It was revealed during the February 2022 Nintendo Direct that new iterations of Chrono Cross and Radical Dreamers?
Chrono Cross and Radical Dreamers are both the sequel to Chrono Trigger. Radical Dreamers was a loose sequel to Chrono Trigger and there were only a few elements tying the two games together. The creator of Radical Dreamers wanted to remake the game on the PS1, especially following the JRPG boom brought about by FF7. Instead, the story of Radical Dreamers was remade into Chrono Cross, which is a far more ambitious game. Chrono Cross is considered to be a polarizing game by many people, more so for its connection to Chrono Trigger than for its gameplay. The treatment of the cast of Chrono Trigger in Chrono Cross has been criticized by many fans over the years, which isn't helped by Chrono Cross having a complicated and confusing storyline of its own.
The recent Chrono Cross crossover with Another Eden led fans to believe that a remaster was in the cards. Square Enix has been remastering a number of its old games in recent years, with the Final Fantasy Pixel Remasters, the SaGa games, and the Mana games being reborn on modern systems. The February 2022 Nintendo Direct was filled with these remasters and remakes, as Live A Live and the first two Front Mission games are being released on modern systems. Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition is bringing Chrono Cross and Radical Dreamers to Switch in April, and Square Enix has included improvements that will make the games more palatable on modern displays.
Chrono Cross Remaster Brings Radical Dreamers Worldwide
The main reason why Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition is so important is that there are few ways to play Chrono Cross. There's the original version of the game that was released in '99 for the original PlayStation, but that also requires an original PlayStation and a compatible TV. The most contemporary method for playing Chrono Cross is by purchasing it on the PlayStation Network, but it only runs on PS3 and PS Vita. The gradual closure of the PS3/Vita PlayStation stores means that this option will eventually close for new buyers. These methods also don't work in Europe, as Chrono Cross was never released there. Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition will allow people to play the game on modern platforms, without needing to jump through hoops.
The situation is even direr with Radical Dreamers, as it was never officially released outside of Japan. Radical Dreamers was released for a Japan-exclusive SNES add-on, called the Satellaview. The Satellaview allowed people to games onto blank cartridges through a satellite link. The Radical Dreamers cartridges are incredibly rare and expensive. The easiest way to play the game is through an English fan patch that has been available for years, though this involves illegally ing the game. Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition will give people outside of Japan their first legal and official avenue for experiencing the game. This also raises hope that more Satellaview games could be localized in the future.
Chrono Cross: Radical Dreamers Edition Improvements
The biggest update to Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition is in the visual department. Like FF8 Remastered, Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition will have updated models that will look better in HD. There are new character portraits created by Nobuteru Yuuki that can be used, as these appear in the dialogue box whenever a character talks. There is also now an HD font for the text.
A background filter smooths out the backgrounds in the game. The player is also free to switch off these enhancements and play the game in its original form. Square Enix has confirmed that these options aren't mix and match, which means people can only play using all enhancements, or none at all. The game is old enough that Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition on Switch should run as well as on other platforms.
One of the most exciting new features in Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition is that the soundtrack has been refined by composer Yasunori Mitsuda, who has been brought back to work on the game. Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition will also feature different language options for French, Italian, German, and Spanish, as well as English and Japanese. Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition has some QoL features. Like the remastered Final Fantasy games on modern platforms, Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition lets the player switch enemy encounters off. There is also a "battle enhancement" feature, which will likely make the combat a lot easier.
It doesn't appear as if Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition will have any new content unless Radical Dreamers is counted. A game like SaGa Frontier Remastered had lots of cut content to draw on, but Chrono Cross doesn't. A new superboss or more scenes connecting Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition to Chrono Trigger would be welcome, but it's unclear if the game will have anything like that at launch.
Radical Dreamers Features In Chrono Cross Remaster
Not much is known about the new features in the Radical Dreamers portion of Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition. The screenshots released by Square Enix show the game looking the same as it did on the Satellaview, with everything letter-boxed to fit a wider screen. The main addition to the game is the English text.
Like Chrono Cross, Radical Dreamers should have French, German, Italian, and Spanish translations, exposing it to a much wider audience than ever before. Radical Dreamers is closer to being a visual novel than a JRPG, so it's possible it might receive some QoL features, like a compendium revealing all of the routes to the endings, but a feature like this has yet to be confirmed. It's just exciting to think that Radical Dreamers will finally be localized after all of these years.
Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition will be released for Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, and Xbox One on April 7, 2022.
