The making of Chrono Trigger & Secret of Mana

I know the charging mechanic in SoM is seen as clunky and slow, taking away from the action, but there is something really satisfying about it at the same time. I sometimes wonder if the idea could be improved and used in a new action RPG, because I still go back to that game every couple years to experience it again despite how imperfect it is.

Strafefox documentaries = The best of the best of the best. Love this one specially since SoM is one of my fave games ever (CT too of course). Great job!

Hello strafefox. I love your incredible high quality Videos. I just wanted to ask , if you can make a Video about Square USA, Inc. and their only Game "Secret of Evermore". This game was magical back in 1996 with their own style Artwork of Daniel Dociu, Soundtrack of Jeremy Soule and its dark atmosphere. Unfortunately they closed the company after release. 😥

First time watching this channel and I must say the voice sounds like I'm watching a nature documentary XD Crazy good production value, just WOW!

wow, +1 sub great video, hope to see a similar video about square development of marioRPG

Today's kids will never know -- jk. Square was responsible for some real magic ca. 1993-1996 -- they still make good stuff, FFXVI is probably my favorite one, but man that was one incredible era to have an SNES since it was legend after legend after legend

Great video as always!

Ok what the hell is this other game that looks totally awesome that I can’t pronounce (something III ) ? Would have loved to have played that!

Will there be one for Megaman X or maybe Klonoa?

Absolutely FANTASTIC video.

Amazing production quality. BTW, Whats the name of the first soundtrack in the intro? Beautiful sound

My father was a play tester for Chrono Trigger. I still think it is one of the greatest games of all time.

does anyone else here wonder if the production and quality of these videos is TOO GOOD? Like, is strafefox doing ok? You drinking water and eating food buddy? :D
it just so far beyond any gaming docs Ive seen, even by large teams on Netflix

RIP Toriyama😢

R.I.P Akira Toriyama

RIP Akira Toriyama, thank you for bringing all the joy and inspiration!

For Secret of Mana, it's incredible that the game came out as well done as it had considering the large amount of content that had to be condensed, rewritten, and/or outright left on the cutting room floor; mainly thanks to Nintendo canceling the SNES CD project. Even primitive single tracked commercial CDs from the early 1990s had over 100 times the data capacity as non-volatile memory based cartridges did so the original amount of content was considerably larger as a result.

Of any of Squaresoft's classic era games, Secret of Mana warrants a full rework; one that restores the lost content and fleshes out everything else, as there is so much left to fully explore here. There are several named characters who have less than a dozen lines of dialog each, and a lot of the regions feel rushed, empty or incomplete. The background lore for the world is also direly lacking in context, and has to be filled in by the player and/or supplementary material that was never released outside of Japan.

Alas, while a Secret of Mana remake was released a few years ago, it appears that to be yet another cheap, minimal effort cash-in that ostensibly did none of those things. As a personal anecdote, it makes me sad that there will never be a game that does the original Secret of Mana (SD2) true justice, as it is probably the one game closest to my heart for the personal memories involved with it. (got to play it with my childhood sweetheart the last summer we ever saw each other)

More broadly, there aren't many games that try and capture that pure storybook like essence without resorting to the kind of lazy, insulting pap that goes into most children's TV shows/movies. (infantile garbage like Barney the Dinosaur, Teletubbies etc. People think children need that because anything more complex would confuse them. They are very mistaken as human children are, by their very nature more prone to internal problem solving and exploration of the unknown than their older, world wary adult counterparts are. Don't treat them like idiots and you will be surprised at how insightful they can be.)

And it's clear that while Squaresoft sees benefit in exploiting people's nostalgia, they evidently don't see any benefit in doing more than the bare minimum to reach it now that they're a large institutional international business conglomerate instead of the software boutique out to prove themselves and push technology forward like they had been in the 1990s and early oughts.

