Welcome to the
SPRINGTIME OF YOUTH ultra April update! So much is going on, it's
mind-blowing. The Chrono community has awakened from its sleep, and in the space of one month so many things have happened this update is probably going to stretch halfway down the news and update page. We'd better get started. Firstly,
Takashi Tokita speaks to Nintendo Power! He was one of the chief directors for Chrono Trigger, and here he talks about a Chrono sequel. Many thanks for bringing this to my attention.
Nintendo Power: You co-directed Chrono Trigger, which is very highly regarded in America. Would you have any interest in revisiting that franchise? Is a DS remake a possibility?
Tokita: Chrono Trigger was a no-holds-barred, swashbuckling adventure that was a lot of fun to work on. Akira Toriyama's characters were great - very energetic and appealing. If the demand is great enough, it's certainly possible. But as a creator, I feel the need to create new titles and not just series installments and remakes. I realize that it's a little strange for me to be saying that in an interview about Final Fantasy IV [laughs]. But I need to remind myself of that too.
Clovis15 has released
Chrono Trigger Unglued episode 16, written with the help of Cryo (who disappeared again). He warns that trying to skip to the secret scene will come with a price now. The movie will tell you if you've unlocked the secret scene, and the main narrative covers what happened those three days Crono spent in jail. Watch it at
Newgrounds or at
CTU headquarters, and give feedback
here.
DoctorL has completed a "re-retranslation" of the KWhazit / Chrono Compendium retranslation aiming to improve readability, since the latter was geared to be a more literal canonical bible. It's hot off the press, as he began working on it for three months in January 2008 and released only a few days ago. His remarks: "I aimed not so much for a literal translation, but localization, clear and easily understood text, and the inclusion of any missing elements left out from the US version due to Nintendo’s censorship policy from back in the day...Perfection is an ongoing struggle. If you find any text related error, make certain you are using the latest version of the patch. If you are, please feel free to email me letting me know about it." Notes about other changes and the development process can be found in his submission thread, which you can also use for feedback. Just check out the links below and congratulate him for adding to the fan world of Chrono Trigger!
[ DoctorL's Retranslation -
ZIP -
7ZIP -
Feedback Thread ]
Rounding up Chrono Trigger news now!
[1] Mark your calendars; Chrono Trigger hits Wikipedia's main page on April 10th. Stop by that day and help revert vandalism!
[2] Readers of Dengeki Online in Japan recently voted Chrono Trigger the 8th best game ever made. Find the full list
here.
[3] Armake21 reported on Youtube his receiving an unlabeled Chrono Trigger disc with his purchase of Final Fantasy Chronicles. He actually added it last year around this time, but it's just now come to our attention. Check it out
here.
[4] I've finally added RICK'S ENTITIE EXPLANATION ROFL to the Features listing. Check it out
here.
[5] Someone submitted this site, named
Let's Play Chrono Trigger, for perusal. It's now got a permanent spot on the links page; thanks!
[6] An interview and demo release from Chrono Trigger + is forthcoming. Get ready!
