Chrono Resurrection

Last updated
Chrono Resurrection
Chrono Resurrection logo.png
The logo of the project's second version, based on Chrono Trigger 's own logo
Developer(s) Resurrection Games
Designer(s) Nathan Lazur
Artist(s) Luis Martins
Composer(s) Mathew Valente
Series Chrono (unofficial)
Platform(s) Nintendo 64 (as CT64)
Windows, GameCube, Xbox
ReleaseNone (set to December 25, 2004 before public closure)
Genre(s) Role-playing
Mode(s) Single-player

Chrono Resurrection, also known as Chrono Trigger: Resurrection, is an unreleased fangame developed by North American team Resurrection Games under Nathan Lazur's direction. It is based on the critically acclaimed role-playing game Chrono Trigger for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System by the Japanese company Square. The project was initially called CT64 and was meant to be a complete remake of the original game for the Nintendo 64, with both 2D and 3D playing modes.

Contents

After a first interruption in development, the project was redefined as a short interactive demo for Windows-based personal computers. New team members, including professional artists and designers, were recruited for the demo, which would feature ten scenes from Chrono Trigger and most of its playable characters. In 2004, the project was publicly closed after Square-Enix issued a cease-and-desist letter to Resurrection Games for trademark and copyright infringement. Despite its closure, the project has received critical and popular praise.

Nintendo 64 version

Nathan Lazur initially planned to create a Chrono Trigger remake for the Nintendo 64, called CT64, using GNU-based homebrew tools. Lazur's motivation for the project came in 1999 when playing Chrono Trigger and Super Mario 64 . [1] The remake, developed by a team of four people, was Lazur's first attempt at creating a complete title. The game was intended to have two playing modes and the same battle system as the original. [2]

The first mode would feature 2D and pre-rendered graphics enhanced with 3D spell and battle effects. Some of the effects created by Lazur would rely on software programming rather than the Nintendo 64 hardware, as the latter would not be capable of rendering them directly. [2] The second mode would be a full 3D mode played in either regular or high display resolution, and would feature different level of detail textures depending on camera distances, to maximize clarity and performance. Both modes would be in a top-down perspective, although more cinematic camera angles, similar to those from The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time , were also considered for the 3D mode. [2]

A gallery feature was also planned and would allow players to unlock bonus material depending on their progression in the game. Fan artwork and music would be unlockable through this feature, as well as minigames, including a card game similar to Triple Triad from Final Fantasy VIII . [2] The remake was expected to be released on the Internet for free and played on console emulators, since there would be no cartridge version due to financial constraints. [2] Only a semi-working 3D test was actually completed, and the project was discontinued in mid-2000 due to a number of factors, including the accidental loss of Lazur's data and his desire to improve his programming skills. [1] [3]

Second version

Concept art by Luis Martins, depicting his take on the character Magus originally designed by Akira Toriyama Chrono Resurrection art.jpg
Concept art by Luis Martins, depicting his take on the character Magus originally designed by Akira Toriyama

Development

The second version of the project, tentatively called Chrono Trigger: Brink of Time [4] then Chrono Resurrection, started development in April 2003. [3] Lazur has given several reasons to explain his willingness to restart the project, including his experience coding for the Dreamcast Visual Memory Unit, [1] programming for game developer DC Studios, [3] and playing Chrono Cross , the official sequel to Chrono Trigger for PlayStation. [1] Unlike CT64, the second version would be a short demo developed in a cross-platform engine with a single 3D playing mode. The Windows version was planned for a free Internet release, while GameCube and Xbox ports would be reserved for official developers with access to development kits of either of the two consoles. [5]

The new development team was mostly recruited on the game developers website Gamasutra and worked in a small studio in Lazur's apartment, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The team included up to nine members, most of which had about two-and-a-half years of experiences in the industry. [6] Lazur has admitted that he began to seriously focus on the quality of the demo only after art director Luis Martins joined the project. [1] Other professional designers in the team included Moise Breton, a 3D artist who had worked on character models for the commercially successful movie The Matrix Reloaded , [3] and Michel Cadieux, an animator who had worked for game company Microïds. Difficulties were encountered in the game engine development as Lazur was the unique programmer and worked from scratch. [3] [6]

