The Wild Secret Ending You Probably Didn't See In Chrono Trigger
Chrono Trigger, the iconic 1995 game from Square, has many different endings for fans to enjoy, but none are quite so wild as a secret ending that can only be reached under special circumstances.
Chrono Trigger features one of the most impressive development teams in video game history, referred to by some as the "Dream Team." The team combined talent from Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest developers, even including Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama, who had previously worked on Dragon Quest. The members of this team would go on to individually direct many popular RPGs.
The game's plot deserves a mention, too, especially considering how timeless Chrono Trigger has remained after all these years. Chrono Trigger features one of the most memorable villains-turned-heroes, and it also has innovative scenes like Crono's trial, which enforced consequences for the player's actions without warning them beforehand.
The game's story itself starts off simple enough. A young man named Crono wakes up and delightedly goes to a local fair near his home. He quickly gets pulled into a time-travelling quest to save the world from an alien force called Lavos. What follows next is anything but simple.
How to get the secret ending
There are many endings available in Chrono Trigger, each earned by defeating Lavos at different points in the game. Some endings take on a humorous tone, like Frog's wedding to Queen Leene, but fans may have missed the ending that pays tribute to the team that made the game.
To see this ending, players must first beat the game in a more traditional way, unlocking New Game Plus and allowing them to restart the game with all of their gear and XP intact. After beginning a New Game Plus file, players can actually face Lavos much earlier in the game, at the Millenial Fair where Crono first meets Marle. If players interact with a sparkling point in Taban's teleport machine at the fair, they can beam directly to Lavos.
Beating Lavos at this early point in the game, or at the Ocean Palace in an initial runthrough, earns players The Dream Project ending.
A special ending
The Dream Project ending pays tribute to Chrono Trigger's development team, allowing the player to interact with the developers in the form of various characters from the game. Crono and his team can walk through various environments from the game, interacting with the developers, who each have specific lines of dialogue attributed to them. Some characters joke with the player, following them around, while others quote poetry, reveal secrets about their favorite part of Chrono Trigger, or simply say congratulations for a job well done.
Many games have secret endings, but The Dream Project ending in Chrono Trigger is special because it allows players to see the whimsical side of the people who created the game. It also lets players share in the developers' joy over the game they created. Multiple endings give games an incredible amount of replayability and offer fans reasons to keep visiting their favorite games over and over again, and Chrono Trigger is no different.