Found a way to acquire 40 team members in a single NG+ game without CC

[Fortranm]

It has to do with this glitch.
https://www.chronocompendium.com/Term/Glitches_(Chrono_Cross).html#Access_the_Hydra_Marshes_Early
Unlike what this page says, if you move fast enough, you can go behind the dwarf before he faints and blocks the way. However, you should wait till he says his line to exit the screen or he will block the path to the south when you come back and make you unable to leave the marsh.
Remember to recruit Poshul before you go to the marsh, or the game will be frozen when you try to jump off the tree after recruiting Raazzly, probably because that sequence needs three team members to be processed.
After you get into the place where Razzly is jailed, you won't see Serge and Poshul right away, possibly because the animation is screwed due to the fact there are only two members in the team. You will see Serge walking slowly out of the wall if you keep pressing DOWN.

[Fortranm]

Now you have recruited Razzly before you even enter AW! If you wanna get all 40 people mentioned in the title of this post, go fight Hydra.
After Kid fainted, choose not to help her. After you meet the priestess, go back to Kid's room. You see Gotcha walking toward the bed because the game thinks you just completed the Hydra quest. Remember to tell Kid to ask Mel for the elements, but don't actually do the quest now.
Talk to Matcha to leave the Guldove. You are now stuck with Serge(you can use Relief Charm to replace him with others in battle though), Kid, and Gotcha until the body swap. After you get the boat in AW again, go to Guldove to recruit Mel before Serge gets his body back.

Some notes for explanation:
1. The reason you meet the priestess before healing Kid is that the shrine will be blocked once you activate the Mel quest. Gotcha will leave the team after the Mel quest and there is no way to get him back. To keep Gotcha till the body swap, you have to make sure you are able to leave Guldove without finishing the Mel quest.
2. When you finish the Mel quest as Lynx, Gotcha doesn't leave the party because... well, he is not even in the party at this point. He will be back with all the other pre-swap members after Serge regain his form because he is in the party before the swap.
3. You can't get Razzly's personal weapon and LV7 tech because she is in the team during the Hydra fight for sure.
4. The only four members you can't get are two of the minor guides, Doc, and Harle. There seems to be absolutely no way to recruit Doc if you fight Hydra, and you can't keep Harle without Crono Cross.
Keep in mind that this routine is only possible in a NG+ since you can't get to the marsh earlier than when you are meant to in a normal play. Therefore, this discover is probably not very meaningful because you can use Crono Cross to get team members from your previous plays anyway.