Chrono Trigger Guide: Every Dungeon Map, Dual Tech, Best Party and How to Beat Lavos (SNES, PS1, DS, Steam)

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This is a full Chrono Trigger strategy guide, and it covers every version from the original Super Famicom (SNES) release to the Steam version. Dungeon layouts, boss weaknesses and the stats of all seven characters are identical across every release, so everything here applies no matter which version you’re playing. The only things that change from version to version are the UI, the load times, and whether the bonus dungeons are included.

Inside you’ll find the ATB Ver.2 battle rules, the Dual Tech and Triple Tech system, how to use all seven party members, a walkthrough that spans seven eras, and the strategy for taking down all three forms of the final boss, Lavos. I also cover the dungeons added from the Nintendo DS version onward, the Lost Sanctum and the Dimensional Vortex, plus the secret boss, the Dream Devourer.

The version differences get the detail they deserve, too: the PlayStation version’s load-time hell, why the DS version was called the definitive edition for so long, and how the Steam version went from launch disaster to comeback story. As of September 2026, there’s a clear answer to which version is the cheapest and smoothest way in, and I give it.

Let me be honest with you. I bought the Super Famicom cartridge on day one, and the first time I ran into the concept of “New Game+,” the sheer fun of replaying a game knocked my life off its axis. I ran it four times to collect every ending. That $75 was probably the best value purchase I’ve ever made.

*Prices in this article are converted from Japanese yen at ¥153 = US$1 (September 2026 rate).

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What kind of game is Chrono Trigger? The Yuji Horii x Hironobu Sakaguchi x Akira Toriyama dream project

Chrono Trigger is an RPG that Square released for the Super Famicom in 1995. Yuji Horii of Dragon Quest, Hironobu Sakaguchi of Final Fantasy, and Akira Toriyama of Dr. Slump and Dragon Ball: it’s famous as the product of a “dream project” that assembled the three biggest names in the Japanese game industry at the time.

The story plays out across seven eras: Prehistory (65,000,000 BC), Antiquity (12,000 BC), the Middle Ages (600 AD), the Present (1000 AD), the Day of Lavos (1999 AD), the Future (2300 AD), and the End of Time, the hub that connects them all. Crono and company travel between them through time gates, fighting to destroy Lavos, the parasite that devours the planet in 1999 AD.

Toriyama’s character designs, Mitsuda’s soundtrack (“Wind Scene” and “Corridors of Time” still land in anyone’s top 10 game music list), and the replay system that put “New Game+” on the map. Thirty years on, the reason it’s still held up as a pillar of the genre isn’t any single one of those things. It’s that all of them clicked together at once.

What’s the difference between the SNES, PlayStation, DS, mobile and Steam versions? Which one should you buy now?

Bottom line first: as of September 2026, the Steam version (normally $13) is the one to get. The Nintendo DS version wore the “definitive edition” crown for years, but the Steam version has been patched repeatedly since its 2018 launch, and it now includes nearly all of the DS extras (everything except the Arena of the Ages) while letting you toggle between high-resolution graphics and the original pixel art.

The PlayStation version’s loading problem

Load times are the PlayStation version’s biggest sin. The menu snaps open instantly on the Super Famicom (SNES) version, but here you eat about 3 seconds of waiting. Entering a battle triggers a short load, too. Chrono Trigger is a game built around battles starting seamlessly right there on the field, so that broken rhythm is fatal. The gallery mode and the animated cutscenes are genuinely appealing, but there’s little reason to go out of your way for the PlayStation version now.

Why the DS version was called the definitive edition

The Nintendo DS version packed in the bonus dungeons (Lost Sanctum and Dimensional Vortex) and the secret boss Dream Devourer, and it used the second screen to keep the map and menu visible at all times. On top of that it shipped the Arena of the Ages, a monster-raising minigame. It keeps the Super Famicom (SNES) version’s snappy pacing while carrying the most content of any release. The catch is that used DS cartridge prices have shot up, so it’s no longer an easy pickup.

The Steam version’s comeback

Right after it launched in February 2018, the Steam version was set on fire over blurry graphics and a botched UI. Its Steam review score sank all the way to “Mostly Negative.” But Square Enix rolled out several major updates between 2018 and 2022, restoring the original pixel art, adding 21:9 ultrawide support, expanding the save slots, and filling in the content to match the Nintendo DS version. Today it sits at “Very Positive.” In 2026 it’s the best-value, smoothest way to play.

