The team kept track of a lot of beta material over the four-year development of Chrono Trigger: Crimson Echoes. This page showcases beta images and sprites with commentary, with anything predating FaustWolf's video run deemed "beta" content.

This is a screenshot of ZeaLitY's development folder intended for his interview feature. You can see CE.xls, the spreadsheet he wrote the script in, and several copies of the ROM and savestates for debugging.

Filler Text

As Agent 12 coded the game, he left filler text in places for later scripting. Some of the text is unexpectedly hilarious:

ZeaLitY: I couldn't help but burst out laughing when I came across this guy. I loved it so much that I kept his reaction in the final dialogue.

Technical Notes

Technical notes were sometimes left in the dialogue by accident, or by the coders having some fun.

Debug Room

The beginning of the game loads a debug room with NPCs representing each chapter. Talk to an NPC, and you can go to that chapter; NPCs on the end of the rows allow you to go to a second and third debug room for further chapters or special scenes.

Locations

Mapping to satisfaction can be lengthy work; maps were at different points of completion throughout the project's development.

Above is a screenshot of Zeal at night before the starry background was added.

Click the thumbnails above to see a work-in-progress version of Chickenlump's edits to Singing Mountain.

Blank tiles in some tilesets would sometimes be edited to create new tiles. If these blank tiles were used elsewhere, problems could arise, like this junk that appears in the place of transparent tiles after a tile edit.

Click the thumbnail above to see an early version of Dalton's Zeal dungeon.

The above is the first finished edit by Chickenlump to the Chronopolis map.

The above is the first version of the Beast's Nest first and final area by ZeaLitY.

And this is the first middle section draft.

The above is a test location using the Blackbird tileset for residential purposes.

This is the first version of Sargon's house.

This was a manual attempt at recreating Singing Mountain's final area from the Chrono Trigger Prerelease.

The team palette-swapped Chronopolis to see if it could more closely resemble its appearance in Chrono Cross.

This was a test at making a hosue with the fair tileset.

Click the thumbnail to see the original 11,995 B.C. tileset.

This is an alternate palette for the Lucca and Robo Reptite timeline chapter's robot dome.

Work was being done on creating a Dinopolis sprite and location for the overworld.

Agent 12 made this for a scrapped sidequest as an homage to classic Zelda dungeons.

Click the above to see Agent 12's Dinopolis designs.

The Crono, Magus, and Glenn Reptite chapter was at one time planned to have an overworld. This was a very rough design.

Click the above to see rough versions of the Marle Reptite overworld and 2305 A.D. overworld respectively.

Before & After

Agent 12 made a few before & after comparisons of locations for the planned Crimson Echoes beta feature.

Dorino Fields — "Wow.....I dont remember if I planned on this being the final product, but that's just gross. I think when I was making it, I was going to have a HUGE battle going on so i needed tons of empty space...then i realized you can really only have so many sprites on the screen before things fall apart. Of course, Chrono'99 proved me wrong with his 1 AD battlefield (a few years later, heh)."

Mystic Tunnels — "What can I say....I hate....hate......hate......hate the cave tileset....whoever cleaned this up must have ridiculous patience!"

Chronopolis — "Again, this isn't the first, first Chronopolis; the first Chronopolis i made was not nearly this good looking. However, check out all the missing stuff. No Mother Brain, no Melchior room, no inn.....you also can't see from this pic but there's also no save point and no entrance room either. Oh, I should have taken a pic of before/after elevators...99 (I assume it was him) did some smart stuff with the conveyer belts."

Dinopolis — "What can I say....Probably 99's best maps. Amazing....the Chrono Cross reference of six Elements on the floor, and somehow making a habitable looking place out of that tileset (look at the "table" and "chairs" in this)....just amazing."

1 A.D. — "*Laughs*"

Prehistory — "I like how from this picture you can see that we really listened to the fans by making the path to Singing Mountain more obvious. I'm sure people still won't be able to find it, but hey, we tried. Also, no lava is definitely better. Oh yeah; the Reptite Lair just sorta dissapeared, eh?

Reptite Contest — "Again....amazing work with the tilesets by Chrono'99 here. Why in the world did I think it'd be a good idea to use those trees? It would cause me a ton of grief when I eventually got sane and switched to prehistoric foliage."

Reptite Future — "Oh hey guys, I have a genius idea; let's put Chronopolis OW AND the future Reptite OW on one map. *sigh* That's why the future Reptite OW is so squished on the left."

Huacan Factory — "While Chrono'99 didn't change MUCH with this, the details really make a difference (as you can see). Plus..man, just changing the palette makes it a million times better right there."

Other Things

Above, an accidental animation omission results in Ayla seeming to fly out of the room cross-legged.

This is an explanation of using the Epoch naming screen in a riddle.

Unused Sprites

Many sprites done by Chrono'99 and Darkken were planned for use in the game. Some of these were programmed in the 98% beta and are presented here for your enjoyment.

Cedric Guardia the Executor's ark for the Frozen Flame, modeled after the Ark of the Covenant from Indiana JOnes.

A new Hench design.

A Neo'N'Bulb intended for use in the Porre laboratory (In Chrono Cross, Luccia crafts them in her laboratory at Viper Manor).

A make-over for Ozzie to approximate his appearance in Chrono Cross.

A Reptite child.

The Chrono Break was at one time planned to be part of the plot, corrupting an entire era with its power.

This was William Ishito's (Norris's brother) early planned sprite.

And this is his later sprite.

Queen Zeal was at one time planned to be port of the plot (the idea was scrapped early on).

This was an alternate Vanguard soldier design.

This is a hexapod robot intended to guard the Vanguard missile base in Chapter 12.

This is Dalton without an eye-patch, intended for use in 12,001 B.C. The ROM hack Prophet's Guile featured a complete set of sprites for Dalton this way.

This is a Porre flag, which would have been hung in certain Porre locations and Guardia Castle after the fall.

Porre PVTs and Porre SGTs were planned for inclusion to match Chrono Cross.

Flying cars were going to appear in the sky of 2305 A.D. for atmospheric effect.

Unused design for Terra Tower in the Reptite timeline.

Sorin, the Porre cyborg's sprites.

Another Xamoltan design.

More Xamoltan designs.

The Lion Tank was originally the broken Dragon Tank, recovered from Guardia by Porre.

These are prototype Glenn face icons. The first is by Chrono'99; the second is by Vargose.

Other Porre designs.

This was a small dome covered with greenery for Reptite timeline use.

Alternate coloration of King Zeal's final form shell.

These work-in-progress portraits by Darkken showcase beta Robo and Ayla faces.