Chrono Trigger

Your Companions, from left to right: Frog, Ayla, Lucca, Robot Buddy, Marle and Crono.[1]

"Good Morning, Crono!"

Crono thought it was going to be an ordinary day. He was having fun at the Millennial Fair (celebrating the dawn of the year 1,000 A.D.), he had met a cute girl named Marle, and everything was looking good.

Then his best friend Lucca's new teleportation device went out of control, sending Marle to parts (and times) unknown and drawing him into a multi-generational struggle to save the entire world from obliteration.

This is the setup for Square's SNES RPG Chrono Trigger. Released in North America 1995, Chrono Trigger was the last hurrah for the golden age of epic fantasy RPGs on the SNES (and the final game in a sequence of Squaresoft releases that included games such as Final Fantasy VI and Secret of Mana). Chrono Trigger joined the likes of Final Fantasy VI, Super Mario RPG and other famous SNES RPGs as a popular game which no one could be arsed to market for Europe (things did get better though).

Crono and his friends are fighting to save the world from destruction at the hands of an extraterrestrial creature known as Lavos, which descended to Earth in the prehistoric era (65,000,000 B.C.) and -- if Crono and his friends don't interfere -- will rise again in 1999 to bring about an apocalypse. To save the world, Crono and the gang travel from era to era via special portals (and, later, a specially-outfitted airship); in addition to previously-mentioned eras, Crono and his friends also visit the Middle Ages of 600 A.D. (where humans battle the monstrous Fiends), the dark and ruined future of 2300 A.D. (where the disenfranchised survivors of the Lavos apocalypse eke out a precarious existence against genetic mutants and psychopathic, genocidal robots), and the mysterious Age of Magic in 12,000 B.C. (where the inhabitants of the Floating Continent of Zeal attempt to harness the dormant power of Lavos for their own ends). In between, they'll meet lots of interesting characters... oh, and did we mention the fighting? There's lots of fighting.

The game was followed up with two sequels: Radical Dreamers for the SNES (which has not seen the light of day outside of Japan... though a translated ROM is available online) and the sequel Chrono Cross. The original game has a PlayStation port that added some additional anime cutscenes and a little bit of modification to the plot to get it in sync with Chrono Cross (which, at the time of the port's Japanese release, was still in development); this port also came with massive technical problems and is generally considered a waste of time. The long-awaited Updated Rerelease was published in America late 2008 for the Nintendo DS, which retained the good parts of the PS1 port, retranslated the script to overcome the hurdles of mid-1990s memory limitations/censorship, and threw in some bonus dungeons and a new ending for good measure; surprisingly, it even saw a European release in 2009.

A fan-made Interquel connecting this game with the events of Chrono Cross, known as Crimson Echoes, was in the works; sadly, it received a cease-and-desist from Square Enix just as it neared completion. Square Enix's motives for doing so remain under speculation, but the game can still be played if you can find the leaked ROM on the Internet.

Please read before viewing: this page contains many spoilers from Chrono Cross, which are not labelled as such outside of the spoiler markers. If you do not wish to have Chrono Cross spoiled, please be careful. If you hide a spoiler from Chrono Cross, please mention it before the spoiler appears.


If you were looking for an anime about a nun and a demon, you want Chrono Crusade.

Tropes used in Chrono Trigger include:
  • Above the Ruins: After Lavos crashes into the Tyrano Lair.
  • Absurdly High Level Cap: Reaching the maximum level of 99 (**) is impossible in a straight playthrough. You have to grind a lot to reach it, and the best place to do this requires you to exploit the respawn of a group of enemies in a dungeon. You really only need a level of about 60 or so to beat the final boss reliably.
  • Absurdly Spacious Sewer: The path between Arris Dome and Death Peak.
  • Action Commands: One minigame, and a few tasks in the factory stages, require button input sequences in a certain amount of time.
  • Action Girl: Marle, Lucca and Ayla.
  • Actually, I Am Him: "The Guru of Time... I believe that's what they used to call me... ages ago..."
  • Adaptive Ability: Golems.
  • After the End: The sucky future is what inspires the heroes to meddle with the timeline.
  • Alas, Poor Villain:
    • You almost feel sorry for Azala after beating her and the Black Tyrano, given her Last Words. Ayla takes pity on her and even offers a means of escape, but Azala resigned to her (and the Reptites') fate.
      • YMMV, but it is implied that the earth is unable to support both species. Therefore, Azala was never evil, only an antagonist. Azala is fighting humanity, so Ayla and co. must fight back. When she is defeated, and there is no reason to keep fighting, she is sympathetic because the audience realizes that Azala has done nothing wrong, yet her species is doomed to die.
    • Opt to kill Magus. Pick up the item he dropped: an amulet, the very same one that Schala gave to his younger self before she was warped to the Ocean Palace, and the only memento of her that he has left. Ouch.
    • Gaspar expresses sympathy for Zeal after her defeat.
  • All Cavemen Were Neanderthals: Averted. While the people in prehistory are rather simple-minded compared to later time periods, they aren't stupid or completely primitive; they're already showing the signs of a somewhat early form of currency and trade, for starters. Ayla in particular exemplifies the "simple but not stupid" statement above. Not to mention that the weapons and armor you can buy from them are stronger than the armor you come in with (from 2300 A.D. no less).
  • All in a Row: This happens when the party is walking around.
  • All the Worlds Are a Stage: Lavos's first form is battled on a weird rippling blue surface, while his final form is confronted on a trippy hyperspace-like background that has terrain from past levels randomly appear on it. You're probably in temporal freefall at that point. Lavos' attacks vary depending on the background.
  • Alternate World Map: Drastic changes in continent arrangement take place over mere thousands of years. Not too surprising, considering the Eldritch Abomination lurking underground causing all kinds of earthquakes, Floating Continents that come crashing down, and an apocalyptic event that encases the world in nuclear winter for centuries after. The only time periods that don't involve some kind of major cataclysm between them -- 600 to 1000 to 1999 -- all share the same continental layout.
  • Always Check Behind the Chair: Invisible tabs hidden throughout the landscape occasionally glint to announce their presence.
  • Amazing Technicolor Battlefield: Lavos's first form is battled on a weird rippling blue surface, while his final form is confronted on a trippy hyperspace-like background that has terrain from past levels randomly appear on it. You're probably in temporal freefall at that point.
  • Anachronism Stew: At least in the SNES version: Dalton uses the iconic phrase "We have lift-off, Houston!!" as he engages the modified Epoch for the first time. In the Chrono Trigger universe, there is no such place as Houston, but then, Dalton has an awareness of the fourth wall.
  • And I Must Scream: What happens to (Chrono Cross spoiler) Schala.
    • And Marle, at the beginning of the game.
  • And Man Grew Proud: The destruction of Zeal.
  • An Ice Person:
    • Marle, in a complete contrast with her personality.
    • Ozzie is another possibility, given that he encases himself in what looks like a large ice crystal when you finally corner him.
  • Anti-Hero: Magus, who could also be an Anti-Villain, and 100% bona fide Byronic Hero.
  • Apathetic Citizens: The NPCs blasé attitudes towards the Black Omen are justifiable: as it has been there as long as they can remember, and hasn't caused anyone any trouble. But the residents of Zeal would rather bask in their own luxury than be concerned about messing with questionable energy sources, or even about the simple idea that "what goes up must come down." Then the citizens of Arris Dome also don't care what you found in their basement, or that you risked your life down there. They're all starving, so unless you are bringing them food, they don't care what you are or what you did.
  • Apocalypse How: One inevitable Class 2, and the arrival of Lavos is probably a Class 1, all things considered. The ruined world of 2300 A.D. is the result of a second Class 2, working its way up to Class 4. And don't get us started on the Time Devourer...
  • Applied Phlebotinum: The eponymous Chrono Trigger or "Time Egg", as well as anything involving Dreamstone or time travel technology.
  • Arbitrary Headcount Limit: Your party cannot have more than three people in it at a time. This is "justified" in-game that groups larger than three cannot make it through the time-warp without being spit out at the End of Time, and they only have a single Gate Key. Once they find the three-seater Epoch time machine, their destination is a time period which can't be accessed with the Gate Key. Afterwards, there are multiple instances where the entire party is present in an area other than the End of Time, but the game mechanics remain unchanged as to how many can fight together.
  • Asskicking Equals Authority:
    • Ayla. Easily justifiable in her prehistoric culture: she explains that the strongest person in the tribe gets to be chief, be they man, woman or child.
    • How Magus, a small, timid 10-year-old human boy, becomes the undisputed ruler of a horde of sociopath demons.
  • Attack of the Town Festival: The Millennia Fair in 1000 AD wasn't attacked, but the festival in 65,000,000 B.C. was attacked by Reptites.
  • Auto Doc: In the ruined future, there's a booth that heals all your wounds... but still leaves you hungry.
  • Awesome but Impractical:
    • Lucca's best weapon, the WonderShot, deals Random Number God amounts of damage. Has the potential to be devastating, but is equally likely to make you switch to her second-best weapon, the weaker-but-more-consistent Shockwave. See the trope entry for more on Dual and Triple Techs.
    • Crono's Shiva Edge, which is received in the Hero's Grave (present) after powering it up in the past, does four times the the damage when it has a critical hit (this would be stronger than the final weapon's critical hit), is impractical because its critical hit rate is one of the lowest in the game, a mere 7%. It is more practical to just use the Rainbow, Crono's final weapon, which does two times the damage, but has a great critical hit rate of 70%.
  • Awful Truth: Bringing Lucca or Robo to the final fight with Lavos yields this horrible fact: every living being on the planet has been shaped and cultivated by Lavos, who harvests them as fodder. Lavos then sends its spawn into space to repeat the cycle.
  • Back Tracking: Mainly the segment after getting the ability to open sealed doors and chests. Not especially onerous.
  • Badass: Frog and Magus.
  • Bad Future: 2300 A.D.
  • Balloonacy: In the ending, Crono and Marle get carried away by party balloons if you wrecked the Epoch.
  • Bamboo Technology: A stone robot arm made by Neanderthals. Schizo-Tech doesn't begin to describe this one.
  • Bare-Fisted Monk: Ayla doesn't use any weapons, but still has incredible attack power.
  • Barrier Change Boss: Magus.
  • Behind the Black:
    • An early puzzle involving spikes; the characters would've easily been able to see a way around.
    • In the Ozzie's Fort sidequest, it's near impossible to see Magus' equipment room even though your party still can see it.
  • BGM Override: The Ocean Palace, and also Magus's Castle; the Black Omen, however, only happens in fights against a specific enemy.
  • Big Damn Heroes: Lucca shows up to break Crono out of jail shortly before he's due to be executed. If you choose not to escape, she saves the day. If you do, she's still a big help.
  • Bishonen Line: Lavos gets smaller and more humanoid as you cut through his various layers.
  • Bloodstained-Glass Windows: The courtroom. Yakra XIII moves to object!
  • Bonsai Forest: Those dense forests you see on the map appear to be made of very short trees when you're actually in them. It could be viewed as a graphical convention to go with the isometric perspective, of course.
  • Bonus Boss: One for each playable character, except Ayla (they wanted to include an optional dungeon for her, but ultimately could not fit it in). Some are added in the Updated Rerelease, namely the Dream Devourer and the bosses in the Dimensional Vortexes.
  • Boss Corridor: A very memorable pitch black room in Magus' Castle, with blue flames that light up as you pass by. The Black Omen has a long hallway filled with ominous holograms of Crono's party.
  • Boss in Mook Clothing: Iron Maiden in the DS version. They hit like a truck, steal MP to counter, and have the highest HP (10,000) of any non-boss in the game. There is a point where you will fight 2 of them at the same time. Fighting them normally would be painful, so people would rely on Robo's Apocalypse Arm's critical hit (9,999 damage) and/or Magus's Black Hole to shortcut the fight.
  • Boss Rush:
    • Lavos's first form. The first few "bosses" are pathetically easy, since they haven't scaled at all.
    • The Black Omen ends in a boss rush, leading up to Lavos (who happens to be another boss rush himself).
  • Bowdlerise: The US SNES translation did this a fair bit. For one, the drinking contests are all real drinking contests (i.e. alcoholic) in the original game.
  • Breaking the Fourth Wall: Just one instance, with Dalton in the Blackbird after Crono dies.

