If you took my average rating across a video game series, the Chrono franchise would easily be on top. Chrono Cross, flaws and all, is still in my top 10 favorite games, and I still consider Chrono Trigger the best game ever made. Unknown to most fans though, there is actually a third Chrono game, which for many years remained somewhat obscure, until the Chrono Cross remaster brought into greater consciousness. Radical Dreamers is technically the second game in the series, released for the Japanese-only Satellaview SNES add-on, and previously only available in English via a mid-2000s fan translation. The game features three characters -- Serge, Kid, and Magil -- as they attempt to break into a manor and steal the treasure inside. For most of its playthrough, Radical Dreamers seems to have nothing at all to do with Trigger, only dropping vague references, waiting until the end to reveal that the entire game is meant to answer the open fate of one of its characters. For those who have played Chrono Cross, this plot will sound incredibly similar. Indeed, dissatisfied with how Radical Dreamers turned out, its plot would be reused as the basis of Chrono Cross, so far as to reuse much of this scenario in that game, when Serge, Kid, and a third party member break into Viper Manor near the beginning of the game. Somewhat ironically, I think the characterization shown here is much better than we got in Cross, as Kid and Serge actually have a relationship, and the connections to the first game are much more solid (Magil has a heavily hinted upon connection to Trigger, while his modified Cross version Guile is a completely discardable character). The game itself is a visual novel with some exploration and light combat thrown in. It's somewhat engaging, and the music is excellent, but I can see why the developers wanted a do-over. There's a hidden and somewhat arbitrary health and relationship stat which will determine how the ending goes. In addition, it carries on the tradition of silly alternative endings, but those are probably best viewed online. I think if you're a fan of the series this game is worth playing, simply to get some additional insight into the development of Cross, and to spend more time in this world. Besides, if you know where to look while playing Chrono Cross, you can find out that this game is not entirely forgotten.

Reviewed on Dec 13, 2023


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