Chrono Trigger DS - [localization] differences between DS and SNES versions

[c0ldb33r]

I've been playing through Chrono Trigger for the DS. What are the [localization] differences between the DS and SNES versions?

One that I've noticed is that the Ayla's bisexual comments when she first meets your party have been placed back in the script.

edit: added the word [localization]

[8bitCaged]

I thought the translation was redone from the Japanese because the snes version was translated in like one week. I remember in the snes version they mad all references of alcohol soda pop. now they just say "Drink"

and it has ps1 cut scenes, monster fight thing new endings, new dungeons it's portable, it is a ds game, touch screen, etc...

[c0ldb33r]

I thought the translation was redone from the Japanese because the snes version was translated in like one week. I remember in the snes version they mad all references of alcohol soda pop. now they just say "Drink"

and it has ps1 cut scenes, monster fight thing new endings, new dungeons it's portable, it is a ds game, touch screen, etc...
right right... i mostly meant localization differences but those are all good points

[FantasiaWHT]

They keep calling Magus "The Fiendlord" and I don't remember what he was called in the original SNES but that didn't seem familiar to me.

Aeon Suit & Aeon Helm are now something longer... Can't remember off the top of my head but something like Aeonical or Aeonite.

[badinsults]

The big question for me is whether or not there are enough changes to make it worth playing through again.

[kupomogli]

The big question for me is whether or not there are enough changes to make it worth playing through again.

Chrono Trigger is worth playing through again regardless. The real question is "are there enough changes to make it worth buying for 39.99?" I'd say no, especially when you can get it, along with the best version of FF4, for 20.00 shipped.

[c0ldb33r]

The big question for me is whether or not there are enough changes to make it worth playing through again.
I'd say the changes are worth it. I especially like the addition of achievements, online battles, downloadable content, and mortal-kombat style fatalities.

[mr obscure]

I read in a dutch gaming magazine that there is 1 extra ending and 1 extra boss.

[Lothars]

Chrono Trigger is worth playing through again regardless. The real question is "are there enough changes to make it worth buying for 39.99?" I'd say no, especially when you can get it, along with the best version of FF4, for 20.00 shipped.

I would say Yes it is

It's worth 40 bucks and I would recommend anyone to get it.

[kupomogli]

I would say Yes it is

It's worth 40 bucks and I would recommend anyone to get it.

Chrono Trigger DS 40 dollars. New set of dungeons in each area and the Arena of the Ages.

Final Fantasy Chronicles 20 dollars. Chrono Trigger without the three dungeons and Arena of Ages. Final Fantasy 4 without all the lag and flaws the GBA versions carry, but also without the extra characters and dungeon.

Chrono Trigger SNES 80+ complete depending on condition for NTSC-U and around 30 shipped for a mint condition complete NTSC J version. Missing the new dungeons, the anime sequences, Arena of the Ages, and the bonus section. More of a collectors item and not really missing that much regardless in comparison to the other two.

If it was 19.99 it'd be worth it over buying the PSX version. Until then, not worth picking it up. It's worth it more if you don't want to pay for the 100+ mint SNES copy.

[jcalder8]

I don't own it yet but I would say that it is worth 40 just because it's portable. I don't have hours to sit in front of the tv and play anymore so having it portable makes a world of difference.

[Kid Fenris]

Final Fantasy Chronicles 20 dollars. Chrono Trigger without the three dungeons and Arena of Ages. Final Fantasy 4 without all the lag and flaws the GBA versions carry, but also without the extra characters and dungeon.


The Chronicles version of Chrono Trigger is full of terrible, inexcusable loading times and should in no way be considered a valid substitute for the SNES or DS versions. I don't care what Douglas Coupland said.

[Cobra Commander]

If it was 19.99 it'd be worth it over buying the PSX version.
The PSX version is a lesson on how to make a great game into an unplayable mess.
The load times, like Kid Fenris said are inexcusable. It took like 7 or 8 seconds to bring up the menu when you needed it. Actual battles were a painful experience.

[c0ldb33r]

The load times, like Kid Fenris said are inexcusable. It took like 7 or 8 seconds to bring up the menu when you needed it. Actual battles were a painful experience.
Yowza. Really? That's absoutely terrible. Suddenly a 40 hour game becomes an 80 hour game, except the extra 40 hours is spent watching a spinning CD :(

Why would it have to load anyway? It could keep the entire SNES rom in RAM - it should only have to load before and after the anime sequences.

