Many of the in-depth details used are from the Chronopedia, The Chrono Compendium, and Chrono Wiki.

Background

The Chrono series is a video game franchise developed and published by Squaresoft. It began in 1995 with the time travel console role-playing game Chrono Trigger, which spawned two continuations, Radical Dreamers 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, with 2.65 million units, Square Enix's 12th best-selling game; Chrono Cross was, with 1.5 million units, the 24th. The games have been subject to extremely positive reviews.

Chrono Trigger

Chrono Trigger is a console role-playing game which was released on the Super Nintendo Entertainment System on March 11, 1995 in Japan and on August 22, 1995 in North America. The game's story follows a group of young adventurers led by Crono, who are accidentally transported through time and learn that the world will be destroyed in the distant future. Vowing to prevent this disaster, they travel throughout history to discover the means to save the planet. Chrono Trigger was ported to the PlayStation in 1999 as a standalone title in Japan and in 2001 as part of the Final Fantasy Chronicles compilation in North America. A third version was released for the Nintendo DS handheld platform on November 20, 2008. It is regarded today as one of the greatest games ever made.

Additionally, three Chrono Trigger-related applications were released the same year for the Super Famicom Satellaview extension. Chrono Trigger inspired several sequels and expansion packs or add-ons; the first were three titles released for the Satellaview in 1995. They included Chrono Trigger: Jet Bike Special, a racing game based on a minigame from the original; Chrono Trigger: Character Library, featuring profiles on characters and monsters from the game; and Chrono Trigger: Music Library, a collection of music from the game's soundtrack. The contents of Character Library and Music Library were later included as extras in the PlayStation re-release of Chrono Trigger.

Radical Dreamers

Radical Dreamers: Nusumenai Hōseki (literally "The Jewel that cannot be Stolen") is a Japanese-exclusive text-based game released in 1996 through the Super Famicom Satellaview extension. The player takes on the role of Serge, a young adventurer accompanied by Kid, a teen-aged thief, and Gil, a mysterious masked magician. The story is narrated by Serge's Grandchild. It is a side story to Chrono Trigger wrapping up a loose end from its predecessor's plot.

Chrono Cross

Chrono Cross was released on the PlayStation on November 18, 1999 in Japan and on August 15, 2000 in North America. The story is partly a remake of Radical Dreamers, and as such replaces it as Chrono Trigger's successor. The protagonist Serge, faced with an alternate reality in which he died as a child, struggles to uncover his past and meets Kid, a thief seeking the mysterious Frozen Flame artifact. Serge and Kid's fate are ultimately revealed to find their roots in the events of Chrono Trigger.

Power of the Verse

Chrono Trigger

The Chrono Trigger cast are all City Block level with Peak Human speeds in early game, and Large Country level+, possibly Continent level with Extra-Temporal speeds at end game. With the game's emphasis on time and magic the characters have a large variety of hax based around time and magic, there is also a lot of equipment allowing them to resist various effects or magic or inflict effects on others. The main cast also holds an object with Complex Multiverse level attack potency. Along with this the Post-Vortex cast are Complex Universe level possibly Complex Multiverse level+.

Radical Dreamers

The Radical Dreamers cast are Wall level, with Large Country level+, possibly Continent level summons, along with the god tiers being the tier of the summons. Like with the Chrono Trigger main cast, the main cast holds an object with Complex Multiverse level attack potency. The main cast in speed reach FTL while the god tiers reach Extra-Temporal.

Chrono Cross

The Chrono Cross cast are all Complex Multiverse level+ with Extra-Temporal to Inapplicable speeds by end game. With the game's element of multiversal travel and elements, the characters have even a larger variety of hax then previously, with the elements system giving them access to Resistance Manipulation allowing them to turn ones resistances into weaknesses along with strengthening their own elements by setting the field to their element along with transmutating their elements.

