Proto:Chrono Cross

This page details one or more prototype versions of Chrono Cross.

A playable demo of Chrono Cross was released on Square's Preview 5, which was included with the Japanese version of Legend of Mana alongside video previews of Vagrant Story and Threads of Fate and an interactive demo of Front Mission 3.

Many things changed between the demo and final game, as can be seen by peering into the preview's assets.

To do:
Elements and enemy stats.

Sub-Pages

Graphical Differences
Simpler shading, details, and even sketches!

The Demo

The demo starts at the game's beginning in the dream version of Fort Dragonia with a party consisting of Serge, Kid, and Glenn. The party members are equipped with silver weapons and armor, Serge with a Silver Swallow which looks like the Mastermune (which he holds differently). Serge, Kid, and Glenn respectively are equipped with the accessories Power Seal, Magic Scarf, and Scope, none of which have descriptions.

Their starting element grids are as follows:

Serge
Level 1	Level 2	Level 3	Level 4	Level 5
Leaf (Bushwhacker)
Uplift	Shooting (Meteorite)	Photon(Beam)
AquaBeam	AquaBeam+1	AquaBall	(empty)
Laser (PhotonRay)	Laser+1	Dash&Slash	Comet (Meteor Shower)	(empty)
Cure	IceLance	Keara (CurePlus)	(empty)
Revive	AeroSaucer	Capsule x5
Tablet x5

Kid
Level 1	Level 2	Level 3	Level 4	Level 5
Laser
Leaf	AeroSaucer	(empty)
Fireball	Fireball+1	(empty)	(empty)
(Magma)Bomb-1	Bomb	Burning (FirePillar)	Melt Stone (MagmaBurst)	(empty)
Cure	Uplift+1	Capsule x5	(empty)
Cure	Cure+1	(empty)
Tablet x5

Glenn
Level 1	Level 2	Level 3	Level 4	Level 5
(empty)
Leaf	(empty)	(empty)
Leaf	Leaf+1	(empty)	(empty)
AeroSaucer-1	AeroSaucer	Dash&Gash	Freeze (IceBlast)	(empty)
Cure	Cure+1	Capsule x5	(empty)
Cure	Cure+1	Capsule x5
Tablet x5

As soon as the party steps into the fort's main area, a Gobbledegook flies into their faces and attack them. A series of tips are displayed throughout the battle at the beginning, when attacking, and when using elements for the first time.

The enemies in the demo are much more powerful than the final. Gobbledegooks and Cat Burglars are present only in the demo. Treasure chests are scattered around containing some high-level elements.

The crystal you must deactivate to finish the dungeon is guarded by a SideSteppa, who in the demo is Yellow innate. Killing it earns the party a star, which they already have 20 of.

In Arni Village, none of the hidden elements (or the frame in the vendor's pile of junk) can be found. The "barrel" in the restaurant gives a Gravitonne; the chest in the next room contains HolyLight. The Heckran Bone isn't under the bed.

An NPC prevents you from accessing the section of the village where Radius is located.

Outside of Arni, the world is mostly the same. Cape Howl is unchanged, Fossil Valley is inaccessible as per plot sequence, and Divine Dragon Falls doesn't have the option to enter.

Hydra Marshes. Note the waterfall in the upper left isn't present in the final.
"Hey Serge! I'm Razzly."
"Evil dwarfs live in this hydra swamp. However, I was foolishly captured by them."
"But I am sorry to say that this is my only word to you in this trial version."
"Sadly, it cannot be helped."
"Well then. See you later, Serge."

Upon entering Hydra Marshes, Razzly pops up to inform you the area is off-limits in the demo.

Kid and Glenn rejoin Serge at Lizard Rock to help him hunt for Komodo scales.

Lizard Rock was altered slightly for demonstration purposes as well. Opah Fish can be fought in addition to the regular critters, and the chests have different contents.

Komodo Pups are green innate instead of Blue; Mama Komodo is white innate. Instead of showing up as soon as you kill her third baby, the boss appears when you take the upper left exit to Opassa Beach.

As you leave for Opassa Beach, Kid and Glenn have some parting words, and run off.

Ending Slides

After the meeting with Leena at Opassa Beach, a series of non-interactive scenes play, and the demo is concluded.

