Chrono Trigger creators reunited to celebrate 30 years since the original game’s release, where they talked about the possibility of a sequel, its history, and also praised the recent RPG Sea of Stars. Read on to learn more.
Chrono Trigger Creators Reunite Publicly For the First Time in 30 Years
Creators Recall how How Chrono Trigger Came Together
Chrono Trigger creators Hironobu Sakaguchi, Yuji Horii, and Kazuhiko Torishima reunited for a talk with J-WAVE Radio Show “TOKYO M.A.A.D. SPIN.” Bits and pieces of content from the radio show were translated and posted on Twitter(X) by content creator Genki.
Sakaguchi is known as the creator of the iconic Final Fantasy series. Horii is known as the creator of the long-standing Dragon Quest Series. Lastly, Torishima was a former editor at the manga-publishing company Shueisha, where he became the first editor for the Dragon Ball manga series written by Akira Toriyama.
Though Torishima is not formally dubbed as one of the members of the “Dream Team” famous for leading the development of Chrono Trigger, he revealed that he had a large part to play in the project’s formation. In the radio talk show, he recalls how he was “inspired by Hollywood Names such as Spielberg, Katzenberg, etc. coming together to make Dreamworks and thought it was an interesting concept.”
He wanted to help create a game with an all-star cast of developers funded by the then-young-and-standalone development company Enix. The Enix boss, Yukinobu Chida, refused the proposal, but that didn’t stop Torishima as Sakaguchi had already agreed to be part of the project. He believed that Horii wasn’t limited to his work in Dragon Quest and could do more. Then, he nudged Toriyama who, at the time, wished to “draw mecha and animals, and not just medieval style things.” Having gathered the trio, he drafted another proposal where he wrote down “Dragon Quest + Final Fantasy Chrono Trigger, The world’s best original work is waiting for you!”
Thus, Chrono Trigger was set into development, gathering the legendary game composer Nobuo Uematsu, and tenured game developer and producer Kazuhiko Aoki to produce the legendary “Dream Team.”
Chrono Trigger 2 Possible in This Day and Age?
Torishima spoke of the struggles of gathering the Dream Team from different companies 30 years ago and pointed out that a Chrono Trigger 2 would be easier today now that Square and Enix have merged. Sakaguchi points out that that might just be wishful thinking, as Toriyama is still a major factor. They say that even at this stage of their careers, “it would be nice to work on a small game with a small team.” Sakaguchi jokes by saying “Let’s make a simple Chrono Trigger 2,” where the others exclaim that it’ll be either a mobile game or a short game for the Switch.
To conclude, however, they collectively affirm that “it would be difficult to see them doing Chrono Trigger 2 and they said if they did ever make something together again they would prefer to make something new.”
Sea of Stars Receive Praise From Chrono Trigger Creators
After the discussion of Chrono Trigger 2, Sakaguchi brought up Sabotage Studio’s Sea of Stars, an ode to classic RPGs such as Chrono Trigger. Sakaguchi showed the trailer to the other two, of whom had only positive things to say. Horii was astounded at how it looked just like Chrono Trigger, saying “Wow, they did a great job… it’s beautiful, that’s great” Sakaguchi agreed, acknowledging they did their best and did a great job. Torishima felt nostalgic from seeing it as well.
Chrono Trigger Dream Team: Future Plans and Where Are They Now?
The Chrono Trigger Dream Team consisted of:
● Akira Toriyama, mangaka(author) of the Dragon Ball series
● Nobuo Uematsu, video game composer for Final Fantasy
● Yūji Horii, creator of the Dragon Quest series
● Hironobu Sakaguchi, creator the Final Fantasy Series
● Kazuhiko Aoki, developer and producer of several Final Fantasy titles
Horii and Sakaguchi revealed on the radio talk show that they are both still developing games, working on Dragon Quest 12 and an unannounced game respectively. Toriyama is still currently hard at work on the Dragon Ball Super manga series, which is currently in its “Super Hero” saga. Uematsu is serving as the main composer for the Final Fantasy 7 Remake series, where its latest installment “Rebirth” is near release. Not much is known about Aoki, as his last credits were for Dragon Quest 10 back in 2012, over a decade ago.
Sources:
Genki_JPN tweet on Chrono Trigger’s origins
Genki_JPN tweet regarding Chrono Trigger 2
Genki_JPN tweet on Chrono Trigger Creators praising Sea of Stars