The score for the demo was composed by Mathew Valente, who had been with the project since its Nintendo 64 version. [1] The score was to consist in arrangements of the official Chrono Trigger soundtrack written by Yasunori Mitsuda, Nobuo Uematsu and Noriko Matsueda. [7] Valente's goal was to retain the feeling of the original music while enhancing it for a modern platform. [8] Most of the arrangements were created in the Impulse Tracker format, then converted to MIDI and enhanced with a number of tools. [7]

The protagonist Crono as he appears in the first of the ten scenes of the demo Chrono Resurrection screenshot.jpg
The protagonist Crono as he appears in the first of the ten scenes of the demo

Content

The team tried to capture the feel of the original game with updated graphics and sounds in the demo. [6] It was to feature ten short interactive scenes from Chrono Trigger. [9] [10] Despite receiving requests from fans, the development team did not intend to create a complete remake of the original game since they would not have the necessary resources, and because they thought the result would not have been on par with Square Enix-developed titles. [3] The story of the game was altered slightly to allow for the ten scenes to better flow from one to the other. [6]

The demo was meant to be played using a "default party" of characters, with other party members unlockable for additional replay value. Due to time constraints, the development team expected that two of the seven characters of the original game, Robo and Ayla, would have 50% chances of not being featured. [3] While the team tried to capture the feel of the original game with updated graphics and sounds, [6] the artists and animators faced difficulty in reproducing the characters due to the differences of style between the sprites, artwork and PlayStation version anime sequences. [3] They noted, however, that they overcame the issues and managed to add a bit of their own art style into the game. [6]

Closure and aftermath

Chrono Resurrection was originally set for a Christmas 2004 release. [11] However, Square Enix issued a cease-and-desist letter to Resurrection Games before the release for trademark and copyright infringement. [12] Faced with a threat of legal action, the project was publicly closed on September 6, 2004. [13] According to the development team, the website of the project had received significant hits from Square Enix Japanese IP addresses for a period of three months before the letter issuing. They assumed these visits were mostly from employees rather than top executives, [13] and hoped the company would see the demo as how the team sees it, a tribute to Chrono Trigger rather than a replacement. [9]

Gaming websites 1UP.com and GameSpot called the project's second version "ambitious" and praised its graphics, noting that the art style is mostly faithful to that of the original game's character designer Akira Toriyama. [13] [14] Website Nintendo World Report praised the game's graphics and music, and called the quality of the artwork "professional". [5] [11] 1UP.com judged the project's closure "unfortunate" but deduced that Square Enix could not leave the possibility of a "competing" Chrono Trigger remake open. [7] GameSpot also expressed their disappointment in Square Enix's decision to shut down the "furthest along" of Chrono Trigger fan remakes, pointing at the fact that with no news of another official sequel, fans of the Chrono series "have been left in the cold". [14] Website GamePro Australia called the project "possibly the greatest fan remake to get crushed under the huge shoe of a big-time developer". [8]

Several Internet petitions were created by fans to pressure Square Enix into green-lighting Chrono Resurrection; none have had any effect, however. [13] Nathan Lazur, though disappointed, holds no ill will towards Square Enix for protecting its intellectual property, and he has stated that he "felt honoured to even be recognized" by the company. [1] He added that to avoid legal issues, developers of fangames should present their polished demos directly to the original publishers so that the products can be handled in a "more traditional business procedure". [13] Before the closure of Chrono Resurrection, Lazur had stated that his team had no plans to remake other games after the project's completion and would have liked to develop an original concept based in feudal Japan. [3]

Related Research Articles

<i>Chrono Trigger</i> 1995 video game

Chrono Trigger is a 1995 role-playing video game developed and published by Square. It was originally released for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System as the first entry in the Chrono series. The game's development team included three designers that Square dubbed the "Dream Team": Hironobu Sakaguchi, creator of Square's Final Fantasy series; Yuji Horii, creator of Enix's Dragon Quest series; and Akira Toriyama, character designer of Dragon Quest and author of the Dragon Ball manga series. In addition, Takashi Tokita co-directed the game and co-wrote the scenario, Kazuhiko Aoki produced the game, while Masato Kato wrote most of the story. The game's plot follows a group of adventurers who travel through time to prevent a global catastrophe.