"No, no, no, and no! Stop the music!" [music changes from Crono's heroic, noble theme to the dastardly "A Shot of Crisis"] "Ha ha ha! Yes, there we go!"

  • Broken Bridge: Aside from the literal case of Zenan Bridge in 600 A.D., trying to cross Lab 32 before investigating Arris Dome will trigger a never-ending loop of Random Encounters until you give up and go somewhere else. The unforgiving winds on Death Peak also qualify.
  • Broken Hero: Robo, in a physical and metaphorical sense... or does a Robot Buddy having a blue screen of death (as well as a red ring of death at least once) count as a metaphor?
  • But Thou Must!: If not for this, Crono could have chosen not to wander around the festival with a pendant-wearing girl who bumped into him, thus avoiding a quest across time to battle unspeakable evils, his own death, and a few days in jail. He's also not allowed to bow out of Marle and Lucca's plan to Screw Destiny.
  • Calling the Old Man Out:
    • Marle tries, but she Cannot Spit It Out. By the time she gets a chance to talk to Dad again, she's got a better grasp of the situation and hugs him instead.
    • If Magus is present for the fight with Queen Zeal, he'll tell her exactly why she's pathetic, then resolve to kill her out of mercy. Notable in that she has no clue he's her son.
  • Canon Discontinuity: Radical Dreamers, the first sequel, was replaced by Chrono Cross, which significantly expanded upon and changed certain things, such as the fates of Magus and Schala. Although, a Chronopolis computer in Chrono Cross implies that the events of Radical Dreamers happened in an Alternate Universe...
  • Can't Drop the Hero: Until Crono dies, anyway.
  • Captain Ersatz: Uberhulks have no relation what-so ever to the "product identity" Umber Hulk.
  • Cardboard Prison: When Crono is jailed at the beginning, you either trick the guards to escape, or Lucca will bust in and take out most of the guards. Did we mention they're both teenagers?
  • Casting a Shadow: Magus.
  • Character Witness: In Crono's trial, how you acted during the Millennial Fair will determine your verdict.
  • Chekhov's Gun: The Crono doll.
  • Chekhov's Gunman:
    • Melchior manages to pull it off twice. At first, he seems like a mere merchant, but then it's revealed that he's the only swordsmith with the skills to repair the Masamune. Then, still later, it's revealed that he's one of the time-displaced Gurus.
    • The old man at the End of Time turns out to be another one of the Gurus. And he gives you the Chrono Trigger egg to resurrect Crono after his death.
  • Cherry Tapping:
    • In a horrifying inversion, the game does this to you via the Nu, who can be either NPCs or Random Encounters. In battle, Nu will either deal ((Current HP) - 1) damage or 1 damage. So prepared to be hilariously and humiliatingly killed by taking 1 damage while having only 1 hit point. Thankfully, there's a modicum of fairness in this skillset, as there are actually two kinds of Nus: one deals ((Current HP) - 1), the other 1, and they don't act planfully in unison.
    • Several of the end-game bosses and enemies have the ability to do this to you as well. Especially humiliating and noticeable if you're over-leveled, since most of their attacks would do scratch damage to you. Zeal in particular is rather annoying because attacking her with an AOE attack would result in her casting ((Current HP) - 1) and MP-buster on you, leaving your character with only 1 hp and nothing else. She usually follows this up with a life-drain spell.
  • Chest Monster: The unnamed enemies in Magus' Castle that are indistinguishable from Save Points until you touch them.
  • Chokepoint Geography: Zenan Bridge, Labs 16 and 32.
  • City Guards: Mainly the castle guards in 1000 AD.
  • Climax Boss: The first encounter with Lavos. Magus counts as well.
  • Cognizant Limbs: A good portion of the bosses have multiple parts, such as: a head and two hands; a body and legs; a large main body and two bits; or a head, a wheel, and a body. Since these require many different strategies (some are easier if both parts die near the same time, some require the weaker parts to be killed before the main part is attacked, one punishes you if the little parts take any damage at all, etc), it probably contributed to the lasting appeal of the game.
  • Color-Coded Timestop: Freezing time to rescue Crono after his first direct encounter with Lavos.
  • Combination Attack: Every combination of two characters (minus Magus) has three Double Techs they can perform together once they have the appropriate skills (a spin slash and a flame thrower make a burning spin slash, for example). And every combination of Crono and two other characters (plus a few other trios that require special accessories) can do a Triple Tech, although you probably won't use those that often.
  • Commonplace Rare: Jerky.
  • Copy and Paste Environments:
    • Justified in that you're visiting the same places, having survived millions of years.
    • The inner workings of Lavos share the same textures as the mountain regions in the game.
  • Copy Protection: In the Updated Rerelease, those who had pirated the game would find that traveling through a Gate will take forever.
  • Corridor Cubbyhole Run: Death Peak. And earlier, in the Guardia prison: you can hide in cutouts to sneak up on the guards and cosh them, instead of fighting.
  • Counter Attack: Equip the RageBand or FuryBand accessories. Some enemies also have their own counters, while bosses occasionally enter Counter Attack phases you can wait out due to the active combat system.
  • Covers Always Lie: Pretty much everything about the cover is wrong. A pink-garbed Marle is shooting a fireball (even though she has water-based powers) to complete the Arc Impulse triple tech with Crono (wearing a cape) and Frog against the Heckran (can't even be fought when Frog is in your party) in a snowfield (while the Heckran lives in a cave). A Bonus Dungeon in the DS remake allows you to legitimately do what the cover shows, because you go to another snowy mountain area, where a Heckran-like monster lives. However, it's a snowbeast, so using the Ice-elemental Arc Impulse on him is a hilariously bad idea.
  • Crapsack World: The Future. Not only are the last few remaining humans starving to death in decaying ruins, but mutants attack anyone travelling between shelters, and robots are systematically hunting down humans in order to recycle them in factories.
  • Crash Into Hello: Marle. Free advice: talk to her first, then pick up her dropped necklace.
  • Crater Power: After a fashion. Lavos demonstrates its might by slamming into the Tyrano Lair, leveling the entire plateau and replacing it with a charred crater.
  • Creepy Child: Janus. He sullenly ignores your party, only to suddenly state "The black winds howl. One among you will shortly perish."
  • Critical Hit: Several weapons that don't require excessive effort to get have abnormally high critical rates, which can be increased even more with items.
  • Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass: Alternative Character Interpretation/Epileptic Trees guesses that Dalton may be one of these. It would explain how he knocks the entire party out in cutscenes twice. Also, why he may have played a role in the fall of Guardia.
  • Crystal Prison: Exiling the Guru of Reason to a mountainous wasteland wasn't enough for Queen Zeal. She also imprisoned him in a crystal on the highest peak.
  • Crystal Spires and Togas: Zeal. Not many crystals, but...
  • Cursed with Awesome: Frog, cursed with his eponymous form, gains the ability to jump absurdly high distances and use his tongue as a grappling hook and healing implement. In fact, he delivers a Take That to Magus during their first battle, telling him that he actually enjoys his new form now.
  • Cutscene Incompetence: As stated in the entry, averted when Robo gets beaten up by the R-series in Proto Dome, as he didn't want to fight them himself or let Crono and Lucca/Marle fight them. But played straight in the prehistoric era when the party is "hopelessly outnumbered" by a party of eight Reptites, when they'd just been able to defeat five of them moments before. Even worse when the party gets captured by Dalton (whom you'd previously defeated as a boss) and a few random mooks.
  • Cutscene Power to the Max: Practically everything Magus does before he joins the party, as well as the Masamune's power. Justified Trope in Magus' case, as Lavos drains him of his power when he attacks it.
  • Darkest Hour: After the Fall of Zeal. Crono is dead, obliterated by Lavos, who knocked out your party with one attack and destroyed Zeal. Schala used her powers to teleport the rest of the party out of danger, but was caught in the Ocean Palace as it caved in. You've lost the Epoch, the time gate out of 12,000 B.C. is still sealed (and without Schala, there's no way to break the seal), the remnants of Zeal's army, led by Dalton, are trying to conquer what little remains, and the closest thing you have to an ally is someone you've been trying to kill for a large portion of the game. Things get better, but for a while, it looked pretty dire.
  • Dark World: With the different time periods.
  • Deader Than Dead: Crono, when Lavos disintegrates him. Of course, since the game is about time travel, "dead" and "gone" are not the same thing...
  • Decade Dissonance: The Kingdom of Zeal and the earthbound existing in the dark ages side by side.
  • Delayed Ripple Effect: When Marle disappears.
  • Desperation Attack:
    • Damage dealt by Frog's Frog Squash and Ayla's Dino Tail techniques increases as their users' HP decreases.
    • The Triple Tech "Grand Dream" requires your whole party to be at low HP to inflict maximum damage. What makes this technique the epitome of Awesome but Impractical, however, is that the party required to use this technique is Marle, Robo and Frog, meaning that if you can dish out maximum damage with this technique, Frog Squash is already primed to do the same, and the other two should be getting your party back on its feet.
    • One of the treasures gained from Robo's sidequest is the Crisis Arm, which has a similar effect listed. However, a glitch means that the weapon only reads the last digit of Robo's HP, meaning it does the same damage at 999 HP as at 9 HP.
  • Detectives Follow Footprints: Happens when your gate key is stolen by reptites. The section of the game is even called "Footsteps! Follow!".
  • Deus Exit Machina: Crono.
  • Devil in Plain Sight: Take the hand maiden's word for it. The Chancellor is very devout.
  • The Dev Team Thinks of Everything:
    • Items which exist over multiple time periods obey causality (relative to themselves, at least; your intervention is another story). If you take an object from the past, it won't be there in the future, but the same item can be obtained twice by taking the one in the future first.
    • If you try and take on the Black Omen in 2300 A.D., Queen Zeal actually comes down and mocks the player party for failing to remember that the apocalypse already happened and attacking the Omen now would be pointless.
    • Speaking of the Black Omen, it obeys the same laws as items. It ceases to exist after you defeat it, but only in time periods further ahead. The Omen can, in fact, be explored three times, allowing three times the Charmed loot off of Zeal (however, the dev team Failed a Spot Check here; other than the fight against Zeal, all one-time-only events in the Omen remain completed when you go back in time, including bosses fought and Inexplicable Treasure Chests opened).
    • The 12 endings you can encounter by actually defeating Lavos at the various points in the game.
  • Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Crono and his friends discover an ancient, city-sized alien that has leeched genetic progress from and plans to destroy all civilization. Their response is to begin Level Grinding until they are of sufficient power to stab it in the face. Or bludgeon it to death with a mop... and the game's 13 different endings actually encourage you to travel through time to defeat it at as many points in time as possible.
  • Dinosaurs Are Dragons: Mainly the Black Tyranno boss, but other dinosaur-type creatures also have fire-breathing capabilities.
  • Disaster Democracy: Monarchy in this case, as with Zeal blown to bits and 90% of the planet's surface now underwater, the surviving Enlightened Ones have no choice but to throw in with the Earthbound Ones, who know better how to survive in the icy climate. The propagation of the races ends up diluting man's ability to wield magic, but at least their moral sense has changed for the better.
  • Disc One Final Dungeon: Three times over, with Magus's Castle, Tyrano Lair and the Ocean Palace.
  • Disc One Nuke:
    • Items formerly unavailable until the endgame can be earned at the DS remake's Arena right after you leave the house, if you're patient enough.
    • The original game freely gave you them if you were just willing to grind for it. Right from the start, Crono can buy a Lode Sword from Melchior: the best available sword for the first three story arcs. And right after that, when you arrive in Medina village, there are overpriced items that are strong enough to take on the end-boss of the game. Usually, you wouldn't be able to afford it, but enemies in the Sewer Network of 2300 A.D. drop obscene amounts of money.
  • Do Not Go Gentle: All player characters bar Crono have a short one of these before the final final confrontation with Lavos.

