Chrono Trigger Characters: RANKED WORST To BEST

[@Rayzorbladez]

Chrono Trigger is what I used to teach my daughter to read. She HATED children's books, but this game's story caught her attention like nothing else. Even now, 12 years later, it's still really special to us.

[@perrymeril]

Best parent. The fact you were able to find something to help her learn how to read when she despised reading as much as you just stated ... that means you not only didn't give up on her but you worked around her weakness to create a strength. Everyone here can learn from you. Good job.

[@trentonrothan9724]

That's awesome.

[@rpgranked]

bro this is literally the best, i love this game so much! just played it as a 15 year old, one of the games that inspired me to start my own channel lol.

[@SchalaZeal]

Epic!

[@misterstonks2411]

Just beat the game today with my daughter, with the exact same idea of helping her read! She loved the game and it improved her reading immensely!

[@thehoff3189]

She got replaced by a helmet. Cold blooded 😂😂😂😂

[@fd5934]

Right? The helmet deserved better.

[@ace-trainer-aj]

Poor haste helm 🤣

[@liveyourdreammedia]

Ice cold, winter came early 😂

[@BossItUp911]

pinkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk

[@akhandtripathipyz9888]

Frog might not be the best character in terms of battle mechanics But he is my favourite game character ever

[@michaeljaubert1325]

Our little green friend has the best story in the game.

[@KTF0]

And has a badass theme

[@veghesther3204]

Too bad the BEST weapon that DOES transfer to NG+ runs for Frog SUCKS.

[@OzymandiasWasRight]

Spire forgives any shortcomings in battle, most badass attack in the game.

[@Rayzorbladez]

You mean Jean? From Breath of Fire 2?

[@vstalbain]

The case for Marle: Marle's power shines through double techs and triple techs. Other character have strong double techs, to be sure; but theirs can mostly be described as "the thing I already do...but harder). Marle's double techs combine to grant element changes and/or effects that you can't otherwise get - either early on in the game, or at all: - The earliest access to full-party healing (through Crono...and Robo, but you literally have to have Crono in the party for the majority of the game). - Earliest access to high-damage shadow magic (through Lucca), and if I'm not mistaken, the only shadow magic that isn't accessed via Triple Techs, Magus, or Robo and his abysmal Laser Spin that's only useful very early on. - The strongest water magic in the game (through Frog and Ayla); Frog's strongest dual techs default to the other character's element (Spire, Frog Flare). - One of the only ways to access reraise (triple tech with Crono and Frog). Frog and Robo get better AoE healing; but by that time, you've probably got several Lapises, rendering AoE magic irrelevant - she's the only character who has it when there are no alternatives, imo. Haste Helms are great, but you only get one per playthrough, and you get access to the Haste spell much earlier than that. And, it goes without saying that no one else has Life 2. Thus, I think of Marle not as a "healer" (although she's got plenty of capability, there) and more as a "support" character. On her own, she doesn't offer much, but she's the gateway to powerful abilities you can't get early-game without her. Late game, she either gets the most powerful shadow magic without needing Magus (via Lucca), the most powerful water magics (via Frog or Ayla), and full party reraise (via Crono and Robo).

[@DRCEQ]

I hated Marle from a mechanical standpoint, but I enjoyed her from a story standpoint, and would often take her along just to see her own views on the storyline when possible. I like the idea of her officially hooking up with Crono, so something about that shipping pair made me want to flesh it out during the game.

[@joescott1526]

The Marle/Lucca combo is very underrated. I’m a HUGE fan of Antipode. Very respectable damage.

[@Celanoj]

Agreed! Marle, Lucca, and Ayla was my team!

[@LeGamerduNordOuest]

and if i not mistake is shadow damage this duo technique! :)

[@darkensama1390]

Physical Attacker. Magical Attacker with P. Def Support and Fire Combos with Ayla. Healer and Support. (Good Team Already but too fragile) My favorite teams: 1* Ayla, Frog, Robo 2* Chrono, Lucca/Marle, Robo. 3* Magus, Frog, Ayla.

[@GOLVEL]

Every second damn thing nowadays is unDERRaTEd 🤦‍♂️ Senseless comments.

[@ananda5346]

if you get Ayla's magic point to max, she can heal you 999HP with just a kiss

[@Nayue]

"Allie-uh" XD First time I've heard that one.

[@acidwizard6528]

All the characters in Chrono Trigger are viable. The game isn't too hard, so you can actually use any combination of characters to beat it. That doesn't mean they are equal though. Aaliyah is new one to me. I thought she was a Pop R&B singer who died young, but I guess she's a playable character in Chrono Trigger who replaced the prehistoric cave woman Ay-La :)

[@zengram]

Like suikoden 2,you almost can beat the game with any combination of characters,because the game let you do it

[@Yoedi16]

​@@zengramBut wont possible with the worst like tuta and muku muku squad lol

[@zengram]

@@Yoedi16 almost

[@PixelsAmpersandBits]

What sealed the deal on Robo AKA R-66Y being my favorite Chrono Trigger character as well was his selflessness. He helps everyone fix the future which very well could mean him being deleted/erased from the timeline since the future is being changed. And the characters still wonder about his fate when everyone goes back to their own time periods. But Robo didn’t care, he was happy to help still. At least Lucca ends up building a small clone of him in one of the endings

[@serge2cool]

400 years of farming as well not to mention! That could save our planet currently as is! Love Magus but he didn't spend his time as well as Robo

[@thecognitiverambler8911]