Scene 1: Serge and friends run through Shadow Forest and are confronted by Zoah.
Scene 2: Viper talks to his troops at the Manor.
Scene 3: Serge & co. run up to the Manor's library and meet Riddel.
Scene 4: Serge goomba stomps a giant dwarf.
Scene 5: Meeting the Hydra.
Scene 6: Serge sees the statue of Viper in Termina.
Scene 7: Korcha jumps on his boat and sails away.
Scene 8: The burning orphanage.
Scene 9: A shot of the SS Invincible, then Serge sails by.
Scene 10: Serge examines his own gravestone.
Back at the beach.
Wow! Can't wait!

Undocumented differences in the demo:

Running from battle simply fades the screen out; there is no running animation.
The effect field of black element is purple instead of black.
Screen transitions are much slower.
Casting animations for elements are longer.
Healing elements always default to Serge, rather than the user.

Elements

Using a hex editor to modify the party's element grids reveals a few things about the demo's elements: Most of them were changed, and a lot were deleted.

To do:
This will take a while.

Graphical Differences

Several of the elements in the demo are slightly altered or entirely different graphically.

PhotonBeam

Iceberg

Gravitonne

Evidence of Cut Character

In the demo, the level 3, 5, and 7 techniques of every character except Serge and Glenn('s level 3s) are named in the format [character name] 00, 01, or 02. While this isn't particularly enlightening for the characters who did make it in the final, it does reveal a character who didn't make the cut.

Kukuru's Level 3 tech

Elements 0601, 0701, and 0801 are named ククル00 (Kukuru) through ククル02. Using them yields the standard element placeholder effect of a low-damaging AquaBeam on a single target, but with Kukuru's green innate. She is placed between Mel and Leah in the roster, which would explain the presence of a demo character portrait between the two where there are no members in the final.

Since the only evidence that this character ever existed are a few placeholders, it's safe to say that she probably didn't make it very far into development before getting axed.

Enemy Stats

Though their assets were stripped away, coding for several monsters remains in altered form within the game's data.

Debug Room

The Chrono Cross debug room managed to survive the conversion to the demo. While it's not entirely functional due to most of the game's data being shaved off for the demo, most of the options are fairly explicit in their descriptions (assuming you understand Japanese)...unlike the debug room from, say, Final Fantasy VII.

CusCus

Option 1: Cancel Option 2: Member composition (Does nothing)

(Dialog: Already do~~ne)

Option 3: Party composition (only members in bold will not crash the game)

0: Serge
1: Kid
2: Guile
3: Norris
4. Nikki
5. Viper
6. Riddel
7. Karsh
8. Zoah
9. Marcy
10. Korcha
49. Lynx
Next Page
Cancel

(Note that Guile's name here is listed as Magil, an artifact from when he was Magus from Chrono Trigger. His character data was overwritten with Glenn's, so you will get a Glenn clone if added to the party.)

11. Luccia
12. Poshul
13. Razzly
14. Zappa
15. Orcha
16. Radius
17. Fargo
18. Macha
19. Glenn
20. Leena
21. Miki
Next Page
Previous Page

22. Harle
23. Janice
24. Draggy
25. Starky
26. Sprigg
27. Mojo
28. Turnip
29. NeoFio
30. Greco
31. Skelly
32. Funguy
Next Page
Previous Page

33. Irenes
34. Mel
35. Leah
36. Van
37. Sneff
38. Steena
39. Doc
40. Grobyc
41. Pierre
42. Orlha
43. C13???base (Pip)
Next Page
Previous Page

44. C13???a (Devil Pip)
45. C13???b (Angel Pip)
46. C13???aa (Archdevil Pip)
47. C13???ab (Holy Beast Pip)
48. C13???bb (Archangel Pip)
49. Lynx
50. Glenn 2
Previous Page

(Lynx will not function as Lynx, instead giving a Serge clone and causing graphical glitches.)

BeachBum

"Jump maps?"

Cross yer fingers
By number
By name
Go to every sub-room

"Map number"

"Map parameter" Option 3: Map select menu. Only maps included in the demo can be visited, and the exits don't seem to function. The only location normally inaccessible with any sort of functionality is Termina B.

To do:
Document this.