Frog: My life retain'eth its meaning!

Flea: Him, her, same difference. Power is beauty, and I've got the Power!

  • Dual Boss: Masa and Mune, Azala and Black Tyrano, and The Golem Twins.
  • Dual World Gameplay: More than two, actually. The world is always the same, but you travel through multiple different eras.
  • Duel Boss: Frog (or Marle or Lucca) versus Magus at the North Cape and Robo and Atropos at the Geno Dome.
  • The Dulcinea Effect: When Marle was sucked into the time portal at the beginning, Crono jumped in headfirst to save her even though they only met a few minutes before.
  • Dying as Yourself: Before dying, Atropos briefly shakes off Mother Brain's control over her systems.
  • Easing Into the Adventure: "Good morning Crono!"
  • An Economy Is You: Exaggerated by the game design, which has most towns and settlements fully visible from the world map, rather than the traditional "step on map tile -> enter city" design.
  • Eldritch Abomination: Lavos, planetary parasite with powers over space-time. Fitting the Lovecraftian ideal even further, he's a source of immense magical power for an entire civilization.
  • Elemental Crafting: With the penultimate sword for Crono being crafted out of a... sparkly Rainbow Shell.
  • Elemental Powers: Fire, Ice/Water, Light and Shadow.
  • Elemental Rock-Paper-Scissors: Though the sequel made a bigger deal about innate elements, the rule still applies.
  • The End of the World as We Know It: "In the end, the future refused to change..."
  • Enemy Chatter: The enemies in the Sewer, as well as Dalton and his goons.
  • Enemy Mine: You can recruit Magus, and you shouldn't expect him to ever apologize for trying to kill you. Or anyone else, for that matter.
  • Enemy Scan: One accessory can display enemies' HP. Lucca starts with it. It doesn't work on bosses, however.
  • Equipment Spoiler: A merchant that can sell you scythes appears shortly before Magus offers to join the party.
  • Even the Guys Want Him: In a secret room in the Manolia Cathedral, you can find some monsters are worshipping a statue of Magus. It's... awkward.

Oh, great Magus, Magus the Great ♪
Your eyes are brighter than the stars ♪
Your long flowing hair, like waves atop the sea ♪
Even those miserable sunny days abate ♪
When we feel your seething hate ♪
Even brightened halls hold no fear ♪
Just so long as you are near ♪