Fun video! I definitely think I rank differently: 7. Marle - Yeah you nailed this. She's a dedicated healer who is outclassed at HEALING by other characters. 6. Magus - Yeah his lack of combination techs REALLY holds him back here. Imo he's a better black mage than Lucca, and is much better in basically every other area than the dedicated mages, but CT is all about syngergy, and Magus breaks the rules to his detriment there. 5. Lucca - Sure, she's an awesome black mage. But that gimmick just doesn't really stick for me here. For starters she only accesses one element, so feast or famine, and she has zero qualities outside of spell casting. And clearing a screen isn't really an impressive gimmick - many higher tiered characters can do that just as well while offering better utility, and basic-attack options. 4. Robo - Fighting words? Look, Robo's a beast. I consider him and Frog to fill similar "all rounder" roles. He's arguably better than Frog but Frog IS faster, (good for healing and multi-teching), and still an serviceable fighter. 3. Frog - I love this little fella and some of it's probably bias. But when you're *good* at everything, it's forgivable that you're not the best at anything. AOE heal, strong single-target heals, iconic X-strike, and the amazingly useful slurp-kiss; I could just never pass this fella up. 2. Ayla - My #1 spot was a close call in honesty. Ayla's a complete monster. Strong, tough, absurdly fast, spot heals, steals, the absurdly good Falcon Hit dual tech w/ Chrono. You'll never be disappointed by including this wrecking machine in your party. 1. Crono - Yes, MC gets my #1 spot. Who cares that he can't heal, when he can bring the hurt in any and every variety that you need - from the very moment you start the game? Fast, strong, ridiculously good spells, and a spot res if you need it. Crono takes the cake for me, because he really does have some of the best combo techs in the game, and again, I don't need him to be a healer. Others can cover that, while he brings the hurt.

[@nesoukkefka1741]

I feel Robo is highly dependant of if you go through the trouble of maxing stats, with every character at max stat he actually stand out as having the best tech kit all around, but if you don't he will lack speed and magic power to fully take advantage of his techs.

[@thecognitiverambler8911]

@@nesoukkefka1741 That makes a good deal I sense. I seem to recall he's default the slowest character in the game, but I couldn't recall off-hand how much of a chore it'd be to bring his speed in line w/ the others. I just definitely remember that speed was pretty important - esp when syncing combo techs.

[@perrymeril]

When I went through the game, I devalued the slow characters and valued the high speed characters. This put Robo and Lucca at the bottom - rarely used them unless I had to. This also made Ayla and Crono my favorites for that reason alone. Both characters could get to * speed - and that speed breaks the game in so many wonderful ways. Frog was my usual 3rd option as he could support them very well.

[@blues2807]

I agree with that order

[@Loner098]

The only way Magus can use a multi-tech is if someone in the party is equipped with the Black Gemstone (Eternal Darkness) or Blue Gemstone (Omega Flare). However, the triple techs performed require specific characters to pull it off. Eternal Darkness requires Magus, Marle, and Lucca while Omega Flare requires Magus, Lucca, and Robo.

[@offdutyenglishmajor9924]

"Built like a brick shithouse," is my new favorite phrase. Something I'd like to mention is that I actually like every character in this game, which is rare for an RPG. I never groaned when I was forced to use certain ones, because it instead gave me a chance to experiment with a unique character. Yeah, even Marle, because she at least made up with her fun personality (that's the other thing, all of the characters are likeable!) Such an awesome game.

[@ace-trainer-aj]

As a scientist myself, my favourite CT character is Lucca. She and Robo make it what I call the Technoparty.

[@kierancoghlan2743]

I hear Norman Osborn is also something of a scientist himself

[@johntracy72]

I like how steampunk Lucca and Robo are.

[@misssinger96]

Whenever I wanted to have Robo on my team I always picked Lucca too so they were together because I really loved their friendship :)

[@BB-te8tc]

There's a segment in the Flames of Eternity romhack where you have to play as Marle solo and it's every bit as painful as you can imagine.

[@DioTheGreatOne]

Jesus Christ

[@Alakaizer]

One thing not mentioned about Ayla in this vid, is that if her level gets high enough, she does 9999 damage on a crit.

[@brianfoster4493]

What's a crit ?

[@Alakaizer]

@brianfoster4493 Critical hit. Usually they do double damage, but Ayla's ultimate weapon brings the critcal hit damage to 9999.

[@brianfoster4493]

@Alakaizer really ? I didn't know that. What do I have to do ? Max everything out ?

[@Alakaizer]

@brianfoster4493 just get Ayla to level 96 and she gets the Bronze Fist automatically

[@brianfoster4493]

@Alakaizer 96 ? That's a crazy High level. That's pretty cool tho

[@jonathanabgrall6075]

Interesting that you rate both Marle and Frog so low. I usually always have them both in my party, at least in dungeons, simply cause their Ice Water dual tech is the easiest/cheapest/laziest screen clear in the game lol.

[@akhandtripathipyz9888]

They are good characters All characters in chrono trigger are good

[@ZenKrio]

@@akhandtripathipyz9888 Nah not really, Frog is someone I often slot in my teams, but Crono, Ayla and Robo are so powerful it's night and da0y. Lucca is also just a massive Fire DPS caster. It also doesn't help that Crono, Ayla and Robo are able to do everything well, DPS, Healing and Buffs.

[@matxiv]

I stuck with Crono and Ayla with the 3rd being situational. Falcon Slash is just SO overpowered as a cheap dual tech. Frog is my usually slot-in guy especially towards the end; giving him everything to raise his crit chance means when it happens, he hits really hard. Tough to beat his easy heals, too.

[@MrDtmayo]

Yup, it's my team for magus castle. Ice water makes clearing fights and farming s breeze.

[@andychua2766]

They’re good early but fall off as with most healers in jrpgs.

[@Trampflick]

I liked the list, but I would trade Frog and Lucca. One cannot overstate Frog's usefulness as a third choice interchangeable member throughout the story, being that he attacks well with increased crit, and fills every role, and has excellent heal synergy with dual techs (eg. Slurp kiss) or the early triple tech with Chrono-Robo-Frog. One also must take into account his story is one of the most well-written in RPG history. What are you going to do with Lucca when you are saving up tech for the unknown? Watch her hit an enemy with a Crochet stick or miss a pot shot at a flyer, or watch that sweet triple-digit jump in slash, slash animation? Great list as always, but if I was to make a change, it would be that. My go to party is Chrono, Ayla and Robo...but prior to end game, Frog always had a spot when one of those two wouldn't have worked for whatever reason.

[@nesoukkefka1741]

What I'm gonna do with Lucca ? Not saving tech (cause frankly you get more MP regeneration than you'll ever need) and nuke everything daring to not resist Fire with Napalm, Fire2 or Flare that's what I'm gonna do with her XD

[@ShaggyLad]

@@nesoukkefka1741 This guy has it right. Frog has utility, but Robo does everything he does better. Frog is just a worse jack of all trades, master of none. You might as well bring someone specialized like Lucca who can absolutely NUKE encounters and gives you access to stupid strong dual techs. Anyone who thinks Lucca is mediocre has not used her throughout a playthrough.

[@nesoukkefka1741]

@@ShaggyLad Yeah and she especially get some stupidly strong Dual Tech with Frog in the endgame.

[@grey_wulf]

CT was/is one of my favorite rpgs of all time. Everything about it was pure gold: time travel, characters, combat, etc. Frog is #1 for me and Robo a close #2. I chose these 2 not for anything they can do in combat; rather, just because I like them. 😀

[@davidtimmer596]

I think what also helps with Ayla is that she doesn't need any weapons, which makes her quite possibly, aside from Crono, the strongest fighter in the game, add her versatility with her healing stats and ability to steal items, and she has plenty of bases covered.

[@atoth62]

Ayla is great when you have to fight aboard that super-plane from Zeal, and you start off having no weapons. She's the only one who can fight until you get your equipment back.

[@riverguy75]

This was one of my all-time favorite SNES games growing up. I love the music, Techs and the time-travel element. Thanks David for another great classic game video. I turned 50 this month. YAY!!! 🎉🎊🎉🎊🎉🎊

[@alkristopher]

Here are some Frog standouts where he outshines even Robo: -The Ocean Palace. Lots of enemies are weak against water and fire in here, and unless you want Marle to compliment Crono and Lucca, Frog is MANDATORY in this dungeon. The fact that he's balanced honestly makes this a really good team. -The Zeal boss gauntlet. Queen Zeal is fond of reducing your HP to 1, and guess whose attack depends on low HP? Incidentally, the Masamune also weakens the Mammon Machine, so Frog is doubly useful. Bringing Ayla is practically required, since Dino Tail also deals damage in proportion to low HP, and did I mention you can steal the best equipment from the third Zeal fight? My third is always Magus, for the extra dialogue (and his theme plays for the end, which is always epic). Want to obliterate bosses? Give Robo the Crisis Arm, and have the last digit in his HP counter be 9 (anything higher than 6 is fine). Then have him and Ayla perform Beast Toss. Since this is dependent on his Uzzi Punch, you'll do obscene amounts of damage. Here's how to fix Marle: weaken her attack slightly but give her the ability to hit all enemies, like Edgar's Autocrossbow. Remove Frog's Cure 2 and have Marle's heal one person for high HP or the whole party for average HP. Replace Life 2 with an attack that hits one enemy with massive damage, inflicting Stop or Slow. Provoke should inflict Confuse and Slow on all enemies, while Aura heals less but has a Regen effect.

[@nesoukkefka1741]

One infuriating thing thing with Marle (and Frog to a lesser extent) there is a third tier Water spells use by some bosses called Hexagone, why the fuck Marle doesn't get that move as an ultimate spell being you know the supposedly Water Mage of the team ? Also Frog doesn't get this move either meaning Water is the only element for which you don't have access to it's strongest spell.

[@Wasjash]

Frog also shines in the Lv99 spekkio fight, after the party wide drop to 1hp attack, he’s going to do the most damage before someone else chucks a megalixir

[@Riftweaver1981]

@@nesoukkefka1741 simple. because she is a WHITE mage, not a water mage, or an ice mage. she just learns some ice magic, but she was designed to be a healer

[@nesoukkefka1741]

@@Riftweaver1981 Your point ? She has the highest Magic stat between her and Frog which is design to be more of a paladin while she is design o be the mage, I don't see what would prevent to get a powerfull offensive spells, not mentionning that depending of the White Mage had some offensive generally Holy and the Wind branch of spells so I don't see why she couldn't get her element's strongest spell. And adding to that other character are not design as Mages like Crono but still get the strongest spells of his element.

[@matxiv]

I hate to be THAT guy, but..."Ahh-lee-uh" and "Kraw-noh"? That was butchered harder than a pig during a bacon shortage LOL.

[@FatalKitsune]

Honestly one of the few RPG's I can think of where every character is good. Some are better than others, but any party in CT is viable. All of them bring something good to the table.

[@akhandtripathipyz9888]

There are no bad characters in chrono trigger

[@MtendoTheSkunk]

I only used Ayla as a stealer to get all those tabs and unique items. My end game party was always Magus, Crono and Robo.

[@Paul_McSeol]

What??? #7 was a total shock. 😂😂😂

[@supernintendosp]

If memory serves, my final team was Crono, Ayla and Janus aka Magus. Not the best team, but I'm a big sucker for the two polar opposites, a savage primal and a sophisticated dark mage. It sure was satisfying beating Queen Zeal with Magus!

[@murpux1]

I love seeing everyone's pronunciation of names in games where there was no voice acting. No one is ever wrong because we had no way way of knowing!

[@DRCEQ]

In this case, he's saying "Al-lee-ya" for "Eye-la" though. Saying the Y sound after the L that it comes after it.

[@ninototo1]

@@DRCEQ yeah that makes no sense

[@davidvinc]

I began pronouncing her name at 13 years old. I’m not changing it now lol

[@tryingtobebetter7235]

@@DRCEQ It isn't eye-la. It's Ay-La. In Japanese エイラ (Eira).

[@YophiGames]

Yeah, but they have their names written in Japanese, and that shows how they are pronounced. Marle is “Mar-lay.” Magus is “May-Jus” Ayla is “Eye-La” Crono is “Chrono” (don’t know how you get that one wrong)

[@Mishwha]

I think a top 10 characters theme songs 🎵 would be a cool series! Because if I'm being honest, Frog is number 1 in my heart ;)

[@blazeknight4120]

I got called out. My team was always Crono, Marle, Frog. 😵

[@frozenaorta]

Always love the stuff, David! A few years ago, I actually wrote a brief article on the list of my own rankings of Chrono Trigger characters! I've probably been through this game (counting New Game+) 150 times. I'm sharing it here with you in its entirety. Sorry for the length, but I hope you enjoy! 1. Crono: Duh. He's easily the best character. Balances amazing physical attacks and strong magic. He's so overpowered, and without the use of the rock accessories, he's the only triple tech character. Once he has the Rainbow sword (75% critical hit rate??????) and Luminaire, he's simply unbelievable. 2. Ayla: Tough choice here, but Ayla is the most physically powerful character in the game. She's a beast, and she often delivers critical hits. On top of that, her bare hands attacks eventually evolve as she levels up, and she can inflict status effects naturally when attacking. What pushes her over the top is that she has a healing ability (Kiss) and she can steal items (Charm), which is ridiculously useful in this game. She needs no magic. Ayla rocks (pun intended). 3. Lucca: Until she gets the Wondershot, her physical attacks are fairly weak (and even then, they are somewhat unreliable). However, Lucca has arguably the best tech/magic offensive in the game. Both Antipod 3 and Frog Flare are among the most devastating duel techs you will acquire. But all of her techs are frightfully powerful, even before she learns Flare. From the beginning of the game, you realize using her and Crono for a Fire Whirl is an overpowered option. And when she has an endgame weapon that can sometimes deliver over 2000 in damage? Yeah. 4. Robo: I truly feel that 2, 3, and 4 here could all be interchangeable. Robo is SO damn versatile. He's probably on par with Lucca, but he doesn't have the duel tech power that she does. On the other hand, he does have amazing physical attacks and awesome single techs. And the Triple Raid is the first triple tech you learn in the game--works very well in Magus' castle. He can even heal one or multiple characters. I feel that Robo is especially useful early on, then sort of fades out as your other characters grow more. However, his Shock ability is fantastic, and the Uzi Punch is downright destructive. The Crisis Arm is also a fantastic weapon. As long as the last digit of his HP is high (it should usually be a 9), he will deliver damage like no on else. It's too bad he lands so few critical hits. Love that animation. 5. Frog: Glenn is amazing when you first get him, and I think everyone loves X-Strike. He also has healing techs, which is a big plus. He has a high critical hit rate, which is even higher with the Masamune and Hero's Medal equipped. the problem is that there are three other characters with higher attack values, which is supposed to be Frog's forte. Even with the Masamune 2, Crono is still far more reliable with the Rainbow, which is nearly always a critical hit. Most glaringly, Frog's offensive techs and magic are fairly weak compared to the other characters. A few great duel techs, but overall, he's not as strong late game as the others. 6. Magus: Outside of Marle and Lucca without the Wondershot, he's the weakest physical attacker in the game. He also has no dual techs and only two triple techs with the aid of the rock accessories. So why is he 6 instead of last? His magic is awesome. Magus should only be outfitted with a gold stud as his accessory. He has access to all of the game's elemental magic, and he has a devastating single tech in Dark Matter, which you should use all the time once learned. It's fantastic. However, his single target spells are very lacking, so if you're fighting something like the Lavos Spawn, where you only want to target one thing, he becomes more of a hindrance than a benefit. Overall, he has a great arsenal, though, and a great magic stat. Plus he's so damn cool. 7. Marle: It's odd that I have her last, since I use her so often alongside Lucca. Marle has issues, though. As a natural healer, she should be very useful, but the problem is that so many other characters in this game can also heal--and they are much more powerful. Marle has the weakest physical attack in the game. Like the other girls, she can also often inflict status effects with her bows, but it isn't always a reliable reason to attack with her. Like the other water user, Frog, she has some great healing spells, but they aren't as crucial when you can put someone like Robo in your party to heal AND deal out damage. Her ice spells have a decent punch early on, but by endgame, she has very little to bring to the table offensively, which really hurts her. The best thing about Marle is her ability to cast Antipod 3 with Lucca. Otherwise, she's a bit weak. I do love her, though!"

[@gamerk316]

Agree on most of this. I put Robo higher though; he can single handedly top off the party with healing, his later techs do a ton of AoE, and Uzi Punch puts out excellent damage for the cost. Chrono is a *very* close second; Rainbow + Rage Band = tons of crits. Magus is tough; he's actually a good final boss character since he can just spam Dark Matter, where Lucca tends to burn through her MP reserves much faster. But as you noted, he kinda sucks on single targets, where Lucca is superior. Lucca is the better character overall, but I actually prefer Magus for the Lavos Fight. Ayla is dominant on single targets, but the fact she has no AoE heal (unless you drag Frog along) limits her to that specific role. Kiss simply stops being useful relative to Robo's Heal Beam late game. The fact Frog's accessory slot pretty much has to be the Hero Medal to make him even marginally useful says it all. He's 3rd or 4th best at everything, and essentially has no useable accessory slot.

[@maclovio9015]

No wonder my default group was always Crono, Robó and Ayla. Thanks David!

[@ShockStormRPG]

Crono, Robo and Ayla is my favorite party in the game. Ayla gets the super useful steal ability and then her Falcon Hit dual tech with Crono is incredible as well. Robo meanwhile can heal everyone by himself, gets super good techs throughout the game that do tons of damage and is awesome. Then Crono meanwhile is just super powerful from the beginning of the game to the end. Chrono Trigger is one of my favorite games!

[@veghesther3204]

Heal BEAM sucks by game end I barely had it restore 250 HP but Slurp Kiss Ayla/Frog ONLY lose 1 MP EACH and it easily will restore 999 HP and the only good 3x TECH that doesn't suck is Crono Frog Ayla's anyways for end of game use.

[@nicholascortalano275]

Frog was an absolutely crucial in my fight against Lavos. Surprised to see him towards the low end of this list.

[@Dystnine]

Frog and Robo have great healing and if you throw in Ayla... the most badass trio.

[@LorLgp]

I'm near the final boss and Marle has carried my party since the beggining to the very end.

[@otakubullfrog1665]

Since there really isn't an unplayable Chrono Trigger party, I tend to use Frog because I like frogs and I've always enjoyed archaic dialog in the style of the early Dragon Warrior NES releases. As one of my friends aptly described him: he's a thou-talking frog.

[@YophiGames]

I used Crono, Ayla, and Magus. The attack power and speed was so high that I didn’t need healing, and if I ever encountered a situation where I did, an item helped that.

[@MrDtmayo]

Great list. Maybe surprisingly I very much disagree with Marle for a few reasons. If you're not playing new game plus and you're taking progression into account the haste spell is just game breaking amazing. You don't get haste helms till very late into the game. I learn it on her during Magus castle which her and frogs double tech ice water really shines in that dungeon as well. It makes the Magus fight and Tyrano fight so easy. Pretty much any fight from then on out. I don't believe the haste helm replaces her either. You have to forgo the vigilants helm which is a must have in my opinion. Status immunity is much better than having to cast haste 3 times and not all of the best armor has status immunity. A smaller plus is life 2. If you're playing right you won't have to use it but it's much safer than revive and if you have good equipment on her she can survive to use it. Her biggest weakness is her survivability imo and to me it's not much of an issue unless you're trying to fight and beat lavos at the ocean palace. Trying to get her to survive during his attacks is tough.

[@Aidan_B_Young]

I want to disagree with you on Marle, but I honestly can’t. Her healing abilities are instrumental to your success in the first few hours of the game, but then Frog, Robo and Ayla come along and make her obsolete. It’s a real shame too, because in terms of her story (especially her side quest), she was definitely one of my favourites.

[@chad878]

Good list David. I feel Marle could have been balanced way better with only a couple tweaks. Remove Haste Helms, and make Marle's Haste target the whole party. You could even make this spell her ultimate, and this would still make very viable.

[@trentonrothan9724]

When I played through this game I noticed the problems with Marle. I later started using Robo more because he had more attacking power and had similar healing abilities. I never counted how much exactly, but his strength was noticeable and Marle's crossbow was not. I still remember using the anti-pod combo with Lucca and Marle a lot anyway. once I found something that worked, I pretty much ran with it to get all the endings. I felt that this was an efficient way to kill lavos repeatedly, but I never tested for better methods. Magus although cool, I almost never used him except for grinding because I was curious about what he would do if I maxed out his level. I would put Magus pretty low on the list because of how little he is used and other characters have stronger fire and light attacks than he has access to.

[@michaeljaubert1325]

I'm so glad to see this video as I'm doing my own LP of this gem. The only issue Robo has is he can be slow and if you don't use your magic tabs on him he can be a bit lackluster. But if you build him right our metal mate here will Rick roll through enemies both random and boss alike.

[@michaeljaubert1325]

@Dawn Razor not min maxing just trying to get the most out of a good character. Plus being a best to worst list I would think taking all aspects of a character would be efficient don't you agree?

[@veghesther3204]

Even with Magic tabs Robo still sucks your better off giving ALL those to Ayla so that Slurp Kiss with Frog will always restore 999 HP to the entire party.

[@michaeljaubert1325]

@@veghesther3204 why would I boost the magic stat of a character that her abilities are almost entirely physical for a good dual tech that robo can accomplish almost as well by himself thereby increasing the DPS of my party?

[@michaeljaubert1325]

@Dawn Razor if I'm taking one team member in a team of three to heal that is one thing, taking two to heal while leaving one takes away from your total damage which would weaken your damage output.

[@michaeljaubert1325]

@Dawn Razor well more accurately it would be dpt or damage per turn. I'm not usually one for min maxing but when you are grading a characters quality among a cast you have to look at much damage output they have or with support how much they can provide with our without help. The person I was commenting on was stating how good ayla/frog were for healing with a dual tech which with only three characters in an active party sorely takes away from the amount of damage the party can dish out per cycle especially when robo can do pretty much the same healing by itself.

[@Aarolei]

Yeah I agree with the way these guys were ranked overall. My last playthrough of CT was last year, and when I streamed it made it a goal to use all the characters pretty much at least in one section of the game. My respect for Lucca and Robo has definitely shot up! They use to rank low for me but I would say they are exactly where they need to be in this list now. Both are heckuva lot of fun and I am so glad I gave them each a chance last year. My approach towards rpg’s has changed a lot since I was a teenager so I am glad when replaying these older games trying out different things than ever before.

[@johntracy72]

I'm not surprised you ranked Robo as the top character in Chrono Trigger. I've also always noticed just how strong he is and how much personality he has.

[@Gaspingindeath]

I disagree with Magus, but that's probably just the aesthetics of the character and that statue of him you can find in the monster town is some of my favorite pixel art of all time. I'd swap him with Luca personally, but otherwise I'd say spot on

[@ZenKrio]

Nah, Magus lacks duel techs which Lucca has in spades. It may not seem like much, but Lucca's Duel techs are some of the best in the game, and hard carry for the majority of the early and mid games. Outside of Dark Mater, Magus isn't actually that good, and the Lvl2 Spells are notably bad due to not often being useful, so there's half his spell list basically off the shelf right out of the gate. I'd have actually ranked him below Frog myself.

[@LavvyWuff]

One thing I love about Chrono Trigger is how all the characters are pretty viable. Yes, some do outshine others, but picking your favorites isn't going to screw you, like other games might do :) I find it funny how I'm torn on Frog. I feel like he should be higher, he IS a good character to have around, but I wouldn't move anyone to make a higher spot for him because everyone is just so good XD Except Marle. I like her, I'm always fond of the healer characters, but you're 100% right, multiple other characters can do the job better.

[@bandrew1442]

David never misses an opportunity to read Marle for filth lol

[@davidvinc]

She deserves everything she gets!

[@edgeninja]

Marle might be lacking as a standalone character, but she has access to some of the strongest Double and Triple Techs in the game, including Antipode 3 and Poyozo Dance.

[@matxiv]

Everyone forgets about Anitpode. To bring Lucca into the conversation too, the dual techs Crono has with Lucca and Marle are game wreckers in the early going. They get outpaced by Falcon Slash with Ayla down the road, but those techniques deal a ton of damage early on.

[@supershadowman6478]

This is a fun list I agree in a lot of different points. I also ironically enough use everyone in the party This is one game where I love the entire party There's literally no one I dislike that's a rarity for me. Another fantastic one

[@postplays]

Marle is a powerhouse depending on who she is teamed up with. Ice Water is deadly right when you get it. Through I do agree that they could have removed crap like Provoke and give her an AOE Heal spell, or give her a higher crit rate with her crossbow, or SOMETHING to make her a little more useful.

[@JohnRambo1947-July-6th]

That "replaced by a helmet" comment cracked me up!! 🤣 I couldn't stop laughing!!!

[@bobjoemac1]

Chrono trigger did so much right. It's one of the only games that made me WANT to use the whole cast. Playing other games like FF6 I'd basically stick to the same 6ish characters and would be annoyed if I ever had to use the rest (setzer, umaro, strago etc). But in Chrono Trigger the smaller cast size, doube/triple techs, interesting personalities made experimenting so much fun. I never dreaded having to go through a section with a specific character like I do other games.

[@KTF0]

100% Even in the good RPGs they have 1 or 2 characters you can't stand whether it's personality or game specific. CT made everyone cool and badass in their own personal way.

[@Loner098]

Plus, there are no random encounters is Chrono Trigger, so that is a huge plus for a Square title in the 1990s.

[@ThomasMHead]

I saw this list and thought "This is going to be spicy!" And while it delivers in that department, I find your reasonings to be spot on. Max Robo's Magic and his Techs are OP. Once Lucca installs an ice maker and plops a Marle Helm on him, there'll be absolutely nothing he can't do!

[@robertm5110]

Good list! You pronounce more than half the names differently than I do 😆

[@CaptainJack67]

I'm the complete opposite. Seeing a game with ONLY human party members is just a bummer to me. I love having a variety of creatures/beings. ❤️

[@z3ll58]

I can agree with your list with minor arguments, however, your #1 I 100% agree with you. Best character by far!

[@Wasjash]

Magus’ best use is power leveling the rest of the team in the late game optional dungeon. Dark Bomb/Lumaire can wipe out the strongest enemies and you get an endless supply of elixirs from them to refill MP, make your 3rd someone useful like robo

[@Loner098]

Wait, why Dark Bomb and not Dark Matter?

[@Wasjash]

It’s been a bit but I think it’s probably more cost effective MP wise while taking same amount of actions to kill

[@joury900]

Love every character in this game. There's no Chrono Trigger with any of them absent.

[@akhandtripathipyz9888]

No caps

[@fd5934]

Ah, this list brings back memories if your let’s play. Man, that was a fantastic watch.

[@KittyKatt_Luna80s]

I would say Ayla is pronounced Eye-lah, rather than Ali-ah. You're not the first person to say Marle is the weakest character. 😉 Seen her at the bottom of a few lists.

[@tryingtobebetter7235]

It isn't Eye-lah. It's A-Lah. In Japanese エイラ (Eira).

[@KittyKatt_Luna80s]

@@tryingtobebetter7235 Ah, so Ay-la, like A-ko/Eiko from Project A-ko.

[@KittyKatt_Luna80s]

@@tryingtobebetter7235 Thank you.

[@jedirayden]

I haven't played this game in many years, since the PS1 days, when they dropped this and FFIV in that 2 game bundle, but obviously I first played it on the SNES. 2 takeaways from this video. One, I really need to figure out how I can play this now because I've been wanting to play a great retro game for a while and I always rank this game very highly despite only ever playing it all the way through 3 or 4 times. Two, both on the SNES and later on PS1, I always used Magus once I acquired him because it was cool to be able to use the pseudo-antagonist in your party, but I didn't really pay attention to mechanics or game systems back then like I would now as an adult so I'm curious how that would influence me in building my party. Fun video, and thank you as always David for being a fan of the same games that I too spent countless hours playing throughout my childhood and teenage years.

[@peteranon8455]

Ew, playing this on PS1 had a 1 second load time that made it virtually unplayable.

[@rpgranked]

I made a video for this game a few weeks ago and I literally had the exact same ranking... Thanks David for the amazing video! You've inspired me to make my own RPG channel. You are the best gamer around, man :)

[@MdnightWnd]

I agree with a lot of your points here - I almost never use Marle except in the beginning when there are no better options. My main party (if I don't have Magus) is Chrono and Ayla with Lucca or Robo depending on what I'm doing. If I have Magus I tend to use him a lot because I just love him. Frog is okay, but like you said... he has nothing special. Though I do like him as a character.

[@jeremydavidson1420]

once again another good video david. but i disagree with your dislike of marle cause if train her right her duel and triple techs can wreck enemys. and during my many playthorughs of this game marle saved me many times. but regardless another great video david. keep up the good work.

[@TidesofMercy]

Marle is one of my favorite characters to use, sadly she isn't a super strong option over others. I still use her regardless because I like her. She needed a tier 3 ice spell and a party heal of some kind. Aura Whirl as a solo tech perhaps. It would have also been okay if she had a skill that buffed defense, speed, removed debuffs, and granted regen or something along those lines as a supplement for a party-wide heal or the tier 3 spell

[@aspieatheist6040]

7. Lucca-Her physical attack is bad, she has a bad weapons selection, and while she can use attack magic, Magus is better if you recruit her. Once you recruit Magus, she'll be on your bench permanently. 6. Marle-She has some useful dual techs and can heal and use haste. Still, her physical attack is bad and her ice spells are just not useful. She's a support character, and that's really all. 5. Ayla-Her physical attack is good and has high agility, but her inability to use magic is a real problem. 4. Frog-He is a great support character. He can heal, attack, and has some useful dual techs, not to mention a great weapons selection. 3. He's like a better version of Frog. He can attack, has some great techs, can heal, and has good physical defense. Only weakness is his lack of agility. 2. Magus-He can use all attack magic and has a lot of HP and MP. He's a beast! Only drawback is his inability to use dual techs. 1. Chrono-Is objectively the best character. Has amazing techs and a great physical attack. He'll do dual techs with anyone. He's in your party all the time, so he levels up quickly. Chrono is the best!

[@deedoubs]

Robo is so good because he never gives you up.

[@chi7818]

I disagree with Marle being so low because she really shines when paired with others with her duel techs. She has duel techs for every situation and she makes literally everyone stronger. For example aura whirl with Chrono is the first AoE heal. Double kiss with Alya makes up for her low magic stat and heals everyone to full and recovers all status. Cure wind with robo makes up for his low magic stat and heals everyone a massive amount. Ice water with frog makes up for his low magic and aoe clears everything not immune to ice and water. Twin charm increases steal rate. In boss fights there’s ice sword, antipode, iceberg toss and so on. Basically she turns Alya and robo into real healers while being able to do massive damage with Chrono making. She also has triple techs with Chrono, marle, Alya/robo making it a perfect team.

[@queurki3701]

the porblem with lucca is that shes a galss cannon becuase she can do a lot of damage with magic but that gets depleted quick and she has some ass attack stat so when shes depleted of mana shes use less

[@chanheosican6636]

I rarely use Robo due to the Lighting weakness and low Magic defense but that can be corrected with armor and items.

[@jackson3475]

(04:40) then the DS version decided to give her an armor that only her could use that made her immune to Magic which made her almost unkillable with protect and a haste hat, or just use a protect hat while using Schala's pendant.

[@realtayo42]

They're all SSS tier. I've literally just quit Chrono Cross 2/3 of the way through on my first ever playthrough because I couldn't take it anymore. In comparison, every Trigger character is godlike.

[@Soma_Shotgun]

Frog might not be the best but his theme always gives me goosebumps.

[@matthewtryon7452]

1.Chrono 2.Robo 3.Lucca (more of a favorite pick here) 4.Frog 5.Ayla 6.Magus 7.Marle Mainly based on who I enjoyed using and who I ended up taking to the end everytime

[@Mishwha]

All right! I love the retro rpg videos, thanks!

[@spookyaction3236]

I agree with the rankings. I tend to use robo/lucca whenever possible. 3rd slot is chrono when mandatory, magus if I want the triple tech for a hard fight, or Ayla otherwise.

[@shimmervampire]

I always have Ayla and Robo in my party whenever possible. Both Ayla and Robo (in the DS port) have 9999 critical hit physical attacks which I use quite a bit. For the 3rd person I'll have either Crono to use Luminaire or Magus

[@WinspearUltima]

Crono will always be my favourite character in the game and even one of my favourite characters of all time, but a good list by the way.

[@carlorenneraraujo]

Loved the video! Only missed a bit more character specific equipment shoutouts such as thr crysis arm and the powered up masamune with the hero badge

[@Mintcar923]

Great memories with this one! I can’t believe it’s been 16 years since playing through.. I started a new game a couple years ago but just got so swamped with other releases you know..

[@ivormallatratt2764]

Love this style of video be great to see other characters ranked in this style

[@kaemonbonet4931]

reluctantly agreed all around, I love these characters too much to pick favorites Marle is actually a pretty good attacker Frogs biggest problem is that robos heal has better scaling Magus is a great replacement for Chrono because he can cast really well and attack well but you're totally right, replaying the game right now and feeling the pain waiting for his coolest moves. Luca is cool but if not for her unique items I don't think she would be that as great as she is speed is so important! Still she broke me out of jail so she's number 1 on the homie book. Chrono has heals! He has revives and dual techs that make him an important healer all throughout the game and he's so fast he can usually be up first after a big move to drop an item! Robos magic defense is really bad tho, I've definitely found certain fights that can one shot him through his bulk because they're magic based attackers that deal 50% more to him. And doing those fights with Marle or Luca totally works. Still, there's no replacing heal beam. Great vid David!

[@Chelaxim]

Special mention should be added for Ayla in the DS and mobile versions where the fixed the bug in the SNES and PS1 versions where she can never crit.

[@ShaggyLad]

I agree with every placement here! I would say Lucca = Ayla but Ayla's steal ability just barely makes her more useful in the long run.

[@wolfdreamer8113]

Great review, but one issue I have with it is the pronunciation of one character. Ayla . I always pronounced it like this A-la and as she is pretty much a carbon copy of a book and movie character ayla of Earth's children clan of the cave bear I always thought of it that way

[@MegaDeathRay10]

This game is balanced well enough that you can get away with using whoever you want really, my favorite team for example is frog, Chrono and robo, worh chrono replaced by Lucca when he uh isn't around

[@akhandtripathipyz9888]

My favourite is frog ayla and chrono

[@veghesther3204]

Same here and by lv 50 for the Black Omen Slurp Kiss should already restore 999 HP cots only 1 MP and I still STOLE 40 to 50 Mega Elixers their.

[@johntracy72]

Ayla is directly derived from Clan of the Cave Bear. I saw that right away.

[@OzymandiasWasRight]

Magus is the definition of cool. He's always on my team and I just make it work. Dark Matter. How are u gonna have access to Dark Matter and NOT use it? There really isn't a bad character in the entire game though. It's a rare one where I enjoy using everyone just to see the variety, any team CAN be awesome, but only one uses a damn scythe!

[@ChoppedCheeese]

Is it just me or does it feel like you've been gone? Even if it's just me...welcome back 🥳

[@zephyr1741]

"Ayla's kiss outranks aura because it cures status ailments" My dumbass who didn't even know:

[@Varg84]

Your ranking videos are my favorite. Thanks!

[@N3rd_House]

I vehemently disagree with how you purposefully omitted Double and Triple Techs for Frog and Marle. You mention them with everyone else, except them.

[@biz0unc3]

Ayla + Robo are so GD powerful together.

[@JoeCole_social]

End of the day, cold beer in hand, and a new vid on Chrono Trigger. Could it get any better?

[@SirVyre]

Mmm. I don't think your list accounted enough for dual techs and speed (Also hi David! It's been a long little while! Sorry I haven't been hitting up your vids as much!). If I were to rank them worst to best it would be: Worst - Marle Lucca Magus Ayla Robo Frog Crono While speed isn't everything, there's a lot to be said for ending a lot of battles before they begin. Robo rates high in 3rd because speed can somewhat be fixed by accessories and tabs, and his equipment draw on top of his solo tech and dual tech list being extensively good are JUST THAT GOOD. HOWEVER - The hardest thing you can attempt in Chrono Trigger is a New Game (non-plus) fight with Lavos in 12,000 B.C. In order to actually defeat this challenge, you will want to maximize the speeds of Frog, Ayla, and Crono. This is because the Dual Tech Slurp Kiss is the best group heal in the game, as it heals status as well as something like Ayla's Magic stat x25 to all party members. Robo's solo healing can't compare, and worse still, he can't actually get fast enough even if you give him ALL of the Speed tabs in your playthrough up until then (most of the speed tabs in the game are stolen in the Black Omen). In spite of that, I can't rate Ayla high, because without dual techs she has no way on her own to deal magical damage, making her somewhat useless in more fights than you'd think . Stealing is nice, and also necessary to acquire tons of Speed Tabs in the Black Omen though, but in general her lack of strong AOE damage really busts her down. I love Lucca. I LOVE LUCCA. But I can't rate her higher than I did, because while she has significantly powerful magic, she's competing for speed tabs with better characters. Often times even Frog's "pathetic" Water 2 will see multiple uses vs. a Single Flare from her without any investment in his speed. I rate Frog as high as I did, due to his innate speed, his healing, and his dual tech/triple tech pool. He has enormously powerful dual techs with almost every character combination, The aforementioned Slurp Kiss. Spire. Glacier. Arc Impulse. Grand Dream. None of these are the most theoretical damage you could do, especially not at level 99 or with ** speed in every character, but we can't ignore the journey to be had before tabs make the tier list look like: Marle Frog Magus Ayla Crono Lucca Robo But also, Frog's Frog Squash is "response" spell. Like a counter almost. Several bosses in the game use Hallation(reduces HP to 1), where your first instinct is to heal immediately, but if your whole party has ** speed, you can generally afford to attack with anyone and use a Megaelixir or a Lapis to get people out of danger. When used in this way, it allows Frog to deal more damage than any other other character for those bosses (Queen Zeal on the Black Omen to name a major one).

[@kingnothing8482]

In RPGs where they constantly give me choices to switch party members I always switch the team around every dungeon even to the ones I don’t like too much just for a breath of fresh air. Robo and Ayla definitely found their way into my teams all the time in CT tho lol so much utility and best double techs with chrono for sure

[@louisdellalucca8969]

I loved Lucca and Robo’s side stories the best.

[@matxiv]

To me, what made their stories particularly great is their lack of any real reliance on Crono as a progression piece. Robo handled his business, made his own choices. Lucca joined of her own volition for a cause that had little to do with Crono at all (rescuing Nadia, at that point). And Lucca and Robo's moments together were very poignant and didn't require outside help. What a duo.

[@menoseloso119]

Nah Lucca and Nadia’s dual techs (specifically Antipode 3) make them very op and definitely doesn’t make Nadia the worst.

[@Travis371]

I can see why Magus is ranked lower, due to the fact that he's lacking in double techs and you're almost 90% through the game when you get him, but man, this guy really has some of the greatest dialogue that I've ever seen in gaming For instance, if you drag him along to the Black Omen and you battle Queen Zeal, he steps up to the plate, putting his own mother in his place, roasting her hard and mouthing off at her, before his battle theme kicks on (which kicks absolute ass) and you lay waste to her... purposely letting the other two members of the party get knocked out, and leaving Magus the last man standing The man is a cold hard badass - easily the best antihero of all time