<i>Chrono Cross</i> 1999 video game

Chrono Cross is a 1999 role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the PlayStation video game console. It is set in the same world as Chrono Trigger, which was released in 1995 for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Chrono Cross was designed primarily by scenarist and director Masato Kato, who had help from other designers who also worked on Chrono Trigger, including art director Yasuyuki Honne and composer Yasunori Mitsuda. Nobuteru Yūki designed the characters of the game.

<i>Radical Dreamers</i> 1996 video game

Radical Dreamers is a 1996 text-based visual novel adventure video game developed and published by Square for the Satellaview, a satellite peripheral for the Super Famicom. It forms part of the Chrono series, acting as a side story to the 1995 game Chrono Trigger. A version of the game is included with Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition, which was released worldwide on April 7, 2022 for Windows, the Nintendo Switch, the PlayStation 4 and the Xbox One.

<i>Final Fantasy IV</i> 1991 video game

Final Fantasy IV, titled Final Fantasy II in its initial North American release, is a role-playing video game developed and published by Square for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. Released in 1991, it is the fourth main installment of the Final Fantasy series. The game's story follows Cecil, a dark knight, as he tries to prevent the sorcerer Golbez from seizing powerful crystals and destroying the world. He is joined on this quest by a frequently changing group of allies. Final Fantasy IV introduced innovations that became staples of the Final Fantasy series and role-playing games in general. Its "Active Time Battle" system was used in five subsequent Final Fantasy games, and unlike prior games in the series, IV gave each character their own unchangeable character class — although at a few points in the story, a dark knight will choose the path of a paladin, or a summoner will evolve to a new tier of spellcasting.

<i>Final Fantasy VII</i> 1997 video game

Final Fantasy VII is a 1997 role-playing video game developed by Square for the PlayStation console and the seventh main installment in the Final Fantasy series. Square published the game in Japan, and it was released in other regions by Sony Computer Entertainment, becoming the first game in the main series to have a PAL release. The game's story follows Cloud Strife, a mercenary who joins an eco-terrorist organization to stop a world-controlling megacorporation from using the planet's life essence as an energy source. Events send Cloud and his allies in pursuit of Sephiroth, a superhuman who seeks to wound the planet and harness its healing power to be reborn as a god. During their journey, Cloud bonds with his party members, including Aerith Gainsborough, who holds the secret to saving their world.

<i>Final Fantasy Chronicles</i> Video game compilation released in 2001

Final Fantasy Chronicles is a compilation of Square's role-playing video games Final Fantasy IV (1991) and Chrono Trigger (1995), released for the North American Sony PlayStation on July 2, 2001. TOSE ported both titles from the Super Nintendo Entertainment System; each had been previously released as individual Japanese PlayStation ports in 1997 and 1999. Several bonus features were added to each game, such as art galleries, bestiaries, and cutscenes—including computer-generated imagery full motion video used at the beginning of Final Fantasy IV and anime scenes used throughout Chrono Trigger.

<i>Secret of Mana</i> 1993 video game

Secret of Mana, originally released in Japan as Seiken Densetsu 2, is a 1993 action role-playing game developed and published by Square for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It is the sequel to the 1991 game Seiken Densetsu, released in North America as Final Fantasy Adventure and in Europe as Mystic Quest, and it was the first Seiken Densetsu title to be marketed as part of the Mana series rather than the Final Fantasy series. Set in a high fantasy universe, the game follows three heroes as they attempt to prevent an empire from conquering the world with the power of an ancient flying fortress.

Chrono Break is a cancelled third mainline entry in the Chrono series of video games by Square. While never officially announced by the company, commentary from Chrono series developers Masato Kato, Hironobu Sakaguchi, and Takashi Tokita have confirmed early plans for the game, alongside a number of trademarks filed in the game's name. However, the game would ultimately go unproduced, with many members of the internal development team either moving on to Final Fantasy XI or leaving the company in favor of freelance work. The game elicited much commentary from the company and the video game press in the following years, though as of 2021, all trademarks had expired, with no announced plans to work on the game.

Masato Kato is a Japanese video game artist, scenario writer and director. In the early days of his career, he was credited under the pseudonyms of "Runmaru" and "Runmal". He then joined Square, and was most famous for penning the script of Chrono Trigger, as well as Radical Dreamers, Xenogears, Chrono Cross, Final Fantasy XI and parts of Final Fantasy VII.