  • Everyone Is Related: Would you believe that the Guardia Royal Family has basically controlled the same continent for over sixty million years? And that most of your party is related to them in some fashion? [2]
  • Everything's Better with Princesses: Marle is actually Princess Nadia.
  • Everything's Better with Spinning: Crono's Cyclone and Confuse attacks, and the various Dual Techs based off them... but averted by "Cleave".
  • Evil Chancellor: Sort of. It runs in the family too.
  • Evil Is Not a Toy: Lavos Is Not A Power Source. Trying to get energy from him might give you eternal life, but it'll also piss him off enough to destroy your civilization.
  • Evil Laugh: Stupid Ozzie. Also worth mentioning is the creepy, distorted laugh that echoes throughout Magus's castle. It also occurs in other places, like the Guardia Castle prison and Norstein Bekkler's tent.
  • Evil Sorcerer: Magus appears to be this at first, but his motives are a bit more complex...
  • Exposed to the Elements: You have to wonder how well Ayla's holding up when you take her into the Ice Age, but then again, none of the other party members are adequately dressed for those conditions, and they never say anything about it either.
  • Expy:
    • Crono looks like a red-headed version of Goku.
    • Marle is Bulma.
    • Lucca is a teenage Arale.
    • Ayla is Launch.
    • Magus is Kibito Kai.
    • Melchior resembles King Kai.
    • Lavos's second form bears a resemblance to Cell's initial form.
    • One of the animated cutscenes featured in the Beyond Time ending shows that Glenn is pretty much a green-haired Vegeta.
  • Eye Lights Out: All the R-Y model robots, including Robo, have this happen to them.
  • Fanfare: Chrono's theme and Lucca's theme.
  • Fan Sequel:
    • Chrono Resurrection was a fan-made project to remake key parts of Chrono Trigger as a Nintendo 64 Tech Demo Game with awesome 3D graphics and remastered music... but near the end of 2004, they received a Cease and Desist from Square Enix, and were forced to drop the project.
    • Crimson Echoes, a more literal Fan Sequel, was due to be released at the end of May 2009, but now that's gone too.
  • Fantastic Racism: There are hints of it between the humans and the fiends (intelligent monsters).
  • Fetch Quest: Averted in the original, but the Lost Sanctum in the DS version consists of nothing but.
  • Fill It With Flowers: Fiona tends a large forest in the middle ages and fears for its survival. She is able to preserve it thanks to Robo's help.
  • Final Exam Boss: Lavos.
  • Finishing Move: Crono pulls one of these against the Dragon Tank.
  • Fire, Ice, Lightning: And there's also Water (which counts as the same element as ice) and "Shadow". Lightning is actually a Bowdlerised version of the original Japanese "Heaven" element. The DS remake has sort of a middle ground, as Lightning has been changed to "Light".
  • Fission Mailed: Losing the battle against Golem and Lavos, during his appearance in the Ocean Palace, has little affect against the plot. In fact, winning the Ocean Palace fight unlocks an ending.
  • Flunky Boss: Many, many bosses, including the Final Boss, have "Bits" that assist the boss in attacking, counterattacking or defense, and often can be revived by the main boss. In the final battle, Lavos is disguised as one.
  • Foregone Victory: Both battles against Ozzie, unless you don't realize that there are other targets. There's also the Golem Boss, won't attack during your battle with it... because it's afraid of heights.
  • For Science!: Lucca and her father.
  • For Want of a Nail: Some of the time travel effects are this, while some adjust around it, such as what drives Lucca to science.
  • Four Is Death: Occurs at least four times:
    • No more than three people may time travel at once, or else they go to the End of Time (which isn't as bad as it sounds, more of a limbo for time travelers).
    • Magus and his henchmen.
    • Dalton has four golems.
    • Four Lavos Spawn.
  • Frickin' Laser Beams: Robo's "Laser Spin" technique, various enemy attacks in 2300 A.D., and some lasers that act as barriers to progress in the factory stages.
  • Friendly Fireproof: Generally played straight with your party's devastating magic attacks, but some enemy attacks will strike other enemies if they're between you and the attacker. Heck, some enemies will attack and even kill their compatriots before even bothering to attack the Player Party.
  • Frothy Mugs of Water: "Soda" and "soup" in the original; averted as of the DS remake.
  • Fur Bikini: Ayla's outfit. Official artwork shows her with a fur scarf as well, but in-game, it looks more like a tail...
  • Fusion Dance: Masa and Mune.
  • The Future: Sucks, hence the time travel.
  • Futureshadowing: The Millennial Fair is swarming with these, such as the "Unga Bunga!" dancers on the east side who are performing Ayla's tribal dance from 65,000,000 B.C. The most notable one is the swordsmith Melchior, who recognizes Marle's pendant and implores her to "keep it safe!".
  • Gadgeteer Genius: Lucca.
  • Gameplay and Story Segregation: When running around the Blackbird, special care must be taken to not be noticed, or you'll be captured and thrown back to your cell. If you have Ayla in your party, she will be able to engage in battle, although she is the only one able to do so. This is in spite of your characters' ability to cast magic, or in Robo's case, use his inbuilt laser cannons.
  • Gasshole: Dalton weaponizes this.
  • Generation Xerox:
    • The Guardia line.
    • Yakra, the monster that haunts Manolia Cathedral in Guardia. Almost every generation after him has the same M.O.: disguise himself as the Chancellor, and attempt to kill the queen or king to put an end to the Guardia royal bloodline. In the 400 years between 1000 and 600 A.D., they fail to pose a threat at all. That's Yakra for you!
    • Ozzie, whose descendant is the mayor (or janitor) of Medina Village in the present. The only difference is that somehow, the present Ozzie is purple.
  • Getting Crap Past the Radar: Marle's opinion of Johnny: "I don't know about a guy whose greatest talent is being fast..."
  • Giant Space Flea From Nowhere: As stated in the entry, they become more numerous the further you progress in the game: the Cave Imp, Giga Gaia, the Golem Sisters, just about every boss fight in the Black Omen except the last two, etc (ironically, the literal Giant Space Flea From Nowhere is well-integrated into the plot).
  • Giant Wall of Watery Doom: Zeal's destructon in 12,000 B.C. causes a tsunami to flood most of the world. Only a few survivors remain, bridging the divide between the 'Earthbound Ones' and the 'Enlightened Ones'.
  • Global Airship: The Epoch, once Dalton modifies it.
  • Global Currency: Even works across all time eras, although some shopkeepers will be understandably suspicious before taking your money anyway.
  • Global Currency Exception : In 65 Million B.C., you can only buy weapons by trading animal parts, which the monsters drop instead of gold (the item merchant, on the other hand, is very enthusiastic about your "shiny stone"). In 2,300 A.D., meanwhile, while the merchants will take your cash (who else is there to sell to?), they will question its value.
  • God Save Us From the Queen: Queen Zeal.
  • Goldfish Poop Gang: Ozzie, Slash, Flea. Especially the second time you face them during a late-game Sidequest.
  • Go Mad from the Revelation: The ability of Lavos and his spawn to inflict Confuse invokes the tendency of Eldritch critters to drive people to madness.
  • Good Morning, Crono: The Trope Namer. Such a well-recognized trope, some of the ads for the DS remake consisted of this phrase printed in the game's typeface... and nothing else (other than the usual legal fine print). Odd, as the new translation does not include the line.
  • Go Out with a Smile: Queen Aliza, on her deathbed.
  • Got the Call on Speed Dial: The party invokes this during one of the Alternate Endings. With Crono dead, their Time Machine destroyed, and every Time Gate closed permanently, the party builds their own Time Machine and reunites the old gang to go time-hopping one more time to search for a way to bring their dead comrade back to life. Pulls double-shift as a Heartwarming Moments.
  • Grandfather Paradox: In the middle ages, Crono has to stop Marle from being erased from existence by saving the era's queen, her ancestor.
  • Green Aesop: Subverted. The Kingdom of Zeal would've been fine if they'd just continued sucking energy out of the planet itself. It was only when they started messing with the cosmic abomination inside the planet that they found themselves on the path to destruction. But played straight with all the "this sapling/seed will save the environment" stuff across multiple time eras.
  • Gusty Glade: The foot of Death Peak is blocked by impassable winds. You'll need Balthazar's assistance to climb it.
  • Heads I Win, Tails You Lose: The fight against the first Golem. To many players, it will seem like a Hopeless Boss Fight, simply because it has a really nasty way of retaliating to various attacks. However, it can be tricked into an endless loop and be killed easily. It doesn't matter either way though: you get captured no matter what, the only difference is some XP for winning.
  • He Knows About Timed Hits: The Elder's House in Crono's hometown plays the role of the "Training Hall".
  • Hello, Insert Name Here: Slight amusement can be found in naming Marle, Frog, Magus and R-66Y (Robo) their "real" names, once you've played through the game and know what they are. The DS remake allows six-letter names for characters (memory issues limited the original to five letters), allowing people to name Crono as he was intended in the Japanese version ("Chrono").
  • Here We Go Again: The canonical ending.
  • Hero-Killer: Lavos kills Crono.
  • Heroes Prefer Swords
  • Heroic Mime: Crono, of course. Though he does have his own text box in one of the "fake/funny" endings, and the other characters react to him as if he can talk when the player is offered choices to answer. Lampshaded when he's almost executed. "Any last words?"
  • Heroic Sacrifice: Crono.
  • He Was Right There All Along: "Why is this bat following me into Magus's castle? Oh, right."
  • He Who Fights Monsters: Magus. Think about it. As a child, he blocked out his magical power because he hated what it was doing to his mother and sister. After he was sent to 600 A.D., he embraced that same power in order to destroy Lavos, becoming much like his mother in the process.
  • High Altitude Battle: Against Dalton Plus on the newly-airborne Wings of Time.
  • The High Queen: Leene, and Marle acts like one when she's mistaken for Leene. Then there's Queen Zeal, naturally.
  • Holy Burns Evil: Magus's weakness to the Masamune. Not just when you fight him: in the Northern Ruins, if Magus is in your party, he will recoil behind his cape when the Masamune begins emitting light, not dropping back to normal until Masa and Mune are gone.
  • Holy Hand Grenade: Luminaire. Plus, all the lightning spells are technically light elemental.
  • Homemade Inventions: Lucca and Taban's house is covered in high-tech machinery.
  • Hopeless Boss Fight: Lavos in its first appearance, unless you've somehow managed to max out your level or are in New Game+: Lavos is actually much more difficult in this encounter than any other, specifically because they wanted to make sure it killed you in a standard game. If defeated, you earn the game's hardest ending, the Developer's Room (this ending can also happen if you beat Lavos before first fighting Yakra).
  • HP to One: Various enemy attacks throughout the game, most notably during the Boss Battle against The Dragon. See also Cherry Tapping above.
  • Hyperactive Metabolism:
    • You can cure HP, MP or both in Guardia Castle by ordering one of three dishes.
    • In the Crapsack World that is the future, you can sleep in a machine that restores all of your HP/MP, except it notes: "But you're still hungry!"
    • You can also regain all HP and MP by drinking "happy water" in 65,000,000 B.C.
  • I Cannot Self-Terminate: "This creature has executed its program. Please let him sleep. The switch is on his stomach."
  • Identical Grandson: A necessary evil thanks to technological constraints: people and their ancestors and descendants are often just Palette Swaps of each other. However, in one case (namely, Marle's), this trope is used as a deliberate plot point.
  • Idle Animation: The party does this when they don't move around.
  • I Don't Like the Sound of That Place:
    • Death Peak.
    • The Mountain of Woe.
    • The BLACK OMEN.
  • "I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight:
    • Robo's fight with Atropos in Geno Dome.
