Topic: Chrono Trigger History Help

Okay, so I have something that's been bothering me for years now so I'm hoping someone on here will be able to help. Chrono Trigger is my second favorite game ever, and I have a distinct memory of the first time I was introduced to it. I went over to a friend's house as a kid because he wanted to show me this new video game thing he got. It was like a subscription service where there were certain games for a certain length of time and you could just play them all you want. I think it was the Sega Channel. And I remember him pulling up Chrono Trigger. I remember distinctly that it wasn't from the beginning, but it dropped us in on the snowy mountain where we fought those enemies that look like a mini Lavos and you destroy their heads and it leaves the shell behind, and I fell in love with the game.

But this can't all be true, can it? There is no way that Chrono Trigger would have been on the Sega Channel, is there? Especially not back then during the SNES/Genesis days when they were bitter enemies. Was there another service like that it would have been on? Being a third party game, was it actually on the Sega Channel? This has confused and bugged me for a long time now. Does anybody remember this?

hello @Xyphon22, there's little chance that the channel was Sega Channel but it might have been a subscription service like the Nintendo Gateway: http://snescentral.com/article.php?id=1019

@BellEvil Yeah, I agree, I just don't know of any other subscription services like that. It clearly wasn't that Nintendo Gateway because those are only on airplanes and in hotels and this was at my friend's house (and this was also before the N64 and Gamecube days). Thanks, though.

@Xyphon22 Chrono Trigger was never released on a Sega console so it wasn't the Sega Channel. Besides mobile and the DS it was only released on the SNES and Playstation.

The only thing that comes to mind is shortly before release Square did ship out beta versions of the game to magazine reviewers and game stores. It wasn't the full game but did contain early versions of dungeons that would be in the final game.

More then likely these beta versions were cartridges perhaps your friend happen to get a hold of one of these. But it was never on a download service till the Wii.

@Link-Hero This was awhile ago, during the SNES/Genesis years. It was definitely Chrono Trigger, like I said I specifically remember that part on the snowy mountain. And then I remember later my family was shopping at Target or somewhere and I saw the box for Chrono Trigger and I was like "I remember that game! And it's awesome!" and I convinced my mom to let me buy it. And it indeed was awesome.

@Tasuki It's weird because I'm almost certain that it was on some download subscription thing, but like I've said, this was SNES time, so before even the PS1 let alone the Wii. I can't imagine he had a beta thing. Maybe it was like some bootleg or pirated thing, but my friend wasn't really a computer guy, so I doubt it. In fact, this was the only time I can remember us playing video games together.

My best guess as to what happened is that he showed off the Sega Channel and then switched over to the SNES without me noticing or just thinking it was still the same thing. And I guess he probably had a save file at that spot that he booted up rather than starting at the beginning. I guess I was just wondering if there was another, cooler explanation because in my memory he booted it up straight from the service, but that seems to have been impossible.

@Xyphon22 The only thing online the SNES had was XBand and that was more for Networking and multiplayer games then an actual download service like the Sega Channel and that didn't support Chrono Trigger at all.

Its.funny how our memories work sometime and what you said that he must have switched from the Sega to the SNES without you noticing is the only thing that makes sense.