[kupomogli]

Unplayable mess? When switching rooms or getting into battles, there was about one second or a second and a half. Three seconds to bring up the menu and five seconds when naming a party member.

Three seconds doesn't hurt that bad when you're rarely going to go into the menu. One second load times when entering an area and battle really wouldn't matter either. How many times do you name characters again? On the SNES version, it took about half the time to switch rooms or get into battles, so it's not really such a huge difference.

I own both SNES and PSX versions, and while the PSX version does have slight load times, it definitely doesn't make the game unplayable. If you're going to complain about the load times in Chrono Trigger then you might as well sell all your disc based games, because they're going to be just as long or longer in most cases. I bet I won't see you doing that will I?

I never said the PSX version was the best one, as the DS version is essentially the best version. However, based on cost, the PSX version is the smarter choice for right now as you're getting the best version of FF4 along with Chrono Trigger for half the price of the DS version(20 shipped if you look on Ebay over 40+tax or 40+ on shipping.) FF4 if you're interested has load times just as fast as the SNES versions, also has a crappy FMV movie at the beginning, and doesn't have the flaws the GBA versions have.

[Cobra Commander]

Well no. I won't sell all my discs and I'm quite used to load times, but for a port of a SNES game, I'm amazed it's as bad as it is. You'll never find a bigger Chrono Trigger fan than me I promise, but I just don't like that version. At all.

[c0ldb33r]

tldr
You raise a lot of good points, but still... they could load the entire SNES rom into RAM, so why is there load time?!?

[Kid Fenris]

I own both SNES and PSX versions, and while the PSX version does have slight load times, it definitely doesn't make the game unplayable. If you're going to complain about the load times in Chrono Trigger then you might as well sell all your disc based games, because they're going to be just as long or longer in most cases. I bet I won't see you doing that will I?

Yes, let's sell all of our disc-based games, because each of them is available as an affordable, slightly improved DS port that's completely free of loading times.

[krooper13]

Is it really as good as the hype though? Due to the sort of prices it commands I've never even played it.

[Sudo]

Is it really as good as the hype though? Due to the sort of prices it commands I've never even played it.

It's one of the best games ever.

[FantasiaWHT]

+1 to finding the PSX version annoying near to the point of unplayable from load times.

I've discovered why grind fests in RPG's turned from fun into incredibly annoying, and its how slow the battles are - load times being a part of that.

[badinsults]

You raise a lot of good points, but still... they could load the entire SNES rom into RAM, so why is there load time?!?

The main issue is that the PSX was not powerful enough to emulate the snes, and it doesn't use the rom at all (except possibly to get graphics tiles). The PSX version does have the snes rom on it (and it can be loaded in snes emulators), but the game itself is PSX code.

Still with the many games I have, I just can't see myself going through Chrono Trigger again, even with a new dungeon.

[j_factor]

You raise a lot of good points, but still... they could load the entire SNES rom into RAM, so why is there load time?!?

What makes you think the entire game could be loaded into RAM? The Playstation only has 2MB of RAM... that's enough for a 16-meg game. Isn't Chrono Trigger 32 megs or something?

[kupomogli]

Well no. I won't sell all my discs and I'm quite used to load times, but for a port of a SNES game, I'm amazed it's as bad as it is. You'll never find a bigger Chrono Trigger fan than me I promise, but I just don't like that version. At all.

Considering you said it's "unplayable' but would say that other games are playable with the loading times, must mean you don't think the game is that good. If you look at it this way. The game is good whether it has a half second load time or a one second load time each screen.

Looks like you're not as big a Chrono Trigger fan as you thought if you can't stand an extra half second/second worth of load time.

[c0ldb33r]

What makes you think the entire game could be loaded into RAM? The Playstation only has 2MB of RAM... that's enough for a 16-meg game. Isn't Chrono Trigger 32 megs or something?
You've got a point, sort of.

I just checked wikipedia. Chrono Trigger for SNES was a 32 megabit cart. The Playstation has 2 Megabyte of main RAM. 32 megabits = 4 Megabytes. So, the Playstation couldn't hold the entire SNES rom in RAM at one time, but it could hold half of it. And when it needed to load, it would only need to load 2 MB of info.

The whole thing seems cheesy to me. I expect that the original Playstation could probably have emulated the SNES, but Sony or Square was concerned about licensing issues with Nintendo, so didn't want to work on creating a SNES emulator on a Sony product (maybe - I dunno, I'm just pulling this out of my ass, but it makes sense to me).