Then again, outside of maybe Nintendo, virtually nobody really makes games to be enjoyed from age 7 and up without making them mindless these days. Games like Secret of Mana and Chrono Trigger were products of a time where taking those sorts of risks was merited in order to push for the air of legitimacy that video games enjoy defacto today.

Meeh, dont like the dark graphics of Chrono Trigger. I shut the Game down after 5 Minutes, to depressing & dissapointing, after seeing the beautiful, bright colorful world of Secret of Mana.

Make Chrono Cross video please!

failed to mention the composer fell ill and needed help finishing the score

Why does this look and sound like it was produced with AI?

Chrono Trigger is the 2nd most overrated game in history. Change my mind.

Please do Secret of Evermore!

Secret of Mana started development for the (subsequently cancelled) SNES CD add-on. The game is believed to have been under development for at least a year -- possibly a year-and-a-half -- before the SNES CD add-on was cancelled and by all accounts the game had to be significantly cut down to fit on a cartridge. It's not clear what exactly was cut, but it is known that the cut content wasn't music because Hiroki Kikuta didn't even start work on the soundtrack until a year after the SNES CD add-on was cancelled.

I played this before turn based games and always hated turn based games because of it. The battle system that doesn't constantly pause the game is so much better <3

Oh, look, two of my top 3 of All Time!
(Undertale/Deltarune is my number one)

Although this is AI generated but lots of efforts went into this vid.

All 3 of my favorite games were shown in this video. Not only were they my favorite, but inspired greatly what I created with my friends way back in high school, which I am currently in the process of remaking (sci-fantasy).

DAMMIT man. I keep forgetting to hit the bell to get all notifications. I can't believe I missed this video, will have to watch it this evening.

The quality of these videos always amazes me. But having seen many now, I should t be surprised anymore.

I fear and anticipate your eventual Xenogears video essay. Fear, for it means it's an old title which you usually cover and I love it dearly.

Anticipate, because your quality is a standard few replicate. And I know you will do it justice.

Xenogears originally was supposed to bw a Chrono Trigger sequel as well as a potential Final Fantasy title before it became something more.

Its development history was nuts. From budget cuts to crunch forcing the second disc to become a visual novel for most of its gameplay.

On top of an untrained programming team having been pushed on the director. He still perservered and even did not blame his bosses and took the blame for the quality of the end product. Something he had to do in my eyes to save face of others, which is important in Japanese culture.

Ultimately we got Xenoblade and its sequels so I am very happy. They just don't make games like the ones you cover anymore, indies are our only hope really.

2.5D is eh, okay but nothing like Secret of Mana's overhead experience.

those renders of Mana and Trigger were awesome. Must have take a lot of work. Wonderful job

Please,do Terranigma next!

This game is a piece of shit

This channel is the most hidden of gems

Very interesting as always, thank you.

I don't know how i found your channel , but i'm glad i did .

Wow amazing channel, loved these games as a kid....the worlds were so memorable. Thank you for making these videos and the quality is just so amazing! Feeling nostalgic all over, thank you internet!

I love the tricks they had to do to compensate for the limited memory.

Something sad about that by the time we have people mastering pixel art it’s already being abandoned.

Lawnmower Man CGI there at the beginning 😎

Oh wow I don’t think I ever gave the opening screen enough time to reach the more upbeat part of the song!

If I was a yoga teacher I would use the Zeal music in my classes 😵

lol I always thought Lavos’ core looked like the dog Beethoven in a space suit

Good video but shame about the AI narration.

Chrono Trigger is one of the most important games in RPG history. I desperately want a remake/remaster/rerelease! I I want this game on Switch so it can sit next to my other copies (DS, PS1 in Final Fantasy Chronicles , and SNES). This is the most incredible game and I want it to come back.

Richie Branson was right!
“I really wish that would bring back Crono, and Lucca, and Magus, and Marle, and Robo, and Ayla, and Frog so you know we never solo. Tripple tech attack to anybody sayin’ yolo…”

We NEED Chrono Trigger again. However they want to do it, just bring it back!