Chrono Cross was remastered so it wouldn't become "unplayable"
The remaster launched last year, making Radical Dreamers officially playable in English for the first time.
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Square Enix remastered Chrono Cross specifically because developers at the company were worried it would become "unplayable."
Last year, Square Enix revealed that Chrono Cross would be receiving a highly requested remaster in the form of The Radical Dreamers Edition, which included the Radical Dreamers text adventure that connected Cross to the first game, Chrono Trigger. Remasters are pretty par for the course these days, considering most consoles aren't backwards compatible with older physical discs. That has left some games literally unplayable, and it's because of the potential for Chrono Cross meeting that same fate that some devs at Square Enix wanted a remaster in the first place.
An interview recently took place between Square Enix itself and some of the developers responsible for the remaster, whether they took the time to explain how and why it was made, as spotted by GamesRadar. The remaster was originally planned to celebrate the game's 20th anniversary, which was back in 2019. Obviously it didn't make that date, but it's the thought that counts.
"Back when the project was launched, Chrono Cross was possibly going to become unplayable," remaster producer Koichiro Sakamoto explained. "There was a Game Archive service on PlayStation 3 that allowed you to play PlayStation 1 games. But PlayStation 4 was already on the market. We didn't know at the time if PlayStation 4 would also have a Game Archive service. It looked like Chrono Cross could become unplayable. So, a remaster project was set up. That's the backstory."
Sakamoto was referencing the PSone Classics collection, which consisted of a range of PS1 titles you could pick up for quite cheap on PS3, PSP, and Vita, which you can still buy now, though all of their stores make it quite difficult to buy from these days. The PS3 can also play physical PS1 games, but actual copies of older games are typically quite expensive these days, making the remaster quite a welcome one.