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During an interview with Square Enix, producer Koichiro Sakamoto revealed that the recent Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers remaster wasn't just created to celebrate the original game's 20th anniversary, but to also ensure that Chrono Cross would remain playable for fans. Sakamoto stated that as a PlayStation 1 disc, Chrono Cross was available on the PS2 and PS3 through backwards compatibility, but there were fears from Square Enix that with the lack of PS1 support on the PlayStation 4, the game would become "unplayable" entirely.

Back when the project was launched, Chrono Cross was possibly going to become unplayable. There was a Game Archive service on PlayStation 3 that allowed you to play PlayStation 1 games. But PlayStation 4 was already on the market. We didn't know at the time if PlayStation 4 would also have a Game Archive service. It looked like Chrono Cross could become unplayable. So, a remaster project was set up. That's the backstory.

Ironically, Chrono Cross's remaster was rife with bugs and framerate inconsistencies, making the game quite unplayable for some on the PS4. Only just recently did the game get a patch that promised to fix many of the issues players had with the remaster at launch.

 

[VartioArtel]

I'll give them at least some respect for trying to keep the game available for newer generations, but still could have done a cleaner launch. Well, code's a quagmire and it's hard to do anything right to begin with especially with ancient spaghetti code.

 

[YuseiFD]

Next thing to do is to localize the 3ds version of dq11

 

[Something whatever]

Ironic considering how bad the framerate was when it launched lol

 

[Bladexdsl]

too late

 

[The3DSWannabeBoozer]

Doubt, Square Enix investor meetings revealed their are trying to recapture their lost social capital by mining old titles.

 

[kevin corms]

Ironic considering how bad the framerate was when it launched lol

It was exactly like the original, but back then we didn’t use lcd screens.

 

[Ryab]

Next thing to do is to localize the 3ds version of dq11

That game is technically still available though. PS1 games were not. Also wasn't every exclusive thing added in XIS?

 

[Sonic Angel Knight]

Well, not to sound mean because I really don't. But what about the rest of the games in their "archive"? I'm glad people will take game preservation seriously, but why signal out this one among others? Honestly, the 20 anniversary seem more like a excuse to pick the game. But plenty of other games they also have that can be 20 anniversary re-release.

The thing is why it takes so long... If stories of "Lost source codes" are true, then that is unfortunate. But least that's the opportunity to make a better code for these games I suppose. At the same time, I just think they should invest time into either reverse engineer source code from their old games. Or invest in emulator development, instead of waiting for someone like sony or Nintendoanother company to do it and remaining exclusive to their consoles as a result. (Just like Chrono Cross on PS3, PSP and PSVita)

Many compilations of classic games come out and they are done by mostly competent emulators. It might have been easy for companies to just sit and wait for Nintendo to put up the virtual console or PlayStation classic services to add their games to them like before. Putting the games on those services make them exclusive to those consoles, not to mention won't have any additional features worth revisiting outside basic gameplay.

Capcom has done commendable job, street fighter collection, mega man collection, fighting game, beat em up collections, and those arcade collections. All playable on all major consoles with competent emulation quality and online features as well.

 

[Naster]

All these ports are a shame on the good old games. They only true way to play them is to play the original roms.

 

[osaka35]

They were so concerned they what, outsourced it with a tiny budget and a short time-table? and are surprised it's a dissapointing release that needs a lot more additional effort to get up to the original release from 20 years ago?

I'll give them at least some respect for trying to keep the game available for newer generations, but still could have done a cleaner launch. Well, code's a quagmire and it's hard to do anything right to begin with especially with ancient spaghetti code.

the games uses the original ISOs and changes are done through the bundled emulator. at least, on the switch it is, so I'd imagine the other releases are the same. this is my understanding, anyway. so not exactly fixing spaghetti code so much as developing an emulator which is 100% accurate (with extras!)

 

[Marc_LFD]

This kind of feels like an insult to old games saying they're "unplayable" as is because modern audiences couldn't stomach or be bothered to check out a game with "bad" graphics.

