Chrono Trigger isn’t the easiest game to get your hands on these days, despite JRPG fans’ enduring fondness for it. As I’ve just discovered, though, the wait for more modern platform releases is all the easier when you have this fan group’s musical version to listen to.
Man on the Internet, despite the name, is a group of around 50 people, including actors, artists, writers, and more. It's given a few games a musical makeover now, though the Chrono Trigger project started five years ago before wrapping over 12 months ago.
What you get is something akin to a playthrough of the game you know and love, but with a vocal performance and music featuring the gusto and flamboyance you’d get from a musical. Attending the odd musical is a delight I keep separate from my work life, so you can imagine the joy I get from writing about it on company time.
Despite maintaining contender status for the greatest JRPG ever released since its launch in 1995, Chrono Trigger isn’t the easiest to pick up. Steam is the most accessible place to nab it outside of mobile, though it took a few patches to get it in working order. Fans look upon the Super Nintendo or DS versions much more fondly, though you’d likely need to be comfortable with emulation to play them.
Still, there’s some cause for hope that Chrono Trigger could be released elsewhere. Square Enix has sent other back catalogue classics like Live A Live, Tactics Ogre, and Chrono Cross to Nintendo Switch, so it’s hopefully a matter of time.
For those out of the loop, the game was created at Square Enix when it was just known as Square. It featured Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi, Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii, and the author of the Dragon Ball manga Akira Toriyama. Dream teams don’t always work out, but this one absolutely did.
It’s no wonder Chrono Trigger features so strongly on our best JRPG list.
