# Chrono Trigger

23 Hacker News commenters recommended Chrono Trigger and 0 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 6 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Players recommend it for its vibrant late-SNES art, polished design without random encounters or grinding, and a story that still holds up today.

## Why people recommend it

- Vibrant, stunning late-SNES graphics (3 comments): "my favorite 2D video game aesthetic was the vibrant look of high-quality late-SNES games, particularly Chrono Trigger" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49784713)) "Some of the prettiest being Chrono Trigger, Seiken Densetsu 3, Tales of Phantasia, Star Ocean." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49844094)) "Chrono Trigger, which the graphics are stunning for" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46386677))
- Holds up well today (3 comments): "the steam version is fine" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49780964)) "Chrono Trigger holds up very well, and much better than many PSX/N64 games." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49778630)) "are all very much worth playing today" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46819958))
- Called one of the greatest games (4 comments): "Trigger is sort of the most-polished culmination of a style developed across 8-bit and 16-bit jrpgs." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49772118)) "I think Chrono Trigger is one of the greatest games of all time" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49073656)) "Chrono trigger it's the closet thing to perfection in a JRPG." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49771338))
- Polished, no random encounters (2 comments): "they all have well crafted stories & characters and they are not too hard to play or too grindy" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48281693)) "It is one of the most polished JRPGs, and there are no random encounters or grinding." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49773234))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Baldur's Gate 3](https://hackerapproved.com/p/baldur-s-gate-3.md): 71 recommend
- [Clair Obscur: Expedition 33](https://hackerapproved.com/p/clair-obscur-expedition-33.md): 58 recommend
- [Ultima VII Revisited](https://hackerapproved.com/p/ultima-vii.md): 24 recommend
- [Disco Elysium](https://hackerapproved.com/p/disco-elysium.md): 23 recommend
- [Undertale](https://hackerapproved.com/p/undertale.md): 16 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Chrono Trigger", https://hackerapproved.com/p/chrono-trigger/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).