The Best Nintendo Game Every Year 1983 - 2024
30. 1995 - Chrono Trigger
Every now and then in life, the stars come together to create something truly special. In the case of 1995, the stars were Final Fantasy creator Hironobu Sakaguchi, Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii and famed designer Akira Toriyama and the “something special” was RPG genre giant Chrono Trigger.
Chrono Trigger innovated by introducing New Game Plus to the world, which worked wonderfully for a game that had so many missable events and alternative outcomes (such as some pretty major differences to the composition of your final party). It also, more obviously, set its turn-based battles in the overworld, taking advantage of a 32-megabit cartridge to smoothly transition from exploration to blasting poor Boundillos into oblivion with some incredible-looking combo attacks.
Every part of Chrono Trigger was a shining example of how far gaming had come. The game contained some of the most gorgeous sprite work and animation ever seen, which helped bring to life a story that moved effortlessly from tragic and emotional to goofy and slapstick. Said story, which dealt with time travel, had an incredibly rewarding pace - always setting up the next event before the last closed up, drawing players onwards to the next time period.
Chrono Trigger was the perfect way to say goodbye to the Super Nintendo and might well be the best the system has to offer, period.