<i>Trials of Mana</i> 1995 video game

Trials of Mana, also known by its Japanese title Seiken Densetsu 3, is a 1995 action role-playing game developed and published by Square for the Super Famicom. It is the sequel to the 1993 game Secret of Mana, and is the third installment in the Mana series. Set in a high fantasy world, the game follows three heroes as they attempt to claim the legendary Mana Sword and prevent the Benevodons from being unleashed and destroying the world. It features three main plotlines and six different possible main characters, each with their own storylines, and allows two players to play simultaneously. Trials of Mana builds on the gameplay of its predecessor with multiple enhancements, including the use of a time progression system with transitions from day to night and weekday to weekday in game time, and a wide range of character classes to choose from, which provides each character with an exclusive set of skills and status progression.

Music of <i>Chrono Trigger</i> Music of the video game Chrono Trigger

The Chrono series is a video game franchise developed and published by Square Enix. It began in 1995 with the time travel role-playing video game Chrono Trigger, which spawned two continuations, Radical Dreamers and Chrono Cross. The music of Chrono Trigger was mainly composed by Yasunori Mitsuda, with a few tracks composed by regular Final Fantasy composer Nobuo Uematsu. The Chrono Trigger soundtrack has inspired four official album releases by Square Enix: a soundtrack album released by NTT Publishing in 1995 and re-released in 2004, a greatest hits album published by DigiCube in 1999, published in abbreviated form by Tokyopop in 2001, and republished by Square Enix in 2005, an acid jazz arrangement album published and republished by NTT Publishing in 1995 and 2004, and a 2008 orchestral arranged album by Square Enix. Corresponding with the Nintendo DS release of the game, a reissued soundtrack was released in 2009. An arranged album for Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross, entitled To Far Away Times, was released in 2015 to commemorate the 20 year anniversary of Chrono Trigger.

The Chrono series is a video game franchise developed and published by Square, and is currently owned by Square Enix. The series began in 1995 with the time travel role-playing video game Chrono Trigger, which spawned two continuations, Radical Dreamers: Nusumenai Hōseki, and Chrono Cross. A promotional anime called Dimensional Adventure Numa Monjar and two ports of Chrono Trigger were also produced. As of March 31, 2003, Chrono Trigger was Square Enix's 12th best-selling game, with 2.65 million units shipped. Chrono Cross was the 24th, with 1.5 million units shipped. By 2019, the two games had sold over 5.5 million units combined. The games in the series have been called some of the greatest of all time, with most of the praise going towards Chrono Trigger. The series' original soundtracks, composed by Yasunori Mitsuda, have also been praised, with multiple soundtracks being released for them.

<i>Dragon Quest IX</i> 2009 video game

Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies is a role-playing video game co-developed by Level-5 and Square Enix for the Nintendo DS. Published by Square Enix in Japan in 2009, and by Nintendo overseas in 2010, it is the ninth mainline entry in the Dragon Quest series. The storyline follows the protagonist, a member of the angelic Celestrian race, after a disaster in their home scatters magical fruits across the mortal realm. While carrying over traditional gameplay from the rest of the series with turn-based battles, the game is the first Dragon Quest entry to feature a customizable player character, and the first to include a multiplayer mode, with the option of trading treasure maps and loaning player characters through Nintendo Wi-Fi. Online functions ended in 2014 when it ceased operations.

Takashi Tokita is a Japanese video game developer working for Square Enix. He has worked there since 1985, and has worked as the lead designer for Final Fantasy IV as well as the director of Live A Live, Parasite Eve and Chrono Trigger.

<i>Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days</i> 2009 video game

Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days is an action role-playing video game developed by h.a.n.d. and Square Enix in collaboration with Disney Interactive Studios for the Nintendo DS. It is the fifth installment in the Kingdom Hearts series, and takes place near the end of the first game in parallel to Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories, leading directly into the events of Kingdom Hearts II. The game was released worldwide in 2009. The story is told from the perspective of Roxas, and follows his daily life within Organization XIII and his relationship with fellow Organization member Axel; it also introduces a fourteenth member, Xion, who befriends them.

