Now that’s a title that makes you think ‘what if’, huh? Can you imagine what it would have been like to have a Chrono Trigger fighting game? Well, many gamers around the globe are suddenly left with the possibility that this could well have become a reality after an interview with the legendary Tekken designer Seiichi Ishii talked about his time working with Square during the reign of Sony’s first two home consoles.
How many of you have heard of Tobal No. 1? Release in August 1996, this game still has a loyal following today and scores highly across the board with both critics and gamers alike. I suppose shipping alongside a demo of FF7 always helps to rouse interest, but Tobal has more than held its own over the years and stands proud as a classic fighting game.
In an interview between Seiichi Ishii and 4Gamer, it’s become apparent that the characters in the game were almost taken straight from Chrono Trigger, a move that would have had a profound effect on the fighting genre and could possibly have cemented Chrono Trigger as a household name like Tekken and Street Fighter.
So why did it never happen? Why did Tobal No. 1 get a new roster of characters? Well, the interview goes on to explain that Seiichi Ishii had shown a desire to work with the man behind the Dragon Ball Z manga, the late great Akira Toriyama who also created the characters for Chrono Trigger. Rather than using old designs, Toriyama decided to make new characters for the game.
So, there we have it – that’s why Chrono Trigger never got a fighting game series. It was close, but I can understand why an artist like Toriyama would have wanted to flex their artistic muscles and bring some new creations that they had been working on to light. After doing some digging through Automation, Seiichi Ishii finally got a chance to include a roster of existing characters in a game through the 1998 title Ehrgeiz: God Bless the Ring. It features a host of characters from FF7 including Cloud and Sephiroth, which closes things off in a nice circle considering the demo for FF7 shipped with Tobal No. 1 in the first place.
That concludes today’s retro gaming history lesson; if nothing else, you’ve got a cool fact to tell people at the next party you go to. And if they haven’t heard of Tobal No. 1, then start going to better parties.
