CHRONO (universe)

The Chrono (クロノ Kurono) universe refers to the Super Smash Flash series' collection of characters, stages, and properties that hail from SQUARE ENIX's time travel console role-playing games. Unlike the FINAL FANTASY series (another series of role-console playing created by SQUARE ENIX), their games involves more on strategic commands, instead of direct-action commands. This series have been well received and is considered one of the most popular series of RPG games developed by SQUARE ENIX just behind the FINAL FANTASY series itself.

Franchise description
The series began in 1995 with the time travel console role-playing game FINAL FANTASY which its story follows a group of young adventurers led by Crono, who are accidentally transported through time and learn that the world will be destroyed in the distant future. Vowing to prevent this disaster, they travel throughout history to discover the means to save the planet. The game was produced by Kazuhiko Aoki and directed by Akihiko Matsui, Yoshinori Kitase and Takashi Tokita. The development of the game was dubbed the "Dream Project", because it was headed by a "Dream Team" composed of supervisor Hironobu Sakaguchi, of FINAL FANTASY fame, as well as freelance supervisor Yuuji Horii and character designer Akira Toriyama, both of Dragon Quest fame. Yuuji Horii worked on the general outline of the story; as a fan of time travel fictions, such as the TV series Time Tunnel, he focused on a theme of time travel for FINAL FANTASY. The outline was then finalized by story planner and script writer Masato Kato.

In 1996, Masato Kato and several other members of the CHRONO TRIGGER staff worked on a minor project for the Super Famicom Satellaview extension, titled Radical Dreamers: Nusumenai Hōseki. Initially, the game was intended to be a short, original text-based adventure developed in three months with almost no planning. Nevertheless, by the end of the development, Masato Kato had connected the game's plot and characters to CHRONO TRIGGER, turning it into a side story. Since the platform of the game was not mainstream, the connections were however left blurred on purpose and were not advertised on the game's release.

In 1999, a continuation of CHRONO TRIGGER, titled Chrono Cross, was announced. Although the "Dream Team" members did not participate in Chrono Cross, the game was developed mostly by the same staff as the first installment. In terms of basic system and gameplay, producer Hiromichi Tanaka made it clear that the new installment was not a sequel to CHRONO TRIGGER; rather, the game designers' approach was to make the "gameplay evolve with the hardware", creating a completely new game while restructuring the former style so as to maximize the performance of the console. The gameplay focuses on the theme of parallel worlds rather than time travel, although the latter is still deeply involved in the game's plot. In terms of storyline, Chrono Cross was described by director and scenario writer Masato Kato as "not a CHRONO TRIGGER 2", but "a result of a pulled trigger", "another Chrono". The Chrono series has been very successful in game rankings and sales.

In Super Smash Flash
Appearing as a small-represented franchise, the Chrono series offered only in Super Smash Flash the main protagonist of CHRONO TRIGGER as a playable character.

Character

 * : The spiky-haired silent protagonist of CHRONO TRIGGER. He lives in the village of Truce with his mother, Gina, under the rule of the Guardia Kingdom. A chance encounter with Marle at the fair begins a series of adventures and uncovers a pre-millennial evil. Crono's primary weapon is a katana that he uses in all of his attack. Crono could be considered one of the fastest characters in SSF due to his priority.

In Super Smash Flash 2
The Chrono series was previously confirmed to return in Super Smash Flash 2, with Crono planned to reprise his role as the series' playable character and no other property known to be included. Following a change in the development team, and the fact the game was reprogrammed from scratch, the first roster was revamped to accommodate new characters, making Crono's inclusion in the game a mystery, therefore, unconfirmed.