    • And again in the DS version's extra ending, when Magus finds Schala.
  • Inconveniently-Placed Conveyor Belt:
    • The conveyor belts in the factory areas are understandable enough, but one has to wonder what they're doing on the Blackbird.
    • Played with in one of the sidequests. A pair of monsters spawn on conveyor belts. Before the batle menu pops up, the conveyor belts drop the poor Mooks into pits. The battle music slowly peters off and the party just stands there as if to say "Did that really just happen?".
  • Incredibly Lame Pun: Pretty much every European magazine that reviewed this game carried the subheading "It's about time".
  • Infinity+1 Sword: The Rainbow Sword, which criticals 70% of the time. The Masamune also qualifies when it gets its makeover. And the DS remake gives us the Dreamseeker, essentially Rainbow's big brother. It only does one more point of offense... but it criticals 90% of the time!
  • Informed Flaw: Everybody thinks Lucca and her father are a pair of incompetent mad scientists, most likely because Taban built a machine that ended up accidentally crippling his wife. However, we see Lucca invent different types of offensive weapons, hypnotic devices and an item capable of controlling tears in the fabric of time. Meanwhile, Taban develops increasingly effective suits of body armor for his daughter to use.
  • Interface Spoiler:
    • After rushing after Marle when she disappears in Lucca's Teleportation device, Crono unknowingly ends up traveling through time to the past. While you have no idea where you are until you speak to a few NPCs, saving the game at this point will give you the Chapter Title 'The Middle Ages'. Oh. Though this is an extremely minor spoiler: if you couldn't figure out the whole time-travelling thing by the fact that you're in the exact same position you were in during the present, with Guardia Kingdom looking only slightly different, and your little marker that usually says '1000 A.D.' now changed to '?', and just by knowing the damn game you're playing, then...
  • Irrelevant Sidequest: Robo's sidequest. If you defeat Lavos and save the world, then the things that the party fixes fix themselves. If you didn't do that one sidequest, the ending would be every bit as good, whereas with the others you usually fix something that happened before the apocalypse.
  • It Is Pronounced "Tro-PAY": Ayla's name is pronounced "Ay-la", not "Eye-la" (the katakana for her name is Eira).
  • It Only Works Once: Dinosaurs are weak to electricity in the past. The dinosaurs found in the present are pretty much immune to that weakness, and will turn it back on you very quickly.
  • It's All Upstairs From Here: Magus' Castle.
  • It's Always Mardi Gras in New Orleans: The Millennial Fair in 1000 A.D. It basically never stops. Until you beat Lavos, that is.
  • It's a Wonderful Failure: "But... the future refused to change..."
  • Kangaroo Court: You're put on trial for kidnapping the Princess early on (when in fact you rescued her). This one is a subversion though because you can actually win the trial, though it's difficult (doing so nets you a few bonus items). But even if you're acquitted, you still do time for running off with the Princess... and the Chancellor twists this into an execution. The chancellor is really Yakra XIII wanting revenge.
  • Kid Hero:
    • Crono begins the game by receiving his allowance.
    • Mocked when you go back to 600 and hear about the Hero, Tata, a young boy who has the Hero Medal. It's really Frog/Glenn's medal, which he abandons after getting beat up by Magus. Tata just finds it and gets hailed as a hero... but flees for his life once you follow him.
  • Kill All Humans: The robots led by Mother Brain (not that one) in 2300 A.D. decide that humanity's had its chance and failed, so the best thing to do is wait for Lavos and its spawn to leave the planet, take care of the last meatbags, and build a new android civilization.
  • King Incognito: Well, princess.
  • Knight in Shining Armor: Frog and Cyrus.
  • Kudzu Plot: The Entity. Eventually, it becomes clear that The Planet itself is the entity.
  • Late Arrival Spoiler: The Updated Rerelease shows Magus along with the rest of the party in some of the earliest pictures used to demonstrate special techniques, even though his eventual Heel Face Turn is supposed to be a twist.
  • Laughing Mad: The Confuse status effect. Queen Zeal and Dalton are also prone to evil cackling quite a bit.
  • Lava Adds Awesome: The Ocean Palace is carpeted with lava, with metal catwalks separating you from it.
  • Leaked Experience: Characters not in the active fighting party receive only 75% of the experience and no tech points.
  • Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Trying to use a particular save point will trigger a battle. This is because they heard the *ding* it makes when you touch it.
  • Left the Background Music On: Dalton, when he modifies the Epoch. The time machine starts playing Crono's theme when engaged but Dalton quickly calls for a change.
  • Leitmotif: Not only does each time era, character, and geographic location share leitmotifs, you can match some of them up based on how they sound.
    • Chrono's theme is echoed by the 1000 A.D. Overworld Theme.
    • Magus's theme is similarly echoed by the 12,000 B.C. Overworld Theme and Schala's Theme.
  • Lightning Can Do Anything: "Thunder stun all dinosaur! You know?"
  • Like Brother and Sister: Lucca and Crono, according to her. "Don't go getting any ideas!"
  • Load-Bearing Boss: Defeating Giga Gaia causes the suspension chain to snap on the Mountain of Woe, which collapses into the sea.
  • Load-Bearing Hero: Robo does this early in the game, though he is holding two automatic doors closing horizontally, instead of one structure falling vertically. Oddly, he doesn't actually leave any room for the other characters to move around him, but thanks to game mechanics, the other characters can simply walk through him.
  • Look Behind You!: How Dalton captures the party if you beat the Golem in the first meeting.
  • Lost Forever: Anything at Zeal, Mt. Woe, the Tyrano Lair and Geno Dome.
  • Low-Level Run: One of the games this is practiced with: it's possible to finish with a Level 1 Crono.
  • MacGuffin Title: The titular Chrono Trigger is a Time Egg that allows the characters to save Crono after he dies.
  • Magic Kiss: Ayla's Kiss ability heals your party members' health while confirming her Bi the Way interest in strong men and women.
  • Magic Knight: Five of the seven characters can learn magic, including sword-wielders Crono and Frog. Plus, Robo's laser abilities are as good as spells.
  • Mayor of a Ghost Town: Doan, being the descendant of the Proto Dome's Supervisor (killed in the Bad Ending).
  • Meaningful Name:
    • Magus's real name, Janus, comes from the two-faced Roman god of gates and doors, and indicated transition.
    • Magus has mystical connotations, and is the singular form for the three Magi that visited Jesus in Christian mythology who, in another case of Woolsey's influence, are named Balthazar, Melchior and Gaspar.
    • Magus's two Japanese names keep this trend. Janus's Japanese name is Jaki, which basically refers to an evil imp, or small demon, and his title is Maou, which basically means "Demon King".
    • Queen Zeal.
    • The people of Zeal named their power extractor the Mammon Machine.
  • Mecha-Mooks: Robots in three different time periods, thousands of years apart.
  • Medieval European Fantasy: Both 600 A.D. and 1000 A.D. fit the definition, despite the presence of various anachronisms.
  • Medley Exit: The "best" possible ending has one of these set to the wonderful "To Far Away Times", showing quick glimpses of the cast resuming their lives after Lavos' defeat. The updated re-releases feature another, animated version (set to a remastered medley) that goes into more detail, including Crono and Marle's wedding, Ayla getting Kino to propose to her, a human Frog being knighted, and most significantly, Lucca finding a mysterious infant.
  • Metal Slime: The "Rubble" enemies found at Mt. Woe, which pose minimal danger to your party and yield a large amount of Tech Points. The only problem is they have obscenely high evade stats, and will always lock out all of your abilities other than regular attacks. This makes it infinitely more likely that you'll miss for five or so turns until they run away. Several other enemies follow similar patterns.
  • Mini Game: Several are found at the Millennial Fair, naturally enough. Some involve wagers. One becomes mandatory for a sidequest late in the game, although the only cost of failure is 40 silver points.
  • Mistaken for Murderer: Kidnapper in this case. As soon as Crono returns from the past for the first time after saving the princess, he's arrested for kidnapping. This is due to the fact that the "Chancellor" is now a descendant of Yakra, due to the fact that, since you went back in time and stopped the original Yakra from impersonating the Chancellor, his broodlings took it upon themselves to finish what he had started. The "mistake" is merely actually an act of revenge.
  • Money Spider: Except in 65 Million B.C., where the local equivalent of currency is dropped instead (you can still spend G in that era, but it's only with one guy who is interested in trading for your 'shiny stone', and he just sells some regular items).
  • Mook Maker: The conveyor belt in the Factory.
  • Multiple Endings: There are 12, many of which can only be attained in a New Game+. Perhaps the first game of its genre to use this to any significant degree. And variations on some of those depending on whether Crono is dead or Magus is in your party, and on the method you use to reach Lavos. The Playstation port and DS version throws in another one for good measure.
  • My Life Flashed Before My Eyes: The characters speculate that the Gates are the result of this for the soul of the planet itself.
  • NameDar: Ayla's off-the-cuff name for Lavos [it means "big fire" in her dialect] evidently passes into the lexicon; Justified Trope, however, as she is the chief of the only major human civilization at the time. Also, Lucca stumbled across the proper name for the time warps -- "Gates" -- purely by chance, it seems.
  • Never Found the Body: Dalton, who gets sucked into a portal. The only villain who doesn't get irretrievably dispatched on screen. Now does his bringing down Guardia make a bit more sense?
  • New Game+: Debatably not quite the original, but definitely the one everyone remembers, and both the Trope Namer and Trope Codifier.
  • News Travels Fast: Justified because, since this is a time-travelling game, anything you do that changes time, everybody would naturally know about.
  • New World Tease: You can't actually explore 1999 A.D. Well, not legitimately.
  • Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: See Chrono Cross.
    • Ayla heads to the secret Laruba Village to gather reinforcements. Too bad the Reptites follow her there, setting fire to the whole village. No wonder the Old Man's pissed.
  • No Bisexuals: Averted Trope: Ayla is clearly bisexual (her healing tech is called "Kiss" and works equally well on all party members... including Robo and herself). "Lucca is bisexual" is a running gag in the Japanese version, and also in the DS version, which has been retranslated to be closer to the original (Lucca denies being bi, however).
  • Nobody Can Die: Toyed with, particularly in the scenes where you are chased by guards you cannot battle. Most humans will turn out to be monsters in disguise before you fight them. This becomes somewhat ironic in that major characters can die and many of the nonhuman enemies you are allowed to kill freely are shown to be sentient.
  • Nominal Importance: Most noticeable with the Gurus.
  • Non-Indicative Name: The "Middle Ages" (600 A.D.) are in the middle of what, exactly? It falls between 12,000 B.C. and 1000 A.D., and, chronologically, is in the final 1% of the entire span of time seen in the game.
  • Nonstandard Game Over: "BUT... THE FUTURE REFUSED TO CHANGE."
  • No Pronunciation Guide: A consequence of the game originally coming out before the Internet really took off.
  • Not-So-Harmless Villain: Dalton is the one who brings down the Kingdom of Guardia between Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross?!
  • Nuns Are Spooky: Manolia Cathedral. They're not nuns.
  • Obstructive Code of Conduct: Notably averted: the notion that there is some moral obligation to "respect the flow of history" is never even briefly addressed.
  • Oddly-Named Sequel 2: Electric Boogaloo: Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross are both named after their MacGuffin. The Chrono Trigger is a gateway to a specific point in time, while the Chrono Cross is a means to unify timelines. Radical Dreamers is named after the titular party.