<i>Kingdom Hearts Coded</i> 2008 video game

Kingdom Hearts Coded is an episodic action role-playing puzzle video game developed and published by Square Enix, in collaboration with Disney Interactive Studios, for mobile phones. Coded was a Japan-only release announced at the 2007 Tokyo Game Show. Its Nintendo DS remake titled Kingdom Hearts Re:coded was released in Japan, North America, Europe, and Australia. A cinematic remake of the game was included in the Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 Remix video game compilation for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows, and Nintendo Switch.

A fan game is a video game that is created by fans of a certain topic or IP. They are usually based on one, or in some cases several, video game entries or franchises. Many fan games attempt to clone or remake the original game's design, gameplay, and characters, but it is equally common for fans to develop a unique game using another as a template. Though the quality of fan games has always varied, recent advances in computer technology and in available tools, e.g. through open source software, have made creating high-quality games easier. Fan games can be seen as user-generated content, as part of the retrogaming phenomena, and as expression of the remix culture.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yuji Horii</span> Japanese video game designer and writer (born 1953)

Yuji Horii is a Japanese author, video game designer, writer and director best known as the creator of the Dragon Quest franchise, supervising and writing the scenario for Chrono Trigger, and The Portopia Serial Murder Case, released in 1983 as one of the first visual novel adventure games.

Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes is a fangame developed by the international team Kajar Laboratories as a ROM hack of Square's role-playing video game Chrono Trigger for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. It was conceived as an unofficial installment in the Chrono series, set between the events of Chrono Trigger and its sequel Chrono Cross.

<i>Final Fantasy III</i> (2006 video game) 2007 role-playing game remake

Final Fantasy III is a Nintendo DS role-playing video game and a remake of the 1990 Family Computer game, Final Fantasy III.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Jones, Darran (November 2004). "Chrono Trigger resurrection is no more". gamesTM . No. 24. Imagine Publishing. p. 130.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 GameSpot Editorial Team (2000-06-16). "Chrono Cross N64?". GameSpot. Archived from the original on 2008-07-19. Retrieved 2008-06-26.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 The Stagbeetle (2004-08-20). "Chrono Trigger: Resurrection Interview". VGPro.com. Archived from the original on 2005-02-25. Retrieved 2008-06-26.
  4. ↑ Lazur, Nathan (2004-05-07). "Chrono Trigger Update!". Opcoder.com. Archived from the original on October 27, 2006. Retrieved 2008-06-26.
  5. 1 2 Cole, Michael (2004-05-09). "Chrono Trigger Comes to Nintendo GameCube!". Nintendo World Report. Archived from the original on 2009-02-20. Retrieved 2008-06-27.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Ragan, Jess (2006-04-26). "The Brews Brothers: Nathan Lazur". The Gameroom Blitz. Archived from the original on 2008-03-31. Retrieved 2008-06-26.
  7. 1 2 3 Maragos, Nich (2005-08-18). "Gaming's Rhapsody: Third Movement". 1UP.com. p. 1. Archived from the original on 2012-12-08. Retrieved 2008-06-26.
  8. 1 2 Noble, McKinley (2010-02-15). "13 fantastic fan-made game remakes and demakes". GamePro Australia. p. 2. Archived from the original on 2011-08-14. Retrieved 2010-03-09.
  9. 1 2 Baker, Chris (November 2004). "Back to the Beginning". Electronic Gaming Monthly . No. 184. Ziff Davis.
  10. ↑ Lazur, Nathan (2004-09-18). "Update". Opcoder.com. Archived from the original on October 27, 2006. Retrieved 2008-06-26.
  11. 1 2 Cole, Michael (2004-09-06). "Chrono Trigger Resurrection Update". Nintendo World Report. Archived from the original on 2009-02-20. Retrieved 2008-06-27.
  12. ↑ Stanford Center for Internet & Society. "Infringement of Chrono Trigger trademarks and copyrights". Chilling Effects. Archived from the original on 2008-06-16. Retrieved 2008-06-27.
  13. 1 2 3 4 5 Ragan, Jess (2006-03-20). "Singing the Brews: The History & Philosophy of Homebrew Game Development". 1UP.com. p. 7. Archived from the original on 2012-06-29. Retrieved 2008-06-26.
  14. 1 2 "The Original Time Trotters". The Greatest Games of All Time. GameSpot. 2006-04-17. Archived from the original on 2007-03-21. Retrieved 2008-06-26.

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.