The battle menu may have been moved to the bottom DS screen with a green and blue HP and MP bar beneath each character on the top screen

1UP.com translated Mitsuda's interview; here are his remarks:

"When I first heard about this, my first response was 'Finally!'," he says. "That's partly because it was my debut work, but it's still a very deep, very high-quality game even when you play it today. I'm very interested in seeing what kids today think about it when they play it, so from that perspective, it was a very happy piece of news."

"I couldn't even count all the memories it brings up. I was in a slump because I couldn't compose anything, I was going to the hospital regularly for stomach ulcers while I worked, I had a hard-drive crash and lost nearly 40 in-progress tracks...great, I guess I'm only remembering the negative things! But when the entire staff gathered around to watch the ending, I wound up crying anyway (a lot of other staffers were just as deeply moved). I think all of us put a lot of our emotion into the game."

"I think a lot of [Famitsu] readers were hoping for a Chrono Trigger port, and now we're finally making that wish come true. I had the music for the Nintendo DS version stay as close as possible to the SNES original, so I think you'll like how it turns out. Whether you're playing for the first time or reflecting on the past as you go, I hope all of you enjoy it."

The same day, RPGamer confirmed here that CT DS would be playable at E3.

July 15 - E3 Preview

From E3 and reports 1 and 2, we learned:

A new translation has been done
The first bar is for HP, and the second for ATB
The bottom screen will have status, items, a bestiary, and a map, including maps for dungeons that light up as they are explored
The game is flawlessly done compared to the PSX emulation
The PSX cut scenes will appear
A single-screen version will be available for purists

August 6 - European Release

A press release debuted on August 6 declaring that Chrono Trigger would be released in Europe in early 2009. Find it here.

August 18 - US Release Date: November 25

A new press release revealed several things on August 18:

US release is November 25th
"Wireless play mode" is now "Arena Mode"
More than one bonus dungeon will be included

August 21 - Japanese Site Updated

The Japanese site updated today. Click on characters, and check out Crono, Marle, and Lucca's movies to hear how CT music will sound on the DS.

August 22 - Box Art and Rating Information Revealed

Square Enix members debuted the box art to celebrate Chrono Trigger's 13th US birthday.

Box Art

Gamestop also put out rating information:

Chrono Trigger Rated E10+ for Animated Blood, Mild Violence, Suggestive Themes, and Use of Alcohol.

November 18th - Game Leaked

CTDS was leaked across the internet, apparently due to being sold early in Hong Kong. The leaked rom has since been played and revealed to have copyright protection that prevents the player from progressing past the Millennial Fair warp, as well as the Cathedral in 600 AD. Hackers made patches for both of these shortly after the game's release, and in the following few hours, a full patch was completed allowing the rom to be played the full way through, defeating the copyright measures.

Touch/dual screen controls can be turned off, as well as movies.
The 5 character limit is still there. This is easily explained by the fact that in most Japanese RPGs, five is the limit because Japanese names will usually not extend past this amount in characters. The US version will likely expand the character limit.
Japanese version can switch between Japanese and English in the configuration. The game runs off of English if your DS runs in that.
"Crono, are you still sleeping?"

Funny how the "Good morning, Crono!" line isn't in it, considering the www.goodmorningcrono.com marketing.

Touching the screen when in front of an object/character interacts with them, e.g. Crono closes the curtains.

'Settings' has lots of new options, divided into pages.

Game Mode - Switch between DS and Classic (toggles screen layout).
Battle Mode - Active and Wait.
Battle Speed - 1-8, same as before.
Battle Message Speed - 1-8, same as before.
Battle Cursor Memory - Set cursor memory level (Full, Actions, Commands, Off).
Status Bars - On or Off.
Battle Gauges - Same as before ("Cannot be used in DS Mode.").
Help Messages - Same as before? ("Cannot be used in DS Mode.").
Control Scheme - Edit the controls for A, B, X, Y.
Movement - Walk or Run.
Shortcut Assignments - "Via this screen, you can arrange the icons that are shown at the bottom of the screen as you wander about the world." Allows you quick access to different parts of the menu. Very neat!
Menu Cursor Memory - On or Off. 'Toggle cursor position memory.' Same as before.
Movies - On or Off. SNES purists rejoice!
Window Design - Nothing new here.
Language - JPN or ENG.