See that guy above? His name is Magil, and he'd like to make an appearance in Chrono Cross. Well, FaustWolf and a crack team of contributors in Kajar Laboratories have made it possible to play as Magil in appearance by changing his skin, eye color, and weapon wielded (it's Lynx's scythe now) through a simple patch. But I'll let the Guru of Time himself explain: The CC Magil Patch is a lightning-developed hack that literally came out of the blue in early March. FaustWolf suggested that we "give Guile a scythe" and suddenly BROJ, maggiekarp, and Thorn submitted recolored artwork for Guile's model textures and various portraits. Then, sha-ZAM, this patch took form, just like that. DarkSerge and The Gundanium Alchemist served as bugtesters and Gemini provided the technical advice necessary to make this a truly polished hack. DOWNLOAD THE PATCH
HERE. Read the readme, because patching is a little tricky! Now for some background information:
In its current state, the "CC Magil Patch" only alters Guile superficially so that he resembles Magil from Radical Dreamers. Making Guile resemble Magus - pointy ears and all - hinges on further development of the Chrono Cross Model Project. Inspired by the Springtime of Youth, FaustWolf experimented with dialogue editing and produced a short film to show off what is currently possible in regards to Chrono Cross editing. See its segments at the following Youtube links [
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JB4JGr353wU -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NezPDndMyHA -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0Js-n2VomM ]
Provided that certain obstacles are overcome, the Magil Patch team hopes to expand this hack over the coming years to produce a whole new dimension for Chrono Cross fans to enjoy; already, the team has begun producing portraits for previously-inaccessible party members, and the future Magus edition patch will feature a maskless Magus thanks to BROJ's artistic talents. Who knows what the future may hold? To find out, and perhaps join the team or otherwise offer advice if you've got some spare time, check
this thread.
Let's get to other hack or fan-game news!
[1] The bulk of coding for
Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes is FINISHED. Thank jsondag2 when you get the chance. There's still a lot of work to be done, but the frame is now there to be fleshed out. The project needs a sprite editor! Apply
here.
[2] darklink898 recently posted a gameplay video of his work-in-progress Super Mario World hack, "Ayla's Quest". It features Ayla scampering around places created with Chrono Trigger graphics. Watch it
here.
[3] Ahruon and Specter stopped by to talk about "Card Sagas Wars", a fan project involving dueling cards with characters from several franchises. Crono will be a playable character in this game, and other characters will make an appearance in his fights as allies. Check out the characters from Chrono in so far by clicking
here.
[4] Anacalius has named his project to give Crono dialogue and Trigger a little more depth: "Chrono Trigger Re-Amped". Inquire about it in the new fan project forum of the same name
here.
[5] Inspired by Lenophis's Pandora's Box hack, which now will allow font selection for Final Fantasy VI, Vehek successfully tested a font switcher for Chrono Trigger using two fonts. It replaces the window style functionality (like, it doesn't add a new part of the menu or anything yet). It's a good technical demo, and if you want to try it, click
here or watch this:
Time for music news!
[1] An artist named The Specialist is remixing Chrono Trigger songs to Jay-Z's vocals from
American Gangster to make a collection called "Chronological Gangster". He's put up a trailer at Youtube
here and has put up a preview song sing Chrono Cross's burning orphanage music on his Myspace, found
here. Can't wait to see more!
[2] Two guys named Mitch Regis and Gord Hagen (sounds like the second coming of a Hall & Oates, eh) recently performed "Radical Dreamers" for their school talent show. If seeing the Chrono series out in the open and getting represented musically makes you warm up inside, then turn on the heat by going
here and watching the performance. Many thanks to you guys for the song; give feedback
here.
[3] tssf, musician for Chrono Trigger Resurrection, recently updated his Lavos's Theme + Zeromus's Theme song on Youtube to prove that he created it. Check it out
here.
Time for the fan art and fiction roundup.
[1] On suggestion of Rushingwind, I've added a piece called
Forever Zero FlyingArrow by Echo the Insane to the fan fiction section. It's a short piece about Serge. Find it
here.
[2] Fan art time! First is EdwardTiv's Black Tyrano battle painting. It's pretty cool and even features the CT menu; check it out
here. BlackArts at the Crisis forums drew Crono in the style that our "beloved" Tetsuya Nomura might; check it out
here. Also from the Crisis forums come these humorous Lavos images - [
Deltona WTF -
Lavos UK -
Lavos World Tour -
Polaroid Lavos ] I've also added two Guile pieces I've had on my hard drive for years. The artists are unknown. Check it out
here and
here. Here's a Zeal printout wall I found somewhere; find it
here.
[hidden]What a HUGE update!
Time to unlock our passions with the key of summer. Never stop dreaming!
[/hidden]