[TonyTheTiger]

Looks like you're not as big a Chrono Trigger fan as you thought if you can't stand an extra half second/second worth of load time.

To be fair, the load times are far worse than a half second/second. It can take up to a full 7 seconds to load the menu and another 4 to get back out. And any area that has an extra layer like snow or fog (Mount Woe, for example) the game itself runs sluggish for most actions. A casting of Lightning 2 takes two, maybe three times longer. So no matter how good Chrono Trigger may be, the port is horrendous. Significant technical problems can mar an otherwise good experience. I dealt with it but I can't say that I'd be that enthusiastic of revisiting that version now that all the extras can be found on the DS.

[j_factor]

You've got a point, sort of.

I just checked wikipedia. Chrono Trigger for SNES was a 32 megabit cart. The Playstation has 2 Megabyte of main RAM. 32 megabits = 4 Megabytes. So, the Playstation couldn't hold the entire SNES rom in RAM at one time, but it could hold half of it. And when it needed to load, it would only need to load 2 MB of info.

2MB is a lot for the Playstation to load, actually. It wouldn't have as many load times, but each load time would be pretty long. Actually, though, if the post above is accurate in its description of the load times, it would still be better. 2MB on a 2x CD-ROM drive should load in about 7 seconds.

But I suspect the Playstation version of the game is significantly larger than the SNES version (even excluding the FMVs).


The whole thing seems cheesy to me. I expect that the original Playstation could probably have emulated the SNES, but Sony or Square was concerned about licensing issues with Nintendo, so didn't want to work on creating a SNES emulator on a Sony product (maybe - I dunno, I'm just pulling this out of my ass, but it makes sense to me).

I doubt Playstation could have emulated SNES. There's an SNES emulator for Dreamcast, and it's less than perfect. Although, it is easier to make an emulator specifically for one game than it is to make a general emulator.

[kupomogli]

To be fair, the load times are far worse than a half second/second. It can take up to a full 7 seconds to load the menu and another 4 to get back out. And any area that has an extra layer like snow or fog (Mount Woe, for example) the game itself runs sluggish for most actions. A casting of Lightning 2 takes two, maybe three times longer. So no matter how good Chrono Trigger may be, the port is horrendous. Significant technical problems can mar an otherwise good experience. I dealt with it but I can't say that I'd be that enthusiastic of revisiting that version now that all the extras can be found on the DS.

Well, actually I said second/second and a half for the PSX version, but I also said that was only for switching areas and the start of battles. Anyways, actually started the game and was playing it up to where you talk to Marle at600 A.D. I ended up getting about three to four seconds for opening the menu, didn't even time closing the menu. I ended up getting seven seconds when naming any of the characters.

Afterwards I actually started playing a new game plus on the SNES. In my opinion new game plus sucks because it carries absolutely no difficulty though, so I may start a new game after I finish 7th Saga.

[TonyTheTiger]

Well, actually I said second/second and a half for the PSX version, but I also said that was only for switching areas and the start of battles. Anyways, actually started the game and was playing it up to where you talk to Marle at600 A.D. I ended up getting about three to four seconds for opening the menu, didn't even time closing the menu. I ended up getting seven seconds when naming any of the characters.

The load times can vary depending on where you are. Either way, it's annoying because the menu isn't something you use only rarely. When the game freezes for a time in and out of it you soon realize just how much you actually do use the menu. I remember a few times where I thought, "I'll wait until the next battle to heal because I don't want to go into the menu." It's certainly much worse than what you find in that version's contemporaries like Final Fantasy VII, VIII, Chrono Cross, etc.


Afterwards I actually started playing a new game plus on the SNES. In my opinion new game plus sucks because it carries absolutely no difficulty though, so I may start a new game after I finish 7th Saga.

Well, that's sort of the point. Because of the multiple endings you have to be able to beat Lavos at just about any time and having the opportunity to one shot your way through the game is attractive to people who want to play through it but don't want to put in the time that a normal playthrough requires.

[kupomogli]

Well, that's sort of the point. Because of the multiple endings you have to be able to beat Lavos at just about any time and having the opportunity to one shot your way through the game is attractive to people who want to play through it but don't want to put in the time that a normal playthrough requires.

I know that, but it still sucks playing through the New Game+. I've only actually completed the game in that mode on the SNES once when I originally watched all the endings and the PSX version so I could unlock all the ending listings on the bonus mode.