The Chrono series hasn't seen a new entry in over 20 years, with Chrono Cross being the second, and final game released back in 1999 on the PlayStation; prior to this, Square released Chrono Trigger in 1995 on the SNES. In recent years, the Chrono series has gained a cult following, leading to numerous ports and remasters across many platforms.
Chrono Cross has recently seen a new remastered edition released called Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition, which features improved graphics and adds numerous quality-of-life updates such as the ability to disable encounters an enhanced OST. Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition also includes the text-based Radical Dreamers game previously only available in Japan.
How Long to Beat Chrono Cross
According to How Long To Beat, a website where players can post their own times for many released games, to complete just the main story of Chrono Cross takes on average 37 hours. The times submitted ranged from 28:23 and 53:28
The next category is Main + Extras, which has an average time of 44 hours. This category is quite confusing as there is also a 'Completionist' category; however, one forum member describes the category by saying "This gamer likes to take his time, discover and complete additional tasks not required." These times in the category range from 42:04 to 75:41.
Finally, the Completionist category means that the player has done everything possible in the game, such as every quest, side quest, bonuses, and achievement, leaving no stone unturned. For this category, the average time is 67:59, with times submitted between 52:12 and 107:46.
These times show, especially for completionists, that Chrono Cross is another incredibly long, much like most of Square Enix's RPGs. The studio also developed many other RPGs, including the Final Fantasy series, Kingdom Hearts, and the previous entry in the Chrono series titled Chrono Trigger. It is worth mentioning that all the games developed in 2003 and earlier were created by Square prior to the merger.
Although some of these times are incredibly long, the game can be completed much quicker by speedrunning it. Chrono Cross has a few different categories that speedrunners aim for, with the English version of the game primarily using the Good Ending and All Characters category.
At the time of writing, the world record for the Good Ending category is just 6:36. While this sounds like a long time, it is much quicker than the average time to complete the main story, approximately 37 hours.
The All Characters category has the player unlock all available Chrono Cross characters before completing the game; the world record is currently 9:05.
Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition is available now on Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, and Xbox One.