Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition should have been the opportunity to transform the conversation around the game, divorced from intense comparisons to Chrono Trigger. With a rearranged soundtrack, updated visuals, and an official translation of the previously Japanese-only visual novel, it should have been a no-brainer. Unfortunately, Square Enix’s latest remaster is hampered by unacceptable performance on modern hardware.
Thanks to the performance analysis from Digital Foundry, we have concrete data regarding Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition’s presentation. Regardless of which platform you choose to play on, the remaster consistently outputs lower framerate readings than the PS1 release on original hardware.
Whether you’re exploring towns, dungeons, or engaging in battle, expect consistent sub-30 FPS readouts. At its worst, Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition reaches long stretches in the 10-15 FPS region during battles, which is incredibly shocking for a remaster on significantly more powerful hardware. Even in like for like scenarios, the remaster shows a deficit of up to 10 frames per second compared to the original.
What makes the situation even worse is that most of Digital Foundry’s framerate analysis was performed on a PlayStation 5. Chrono Cross is running entirely under backwards compatibility, meaning that it should brute force through any PS4-specific issues by nature of running last-gen code.
As it turns out, there is no benefit to playing Chrono Cross on PS5. Further testing from Digital Foundry showed that it runs identically to even the Switch version. The only situation during which the remaster turns in a higher framerate than the original is the title screen crawl with the 3D environments in the background.
The only workaround involves switching to the classic mode, which isn’t the most ideal situation. The PS1 version, while better than the remaster, still suffered from dramatic drops under 30 FPS. These drops still occur even on a PS5 while running in classic mode.
Square Enix isn’t exactly a stranger to poor remasters. The Final Fantasy VIII remaster, for example, had a worse framerate in battles than the original PS1 release. We’re not sure what exactly could be causing such poor performance, but this isn’t a flattering way to reintroduce a classic game to new audiences.