  • Offstage Waiting Room: The people you don't have in your party must wait in the End of Time, a creepy place where, well, time ends, with only each other and Gaspar to keep them company.
  • Older Is Better: 65,000,000 B.C. Stone Katanas are better than modern steel or iron one.
  • One-Time Dungeon: The Black Tyrano fortress is destroyed when Lavos crashes into it. Mt. Woe is no longer accessible after the chain breaks and it falls into the sea. The Ocean Palace is no longer accessible after Lavos awakens, destroying it and the Kingdom of Zeal.
  • One-Winged Angel: Inverted with Lavos, who becomes smaller and less visually intimidating as your progress through his different forms. Queen Zeal manages to pull it off straight.
  • One Bad Mother: Mother Brain.
  • One Million BC: 65,000,000 B.C. is a visitable era in the game.
  • The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: If Frog is in your party during the second battle with Magus, he insists on fighting him alone. He's not happy if he's with you during the Ocean Palace incident either, when Magus almost done in by Lavos. "You cannot die at the hands of some other foe! You're mine to defeat!"
  • Only Shop in Town: Each town has one place to buy and sell things. This even holds true in the Bad Future.
  • Optional Party Member: Magus. And you don't have to fix Robo in the sunken desert side quest or bring back Crono.
  • Orphaned Etymology: The years are expressed with B.C. and A.D. What they stand for in this world is anyone's guess.
  • Our Founder: The ever-changing statue in Medina's village square.
  • Our Hero Is Dead: Crono actually dies during the course of the game. Of course, this being a game about time travel, it is entirely possible to bring him back. Or not, if you don't feel like it.
  • Out of Sight, Out of Mind: After Crono, Marle and Lucca jump into the 2300 A.D. portal when Crono escapes from jail, the guards seem to forget about them, as later you can go to Guardia Castle and nobody will attempt arresting Crono. This is before the Chancellor is discovered to be Yakra's descendant, which makes it more strange. This is addressed in the game. If you talk to the soldiers and other people in the castle after they stop chasing you out (around the time you can open the sealed chests, Marle must be in your party the first time), they'll say that the king pardoned Crono after being pleaded to by Pierre, and that only the chancellor really believes Crono is guilty to begin with.
  • Overrated and Underleveled: Magus. Somewhat justified, as his magic was drained by Lavos before he joins your party.
  • Palette Swap: Almost all the Bonus Bosses are Palette Swaps of earlier bosses, plus the various species of Underground Monkey.
  • Paper-Thin Disguise: Magus disguises himself as a prophet in 12,000 B.C. by basically putting a hood on his cape. It doesn't even fully cover his hair. Of course, it still works, since no one in the time period would know who he was, and his past self is an eight to twelve year old child.
  • Parental Abandonment: Whatever happened to Crono's dad?
  • Party Scattering: This happens after the Fall of Zeal.
  • Peninsula of Power Leveling: Several, based on what stage of the game you're at:
    • You can visit 65,000,000 B.C. as soon as you access the End of Time, several dungeons before you actually need to go there. In 65,000,000 B.C. lies the Dactyl's Nest, an area you're not supposed to visit until the second time you come to 65,000,000 B.C. The enemies there give three times the typical amount of experience that battles in the next storyline dungeon do, at only a mild increase in difficulty. There's also the Nu in the Hunting Range. It can't kill you, but you can kill it for points that you need to learn your characters' powerful techniques. It's somewhat difficult to find, however.
    • The Fiendlord's Keep has a chamber (right-hand path from entryway) before the room where Flea's fought that has three groups that drop 413 experience each (which is decent), but each one also often drops a Mid Ether (restores 30 MP in battle), 720 gold (which is nice), and give 11 TPs for icing on the cake.
    • While taken aboard the Blackbird you can encounter mooks which despite posing a minimal threat still give more experience than their challenging recolors from the Ocean Palace.
    • The Geno Dome starts with a conveyor belt which has five sets of enemies, which reward a total combined EXP of roughly 10,000, far greater than any other location in the entire game. It also gives a decent amount of TPs. A garbage chute at the end of the belt allows you to travel back to the beginning and reset the enemies, making it the perfect location to grind.
    • In the Black Omen, there is a hall which puts you against three enemies every time you walk through it. If you're strong enough to beat them all before they can escape, you can learn all your Techs easily. It also contains an enemy from whom you can steal Strength Capsules, items that give a permanent +1 bonus to your Strength attribute.
  • Personality Powers: The amphibious Frog is a Water innate and dark magician Magus is Shadow, and Crono, one of the fastest characters, is aligned with Heaven, Lightning or Light, depending on version (original Japanese, SNES English translation and DS remake translation, respectively). Inverted, however, with Lucca and Marle: the impetuous ("hot-headed") Princess is a Water/Ice innate where logical, scientific-minded Lucca sets things on fire.
  • Pillar of Light: Various techniques, portals, objects.
  • Pimped-Out Dress: Leene's dress. Marle also sports one a few times, but she apparently wears her everyday clothes underneath it in case she feels the need to run off. In the Imagine Spot about why Marle vanished before your eyes, this is the standard gear for Guardia royalty.
  • Pistol-Whipping: Marle whacks things with her crossbow if they're too close to shoot at.
  • Place Beyond Time: The End of Time.
  • Planar Shockwave: Fire 2 and some other magic spells feature this as part of their visuals.
  • Planet Eater: Lavos, whose species crashes into worlds like meteors, burrows into the core, consumes energy for millennia while leeching genetic code from the strongest native life forms, then vomits its offspring into the void with an extinction event.
  • Platonic Life Partners: Crono and Lucca.
  • Plot Coupon: A special note has to be made for the eponymous Chrono Trigger, which does absolutely nothing besides advance the plot. Other notables include Marle's Pendant, the Hero's Badge and the Masamune. Naturally, you don't get to keep any of them in a New Game+.
  • Plotline Death: Subverted: it's the hero himself. You don't even have to get him back. Played straight in the ending if you don't though: the first thing Marle and Lucca do after taking care of Lavos and sending the other three or four characters to their home times is hop into the Epoch and head to "get Crono back".
  • Portal Network: The Gates and Pillars of Light linking the time periods via the End of Time.
  • Post End Game Content: New Game+. In the DS version, the Dimensional Vortex.
  • Power Floats: Most of the characters hover while casting magic. Magus does it all the time when moving at any speed faster than a leisurely walk: his run animation is rather hovering above the ground by about a foot.
  • The Power of the Sun: The Sun Stone, which was used as Zeal's superadvanced power source until it ran dry and they turned to Lavos Power instead. The party can repower the Stone and use it to make Lucca's best gun and the stat-multiplying Sun Shades. It can also be combined with the Rainbow Shell to produce Crono's best sword and a set of critical chance-increasing Prism Specs. It's a very powerful item.
  • Precap: One of these plays if you leave the game on the title screen long enough.
  • Preexisting Encounters: Trope Codifier for jRPGs: all the encounters are pre-scripted and appear at the same point and with the same enemies every playthrough, and many are also avoidable and allow you to see their contents beforehand. On the other hand, quite a few battles are unavoidable ambushes set at fixed points (which respawn every time you change "screens"). Some rare enemies only appear at random, although it's still your choice to fight them or not.
  • Princess Classic: Schala, to an extent, as well as Queen Zeal before her Start of Darkness.
  • Prison Episode: Two: one after a Kangaroo Court trial, and another one thirteen thousand years earlier, but much later in the game.
  • Prophetic Names: Crono, of course, and the Kingdom of Zeal. Also the Mammon Machine.
  • Putting the Band Back Together: In an Alternate Ending if Crono is left dead.
  • Puzzle Boss: The Son of Sun and Lavos. Ozzie is a rather pathetic version.
    • The Golem and Golem Sisters can be difficult if you don't know the trick to the fight.
  • Quirky Miniboss Squad: Ozzie, Slash and Flea. They're different from others in that they're fairly competent.
  • Ragnarok Proofing: The Sun Palace and Sealed Pyramid - both relics of Zeal Kingdom - slowly unearth themselves as the continents drift.
  • Ramming Always Works: Well, sorta. Ramming Lavos with the Epoch only skips a slightly tedious replay of several earlier boss battles; the core is still alive. The endings change to reflect whether you do this or not.
  • Reactor Boss: The Mammon Machine in the Black Omen. Not too exciting...
  • Redemption Equals Death: Or so Ayla is convinced. After taking full responsibility for letting the reptites find and attack Laruba Village, Ayla embarks on a suicide mission. Given her broken English, it's hard to tell if "Ayla want live, so go there!" means she won't be in a depressive slump, is doing this to survive, or is doing this so that others may survive...
  • Red Oni, Blue Oni: Reversed. Marle uses ice magic but is extroverted and passionate; Lucca uses fire but is more cerebral and scientific. Possibly Red-haired Crono and Blue-haired Magus. In the DS remake, there are two bosses literally called Red Demon and Blue Demon who can revive each other. The only way to kill them is to beat them at the same time.
  • Reduced MP Cost: The Silver Stud cuts MP costs by half, and the Gold Stud reduces it to 25%. Not quite a Game Breaker, as spells can be very costly (most final techs cost a fifth of your MP, and all Magus's techs cost at least 8 MP), but it is one of the best accessories to have.
  • Redundant Rescue: Depending on how you play it, Lucca showing up to bust Crono out of prison is either a Big Damn Heroes moment or this.
  • Redundant Researcher: Toma.
  • Reforged Blade: Masamune.
  • Robo-Family: Robo and his fellow R-series robots are never actually called "brothers", but they do share a bond... or at least they used to.
  • Robot Names: Robo is also known as R66-Y. Then we find out he was Prometheus, which is not on the list of standard robot names.
  • Rooftop Confrontation: Battling the Tyranno on top of Azala's castle, and later an outer space duel with Queen Zeal!
  • Rubber Band AI: Spekkio, who becomes more powerful when the lead party member's level reaches a level divisible by 10. Needless to say, you'll have a far better chance of beating him at levels 19, 29, 39, etc. than at 10/20/30.
  • Ruins of the Modern Age: Lab/Site 16/32 areas in 2300 A.D. along with bits of random destroyed buildings in the overworld. In contrast to the futuristic domes, these places look exactly like what a modern day city would look like.
  • Rule of Three: The Gurus.
  • Run, Don't Walk: Don't try running on the second Death Peak obstacle though.
  • San Dimas Time: Otherwise things would get even more complicated.
  • Sand Is Water: The desert wasteland just beyond Fiona's villa.
  • Save Point
  • Save the Villain: Ayla tries to do this to her mortal enemy Azala, but Azala refuses.
  • Saving the World: From Lavos. In this case, the world is actually rather small, but visiting it in multiple different timelines gives the feeling of having a lot to explore.
  • Scavenger World: The future, though most of its inhabitants have given up hope and are simply sitting around, waiting to die.
  • Schizo-Tech:
    • 1000 A.D. is Chrono Trigger's "modern world", with a mix of medieval and modern architecture: castle, modern military uniforms, refrigerators, and swords and guns together. On the outer edges of science and magic, there's even a robot and human cloning.
    • There are guns found throughout time. There's even a "Ruby Gun" in 65,000,000 B.C. Clearly, Lucca set back firearms for millions of years by swiping the earliest prototype!
    • There are robot arms in 65,000,000.
    • From one walkthrough:

