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Chrono Trigger's Box Art Still Makes My Head Buzz

Posted by Nadia Oxford

I've never been a big fan of Chrono Trigger's box art. I love the game to pieces. I love its story, its music and its character designs. “Akira Toriyama” will be the last words to burst from my mouth in a bubble of blood when Mouseketeer revolutionaries, seeking to empower western animation, unsuccessfully try to force me to renounce my love for the manga-ka.

But I just don't dig on Chrono Trigger's cover illustration. It certainly doesn't rank anywhere in Mega Man's Hall of Box Art Horrors, but it's too busy, there's an inflated sense of intensity, and it was a jarring change from the quiet RPG labels I was used to in the 16-bit era. The boxes for Final Fantasy II and Final Fantasy III on the SNES weren't as stylish as their Super Famicom counterparts, but they were recognisable. The “T” styled as a sword in the American Final FantTasy logo, though not especially creative, was iconic. Square RPGs outside of Final Fantasy still featured calm box art that carried a hint of mystery about the contents within. Secret of Mana, for instance.

Chrono Trigger's box art, on the other hand, is bold and loud. Though it's obviously a finished piece of work, it feels like a piece of concept art that was randomly selected to represent the entire game. I look at it and I'm helpless to stop my mind from wandering into Geekville.

I start thinking, “Why is Heckran on Death Peak? Why is Crono alive on Death Peak? Wait, maybe that's 12,000,000 BC? Those winter clothes are actually kind of badass, but we never see anything like them. Why would Frog even bother to look for a contact lens that's buried in two feet of snow?” (I know, I know, it's the Arc Impulse Triple Tech—for which Marle is incorrectly casting a Fire spell).

Thirteen years later, my thoughts still stumble all over one another crying “But--but--but--!”, when I see the cover for Chrono Trigger. It makes the inside of my head feel like a car crash.

Everyone on the box also looks uncharacteristically snarly. I wouldn't laugh off a threat from a giant thorn-lizard that will only succumb to magic spells (*%&$&#!!!!!), but poor gentle Crono comes off as a spiky-haired Rambo. It just ain't right.

Related Links:

The Weakest Link: Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross
The End of Time and the Beginning of Fan Drama
WTFriday: The Chrono Trigger Anime

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Posted Feb 20 2009, 10:07 PM

Filed under: nintendo ds, snes, rpg, chrono trigger, final fantasy II, retro, 16-bit, nadia oxford, box art, final fantasy III

Comments

Roto13 said:

Akira Toriyama was such a n00b.

February 21, 2009 12:47 PM

C said:

And despite being an attempt at more of a gut-punch, the cover always struck me as being really . . . blah. Maybe it's the dead color scheme, maybe it's the blah composition, maybe it's the non-descript-ness of the scene. I always wondered too why that's the piece they chose. It's like the least dynamic, "colorful" (figuratively) image, with the least character, they could have chosen from among the Toriyama illustrations.

February 21, 2009 4:08 PM

Nadia Oxford said:

It's especially confusing out of context. I didn't know who Frog was when I first picked up the game. I was like, "Dude, there's a monster there. Why are you flopped down in the snow?" It's hard to tell that he's playing a role in a triple-attack.

February 22, 2009 12:30 AM

lazyfatbum said:

They wanted something to set it apart from any other RPG on the market and to put an emphasis on the battles which used new ideas at the time (they were 'real-time'), asshole. Not to mention any Billy or Nancy would realize that Frog is one of the good guys in that pic and Marle's firebolt is unlockable after you FUCK YOUR OWN FACE. What is it with this blog you just go around stepping on my heart with your hate and your disregard for emotions.

That bot art is beautiful.

Nadia Oxford is a stinking bloody vagina belch.

March 1, 2009 7:14 AM

Nadia Oxford said:

Yeah, my mother was a clot of bloody tissue and my father was a vaginal belch. I can't help my heritage, but I don't see why we can't be friends.

March 5, 2009 11:46 AM

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