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Pointless trivia about Chrono Trigger. Spoiler warning!
The game is a spiritual successor to a Japan-only SNES RPG called Live A Live (both "lives" in the title are pronounced to rhyme with "five"). Its first sequel was also a Japan-only release called Radical Dreamers, though Chrono Cross, the sequel that was released internationally, retconned and contradicted many of the events in Radical Dreamers.
A mistranslated line in the original SNES version led many players to believe there was one more sidequest in the game to be completed, most often believed to be a quest to save Schala from her fate (which is not possible, despite many rumours to the contrary, though it does later turn out that she survived anyway). The line was supposed to say something like "Talk to your party members for help", but was rendered as "One of you is close to someone who needs help. Find this person... fast." It was fixed for the DS remake, along with many other translation errors.
A few names were changed for the English translation. For instance, Janus was originally called Jakki (sometimes mistakenly spelled as Jackie) and Schala was originally Sara. Like Tina being renamed Terra in Final Fantasy VII, the latter was an example of something that sounds exotic to Japanese ears but normal to Western ears being renamed in order to preserve the "exotic" nature of the name. Magus's henchmen, Ozzie, Slash and Flea, were named Vinegar, Soysau and Mayonnai respectively.
Ozzie, Slash and Flea themselves were named after famous rock musicians - John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne, lead singer of Black Sabbath, Saul "Slash" Hudson, lead guitarist of Guns N' Roses, and Michael Peter "Flea" Balzary, bassist of Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Originally, the plan was for Crono to stay dead after being killed by Lavos. The party would have retrieved a version of him from before the Millennial Fair to complete the quest, and then returned him to his home time, knowing full well he would eventually face and be killed by Lavos. Square thought this was too depressing, and had the writers make the clone plot device to save him. However, saving Crono is entirely optional, and the game can be completed without him (doing so even affects the ending you get).
The picture on the cover is based on a beta version of the game and features several inaccuracies. Marle is shown casting a Fire spell (when her element in the game is Ice) to complete the Arc Impulse triple tech (renamed Frost Arc in the DS version), Crono is depicted as wearing a cape (which he doesn't in the game), and the party are fighting Heckran, who cannot even be fought when Frog (who is required to perform Arc Impulse) is in your party, in a snowy area, whereas in the game Heckran is fought in a cave. The DS remake adds a snowy mountain as a bonus dungeon, where a Heckran-like creature lurks, giving you a chance to recreate the cover - except that doing so is a very bad idea, as living in a snowy region, the enemy in question absorbs Ice-element attacks, of which Frost Arc is one.
Similarly, Ayla is often depicted in official artwork as wielding a club, when in the game she uses her fists to attack and cannot equip any weapons, clubs or otherwise.
The "Ay" in Ayla's name is pronounced to rhyme with "day" or "say", not "eye".
As Dragon Ball author and artist Akira Toriyama worked on the official art for the game, many characters bear resemblance to characters from Toriyama's other works. Crono looks a lot like Goku, Magus resembles Kibito Kaiōshin (called Supreme Kai in the English dub of Dragon Ball Z), Ayla looks like Lunch/Launch's bad side, Lucca resembles Arale from Dr. Slump, and Marle closely resembles Bloomer/Bulma. Robo's design is based on some versions of mech armours used by Emperor Pilaf or the Red Ribbon Army. Lavos's second form bears some resemblance to Cell's initial form (including the "beak", which looks almost identical to Cell's). And in official artwork, Melchior very closely resembles Kamesennin/Muten Roshi. The Blue Imp enemy looks a LOT like Emperor Pilaf, which may have been intentional. Also, one of the NPC sprites is Android #18.
In the original Japanese version, Crono's element was "Heaven". The English translation, being done at a time when Nintendo of America were strongly against having any religious references in their games, changed this to Lightning, which didn't really explain why Crono got clearly light-based attacks like Luminaire, as well as a revival technique. The DS translation compromised by changing it to Light.
In the original Japanese version, the soda-drinking contest in the Millennial Fair and soup-eating contest in Prehistory were actual drinking contests, involving alcohol.
Originally, Masa and Mune were named Grand and Leon, and the sword was called the Grandleon. It was changed to the name of a famous Japanese swordsmith, but this unfortunately created a bit of a plot hole. It's later discovered that the two brothers have a sister, named Doreen. Completing a sidequest unlocks the Triple Tech "Grand Dream", which summons Masa, Mune and Doreen. The name of the technique is a combination of "Grand" and "Doreen" (Dream), signifying that Doreen is helping her brothers, but with the rename of Grandleon to Masamune, the name no longer makes sense. It was renamed to Master Mune in the DS remake.
The Guru of Time was originally intended to join your party. Contrary to popular belief, Schala was never intended to be a party member.
Frog's archaic speech (which is actually inaccurate) in the SNES translation is a translation choice. In the original Japanese, he speaks very roughly and rudely. This was "fixed" in the DS version, where he now merely speaks very formally, with no "thee", "thou" and "-eth" to be seen (though still very different from the Japanese version).
The game includes a bonus boss for every character except Ayla. There were plans to include one for her too, but the developers were unable to fit it in.