[600 A.D., Tata and the Frog]: "Grab the Mirage hand. It's a nice weapon for Robo. Ponder why they've got robot parts laying about in the middle ages while you equip it on him."

  • Science Fantasy: You start in the fantasy realm as a Magic Knight rescuing a princess, but end up with a time machine and Robot Buddy saving the world from an Eldritch Abomination from space.
  • Scratch Damage: Averted: if you have high enough levels and high-end equipment, weaker enemies will routinely deal zero damage.
  • Screw Destiny: This is practically the first thing out of Marle's mouth upon seeing the Day of Lavos recording.
  • Self-Disposing Villain: Dalton.
  • Sequence Breaking: It is possible to do one of the Fated Hour quests early. Thanks to some funky Event Flag checking, you can do the side quest to revive Fiona's Forest in 600 A.D. the moment you reach the Kingdom of Zeal and tell a particular person to keep a plant. It's more challenging to do the side quest, but it lends itself to getting some of the best helmets.
  • Sequential Boss:
    • Lavos. Depending on how you approach things, a Boss Rush may also be involved.
    • Queen Zeal. Not only that, but beating her immediately triggers the battle with Lavos, fusing two sequential bosses together!
  • Set Right What Once Went Wrong
  • Shoot the Medic First:
    • A helpful strategy to take down many of the bosses. May be a required strategy in some battles, depending on your levels.
    • Averted with Mother Brain. While the computers that keep healing her for 1000 HP a pop are a huge nuisance, destroying all three of them will let her pretty much screw your whole party in two turns.
  • Shout-Out:
    • Ayla, the cavewoman, is named after the heroine from Clan of the Cave Bear, also a cavewoman.
    • In the North American translation, Magus' henchmen, the Quirky Miniboss Squad consisting of Ozzie, Flea and Slash, reference the rockers John "Ozzy" Osbourne, most famously of Black Sabbath, Michael "Flea" Balzary, most famously of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Saul "Slash" Hudson of Guns 'N Roses and Velvet Revolver. The NPC who tells you about them goes so far as to say that "they're tone-deaf, evil fiends!".
    • In the American translation, one of the earlier chapters is named "Forward to the Past".
    • Since Toriyama did the character designs, Crono looks like Goku (and wears a crown straight out of Dragon Quest in the animated ending cinema in the Playstation port), Marle wears one of Bulma's early outfits, and Lucca looks like Arale from Dr. Slump.
    • Listen to the music played during the trial scenes. Then, listen to The Trial by Pink Floyd.
    • Robo's theme sounds a lot like a certain song re-popularized on the internet.
    • Lavos' second form is likely a shout out to the Guyver series or the Super Sentai series. Not only does he look a lot like a Guyver, his Chest Blaster attack also requires him to literally open his chest to shoot the beam (much like mega smasher from the Guyver series), and it also happens to be his strongest attack.
    • Lavos' second form also bears a striking resemblance to Imperfect Cell.
    • A minigame at the Millennial Fair can spawn the npcs Biggs and Wedge.
    • Also, if you are playing the SNES version of the Rainbow Shell sidequest, when Marle and the others head down to the Guardia Castle basement, the snakes are named Dumb and Dumber (in the DS version, they are Slither and Squirm).
    • The Knights of the Square Table are simultaneously a nod to Arthurian legend and to the game's development company.
    • Tata, the would-be Kid Hero in the middle ages, looks like a hero from in a Dragon Quest game, another franchise Toriyama did art designs for. His role derives from the Erdrick trilogy with his Hero's Badge mimicking the Erdrick Seal, and his 'quest' to defeat Magus parallels with the Edrick's quest to slay Baramos (and later Zoma). His idle sprite even walks perpetually in place like the sprites from the earlier Dragon Quest games did, when no other sprite in-game does this.
  • Sidekick Ex Machina: Magus yet again.
  • Sidequest:
    • Most notably, the one to resurrect the main character is entirely optional. Most of the game post-Zeal (even the Black Omen) can be considered a sidequest, since you can face the final boss very early in the game. That said, the sidequests are helpful for leveling your characters and getting their best weapons so you stand a chance of beating said boss on your first playthrough. And at the very least, none of them feel particularly pointless.
    • The DS remake introduced the Lost Sanctum, two villages and two mountains full of Fetch Quests: find an item, take it to the guy on top of the mountain, Fade Out to the village. Now climb the mountain again to talk to the guy again to figure out what you need to fetch for him next. You spend as much time traveling through the same four or five screens as you do on the rest of the game's sidequests combined. At least the rewards are usually worth it.
  • Simple Score of Sadness: "At The Bottom Of Night".
  • Sixth Ranger: Magus.
  • Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: Heavily idealistic. Chrono Cross's Darker and Edgier tone is one of the reasons it's such a hotly Contested Sequel.
  • Smite Me Oh Mighty Smiter: In the SNES version, Azala says this: "Red Star... FALL!" In the DS version, however, this is different: "Damnable red star... Fall, why don't you? Stain the earth red!"
  • Smug Snake: Dalton.
  • Snow Means Death: Snow or ashes are swirling around the world map of 2300 A.D. Death Peak in particular looks like Christmas.
  • The So-Called Coward: Frog. This is made clearer in the DS retanslation, when he tells Cyrus he doesn't fight back against his childhood tormentors because he's reluctant to hurt them.
  • Sociopathic Hero: Magus. The only thing he seems to value is his sister Schala, and he is willing to work with, exploit, manipulate or destroy anything if it helps Schala.
  • Soft Glass: Marle jumps through some of this when making her entrance into the courtroom.
  • Soiled City on a Hill: Zeal Kingdom, the poster child for imperial hubris.
  • Somebody Else's Problem: Completely averted: Crono, Marle and Lucca learn of their planet's fate in the distant, ruined future. It takes all of three seconds to decide that it is their problem.
  • Spell My Name with an "S":
    • Chrono/Crono. Plus, in the DS remake, all the generic monsters are renamed.
    • Speaking of which, the enemy named Omnicrone was renamed to "Gaoler" in the DS remake. This makes sense once you realize that gaoler is an alternate spelling of "jailer".
  • Spiritual Successor: To the far less known, Japanese-only RPG Live a Live, also developed by Square.
  • Standard Status Effects: Some of these are so rote, you'll only encounter them once.
  • Status Buff:
    • Power, Magic and Speed stats can be permanently increased with items that can be found or stolen.
    • Lucca's Protect, Marle's Haste and Magus's Magic Wall spells, which provide a temporary boost to Physical Defense, Speed and Magic Defense, respectively.
  • Status Buff Dispel: One of Lavos's attacks is "Curse", which removes characters' protection from status ailments. Works on protection granted not only by spells, but also by equipment, making the attack more effective than a standard RPG "Dispel" spell.
  • Stolen Good, Returned Better: Dalton steals the Epoch. But when the heroes steal it back, it can fly.
  • Storming the Castle: Magus's castle, the Tyrano Lair and the Black Omen.
  • Stuck Items: Every slot is filled and can never be fully unequipped, except on the Blackbird where it's (temporarily) done for you.
  • Sucking-In Lines: Most spells.
  • Suspicious Videogame Generosity: The save room in Guardia Prison is accompanied by an "owner's manual" detailing the weapons and weaknesses of a "Dragon Tank". Hmmm. Also, inspecting the Supervisor's unconscious body (also lying nearby) yields a whopping TEN Mid-Tonics. Hmmmmmmmmm...
  • Sword of Plot Advancement: The Masamune.
  • Take It to the Bridge: Zenan Bridge (once it's fixed, of course) hits all of the symbolic marks: the bridge is a bottleneck through which Ozzie's troops attempt to invade Guardia; a flashback between Cyrus and Glenn takes place on the bridge, as Cyrus announces he's going to become a knight; lastly, King Guardian XXI leads a procession across the water during the game's ending.
  • Take Your Time: An interesting variation on the trope, due to the time-traveling nature of the plot. You can travel to several time periods both distantly before and distantly after Lavos's apocalypse, you can attack Lavos at nearly any point in the game after getting the Epoch, and one of the Gurus explicitly tells you to take as much time as you need to prepare for your confrontation with it. For once, time is not of the essence... but you only get one chance, so you'd better make it count.
  • Teaser Equipment:
    • At the very beginning of the game. The Guru Melchior is visiting the Millennial Fair and has a Silver Sword for sale. Unless you farm money for a long time, you won't be able to afford it until you've progressed through at least one more dungeon.
    • The first time you arrive at Medina, the shopkeepers sell weapons three tiers above what you'll currently be using, for 10 times the gold you'd expect. Justified in that the fiends of the village hate humans after losing a war 400 years ago. After you've changed history to make fiends no longer hate humans, the prices become more reasonable, but by then, the gear is outclassed.
  • Technicolor Blade: All of the Infinity+1 Swords are golden.
  • Teleporters and Transporters/Teleporter Accident: Lucca's invention that sets the whole plot into motion, plus a few magic-based teleporters in Zeal.
  • Temporal Paradox: One briefly causes Marle to disappear early in the game. And, according to Chrono Cross, the heroes create one when they defeat Lavos. Outside of the storyline, abusing the past/future mechanics to do the same event multiple times (take an item, beat the Omen) is also a paradox, since the first instance is now no longer possible in linear time.
  • Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: Atropos, who is Pink Means Feminine and has a ribbon that she bequeaths to Robo upon death.
  • Thanks for the Mammary: If Ayla is with you on the Rainbow Shell sidequest, after her speech about growing up and having children, she will grope Marle and comment about her not being "big enough" for that, yet.
  • Theme Music Power-Up: It's a pretty consistent bet that whenever someone's theme plays, they're about to have a Moment of Awesome. Except when Lucca's theme plays, which means that everyone is about to have a Moment of Awesome.
  • Theme Naming: Ozzie, Slash and Flea are named after rock stars in the English localization, condiments in the original Japanese.
  • Third-Person Flashback: Justified. During the trial, all the flashbacks of what you did are in third-person... because they were actually coming from somebody else's descriptions.
  • Time Abyss: Lavos and the Nu.
  • Time Stands Still: An item received very late in the game has this effect, but It Only Works Once.
  • Time Travel: Pretty much the whole point.
  • Timey-Wimey Ball: Explored here.
  • Title Drop: When Gaspar gives you the Chrono Trigger.
  • Trauma Inn: All the inns are capable of completely healing they party.
  • Trick Boss: Flea's henchmonster, who exists only to cast MP Buster on you before the real one shows up. The Golem Boss also counts... but not the other Golem-type bosses.
  • Tricked-Out Time
  • Underground Monkey: Lots of 'em.
  • Unexpected Gameplay Change: Crono's escape from prison can be played as a stealth segment, but the player can opt to just bash on through or wait to be executed and be saved at the last moment. Also, the cycling race in the future.
  • Unfinished Business: Frog's friend Cyrus lives on as a restless -- and very dangerous -- ghost after his murder, but Frog can help him rest in peace, getting his Infinity+1 Sword in the process.
  • Universal Driver's License: Somehow, all of your party members are able to pilot the Epoch, including cavewoman Ayla. The Jetbike in 2300 A.D. also counts.
  • Universal Poison: Poison is used in much the same way as it is in the Final Fantasy series. The interesting thing is that Robo can be poisoned as well.
  • Unperson: The reason why Queen Zeal declared the banishment of the Earthbound Ones after they cannot perform magic. Only the Philosophers and Schala don't agree with Zeal and treat the Earthbounds as equals.
  • Unusually Uninteresting Sight:
    • The player's party consists of an anthropomorphic frog, a self-aware humanoid robot, a cavewoman in a bikini-slash-cat costume, and -- optionally -- a world-threatening dictator who Looks Like Orlok. No one cares. Crono's mother has more to say on the odd ensemble of Crono's time-displaced sidekicks than the entire rest of the NPC cast, and even she doesn't seem too worried about them. Especially evident with Magus, as while people will now suddenly know whatever name you've chosen to given him, they pay no mind to him, even when he's the one they're talking to.
    • There's also the Black Omen, but that's justified: since it appeared in 12,000 B.C. and stuck around ever since then, from the average schmuck's point of view, it's always been there.
  • Urban Segregation: In 12,000 B.C., magic users live on Floating Continent Zeal, while non-magic users live on the Earth.
  • Utopia: The "elite get the Utopia, poor people live on the ground" subversion. But don't worry, the Utopia comes to them.
  • Utopia Justifies the Means: Whether it's enslaving the less fortunate or siphoning energy out of the planet (or from other sources), no cost is too great!
  • Victory Pose
  • Video Game Caring Potential: There's a poor lost kitten separated from its sad little girl of an owner...
  • Video Game Cruelty Potential: Go on, take that guy's lunch. It's right there, it'll restore your HP/MP, and it's not like he can do anything to you. What's the worst that could happen?
  • Video Game Settings:
    • Abandoned Laboratory: The Keeper's Dome. You can visit it on your first visit to the future, when it's still habitated, but you won't get far.
    • Absurdly Spacious Sewer: Sir Crawly runs the show down here.
    • The Alcatraz: Guardia Castle's prison and the Mountain of Woe.
    • All the Worlds Are a Stage: While fighting Lavos' third form, the background alternates between the five epochs. Lavos' spell list is determined by this.
    • Amazing Technicolor Battlefield: Lavos, Phases 1 and 3 (and the Dream Devourer, of course).
    • Big Boo's Haunt: Magus' Castle is crawling with the dead. Some even plead with you to put them out of their misery.
    • Big Fancy Castle: Guardia Castle, Magus' Castle and Zeal Palace.
    • Bleak Level: The Future. Particularly the basement of the ruined Proto Dome.
    • Bonus Dungeon: The DS Remake features The Lost Sanctum.
    • Death Mountain: The grassy Denadora Mountains. The inhospitable Mountain of Woe. And the even more inhospitable Death Peak.
    • Eternal Engine: The Derelict Factory and Geno Dome.
    • Floating Continent: Both Zeal and the Mountain of Woe from 12,000 B.C. But what goes up...
    • Gusty Glade: The foot of Death Peak. You'll need Balthazar's help here.
    • Hidden Elf Village: Zeal Kingdom. Laruba is a more literal version.
    • Hub Level: The End of Time takes on this role once it's introduced. For much of the game, you need to cross through it when going between time eras, it's got free healing and a save point, and features an endless source of advice in case you forget when you were going to go next.
    • Levels Take Flight: The Blackbird. Culminates in battling Dalton on top of the Epoch.
    • Medieval European Fantasy: The "Present" is not that dissimilar from the Middle Ages.
    • Minigame Zone: Leene Square is full of carnival games.
    • Monster Town: Medina. They don't like you there... until you change history so that it was founded by fiends who didn't mind humans.
    • Noob Cave: Manolia Cathedral.
    • Ominous Floating Castle: They don't get more ominous than the Black Omen.
    • One-Time Dungeon: Magus' Castle is literally swallowed up by a colossal Gate. Geno Dome is locked for good once you destroy Mother Brain. The Ocean Palace technically fits this trope, through it's transmogrified into the Black Omen. And any airborne dungeon is destined to crash.
    • Player Headquarters: The End of Time.
    • Port Town: A ferry operates between Guardia and Porre. Once history is changed and relations with Medina thaw over, the ferry sails there.
    • Recurring Location: Crono visits the future site of Leene Square at the beginning of the game. In one of the optional endings, Robo is seen walking around a futuristic Leene Square; he and Atropos reenact Crono and Marle's Crash Into Hello. In Chrono Cross, an apocalyptic Leene Square greets those who make it to the end of the Dead Sea.
    • Shifting Sand Land: The Sunken Desert.
    • Slippy-Slidey Ice World: Death Peak.
    • Techno Wreckage: The various Domes in the future. All of the factories are still humming though.
    • Underground Level: The Giant's Claw, which turns out to be the resurfaced ruins of the Tyrano Lair.
    • The Very Definitely Final Dungeon: The Black Omen is a gigantic, black floating castle, but once it's raised in 12,000 B.C., people in later time periods are rather blase about it, since it's been in the sky for hundreds of generations and no one sees anything unusual about it. Also, it's in no way required to fight the Big Bad, you can complete it three times in different time periods, and even entering it is completely optional.
    • Where It All Began: Lucca's telepod.
    • Womb Level: Lavos itself.
  • Video Game Stealing: Accomplished via Ayla's "Charm" technique.
  • Villainous Crossdresser: Flea. The new DS translation adds hints of a Depraved Bisexual/Homosexual to his dialogue.
  • Villain World: If you try to break into the Black Omen in 2300 A.D., Queen Zeal will just chortle at you, saying that Lavos has already won.
  • "Wake-Up Call" Boss: The Dragon Tank can be this on the first time playing. Partially because it is the first boss that requires more of a strategy than just attacking it until it dies.
  • Warmup Boss: Yakra.
  • Weapon of Choice:
  • We Buy Anything: Even if we're in a time period in which we have no idea what this does, or it's obsolete.
  • Weird Moon: It's always shining over Magus' castle.
  • Wham! Line: From Magus: "No, you fools! I only summoned him!"
  • What Does This Button Do?:
    • After it's invoked, your new-and-improved Epoch shoots down the Blackbird with one shot.
    • Marle says this exact phrase when the group is in the ruined future looking for a way home. This brings up a recording of the Day of Lavos.
  • What Happened to the Mouse?: Hey, whatever happened to Schala? Oh well, it's not important! Radical Dreamers was concieved just to rectify this, and due to Kato not being satisfied with it and the short amount of time it took to develop it, the Mind Screw that was Chrono Cross was created, with her playing and even larger role in it than in Radical Dreamers.
  • With a Friend and a Stranger: The initial dynamic, with Chrono and Lucca as friends and Marle as the stranger.
  • World Map
  • Worthy Opponent: In one of the extra endings, when Frog confronts Magus alone, Magus reveals his view that nobody is worthy to rule the planet. Apart from himself and his opponent.
  • Wouldn't Hit a Girl: Averted by every villain, but in the dream project ending, a soldier representing Yukio Nakatani adds this.