I guess kids these days think SNES games look bad, but to me they look great and even, a work of art sometimes.

 

[The Catboy]

At least they are doing more than everyone else. Nintendo would sooner shutdown their entire eShop before allowing users to enjoy their old games

 

[DaniPoo]

I'll give them at least some respect for trying to keep the game available for newer generations, but still could have done a cleaner launch. Well, code's a quagmire and it's hard to do anything right to begin with especially with ancient spaghetti code.

Did someone from SquareEnix say that about the code? or is this your assumption?

 

[VartioArtel]

Did someone from SquareEnix say that about the code? or is this your assumption?

You ever work with code? I have seen code, I have tweaked code. Not for a major video game, but in general on smaller projects. I took C++ Classes. The smallest difference in 'OS', 'Engine', Specs, etc, can have drastic issues on performance.

One wrong line of code can lead to drastically inconsistent if bad results. It's why OS and GPU for example are two of the major things companies look at when bug fixing, for example.

 

[The Catboy]

It was exactly like the original, but back then we didn’t use lcd screens.

Or really care that much about frame rates. I think people seem to forget that caring about a constant 60FPS is an extremely new concept in gaming. There was time when people just wanted games to be playable, full stop. If the FPS was 30, cool, if it was 45, cool, etc.

 

[osaka35]

Or really care that much about frame rates. I think people seem to forget that caring about a constant 60FPS is an extremely new concept in gaming. There was time when people just wanted games to be playable, full stop. If the FPS was 30, cool, if it was 45, cool, etc.

nah, just the vocabulary changed. you are right they didn't use "fps" or specific numbers, but rather they used words like "smooth" and "quick". folks were very much aware, even if they didn't use today's lingo or have specific knowledge on the why it felt different/better.

 

[kevin corms]

Or really care that much about frame rates. I think people seem to forget that caring about a constant 60FPS is an extremely new concept in gaming. There was time when people just wanted games to be playable, full stop. If the FPS was 30, cool, if it was 45, cool, etc.

Almost every nes and snes game was 60 fps. The beginning of the 3d era was a compromise, I actually had a really hard time playing console games until we started getting 60 fps in 3d games. So I couldn’t play goldeneye, ocarina of time and many games with low fps. Turn based rpgs I could manage though. Many people are less sensitive to frame rate compared to me, but I couldn’t enjoy something that ran at 20 fps or less, or even the trend during the 360 era of games running between 15-30 fps. As much as we talk poorly about call of duty now, I’m so glad they made their games run at 60 fps and eventually helped stop the trend of games that run like garbage.

Back then I didn’t know what was wrong with games, i thought maybe it was just me. But goldeneye for example would make me feel dizzy and I couldn’t even play the game.

The weird thing is that tons of ps2 games ran at 60 fps, but the ps3/360 gen regressed badly. The ps4 gen was at the very least a solid 30, and many 60 fps games. This gen, if people don’t have the option for 60 fps they get upset.



Just for a fun fact above. Which of these consoles did the best by the way? Why did so many people switch to pc at the end of the ps3 gen?

 

[VartioArtel]

They were so concerned they what, outsourced it with a tiny budget and a short time-table? and are surprised it's a dissapointing release that needs a lot more additional effort to get up to the original release from 20 years ago?



the games uses the original ISOs and changes are done through the bundled emulator. at least, on the switch it is, so I'd imagine the other releases are the same. this is my understanding, anyway. so not exactly fixing spaghetti code so much as developing an emulator which is 100% accurate (with extras!)

Sorry just got to this. Yes, an Emulator or whatever is still code end of the day. And compatibility issues in the code of an emulator exist. So still 'spaghetti code'.

 

[YuseiFD]

That game is technically still available though. PS1 games were not. Also wasn't every exclusive thing added in XIS?

XIS is literally the 3ds version ported to the new gen systems, 2d mode, extra missions, the old games quests (3ds handled them much better)