Nintendo Switch Square Enix Game Sale (Digital): Crisis Core $40, Chrono Cross

No – Chrono Cross is about as much a sequel to Chrono Trigger as Super Mario Bros. 2 is a sequel to Super Mario Bros.

Chrono Cross is really a sequel to the visual novel Radical Dreamers, which is included in this Switch release (but which, IMHO, is a pretty blah experience, particularly if you're not a huge visual novel fan, as I'm not). At some point in its development, a decision was made to bring it into the Chrono Trigger series, but the game does not have any real intrinsic connection. (The contemporaneous PS1 RPG Xenogears has a bit more of a Chrono Trigger-esque "feel," in my opinion, though it has never been released for Switch.)

There certainly *are* plot points in Chrono Cross which make explicit connections with Chrono Trigger, but no familiarity with the prior game is needed and if anything, familiarity with the prior game will only frustrate your expectations. The battle system, characters, and plot are all fairly different, and apart from the occasional plot connection, Chrono Cross and Chrono Trigger are not much more similar than any other two Squaresoft JRPGs.

Chrono Cross is, in the end, a good JRPG that has always suffered in comparison with the GOAT JRPG.

That said, if you haven't played Chrono Trigger... do yourself a favor and play it!

FYI the Kingdom Hearts games are cloud streaming only, you will need a very strong internet connection to play them otherwise you will have lots of input delay.

You will have a much better experience playing them elsewhere.

Can't wait to add Chrono Cross to the list of games I will purchase again (third time now for me) and never replay.

I need some new re-releases of Final Fantasy Tactics and Star Ocean: The Second Story to rebuy but never replay.