(Blog Game Review)Chrono Trigger Prophet's Guile: Review of a ROM Hack

Chrono Trigger: Prophet’s Guile


An SNES Rom hack

     When many gamers are asked what was their favorite game was in the 16 bit era, or for any system for that matter, their minds delve back into Chrono Trigger. Chrono Trigger was one of the most revolutionary games of that time period produced by the heavy hitters Square (now Square Enix). CT Introduced multiple endings in a role playing game that was polished with a unique battle system, side quests, story driven characters, and time travel! It was a game that would draw you in and have you playing it over and over to get each ending and every item. It is no wonder that people just can’t get enough of this game, whether it is the battle system, characters and story, or the nostalgic feel of the classics of that game system era. So I was sent back in time myself when I found that someone had decided to take us back to Chrono Trigger by taking the game code and creating a side story that encompasses one of CT’s biggest characters, Magus.

     A Rom chip is an image, which is a copy of the video game that you put in your console system to play. This can be hacked or manipulated by anyone with the right equipment to change the graphics, music and sound, script, pretty much anything about the game. The hacker in this case are a group called Kajar Laboratories, who have made multiple hacks of CT to date, but none so extensive as to take the original game and create a sort of side story game that takes a look at what happened to Magus when he was thrust into a black hole that took him back to 12000 B.C.

     This was a great concept, almost like a fan fiction story except in the original gaming format. I’m sure everyone that played the original Chrono Trigger wondered exactly how Magus had snuck back into his time and was able to become such a political asset to Queen Zeal. This is set chronologically in the CT timeline, as they focus on this game’s main character Magus, you get snippets of what is going on with Chrono and the gang as the game goes on. Now this game is only two to three hours long, which leaves you wanting more of this non cannon universe because it is brimming with new story, characters, areas, bosses and battles.

     This game brilliantly gives light to Magus and the time period before Chrono arrived in Zeal. The game starts off with Magus being defeated by Chrono after trying to summon Lavos, where the interruption sends Magus back to 12000 B.C. This starts his plan to stop Lavos from being summoned in the kingdom of Zeal in the first place. Prophet’s Guile goes on to introduce old and new characters relating to Magus’s past, all with some polished graphics and wit. New areas are brought in as Magus has to earn clout to impress the Queen and infiltrate the kingdom. One great addition was the ability to visit cerulean lake which was just scenery in the CT Zeal, where you visit to not only have a fun battle with some Mu henchmen, but you are treated to music from Final Fantasy 6.

     You also visit old favorites like Mt. Woe where Magus must take one of the wise men to imprison. Or the Ocean palace where they cleverly were still in the process of building and setting traps that CT fans will remember learning to painfully avoid, or the empty chests that will soon fill the ocean palace so that Chrono and company can acquire. I love how the development team really added that feeling of nostalgia with these old favorites and blended it with new things that were obvious happened but you never really thought of.

     Though these weren’t the original script writers of the Chrono Trigger game, they couldn’t have written a better script to slip into the CT universe. Being able to go back to every area and see how that era, how Zeal was before the arrival of Chrono and crew made me a very giddy fan boy. New scenes with old characters including Schala and Prophet Magus as well as incidences with some of the wise men and Magus, flashbacks with Magus and Ozzie, Flea, and Slash gave us more insight into how Magus managed to have an edge in almost any time he was in. Even seeing how Magus acted around his younger self at the time was enthralling.

     I’m sure there is controversy as to whether this hack is considered a companion to Chrono Trigger or considered a game at all, but as art across all mediums is what your perspective on it is, I consider this hack to be a great supplementary game to Chrono Trigger. Prophet’s Guile was not meant to be a stand-alone game, but played in addition to the original Chrono Trigger. That does not mean that a hack cannot stand on its own, as there are many already out there that play amazingly without prior knowledge of the original game.

     I hope that this game inspires others to be as creative as Kajar Laboratories and to give us their perspective on a game that they love. Because even though I have played Chrono Trigger over 15 times, this gem of a game made me want to go back and visit that masterpiece yet again after finishing Prophet’s Guile.

GamePug gives this game 4 Patrick Stewarts out of 5!

15 minutes to create a boardgame = School Daze

School Daze Rules




1. Roll to see who goes first. Highest goes first.

2. What you roll is the number you move.

3. If you land on a dot - get card and follow instructions.

4. If you go to detention - you need to roll the same # twice to get out.

5. Win by finishing school.

6. If you get detention - move to the detention square.



items Needed to Play



Dice, 5 "Reward" cards, 4 "Go to Detention" cards, coins, stick of gum, fake lobster claw

Our first review, Duke Nukem Forever!

     Welcome to the GamePug domain! The place to be if you want info on gaming, tv, and pugs! Maggot and I plan to let you know about all the game and game development news to keep you updated on the gaming trends. Also when time permits, GamePug will let you know about cool movies or TV shows that are out or that you might have missed. And if you are looking for the first review of Duke Nukem Forever, Well look no further because we have that review...it will be posted TBD.