How Radical Dreamers and Chrono Cross Are Connected, Which to Play First

Square Enix just released the Chrono Cross Remaster Radical Dreamers Edition on Switch, first announced on the February 2022 Nintendo Direct after leaks – the remaster was also released on PS4, Xbox One, and PC via Steam – we explained below how the two games are linked and which game you should play first.

Radical Dreamers Nusumenai Houseki just celebrated its 26th anniversary on February 3, 2022. The game was first released on Satellaview, the Super Famicom (SNES) modem that allowed players to download media including games.

Radical Dreamers is a text adventure with choices, a type of game that’s called sound novels in Japan, and part of the bigger genre called ADV(Adventure) games in japan. Radical Dreamers was never released out of Japan but was fan-translated several years ago. Now, the game has been officially localized for the first time ever with the Chrono Cross Remaster. It’s also the first time ever that Chrono Cross was released in Europe, though I have a few issues with the French translation of this remaster, like how it’s translating “Chrono Trigger” instead of keeping the words as if; thus removing the direct references to the previousSquaresoft game.

Here’s how Radical Dreamers is connected to Chrono Cross

Radical Dreamers was written by Masato Katou, the main writer of Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross. He’s also the writer of Another Eden, which recently had a collab event with Chrono Cross.

Masato Katou’s initial plan was to make Radical Dreamers the sequel to Chrono Trigger. However, it had a very short development schedule and was released unfinished.

As such, Radical Dreamers is a prototype of Chrono Cross story-wise, both games have the same male protagonist: Serge, the same key female character: Kid, and the same main villain. However, each character is not the same individual as their Chrono Cross versions.

Chrono Cross deals with how protagonist Serge travels between two parallel dimensions. And how a single change, whether he lived or died in his childhood, had a butterfly effect completely changing the fates of the inhabitants of the other dimension. A good way to explain Radical Dreamers is to consider it as an unrelated, third parallel dimension in Chrono Cross, with a different version of Serge altogether.

Should you Play Radical Dreamers Before or After Chrono Cross?

Play Radical Dreamers first to get the full details, especially if you’re a Chrono Trigger fan. What makes Chrono Cross interesting is how at the beginning it’s seemingly unrelated to Chrono Trigger, but it’s definitely part of the same set. Chrono Cross is a direct sequel to Chrono Trigger and those who say the contrary didn’t get the game at all. Moreover, the events of Radical Dreamers, Serge and his team infiltrating a certain manor, are also present in Chrono Cross, but retold in a different way.

Square Enix launched Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition on April 7. Chrono Cross‘ character designer Nobuteru Yuki (Escaflowne, Lodoss, Seiken Densetsu 3) drew several new artwork for the occasion. He also redrew all of the portraits in-game.