Awesome / Chrono Trigger

As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.

Excuse me while I cut this mountain in half.

With a dream team of developers, artists, and musicians from both SquareSoft and Enix years before they inevitably merged, a passion project such as Chrono Trigger is destined to have all the stops pulled out.

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• Akira Toriyama, Yuji Horii, Nobuo Uematsu, and Hironobu Sakaguchi... Two people synonymous with Dragon Quest, and two people synonymous with Final Fantasy, and bitter rivals in gaming in The '90s... all worked on this one game.
  • Even more awesome, Sakaguchi's successor, Yoshinori Kitase, also worked on Chrono Trigger! Not to mention up-and-comers like Masato Kato, Tetsuya Takahashi, Tetsuya Nomura, Yasunori Mitsuda, and Takashi Tokita. A veritable who's who of Squaresoft staff who would all go on to do genre-defining works like Final Fantasy VII, Kingdom Hearts, Xenoblade Chronicles, Xenogears, Parasite Eve, Baten Kaitos, and much more.
  • ...And all of this began over a decade before Square Enix was formed.
• When the cast discovers that the world will end 1000 years after they were born. They, their children, their grandchildren, their great-grandchildren don't have to worry about it. Is it somebody else's problem? ...Hell no. They can travel through time; that Eldritch Abomination is going down.
• Nearly every time Crono's theme plays, it's a Moment of Awesome, but especially when the party's launching their attack on Lavos.
  • Or when Frog's theme plays. Or Magus' theme. Or Robo's. Or Ayla's.
• Pictured: The moment Frog opens the Magic Cave. Sure, you had to give him a pretty big push. But from that point on, he is nothing short of a true hero.
  • This doesn't really do the scene justice. After recovering and repairing the Masamune, you take it to the cave that Magus' troops use to move around. He stops and listens, inspecting the blank cliff face, and has a flashback to himself and Cyrus. Then, he turns, takes the Masamune, and his theme begins to blare. A sudden pulse of light surrounds Frog, before shooting into the sky, and then he spins around and slices the mountain in half.
  • The anime scene of that is especially epic. Behold.
  • Plus his speech: "Mine name is Glenn! Cyrus's hopes and dreams... And now the Masamune... Forthwith I shall slay Magus and restore honor!"
• Marle gets one in a sidequest. Her father is about to be convicted unjustly by the Evil Chancellor. She's locked out of the courtroom, despite having found evidence to prove his innocence. It's all over for the king? Hell no. Instead Marle solidifies her Determinator status once and for all, by breaking through the stained glass window into the courtroom, exposing the con and bailing her father out, and then kicking ten kinds of shit out of the so-called Chancellor.
  Marle: FATHER!!!
  • After the real Chancellor is rescued, he quickly thanks the party and wastes no time getting back to preparing for the nighttime festival events. He had been trapped in that chest for hours, possibly much longer, and he doesn't even rest or eat or anything; he's that dedicated to making the festival a success.
• The whole series of events of bringing back Crono from the dead, storming the Black Omen, and fighting Queen Zeal and Lavos in the final battle to decide the fate of the future makes for one hell of a climax.
  • If Magus is in your party during the second Zeal fight, his battle theme overrides the one that should normally play, making the showdown all the more awesome especially since he's her son and she's too far gone to recognize him, as well as the lines he says.
    • To be fair, Schala didn't recognize him either. The only person who recognized him as Janus was Gaspar and Alfador.
    • Schala recognizes him in the DS version's extra ending, but it doesn't do much good.
• If one chooses to fight Magus and wins, finally putting down the smug bastard after everything he's done, including making some very unkind remarks about a recently deceased Crono a minute ago is very satisfying indeed. However, it's even more so if you choose to have Frog defeat him alone, ending their rivalry, avenging his fallen friend and then shouting in triumph, sword held high in the air.
  Frog: Cyrus... I HATH AVENGED THEE!
  • The scene is awesome even if you decide not to fight Magus. Frog, who had made vengeance for Cyrus against Magus his mission in life, has come to realize that ultimately, as long as Guardia Kingdom is safe, his vengeance doesn't matter. So, he just sheathes his sword, effectively tells Magus he isn't worth it, and just walks away. The whole scene demonstrates a tremendous amount of character growth and maturity.
    Frog: No. Vanquishing thee will neither return Crono nor Cyrus.
    • As it does for Magus, who joins the heroes with an offer to help bring Crono Back from the Dead.
• Any boss battle where the "secondary" boss theme plays, such as Black Tyrano. The song that lets you know that this boss isn't like the bosses you've been fighting, this one's gonna pound you.
  • The Black Tyrano's appearance counts as one for Azala, especially when she chases the massive dinosaur's thundering, BGM-stopping roar with a battle cry of her own as the boss music cues up. This may be the Last Stand for the Reptites, but Azala makes damn sure they aren't going without a fight.
• The battle with Heckran, as soon as you realize you're fighting the guy on the cover.
• And all of the Anime Scenes in the PS version. You can only do so much with sprites, but the full on animation shows the glory that could only be implied in those same scenes. Special mention goes to the scene with Frog, now you see the elements under his command (even Crono is bracing himself against the wind) as he cleaves the mountain in two against the most stirring rendition of his already-awesome leitmotif in the game.
• Early on, when Marle is sucked into a void and nobody has any idea where she went, Crono walks right up, grabs her pendant, and volunteers to rescue a girl he just met. Why? He's just that much of a badass.
  • Immediately followed up with Lucca and Taban working together to re-open the Time Gate and Lucca stating she'll be right behind Crono.
  • There's also the fact that Lucca managed to build a teleporter machine in 1000 A.D., an era where everyone is still wielding mainly swords and crossbows and magic has become something of a limited use or outright myth. When Marle's pendant accidentally turns it into a Time Gate? Lucca immediately gets to figuring out how it works, and reverse-engineers the gate in short order to produce the Time Key for hopping time periods when they appear, effectively turning time travel into a portable form factor!
• Playing around on a New Game Plus is awesome. It gets repetitive after a while, but going back through the game - through all those bosses that gave you so much trouble - and absolutely curbstomping everything is great fun.
• Crono's moment is when, battered and defeated, he walks straight up to the mouth of the creature that just decimated both his party and the previous Big Bad, and would eventually destroy the world. In spite of everything he uses his last ounce of strength to challenge Lavos one more time before being vaporized.
• The entire party gets one of these when they finally confront Lavos and have to psyche themselves up, although Ayla, Marle, and Lucca's are the best:
  Ayla: Ayla strong! Ayla and world good! You outsider. No part of planet's life!!
  Marle: This is Crono's and ours... Leene's and Doan's... everyone's... and I mean, EVERYONE's world!!
  Lucca: Impossible... You CAN'T expect to toy with an entire world and get away with it!
  Magus: It's over for you. Your life ends here!
  • Normally, only the leader of the party gets to say their line. But if Crono is the party leader, both of the other members of the party get to speak their lines.
  • Mixed with Nightmare Fuel, Lavos gets to rebuttal via the Time Devourer in Chrono Cross, and is absolutely pissed that a bunch of livestock (seeing as he essentially bred humans for his/her own purposes) dared to kill him/her in what he/she seems to consider a grievous case of Carnivore Confusion. If they can get to declare him/her evil just because he/she happens kill them as a natural part of his/her life cycle, then to hell with it, he/she'll stop people from being able to hurt lesser animals through eating and living themselves, by ending all of time. That'll show those hypocritical pests! Seeing as this is about the only thing that Lavos/Time Devourer openly states in the entirety of the series, it's funny how often that bit gets glossed over.
• Magus is a crowning dude of awesome.
  • When the party first confronts Magus, his theme music begins playing, and he prefaces the fight with this line, with the song hitting only moments after the fight begins:
    Magus (SNES): The black wind blows... All right, give me your best shot... If you are prepared for the void!
    Magus (DS): Again, the bitter black winds begin to howl. Very well. Come, if it is death you seek!
  • "If history is to change, let it change! If the world is to perish, let it perish! If my fate is to die, I must simply laugh! I'm coming, Lavos!"
  • What Magus says if you have him in your party when you fight Queen Zeal, his mother.
    (Queen Zeal has been defeated inside the Black Omen and the Mammon Machine smashed; the Black Omen projects Queen Zeal and the party atop the fortress; no music, other than the warbling of the Black Omen itself)
    Zeal: You cretins... I plan to live with Lavos, and control the universe forever. You will not get in my way!
    (Magus' theme begins to play)
    Magus: Idiots... Nothing can live forever. Zeal... A pitiful woman, duped by Lavos!
    (Magus casts back his cape)
    Magus: I, myself, will bring an end to all of this!
    Zeal: Prophet! You're doomed. I haven't forgotten what you did at the Ocean Palace. You will now forfeit your life.
    • If Magus is present for this battle, his theme plays instead of the normal boss theme.
• Any character gets a small Moment of Awesome when their theme music plays.
• The first time you meet Ayla, she singlehandedly beats the crap out of several Reptites that have your party cornered. As Establishing Character Moments go, it doesn't get much better than that for a rough & tumble girl like Ayla... until directly afterward, when right off the momentum of kicking Reptite ass, she promptly glomps, and hits on, Crono. And possibly Marle and/or Lucca. In a few glorious seconds, Ayla cements herself as the most no-bullshit character in the game.
  • Once in the village, she challenges you to a Drinking Contest for a Plot Coupon. The next morning, your Gate Key is missing, so she joins up with you to storm a nearby Reptite lair to get it back. Once you get it back, she sinks to her knees and... throws up. How awesome is she? She can whip the asses of an entire race of hyperintelligent dinosaurs... while hung over.
  • Maybe so, maybe no... given the rather blatant hinting that Kino and Ayla give the party before departing at the end of the game, it seems that Ayla might not have been hung over, but suffering from morning sickness. Still pretty badass, though... helping save the world whilst pregnant.
• If you beat Lavos before Magus (the first time around), the ending has Frog Storming the Castle and taking out the generals... alone.
  • Not only does he take the guy on solo, their entire battle plays out entirely through sound effects over the end credit screens implying their fight was too awesome for the SNES to render. Frog wins, as once the credits finish rolling, you see him stand alone atop Magus' Castle, framed by moonlight. If one listens carefully to the sound effects throughout the duel, Magus tries to overpower Frog through sheer quantity, getting off several spells for every spell or attack Frog can get out. But Frog goes for Quality over Quantity, and Magus can't even finish his Last Breath Bullet; the duel ends after Magus' spell-cast sound effect and Frog stands victorious.
• By the end of Proto Dome, Robo's brethren dismantle him before deciding to eliminate the intruders; both Marle and Lucca have their own retort (you only get to see one based on who you bring), complete with the boss theme starting up in mid-line.
  R-Series: Now to take care of these intruders.
  Lucca: (turns around with gun raised) No! Let's take care of YOU!
  Marle: (turns around looking rip-roaring pissed) You cocky boxes of bolts! You won't get away with this!
  • Earlier, Lucca breaks into Guardia Castle by herself to save Crono's life. If you so choose to wait the three days until Crono's execution, Lucca will have knocked out several guards just to get to her best friend right as he's about to lose his head.
    Lucca: Sorry, but you're sort of in the way. Lights out, boys! (proceeds to take out two guards with her blaster)
• If you go back to Trann Dome after a while (possibly to get the sealed door from that era) you'll find someone who apparently legged it across Lab 16 to bring one of the saplings from Arris Dome. Unlike the party, this guy has absolutely no combat training or magic to help him, and was apparently chased by monsters the entire way (he says how he didn't think he could run that fast until he thought he was gonna die). He risked his life so that the people of Trann Dome could have the same hope you gave him.
• Flying the Epoch to 1999 AD and choosing to fight Lavos allows the party to skip straight to Lavos's second phase... By ramming through the shell. This destroys the Epoch, but you can't save after this anyways, so it is pretty much there just for the alternate endings.

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