Terms

Chrono Trigger: The Chrono Trigger is an important egg-like item that appears in Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, and Radical Dreamers. Its very shape is a metaphor for possibility. In Chrono Trigger, the Chrono Trigger is an egg-like item given to Lucca and her party by Gaspar to help bring Crono back to life after he is killed by Lavos. Gaspar says that the egg has the potential to revive Crono. He also says that to hatch it, you have to treat it like an egg, though like an egg, it may or may not hatch. Afterward, the party travels to 2300 A.D. and talk to Belthasar. He reveals to them that Death Peak has the power to restore life. However, he says that the "deceased must be important to the space-time continuum" and that they must have a clone identical to the deceased person. He also tells them that the magician, Norstein Bekkler, can make clones and hint that he is at the Millennial Fair. The party then travels to Present and find Bekkler at the fair. They play a game and depending on how long they stay in it, the price for the clone will be lowered. They eventually win the game and the clone of Crono is brought to Crono's House. So the party ventures to his house take the clone, and head to 2300 A.D. to the Keeper's Dome. At the dome, Belthasar tells them they must next go to Death Peak. He brings out a Nu that had its memory banks implemented with a program that will help them climb the mountain. Three Poyozo Dolls fly out of the Nu and head to Death Peak. Belthasar's message ends and asks that they shut off the Nu, which they do. They then head to Death Peak They travel to the mountain and climb it with the aid of the three entities from Belthasar's program. Along the way, they overcome various monsters and Lavos spawns. When they reach the summit, they release the Chrono Trigger. Marle's pendant reacts to the egg and sends power to the egg. Eventually, they pop up where they fought Lavos just before Crono was killed, though time has been frozen. They replace the clone with Crono, who suddenly starts moving, making the mission of reviving Crono a success. In Chrono Cross, it is called the Time Egg, and it has the power to grant one mobility between Opassa Beach and the Darkness At The End Of Time to fight the Time Devourer.

Chrono Cross: The ultimate, long-lost Element of the seventh color attribute. The Chrono Cross is a mysterious and powerful item said to be the seventh Element and forged from the Tear of Hate and the Tear of Love. Only the ancient Dragonians, presumably controlled by Belthasar, knew of its existence, and constructed a pedestal for its creation at the Divine Dragon Falls. Legend of it passed down from then on through the Demi-humans and the indigenous villagers of El Nido; when the settlers from Zenan arrived, the Dragonians perished and the myth came to be safeguarded in Guldove by the village shaman. When Serge became Lynx and subsequently reverted back to his form, he obtained the necessary shattered Dragon Tear components to build the Chrono Cross; however, Steena specifically pointed out that it could be done at the falls in Another World. After it was forged, Serge infiltrated Terra Tower; during his audience in the illusory Viper Manor with Belthasar and the Ghost Children, the full power of the Chrono Cross was revealed. The ghost Crono noted that it could cross space and time and unify people's thoughts and feelings; transfer memories; draw on the sounds of the six colored Elements to produce a healing harmony, and combine the sounds of the world into one melody. Soon later, it was used to this end by Serge, who unleashed it upon the Time Devourer, freed Schala, and merged the two dimensions. Its fate after the battle is unknown; presumably, like Serge's other equipment from the quest, it was discarded. It is a mystery how the Chrono Cross exactly worked, or how Belthasar was able to imbue it with the power to merge the dimensions. It is likely that since the Cross was made of material from each dimension, it had this power; still, its exact methods are unknown.

Gates: A Gate is a hyperdimensional, space-time distortion that allows people to move through time. The first Gate in Chrono Trigger is opened by the Telepod interacting with Marle's pendant, sending her into the past. Crono uses the same means to follow her. Lucca creates a Gate Key that can open any Gate, enabling the group to travel through time at will. More Gates are discovered as the group continues their journey, set up by some unknown entity to put them on course to fight with Lavos and prevent the destruction of the world. After obtaining the Epoch from Belthasar in the Future, the Epoch's Time Gauge locks onto the temporal coordinates of all the Gates, allowing it to travel to any time period accessible by the Gates (Prehistory, Antiquity, Middle Ages, Present, Apocalypse, Future, End of Time).

