• Light/Dark

Check out these rare CHRONO TRIGGER concept arts from 1993 (before Akira Toriyama)

DiipuSurotu

DiipuSurotu

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
53,148
In 2019, Square Enix hosted Chrono Orchestra -- a series of concerts in Japan featuring orchestral arrangements of the music of Chrono Trigger and Chrono Cross. The pamphlet book for the concert included some rare concept arts for Chrono Trigger, drawn by Masato Kato in 1993.


pz0IGnG.jpg

^ The cast looked rather different. We can see Schala (Sarah) on the left, and there's also a female ninja and someone that looks like Wakka from FFX šŸ¤”


x1Kmizc.jpg

^ Robo looked rather different šŸ§


dqvM3g5.jpg

^ Schala again. Her design almost looks like something out of Chrono Cross. Then there's Marle and Frog.


UwX77RJ.jpg

^ I think only Marle's name is visible, but these are clearly Ayla, Marle, and Lucca.


yzKOEg2.jpg

^ Wow, Robo almost looks like the Mammon Machine here.


H6ACFdZ.jpg

^ Queen Zeal?


8esUj53.jpg

^ Schala is on the left again.


QusDI6E.jpg

^ Lucca looks almost like a crazy scientist here.


VsYJbKM.jpg

^ The cast looks more familiar here!
 
PlanetSmasher

PlanetSmasher

The Abominable Showman
Member
Oct 25, 2017
118,142
Interesting that there's a female character in a bunch of these (ironically, the one who looks like proto-Lucca) named "Riddel". Guess they wanted to use that concept in CT and finally got to use it in Cross, just in a very different form.
 
HotSauceMaven

HotSauceMaven

Member
Oct 9, 2018
238
These are awesome! Thank you for sharing! I feel like I've always been more partial to this style than "Dragonball/Dr. Slump"
 
OP
OP
DiipuSurotu

DiipuSurotu

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
53,148
PlanetSmasher said:
Third from the right, with glasses, in the top image. She's also in the seventh image, which is a lineup of Schala, Riddel, human-form Glenn and Zan (proto-Melchior, I guess?)
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Wow, amazing! So "Riddel" was originally Lucca's name... And that's human Glenn!? Woah! I'm also noticing that proto-Melchior has an eye patch in some of the images; guess this detail eventually got transferred to Dalton lol
 
L Thammy

L Thammy

Spacenoid
Member
Oct 25, 2017
50,134
Kato's body of work is so weird to me. The art for Ninja Gaiden, the story for Chrono Trigger and Princess Maker 2.
 
PlanetSmasher

PlanetSmasher

The Abominable Showman
Member
Oct 25, 2017
118,142
DiipuSurotu said:
Wow, amazing! So "Riddel" was originally Lucca's name... And that's human Glenn!? Woah! I'm also noticing that proto-Melchior has an eye patch in some of the images; guess this detail eventually got transferred to Dalton lol
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Missed the first symbol if proto-Melchior's name, it's actually Mizan. This seems to be before they renamed the Three Wise Men with a common naming scheme (Bosh, Hash and Gash).
 
dyne

dyne

Member
Oct 25, 2017
406
Vancouver
I'm so in love with these, thank you for sharing

You know when Chrono's lying dead, I always thought he was wearing goggles. In this concept art it looks like he IS wearing steampunk goggles. Fascinating!
 
Whales

Whales

"This guy are sick"
Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,418
CT still one of the greatest RPGs of all time.

Thanks for sharing OP
 
CO_Andy

CO_Andy

Member
Oct 25, 2017
2,539
The Queen Zeal (?) piece is really cool. Human head, robot body. I wonder what story was intended for that character.
 

GabriocheXD

Member
May 27, 2019
792
That sketch of Ayla, Marle and Lucca is amazing. I really liked this "era" for manga drawings. I'm no artist, but there was something really unique to how they drew faces and specially hair. With big bold lines.


View: https://youtu.be/J6chr50v6vg

Those sketches remind me of Slayer a bit also.

Damn. I like Toriyama but those designs are really nice too...
 
KtotheRoc

KtotheRoc

One Winged Slayer
Member
Oct 27, 2017
56,914
Definitely getting some NES Ninja Gaiden cutscene vibes from that art. (I've also seen some of these before.)
 
GTOAkira

GTOAkira

Member
Sep 1, 2018
9,270
This looks so cool. For some reason a lot of the design kind of remind me of tales of phantasia.
 
L Thammy

L Thammy

Spacenoid
Member
Oct 25, 2017
50,134
I feel that the Toriyama style better emphasizes the bright, optimistic outlook that runs through Chrono Trigger. Kato strikes me as though he's more influenced by folks like Go Nagai and Ken Ishikawa who may draw some cutesy characters but will put them against more horrific and deliberately ugly imagery.

Like, that really spiky version of Robo feels like they could be a Ninja Gaiden boss:



View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9foIojy8b-M
www.youtube.com

Ninja Gaiden NES - All Cutscenes

Every cinematic, in order, from the original Ninja Gaiden for the NES. Pretty epic!
www.youtube.com www.youtube.com
 
OP
OP
DiipuSurotu

DiipuSurotu

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
53,148
L Thammy said:
I feel that the Toriyama style better emphasizes the bright, optimistic outlook that runs through Chrono Trigger. Kato strikes me as though he's more influenced by folks like Go Nagai and Ken Ishikawa who may draw some cutesy characters but will put them against more horrific and deliberately ugly imagery.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Kato is definitely a HUGE fan of the horror genre. He used to make a lot of posts about the horror novels he read on his Facebook.

And Radical Dreamers is kind of a survival horror too (but with a lot of jokes).
 
OP
OP
DiipuSurotu

DiipuSurotu

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
53,148
Anoregon said:
Word. Now that it's 30 years later it's easy to criticize Toriyama's art for being too samey, but it translated amazingly well to SNES sprites and really gave the game incredible character.
Click to expand...
Click to shrink...

Gotta hand it to them, they really nailed the color contrasts among the playable characters to make each of them unique:

F2B4LV7.png
 
You must log in or register to reply here.