Its hard to believe that Chrono Cross came out 25 years ago for the original PlayStation console in 1999. Chrono Cross was developed and published by Square Enix and was the sequel to the critically acclaimed Chrono Trigger game that came out for the SNES back in 1995. Chrono Cross was a game that should have been more popular than was during the late 90’s-early 2000’s but unfortunately it was a commercial failure. In fact, Chrono Cross ended up being the final main installment within the Chrono series and Square Enix has done nothing big with the franchise ever since 1999. The 3D graphics for Chrono Cross looked good by late 90’s standards but today it actually looks more inferior than the polished 16-bit graphics and gameplay from Chrono Trigger. Even though, Chrono Trigger looked better in terms of graphics Chrono Cross allowed players to control way more characters. In Chrono Trigger players were only able to select seven characters while the Cross game allowed them to choose up to 45.

Chrono Cross had more than ten different endings similar to that of Chrono Trigger but the story was not quiet as intriguing. Chrono Cross failed to gain mainstream popularity in America due to casual gamers especially young adults turning more titles that involved blood, gore and violence. There were video games like Silent Hill, Twisted Metal, Metal Gear Solid and others that young adults had greater preference for during the PS1 era versus Chrono Cross. It should also be noted that Chrono Cross was released the same year that Final Fantasy VIII appeared on the PS1. Despite, not being quite as popular Final Fantasy VII the FFVIII game managed to sell around 8.6 million copies on the original PlayStation console. There is no question that Square Enix’s Final Fantasy series overshadowed Chrono Cross during ’99-’00. If anything thing Square probably should have waited to release Chrono Cross for the PlayStation 2 sometime in ’01-’02. While Chrono Cross had recently got remastered in high definition back Summer 2022 its something that should of happened a lot sooner than it did. Even though, the Chrono series only appeals to a niche audience of gamers many people are beginning to see how much of an underrated gem the Cross title from ’99 was twenty five years later.