There have been some absolutely brilliant video games released over the last few years. I’ve battled on the streets of Numbani, I’ve scoured the ruins of Libertalia, and I’ve explored far and wide across Hyrule. And yet, as memorable as those experiences are, I still find myself going back to a title that’s over two decades old: Chrono Trigger. To some, it is an old game that was recently given a sub-par release on Steam; to me though, it is a deeply nostalgic experience and the most important video game ever.
Chrono Trigger is a reminder of my adolescence, and a game in which I see countless little parallels to the life I once lived in a rural Australian town. The very beginning, for instance, in which Crono is woken by his mother so he wouldn’t miss the Millennial Fair, takes me back to how excited I would be when my mum told me that the annual amusement park show was finally in town.