Believe it or not, there was a Chrono Trigger sequel long before Chrono Cross came out. It was called Radical Dreamers and it completed some of the story lines that weren't completed in Chrono Trigger itself. It was released in 1996 on the Satellaview Super Famicom add-on in Japan.
Satella-wha???
The Satellaview system (also called the BS-X) was a Super Famicom add-on that never made it out of Japan -- mostly because it was a failure. Japanese families attached a receiver unit to their Super Famicoms, enabling them to download Super Famicom games from a satellite server called St. GIGA into blank cartridges. Despite limitations on downloading (only 4pm-7pm), lack of support, and a high cost (approximately $150 plus a membership fee) the system was active from April 23, 1995 to June 30, 2000 and received new games until March 1999. In that period of time, Squaresoft released about 7 games:
- Chrono Trigger Character Library Download it!
- Chrono Trigger Music Library Download it!
- Chrono Trigger Special Jetbike Addition Download it!
- Dynami Tracer Download it!
- Koi Wa Balance Download it! *Only works in SNES9X*
- Radical Dreamers Download it!
- Treasure Conflix Download it! *Freezes after intro*
Click here to learn more about the Satellaview sytem.
The Chrono Connection
The general story goes like this:
Three adventurers -- Serge, Kid, and Glenn -- attempt to steal an artifact called the Freezing Flame from a villian named Yamaneko. As the
3-6 hour, text-based adventure unfolds, various references to Chrono Trigger are made, and the Epoch and Time Egg play parts in the game as
well. Only Magus returns from the original cast as a playable character, though the story is meant to tie up many loose ends not completed in
Chrono Trigger's many endings. There are seven different endings, and the general tone of the game is much more dark and brooding than its
predecessor is.
Thus, Radical Dreamers is an intermission of sorts in the Chrono series. It is a mini-sequel to Chrono Trigger, and Chrono Cross is essentially an extension of the Radical Dreamers story into a full-fledged game.