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Newly released Chrono Trigger PC port causes backlash among fans

by Eben Griger The 1995 SNES RPG Chrono Trigger was ported to PC this past week, and fans are not happy with the product. The original game is commonly referred to as “the best video game of all time,” mostly for it’s influence on modern games of the genre, such as multiple endings, character development and a unique combat system. Chrono Trigger had boasted a “dream team” of developers, including those who worked on Final Fantasy, Dragon Quest and Dragon Ball prior to the development of Chrono Trigger. So naturally, fans were excited to be able to play Chrono Trigger on their PC. Unfortunately, much of this excitement dwindled rather quickly as fans started to play the re-release. What they were greeted with was muddy visuals, fonts not in the original, and inputs for touch-based controls even when using a mouse and keyboard or controller. It quickly became clear that the PC release was a port of the mobile version of the game, not the original. And muddy really is the best way to describe the visuals of the PC release. The pixels aren’t sharp, and the colors aren’t bright. And while the graphics were technically improved, much of the original detail has been lost. When Ball State Assistant professor of Journalism Renee Human was asked how much of a difference this makes, she explained it to us in simpler terms.

When we first started playing games on our mobile phones, we were probably looking at 480 pixels across.
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