Now, for those few of you out there that haven't picked up Chrono Trigger in the past, what the hell is so great about this RPG? It might be a bit hard to define, and there's certainly mechanics in play here that are consistent with other JRPG's that have come along since CT first made it's debut, but the majority of the charm that resides in Chrono Trigger is placed almost entirely on the characters, world, and the story within. I think most of us can agree that the stories we're given in most video game titles are generally run of the mill tripe, and while there are some out there that manage to rise above the rest, they're few and far between. I'm not saying that Chrono Trigger has a fantastic script, or that the story is massively inventive, but what it lacks in innovation it more than makes up for by making you care about every single playable character in the game, and eventually you'll get so invested into the group that you'll have no choice but to see the story thru to the end.

Thankfully, the gameplay doesn't hurt either. Chrono Trigger did away with the random battles that a lot of Square fans had become used to from the Final Fantasy titles, and instead opted for a strange mix of real time/turn based fighting, using something similar to the ATB system from the SNES Final Fantasy titles. As you're exploring a dungeon or area, and you come across an enemy, running into them will trigger a fight. If there are other enemies nearby they'll be drawn into the battle as well. Your party is always divided into three members, and you'll get little meters that will show you when you can attack. Enemies can attack you whenever (even though they have their own, invisible meters as well.), so you don't want to spend too much time navigating menu's or killing time. The fights themselves are fairly quick, so it doesn't take much to pop in and out of an encounter, or clear a particular area of enemies.

Once the battle begins, you issue commands, like Attack, Items, Magic and so on. Standard stuff here, but the big mechanic in the fights is the ability to combine certain special attacks with other members. One character, Robo, has a beam attack, which can be combined with Marle's healing abilities to create a Heal Beam, turning Robo's usual offensive capabilities into something defensive, and providing a bigger benefit than just the typical Heal that Marle would be able to dish out. There's a lot of combinations between the various characters too, so it's a good idea to try and switch out party members often enough that you get an idea of what you have available.

The plot of Chrono Trigger revolves around Crono and his friend Lucca, the latter of which inadvertently designs a time travel machine that goes a little haywire when the local Princess, Marle, steps in with a strange amulet. Their journey thru time takes them to the earliest available, 65,000,000 BC, all the way to the end of the world, in 2300 AD. After realizing that the world is going to be in a pretty sorry state in the next 1000 years, they decide to step up and try and save it from the big bad. Along the way they get caught up in a few other adventures, meet up with new heroes that join the party, and overall the basics of most JRPG's show up here. Still, as I said before, every single character in the game is brimming with unique personality, and they're far from your standard cookie cutouts that pop up in a lot of the modern stuff we see today. Robo is as far removed from Crono, as Crono is from Ayla, and so on. Everyone will have their favorites, and you're going to be free to use them in the party set-up of your choice as soon as they are available. There's really no wrong way to construct a party either, so you won't be hindered by your selections.

Of course, I couldn't finish this review off without mentioning the completely awesome soundtrack. I'm a huge fan of the Chrono Cross soundtrack, to the point it's probably my favorite video game soundtrack ever produced, but I'll be damned if Chrono Trigger doesn't keep up as a close second. Every single tune is memorable, all the various themes of the characters, the overworld music, battle music, all of it. So. Good. I'd almost say it's worth playing just to listen to it.

So what have they changed with this port from the original? Well, the script has seen some alterations, and while the original Chrono Trigger had an excellent translation to begin with, a few things have been touched up, including Frog's slightly inconsistent old time style of speaking. There hasn't been any significant changes though, nothing that changes the structure of the story at least. However, there is an additional dungeon, including a slightly amended ending that attempts to tie this title in a bit more closely with Chrono Cross. I imagine the reaction to that is going to be mixed at best, and while I do think the stuff added isn't all that necessary, it wasn't enough to actually make me angry or anything silly like that. With the dungeon being optional, you can just skip it over anyways. In fact, the new dungeon isn't all that grand anyways, and while it provides a bit more of a challenge, it's not adding much to the game in the long run.

There are also some DS specific controls that you can opt for, including a menu at the bottom screen that allows you to choose your targets with the stylus if you want. You can also control movement with the stylus, but personally I opted for the standard D-Pad and face button controls for everything. The stylus controls work fine, but I'm far to use to playing a game like this on a regular pad, so I never found much use for them.

If you've never played Chrono Trigger, then this is the version to get. The port is great, it looks really solid on the DS, runs fine, and everything is intact. If you have played CT in the past, then this will be a great replacement for your SNES cart, if you still have it. There's not enough in the way of changes to make any kind of impact to your former memories, and the game is just as fun to play now as it was in the 90's. The story and gameplay hold up incredibly well, and it still remains one of the best RPG's ever released.