Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition

Upon its release in the year 2000, the original Playstation title “Chrono Cross” proved to be a unique followup to the beloved 1995 role-playing game “Chrono Trigger,” later becoming a cult classic in its own right. Earlier this year, the title was given an HD remaster on modern systems known as “Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition.” Though not without its flaws, it’s still a worthwhile way to revisit landmark games.

In addition to the original “Chrono Cross” in its entirety, the collection also contains the first official English release of the 1996 interactive novel “Radical Dreamers,” which had only been released previously in Japan for the Satellaview service on the Super Famicom. While fan translations of the novel have circulated over the years, the inclusion in this collection is one of the best ways to play a game which had never previously been officially released in the United States before.

That said, the remaster isn’t entirely without its flaws. An analysis of this version by Digital Foundry on their YouTube channel has found that, in many respects, the game runs with more performance issues than the original Playstation version. Not just in the case of the Nintendo Switch port — the release of the title on Playstation 4 introduces a litany of glitches on top of exacerbating issues from the original game. Though the games themselves are still worth playing, the problems caused this article to be reworked into an editorial rather than a full-on review. Hopefully, some of the problems with resolution and framerate can be fixed in potential updates.

Even so, the fact that these games have been rereleased after all this time is a testament to their appeal and impact. Though not a perfect remaster, it’s still a way to re-experience a landmark game and to experience a title that had previously never seen release outside Japan.

Though the remaster of these games may be flawed in presentation, “Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition” is still worth playing to experience two landmark RPG titles.

Publisher: Square-Enix

Developer: Square-Enix

Platform: Nintendo Switch (Also Available on PC, PS4, and Xbox One)

ESRB Rating: T