One thing that holds true across every release: dungeon layouts, boss weaknesses, the stats of all seven characters, and the combo Tech pairings are all identical. Everything in the rest of this guide works no matter which version you’re on.

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ATB Ver.2 and the combo Tech rules: this is the game that invented New Game+

Chrono Trigger’s combat runs on “ATB Ver.2,” an evolution of the Active Time Battle (ATB) system first introduced in Final Fantasy IV. A few differences matter a lot.

Battles start right on the field

Instead of the screen flipping to a separate battle scene the way Dragon Quest does, you see the enemies on the field and the fight begins right where you’re standing. Encounters are visible on the map, so you can dodge enemies entirely. During a fight the enemies move around, which changes who your area attacks will catch.

Combo Techs (Dual Techs and Triple Techs)

Combo Techs are Chrono Trigger’s signature move. Two or three of the three characters in your active party unleash a Tech at the same time for a joint attack. You learn a combo Tech automatically at the end of a battle once the characters involved know the required solo Techs.

For example, once Crono has Slash and Lucca has Flame Toss, the Dual Tech “Fire Whirl” becomes available. Triple Techs hit even harder: “Delta Storm,” the Triple Tech for Crono, Lucca and Frog, is a Shadow-element attack that hits every enemy.

Combo Techs cost more MP, but their damage multiplier stacks on top of what the individual Techs would do on their own. Locking in three party members and building your strategy around their combo Techs is the core tactic of this game.

New Game+: the origin of replay culture

Beat the game, then pick “New Game+” from your save file and you start over from the beginning with your levels, gear, Techs and items intact. Replay modes are everywhere now, but Chrono Trigger is where it started.

New Game+ really earns its keep because of the multiple endings. Lavos can be fought at essentially any point, by specific means, regardless of how far along the story is. The ending you get branches based on how much of the story you’d finished when you killed him. That’s about 12 endings in the Super Famicom (SNES) version and 14 from the Nintendo DS version onward, including the added ones. Seeing all of them without New Game+ is effectively impossible.

Best combo Techs and the strongest party setups for beating Lavos

Which combo Techs you get is decided by the three characters in your party. Here are the Dual Techs and Triple Techs that actually carry you in a fight, plus the best party lineups.

The strongest Dual Techs

The strongest Triple Techs

The strongest party is Crono, Robo and Ayla

Crono, Robo and Ayla is the best all-around party in the game. Their Triple Tech, “Twister,” is a non-elemental attack that hits everything, so it lands on any boss. Robo’s “Cure Beam” covers healing, and Ayla’s “Charm” lets you steal rare items. Offense, defense and farming, all in one lineup.

If you’d rather lean on magic, run Crono, Lucca and Frog. Their Triple Tech “Delta Storm” is a brutal Shadow-element attack against all enemies, and Frog handles healing with “Cure.” MP management gets a little tight, but equipping a Gold Stud or a Silver Stud solves that.

All 7 Party Members: Roles, Strengths, and How to Use Them (With Full Tech TP Charts)

Chrono Trigger gives you seven playable characters in total. They join as the story unfolds, and you take exactly three of them into battle at a time. Every one of them has a personal set of techs, and you unlock those techs by banking Tech Points (TP) in combat.

Here’s the part that trips up newcomers: techs in Chrono Trigger are learned when your accumulated TP (Tech Points) crosses a fixed threshold. Leveling up does nothing for your tech list. In other words, the unlock condition isn’t “what level am I,” it’s “how many fights have I won.”

Each character’s ultimate tech sits right around the 1,000 TP mark, which is the endgame grind line for anyone chasing a complete tech list. Techs marked as story-event unlocks are the exception: they’re handed to you automatically as the plot progresses and cost no TP at all. That’s exactly why Magus walks in the door with all three of his elemental spells already online.

Crono (Light) | The Protagonist and Physical Attacker

Your silent hero, who joins at level 1. He’s got a clean balance of Power and Speed, and he learns Light-element (lightning) attack magic along the way. His ultimate tech, Luminaire, is a Light-element attack that shreds trash mobs. He can also form a Dual Tech with literally every other party member, which makes him the structural core of any lineup.

Crono’s Techs (All 8)

Marle (Water) | Healer and Support

Also joins at level 1. She’s the party’s dedicated healing specialist, picking up Cure, Cure 2, and Life 2. Her attack stat is the worst in the entire cast, but Haste (which speeds up one ally’s ATB gauge) is flat-out broken in the best way. Her Magic Defense also caps out higher than anyone else’s, so she’s the one still standing in magic-heavy slugfests like Lavos’s third form.

