I saw that Chrono Cross's 20th anniversary was a day or two ago and proceeded to go down a rabbit hole on the subject because of an ad campaign they were doing for the game. SquareSoft created the "Summer of Adventure" and had 3 games lined up for it; Threads of Fate, Legend of Mana and Chrono Cross. If you bought all three games and shared your proof of purchases and receipts, they sent you a tote bag... Definitely one of the stranger offers I've ever seen.
But then I started thinking about one company releasing three games over three months... you definitely do not see that anymore. So I dug around a little more. These are the games that SquareSoft released in 2000 for just the PS1.
That's a pretty damn good list of games in quantity and quality. Most devs can't do that in a lifespan of a system, let alone in just a year. Kind of makes you pine for the days where development for a single game wasn't 5 years.
But then I started thinking about one company releasing three games over three months... you definitely do not see that anymore. So I dug around a little more. These are the games that SquareSoft released in 2000 for just the PS1.
- SaGa Frontier 2
- Vagrant Story
- Threads of Fate
- Legend of Mana
- Chrono Cross
- Parasite Eve 2
- Final Fantasy 9
That's a pretty damn good list of games in quantity and quality. Most devs can't do that in a lifespan of a system, let alone in just a year. Kind of makes you pine for the days where development for a single game wasn't 5 years.
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travo (2m)
The closest I can think of a company releasing so many games like that is 2002 when Nintendo released Super Mario Sunshine, Animal Crossing, Metroid Prime, with Zelda coming out a few months later in 2003.
Won’t be seeing those days ever again with how long it takes to make games these days. Also makes me sad that it’s been 20 years since Chrono Cross and still not even a hint that we’ll ever see another Chrono game.
I'd still like to see other big developers try their hand at making smaller and less ambitious games. Nintendo kind of went that route with the Wii U, though it was more out of necessity than interest I think. Indie developers pretty much claim that middle territory, but I don't think it should be exclusively theirs to develop in.