Cancel
Village, block A
Village, block B
Dungeon A
Dungeon B
World Map A
World Map B

Cancel

The rest of the menu consists of "go to (someone's surname)'s place" -- i.e., it's a list of stuff divided by name of the staffer who was in charge of putting it together.

Wraith

Same as BeachBum's 4th option.

Gerridae

Music test

Song
Permanent sound effects
Cancel

Option 1

"Number entry"

Stop music
Return
Cancel

Option 2

"Number entry"

One more time
Stop permanent sound effects
Return
Cancel

Using the Debug Room

Although the data was stripped to the bone for the preview, there are a few things that can be done with the debug room normally not possible in the demo.

Viper, Poshul, and Leena are fully playable in the demo using the party select, as their graphical data was not deleted. Despite having models in the demo, Zoah, Karsh, Marcy, Radius, Razzly, and Riddel are not playable and will crash the game if added to the party. All three valid party members have a placeholder element grid full of some very preliminary elements, which is identical except for their Level 3 and 5 techs:

Level 1	Level 2	Level 3	Level 4	Level 5
Photon-2
Intel Down	Laser+1	Holy-2
Laser	PowerGain+1	Revive+2	Curest-2
Cure	FieldWhite+1	(Level 3 tech)	Monocle+3	(Level 5 tech)
Fireball	PowerUp+1	Purify+2	Holy-1
PowerDown	StepDown+1	Drug-3 (Nostrum-3)x0
EagleEye

To do:
Describe these.

Viper is essentially the same as he is in the final. When added to the party, he's very weak compared to the demo version of Serge, Kid and Glenn, who were powered up along with the demo's critters. He's equipped with a Bone Sword and Bone Armor.

His Level 3 tech is partially functional, unlike Poshul and Leena's. He will jump in the air, spin around and slash his target, inflicting heavy damage. His model will stay in the air above the enemy for the rest of the battle after performing the attack. His level 5 tech fires a powerful yellow-elemental AquaBeam at the target.

Poshul is similarly weak, and equipped with Bone Armor and a Bone Fang (in the final, she uses Glove weapons, and 'Fang' weapons don't exist). Attacking results in a placeholder sound effect of a woman's voice, saying "Zero", "One" through at least "Five" depending on which effect is supposed to play. Neither of Poshul's personal elements are complete, and both function as yellow-elemental AquaBeams.

Leena is equipped with Bone Armor and a Bone Pan, which is untextured (likely because the texture was cut for the demo). However, it still clips through her head partially. Like Poshul, her level 3 and 5 techs are AquaBeams, though blue element in her case. Unlike the other playable characters, she doesn't have a proper casting animation for AquaBeam and will bend over backwards when using it.

Music Differences

As a rule, music in the demo sounds slightly worse that what was used in the final, mainly due to the addition of superior mixing and reverb during development. Tracks from the demo all have an annoying fade-in which is unavoidable both in gameplay and the soundtest. The samples here from the final version are taken from the game and not the soundtrack, as the soundtrack versions sound a little 'remastered'.

Beginning of the Dream
Demo	Final

This is played on the demo's title screen as the audio component of an FMV that isn't present in the final at all. An updated version appeared on the game's official soundtrack.

A Light For Lost Hope
Demo	Final

Frozen Flame
Demo	Final

This one can only be heard through the sound test in the debug room. It doesn't loop.

Home Arni
Demo	Final

The Brink of Death
Demo	Final

The demo version is missing the tambourine and chanting right before the loop.

Viper Manor
Demo	Final

The crash at 0:42 and the echoing percussion right before the loop are different.

Another Termina
Demo	Final

Also accessible only through the music test. Sounds like there's another note to the bagpipes chords in the final, but it might just be the mixing.

Home Guldove
Demo	Final

Accessible only through the debug room music test. The guitar sounds a lot worse in the demo.

Reminiscence - Uneraseable Memories
Demo	Final

Nap
Demo	Final

Field of Time - Home World
Demo	Final

The sitar was changed (for the better) between demo and final.

Lizard Dance
Demo	Final

The Dream that Time Dreams
Demo	Final

The instrumentation is completely different. The demo version uses samples that sound like they came from an SNES game.

Playing anything in the music test past track 11 will result in a sequence (usually the game over theme) being played with the instrument data of the most recently heard track, or possibly crash the game.