Marle’s Techs (All 8)

Lucca (Fire) | Magic Attacker

Joins at level 2. She grows into a Fire-element mage with the highest Magic stat in the cast. Her ultimate tech, Flare, is a Fire-element attack that hits everything, and she can play support with Protect to shore up an ally’s physical defense. She also has one of the deepest Dual Tech pools in the game, so she always has a job no matter who she’s standing next to.

Lucca’s Techs (All 8)

Frog (Water) | The balanced bruiser-healer

Joins at level 5. Glenn was a knight of the Middle Ages until Magus’s curse turned him into an amphibian. He pairs real physical offense with Water-element healing, so he can hold the front line and still patch the party up with Heal. His signature weapon, the Masamune, hits like a truck. His Dual Tech with Crono, X-Strike, is the best damage-per-MP deal in the game.

Frog’s Techs (All 8)

Robo (non-elemental) | The wall with the biggest fists

Joins at level 10. A robot hauled out of the 2300 AD future. His Power and HP are the highest of anyone in the cast, which makes him a fantastic wall. He also brings party-wide healing with Cure Beam, so slotting him in makes the whole team feel noticeably harder to kill. His ultimate, Shock, hits everything on screen. Low Speed is his one real flaw, and Haste papers right over it.

Robo’s Techs (All 8)

Ayla (non-elemental) | Bare-knuckle damage dealer and item thief

Joins at level 18. The chief of Prehistory. She can’t cast a single spell, and in exchange her physical attack scales with her level without any real ceiling. At Lv72 and up her fists gain a critical-hit check, and by the endgame she’s putting out the highest single-target physical damage in the party. Charm steals items off enemies, which makes it mandatory for rare gear. Her evade also climbs to 90 at Lv99, so physical attacks basically stop connecting.

Ayla’s Techs (All 8)

Magus (Shadow) | The mage who covers every element

Joins at level 37. The sorcerer who served as the Middle Ages’ final boss can be recruited, if you meet the conditions. He’s the only character who can throw offensive magic from all four elements: Light, Fire, Water and Shadow. His ultimate, Dark Matter, is a Shadow-element hit on the entire enemy party. The catch is that he has fewer Dual and Triple Techs than anyone else, so he drags down the party’s combo game. You run him as a solo-tech artillery piece.

Magus’s Techs (All 8)

Worth noting: you don’t have to recruit Magus at all. Fight him during the Middle Ages event and put him down, and Frog reverts to his human form, but Magus never joins. Spare him and take him in, and Frog stays a frog for the rest of the game. Which one you pick is purely taste.

Line it all up like this and you can see that each character’s “oh, now we’re cooking” tech sits in the TP 400-600 band. Marle’s Cure 2 (TP 600), Robo’s Heal Beam (TP 400), Frog’s Water 2 (TP 400)—the moment those three are online, the party’s survivability jumps a full tier. The TP 800-1000 ultimates, by contrast, are the final stack of chips you save for Lavos.

On my first playthrough I didn’t know any of this. I assumed “level up and you get stronger,” so I spent my time in the Epoch flying over every random encounter I could dodge. The result: I showed up to Lavos with plenty of levels and almost none of the techs, and got flattened. TP is the number of times you swung—if you take one thing away from this page, make it that.

All 60 Combo Techs | 45 Dual Techs and 15 Triple Techs, Their Requirements and MP Costs

There are 60 combo techs in all: 45 Dual Techs and 15 Triple Techs. To fire one off, every participant has to already know the specific solo techs it is built from, and all of their ATB gauges have to be full at the same moment. The MP cost is not deducted from each character separately, either. The listed total is what the party needs on hand.

The wrinkle worth knowing is that Magus has no Dual Techs whatsoever. He turns up in exactly two Triple Techs, Omega Flare and Dark Eternal, and nowhere else. That is precisely why benching Magus for the sake of combo flexibility is a defensible call.

1. Dual Techs Featuring Crono (15 Total)

Crono is the only character in the game who shares a Dual Tech with every other party member. That design is the reason your combo options never dry up, no matter how you shuffle the roster.

2. Dual Techs Built Around Marle and Lucca (21 Total)

Marle handles the healing, Lucca handles the damage. Anchor a party on those two and you get offensive combos and full-party recovery out of the same lineup.