Magic: Magic is a force learned by mankind around the time of Antiquity. In Chrono Trigger, it is used to perform powerful offensive and defensive spells in combat. Roughly in the year 3,000,000 BC, humans came into contact with a piece of Lavos. This initiated a genetic alteration that would lead to the evolution of human beings to be able to use magic. It is unclear exactly when human beings first discovered the magic. It was after the year 60,000 BC but before the year 12,000 BC. By the year 12,000 BC, magic was in common use by humans, and the world was segregated based on the ability to wield it: the Enlightened Ones, who could use magic, and the Earthbound Ones, who could not. The Enlightened lived on the floating islands of the Kingdom of Zeal, while the Earthbound huddled in caves on the world's surface - looked down upon by the Enlightened and often being recruited forcefully to do the latter's will. Based on what the Enlightened Ones said, magic is the use of spirit energy to evoke paranormal effects. At first, magic was very strong, enabling powerful mages - like the Gurus - to bring to life strange and inherently magical beings that they later called Fiends. Sometime after the downfall of Zeal, magic fell dead from the hands of mankind. Only Fiends were still able to use magic, making them very dangerous in the war against Magus in the Middle Ages. Crono, Marle, and Lucca - all from 1000 AD - were able to learn magic by visiting Spekkio, the Master of War, at the End of Time. Later on, Frog is able to learn magic as soon as he becomes a party member again, thus making it possible to obtain magical abilities before fighting Magus. It is unknown if this means that magic itself has been reawakened or if these four can use it simply because they met Spekkio. After the floating cities of Zeal crashed into sea and continent, most magic-wielding Enlightened Ones perished. A scant few survived. These survivors probably bred into the population of Earthbound Ones in Algetty and Last Village, sometime after magic stopped working, therefore leaving the descendants of the Earthbound Ones and Enlightened Ones to remain segregated. After many generations, most if not all humans were the descendants of Enlightened Ones, but unrecognizable after the dilution of their magical blood. Enlightened Ones typical have blue hair, and the Earthbounds, light to dark brunette and blond. Mixed offspring may have a combination of the two: green hair. Glenn has green hair. The party members from Present Guardia are descendants of the Last Village tribes, thus magical genes must exist in their DNA, even if dormant. Spekkio could have amplified that affinity, or awoken the dormant genes.

Element: Elements are a gameplay concept from Chrono Cross that replace Techs and Items from Chrono Trigger. Everything and everyone in existence has an Element color. This color determines the nature of the person or object. Every character has an Element color associated with them, and this determines how and what Elements that character may use. While any character can use any Element of any color, characters who cast Elements that match their Innate color have damage multipliers. A character is resistant to attacks of their own color, but weak to attacks of the opposite color. Characters are also influenced by the Field Effect. Specific Elements, called Tech Skills, are exclusive to individual characters and always match their Innate color, with the exclusion of Pip, who evolves into different creatures and thus changes innates, and Sprigg, whose Tech Skill Doppelgang allows her to transform into creatures with different innate elements. Elements can be special attacks, magic spells, consumable items, or summons.

End of Time: The End of Time is a unique location in the world of Chrono Trigger. It is a keystone in the timeline of the world, and a home base for the characters as they progress through the story. The End of Time was, initially, devoid of life and substance. However, due to the influence of Lavos, a single entity became stranded there. This individual, Gaspar, one of the Gurus from Zeal, built a small home there. His realm consists of a single lamp-lit courtyard (complete with a Save Point and an HP/MP recharge node), a dock (presumably to accommodate the eventual arrival of the Epoch), a second gated courtyard where Spekkio resides, and, connected by a bridge, a staging area where nearly all the portals throughout time transect. Each portal takes the form of a pillar of light. Though the means through which Gaspar created these structures is unknown, it is fair to assume that, like the other Gurus, Gaspar has both magical and technological expertise at his disposal. Once Crono and his friends first arrive at the End of Time when he, Lucca, Marle, and Robo all enter the Proto Dome Time Gate in 2300 A.D. As Gaspar later explains, Gates overload when four or more individuals enter them simultaneously; thus, the travelers always exit the timestream at the End of Time. Gaspar himself landed there when Lavos awakened due to the actions of Queen Zeal. Because of this quirk in time-travel, no more than three party members can leave at a time. Individuals not currently traveling with Crono remain safely at the End of Time, ready to join the main party. It is unknown at what point Spekkio arrived, though he and Gaspar seem to have a friendly relationship, with Gaspar sending Crono and the party to see Spekkio after their initial arrival. It is here, and through Spekkio, that the party learns magical abilities. Theoretically, the End of Time exists at both ends of the timeline, existing in a space outside of the traditional flow of time in the keystone eras. It is also fundamentally connected to every keystone timeline in the game. In addition to the Epoch dock and the pillars of light, there is also a time gate to the exact moment of Lavos' attack in 1999 A.D. hidden in a trash bin in the main courtyard. After their first visit to the End of Time, the party will be able to treat the location as a home base for their adventure. Portals that the party enters will lead them to the End of Time, where they can either choose to continue on to the portal's original destination or instead re-direct themselves to different time eras. Gaspar remains at the End of Time, offering advice and assistance throughout the game. Once acquired, the Epoch can dock there, and, after certain events towards the end of the game, the End of Time becomes a 'quest hub', with each party member giving clues pertaining to optional sidequests that can be completed before the final confrontation with Lavos.