Yukio Nakatani: Thanks for playing! Are you a girl?
Crono: "Yes."
Yukio Nakatani: (Lunges at you and falls back.)
Crono: No.
Yukio Nakatani: (Lunges sword at you full force.)

  • Ye Olde Butcherede Englishe: The original English script for the SNES and PS gave Frog an accent like this, even moreso than other characters in his era. Oddly enough, Frog talks normally in the flashback scenes to the time before his transformation, so it's possible that Woolsey intended the silly speech patterns to be one of the effects of the frog curse. The Japanese version did not have this, and the DS release, which featured a new translation, did not retain it. However, Frog still sounds more formal than he did in the Japanese version, like nearly everyone from the Middle Ages.
  • Yin-Yang Bomb: Antipode (Ice+Fire).
  • You All Look Familiar: Besides the hardware limitations in terms of character models, some of the official portraits for the main characters - specifically Crono, Lucca, Ayla and Magus - strongly resemble members of Dragonball Z's cast, since the same artist worked on both projects.
  • You Gotta Have Blue Hair: Well, pale greyish-blue in Magus' case. Lucca sports purple locks, while Frog in his Glenn form has green hair.

Good morning, Crono, your sentence is being carried out today.

  1. ↑ Not pictured: Magus.
  2. ↑ Given that there are thousands of generations between each change in "royal family", everyone should be related to the previous one.
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