③ Robo, Frog, and Ayla Dual Techs (9 Total)

These nine exist to prove that a party without Crono can still combo. Slurp Kiss especially — full-party healing plus a status cleanse for a grand total of 2 MP — is, pound for pound, the most efficient Dual Tech in the entire game.

④ All 15 Triple Techs: The Final Five Need a Rock Accessory

Ten of the 15 Triple Techs unlock the moment the required solo techs are in place. The other five simply will not appear unless someone in the party is wearing the Gold Rock, Silver Rock, Blue Rock, Black Rock, or White Rock. These Rocks are hidden pickups doled out by Gaspar at the End of Time and by events scattered across the eras, and if you don’t know they exist, you will never lay eyes on Grand Dream or Poyozo Dance.

In actual play, the one that stands head and shoulders above the rest is Life Line (Crono, Marle and Robo / 33 MP). Nothing else in the game blankets the whole party in “auto-revive once, even after a KO,” and it dramatically cuts the odds of a run-ending accident against Lavos or the Dream Devourer. For raw damage, Delta Force and Delta Storm (24 MP apiece) are the easiest all-enemy Shadow options to lean on.

On the other end, the 36 MP crowd — Final Kick, Gatling Kick, Dark Eternal — feels fantastic when it connects, but it wrecks your MP budget. Against a marathon opponent like Lavos’s final form, building your plan around combos that cost 24 MP or less ends up far more stable in practice. That’s a conclusion several playthroughs beat into me.

Every Character’s Ultimate Weapon | The Answer Changes Between the Super Famicom/PlayStation and DS/Mobile/Steam Versions

The ultimate weapon in Chrono Trigger depends on which version you’re playing. The Super Famicom (SNES) and PlayStation versions have no bonus dungeons, so for five of the seven party members the final loadout is a notch below what the remakes offer.

① Ultimate weapons available in every version (the final word for Super Famicom/PlayStation)

First, the ceiling you can reach without any of the added scenarios. If you’re playing the Super Famicom or PlayStation version, these seven are your ultimate weapons, full stop.

The two to pay attention to are Robo’s Crisis Arm and Ayla’s Bronze Fist. On paper both have essentially zero attack power, but the former keys off the last digit of your remaining HP and the latter drops a flat 9999 on a critical, so their damage runs on special math. Sell them off because the attack stat looks pathetic and you’ll regret it — I did exactly that on the Super Famicom version.

② Ultimate weapons you can only get in the remakes (DS, mobile, Steam)

These five come from the Dimensional Vortex, added in the 2008 DS version, and the extra ending Darkness Beyond Time. The mobile and Steam versions carry the same added scenarios as the DS version, so all five are obtainable there too.

Crono’s Dreamseeker, at 240 attack and a 90% crit rate, is the best weapon in the game on raw numbers alone. The catch is the unlock condition — clearing Darkness Beyond Time, which is effectively the true final dungeon — so it barely gets to shine during the main story. Think of it as New Game+ gear for your next run.

③ Version-by-version ultimate weapon cheat sheet

Here’s all seven characters side by side, so you can see at a glance what you should be chasing in your version.

There’s a reason Lucca is the only “△ Situational” on that list. The Wondershot has a hefty 250 attack but its damage bounces anywhere from 0.1x to 3x, while the Spellslinger keys off the last digit of her remaining MP. If you’re disciplined about MP management, take the Spellslinger; if you plan to just swing away, take the Wondershot. Which one is better comes down to your playstyle.

One more note: the Arena of the Ages — the minigame where you raise a monster and battle other players over local wireless — was implemented only in the DS version and isn’t in the mobile or Steam releases. There are items exclusive to it, but none of them affect the ultimate weapons listed above, so Steam players aren’t missing out on anything here.

The added Lost Sanctum scenario doesn’t hand out any ultimate weapons, but it does yield some seriously strong armor and accessories, like the Dragon Earring (+20% crit rate) and the Elemental Guard, which nullifies every element (Lucca only). Pair those with the right weapon and you can push the odds of triggering a 9999 critical even higher.

Walkthrough chart: every dungeon and boss across the seven eras

Chrono Trigger’s story hops between eras, so it’s easy to lose the thread. Here’s every major dungeon and boss, sorted by the era you tackle it in.

Early game: Present (A.D.1000) to Middle Ages (A.D.600) to Future (A.D.2300)

Mid game: Middle Ages to Prehistory to Antiquity to Magus’s Castle

Late game: Antiquity to Ocean Palace to Black Omen to Lavos

Dungeons added in the Nintendo DS version and later

How to beat all three forms of Lavos, plus the Dream Devourer

Lavos is three straight fights with no save point in between. Walk in fully prepared or don’t walk in at all.