Mayor's Manor contains a document on a bed upstairs and new NPCs that tell you about DS and Classic modes.
Upon saving the Arena mode became available. From the title menu, I think.
Mentioned elsewhere but Tabs are now 'Capsules'. E.g. 'Strength Capsule'. Most item names are changed to reflect the Japanese original.
The kid in the fair refers to Magus as the 'Fiendlord'. Mystics are now 'Fiends'.

November 19th - More information, Arena and Extras

Some stuff from my (Pyt Fumv) edits to the Wikipedia article:

Chrono Trigger DS contains a series of new features; among these are:

The anime opening from the PSX version of the game plays when the game is loaded; this can be skipped by touching the bottom screen.
The game can be played in either of two modes - 'DS Mode' and 'Classic Mode'. DS Mode allows for dual screen and touch screen gameplay (although the directional pad and buttons can still be used instead), while Classic Mode allows the game to be played in the style of the original SNES version. This setting is chosen at the beginning of a new game and can be altered later in the menu's settings.
The game's settings have been expanded to allow for choosing between 'Walk' and 'Run' as an example, as well as containing several options exclusive to both DS and Classic modes.
The game contains several new dungeons, including 'Dragon's Sanctuary' and 'Lost Sanctum'.
Upon completion of the game, a new ending referred to as the 'Dimensional Distortion' is unlocked. This is supposedly an entirely new dungeon that contains a new final boss.
The anime sequences return from the PSX version (note that the load times are gone). These can be switched off in the settings.
The Japanese version of the game includes the English script as a selectable option in the settings. The game will automatically start in English if the DS console is set to that language. Note that no languages besides Japanese and English are included.
The element 'Lightning' has become 'Light', to reflect the original name 'Heaven'.
Party members' elements are now displayed with nameless icons (e.g. Water has a blue droplet) on the menu screen rather than an image with the element's name on it.
Item name changes have been made to reflect the original Japanese version of Chrono Trigger - e.g. 'Tonic' has become 'Potion', and the various stat-enhancing 'Tab' items of the game have become 'Capsule' items (for example, 'Strength Capsule').
The game's sprites and music have been noticably improved, although not vastly changed from the original. In some instances, different (albeit not new) sprite animations are used. An example of this is Robo and Frog's stances when entering a Gate.
The character Magus, originally referred to as a 'dark wizard', is now referred to as the 'Fiendlord'; the race of creatures known as Mystics are now known as Fiends.
The 'Arena' and 'Extras' features become unlocked upon saving the game once. These are accessed from the title screen.
Johnny is referred to as 'Bro' instead of 'The Man'. The jetbike race with him also seems to have taken a graphical improvement.

Arena
The Arena feature included in the DS port of the game is unlocked upon saving the game; it is accessed from the title screen menu. The location uses the Factory theme from 2300 AD as its music. Once the player enters, a man will greet them and explain that this 'Arena of the Ages' allows you to raise creatures that each correspond to one of the game's four elements (Light, Fire, Water, Shadow). After the man offers an explanation, the player is given a choice between four default basic creatures called 'Smidges'; each of them possess one of the four elements. The player can send their creature to any of the periods in time that they have visited for training; this will alter the creature's growth. Items can be bought from a Nu merchant in the Arena that enhance the training or battling aspects of a creature, as such unique items for each element exist. The player can also battle their creature against NPC character creatures.

Extras
The 'Extras' option appears on the title screen after saving the game once. It contains six accessible options and two hidden ones: