For this month's "Maps Of The Month" featurette, I wish to draw your attention to Rick Bruns's Chrono Trigger (Super NES) maps.
It's often been said that the end is near. Devastation, chaos, extinction, the end of the world as we know it. But many prophetic proclamations offer some hope that it can be prevented. Perhaps we need to stop fighting each other. Perhaps we could be more conscious of what we are doing to the planet. Or perhaps we can put our hopes in an odd team of seven time-travellers which include a mute kid, a frog, and a robot - whose theme song feels like we've been "Rickroll'd". But if the future refuses to change, then Lavos will awaken...in 1999. Oh, wait, maybe they've already saved us then.
Speaking of '99, if you discount the five April Fools' joke maps, Chrono Trigger has the distinction of being the 99th (real) game featured in the Maps Of The Month feature!
Chrono Trigger is widely renowned as one of the best RPGs for its time, or perhaps of all time. Quite fitting that it should stand the test of time, given its temporally-warping narrative. Few games before this captured the essence of time travel. The story weaves us from merely waking up to attend the Millennial Fair in 1000 A.D. to preventing an alien being from unleashing havoc in 1999 A.D., but not before visiting prehistoric and post-apocalyptic periods...and The End Of Time itself. Each time period is vastly different, each a world of their own, but they are all connected and their similarities and differences really make you understand the scope of this adventure. Created by Square, known primarily for its Final Fantasy series of games, it's nice to see a game by them that can stand on its own without the Final Fantasy branding (well, at least if you overlook the PlayStation remake bundled with Final Fantasy IV in a package called Final Fantasy Chronicles). This year has seen some stellar Square RPG efforts recognized here...we've had the remake of the first Mana game and the best 2D Final Fantasy game, and now this. Thanks to Rick Bruns and his desire for tackling one of his favourite games (despite being so epic that it almost intimidated even him), we can add this incredible adventure to our atlas.
So to recognize the effort put into this truly timeless classic, Rick Bruns's Chrono Trigger (Super NES) maps will be known as VGMaps.com's Maps Of The Month for December 2012.