The game is a spiritual successor to a Japan-only SNES RPG called Live A Live (both "lives" in the title are pronounced to rhyme with "five"). Its first sequel was also a Japan-only release called Radical Dreamers, though Chrono Cross, the sequel that was released internationally, retconned and contradicted many of the events in Radical Dreamers.
A mistranslated line in the original SNES version led many players to believe there was one more sidequest in the game to be completed, most often believed to be a quest to save Schala from her fate (which is not possible, despite many rumours to the contrary, though it does later turn out that she survived anyway). The line was supposed to say something like "Talk to your party members for help", but was rendered as "One of you is close to someone who needs help. Find this person... fast." It was fixed for the DS remake, along with many other translation errors.
A few names were changed for the English translation. For instance, Janus was originally called Jakki (sometimes mistakenly spelled as Jackie) and Schala was originally Sara. Like Tina being renamed Terra in Final Fantasy VII, the latter was an example of something that sounds exotic to Japanese ears but normal to Western ears being renamed in order to preserve the "exotic" nature of the name. Magus's henchmen, Ozzie, Slash and Flea, were named Vinegar, Soysau and Mayonnai respectively.
Ozzie, Slash and Flea themselves were named after famous rock musicians - John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne, lead singer of Black Sabbath, Saul "Slash" Hudson, lead guitarist of Guns N' Roses, and Michael Peter "Flea" Balzary, bassist of Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Originally, the plan was for Crono to stay dead after being killed by Lavos. The party would have retrieved a version of him from before the Millennial Fair to complete the quest, and then returned him to his home time, knowing full well he would eventually face and be killed by Lavos. Square thought this was too depressing, and had the writers make the clone plot device to save him. However, saving Crono is entirely optional, and the game can be completed without him (doing so even affects the ending you get).
The picture on the cover is based on a beta version of the game and features several inaccuracies. Marle is shown casting a Fire spell (when her element in the game is Ice) to complete the Arc Impulse triple tech (renamed Frost Arc in the DS version), Crono is depicted as wearing a cape (which he doesn't in the game), and the party are fighting Heckran, who cannot even be fought when Frog (who is required to perform Arc Impulse) is in your party, in a snowy area, whereas in the game Heckran is fought in a cave. The DS remake adds a snowy mountain as a bonus dungeon, where a Heckran-like creature lurks, giving you a chance to recreate the cover - except that doing so is a very bad idea, as living in a snowy region, the enemy in question absorbs Ice-element attacks, of which Frost Arc is one.
Similarly, Ayla is often depicted in official artwork as wielding a club, when in the game she uses her fists to attack and cannot equip any weapons, clubs or otherwise.
The "Ay" in Ayla's name is pronounced to rhyme with "day" or "say", not "eye".
As Dragon Ball author and artist Akira Toriyama worked on the official art for the game, many characters bear resemblance to characters from Toriyama's other works. Crono looks a lot like Goku, Magus resembles Kibito Kaiōshin (called Supreme Kai in the English dub of Dragon Ball Z), Ayla looks like Lunch/Launch's bad side, Lucca resembles Arale from Dr. Slump, and Marle closely resembles Bloomer/Bulma. Robo's design is based on some versions of mech armours used by Emperor Pilaf or the Red Ribbon Army. Lavos's second form bears some resemblance to Cell's initial form (including the "beak", which looks almost identical to Cell's). And in official artwork, Melchior very closely resembles Kamesennin/Muten Roshi. The Blue Imp enemy looks a LOT like Emperor Pilaf, which may have been intentional. Also, one of the NPC sprites is Android #18.
In the original Japanese version, Crono's element was "Heaven". The English translation, being done at a time when Nintendo of America were strongly against having any religious references in their games, changed this to Lightning, which didn't really explain why Crono got clearly light-based attacks like Luminaire, as well as a revival technique. The DS translation compromised by changing it to Light.
In the original Japanese version, the soda-drinking contest in the Millennial Fair and soup-eating contest in Prehistory were actual drinking contests, involving alcohol.
Originally, Masa and Mune were named Grand and Leon, and the sword was called the Grandleon. It was changed to the name of a famous Japanese swordsmith, but this unfortunately created a bit of a plot hole. It's later discovered that the two brothers have a sister, named Doreen. Completing a sidequest unlocks the Triple Tech "Grand Dream", which summons Masa, Mune and Doreen. The name of the technique is a combination of "Grand" and "Doreen" (Dream), signifying that Doreen is helping her brothers, but with the rename of Grandleon to Masamune, the name no longer makes sense. It was renamed to Master Mune in the DS remake.
The Guru of Time was originally intended to join your party. Contrary to popular belief, Schala was never intended to be a party member.
Frog's archaic speech (which is actually inaccurate) in the SNES translation is a translation choice. In the original Japanese, he speaks very roughly and rudely. This was "fixed" in the DS version, where he now merely speaks very formally, with no "thee", "thou" and "-eth" to be seen (though still very different from the Japanese version).
The game includes a bonus boss for every character except Ayla. There were plans to include one for her too, but the developers were unable to fit it in.
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