Lavos Shell (first form)

The shell copies the techs of bosses you’ve already fought. Dragon Tank, Heckran, Nizbel: it replays the attack patterns of everything you’ve beaten so far, but its own HP isn’t especially high. Each pattern has the same weakness the original boss did, so if you can dig the memory up, you already know the answer.

Lavos (second form)

Crack the shell and the body underneath shows up. It’s built from three parts, a head and two arms, and the head is the thing you actually need to kill. Take out the arms first and it can heal itself back up, so dump everything into the head. Party-wide nukes like Luminaire, Flare and Shock end up splashing the arms and wasting damage, so lean on single-target heavy hitters instead.

Lavos Core (third form, the final fight)

Push inside the body and you’re facing the last form, the Lavos Core. It’s a center body flanked by a Bit on each side, and hit the wrong target and the counterattack will flatten you.

The rule that matters most: the center Lavos Core is the last thing you touch. Kill the right Bit, then the left Bit, and only then start swinging at the middle. Break that order and attacks like Wrath of Heaven or Cry of Life will wipe the party.

Always bring a dedicated healer. Marle’s Cure 2 or Robo’s Cure Beam keeps things steady. With a Crono, Robo and Ayla party, Robo can hold down healing while Ayla and Crono grind the thing away with physicals, which is my preferred setup by a mile.

Secret boss: Dream Devourer (Nintendo DS version and later)

Clear every piece of the Dimensional Vortex, the dungeon added in the Nintendo DS version and later, and the Dream Devourer becomes fightable in the Darkness Beyond Time. Its HP is enormous, and even a New Game+ party with maxed levels will sweat. It resists party-wide attacks, so the plan is to chew through it with high-damage single-target Dual Techs. Put it down and you get the extra ending that leads into Chrono Cross.

Five places players reliably get stuck

1. Trying to beat the Lavos fight at the Ocean Palace

The Lavos you meet in the Ocean Palace in Antiquity is a scripted loss. You can retry it until your thumbs give out and you will never win (a New Game+ party can take it down, but on a normal playthrough the numbers are tuned to make it impossible). Crono’s sacrifice is a required story beat. Let it happen and move on.

2. Pushing through the endgame without reviving Crono

After the Ocean Palace, Crono is dead. Bringing him back means getting the Time Egg and heading to Death Peak, but that’s a sidequest, not a requirement. You can absolutely take Lavos down with Crono still gone, and your Dual Tech options shrink dramatically if you do. Revive him early; I can’t think of a good reason not to.

3. Never noticing the sidequests exist

The endgame unlocks several sidequests at once: the Rainbow Shell (the material for the ultimate weapon, the Rainbow), the Sun Stone (the material for the Sun Shades), the Northern Ruins (Frog’s story) and the Geno Dome (Robo’s story), among others. Skip them and your characters never get their final gear. Knock them all out before you set foot in the Black Omen.

4. Locking in your choice about recruiting Magus

When you meet Magus again in Antiquity, you get a choice between fighting him and taking him into the party. There’s no take-backs; once you’ve saved, regret won’t help you. Recruit him and you unlock the Dark Eternal Tech, but Frog stays a frog forever. Fight and kill him instead and Frog turns human again, but Magus is gone for good.

5. Attacking the Lavos Core in the wrong order

As covered above, the Lavos Core fight demands right Bit, then left Bit, then center, or you eat a lethal counter. Going for the center first is the worst possible opener and invites a party-wide hit in the 9999 damage range. Don’t rush it. Respect the order.

Chrono Trigger Complete Dungeon Maps & World Maps — 77 Dungeons, 493 Areas, Fully Covered

We built every dungeon map in Chrono Trigger, plus a world map for each of the seven eras, from scratch for this article. That is seven era-by-era world maps and floor maps covering 77 dungeons and all 493 areas.

Every map was made by analyzing overhead views pixel by pixel and redrawing them as SVGs that color-code floors, walls, impassable terrain, and event points. They are not images, so they stay sharp no matter how far you zoom in. There is a lot to get through, so everything is collapsed by era — tap the bar for the era you want to open it.

Coverage extends through the Nintendo DS, mobile, and Steam versions.The Lost Sanctum and the Dimensional Vortex are dungeons added in the Nintendo DS version and later, so they do not exist in the Super Famicom (SNES) or PlayStation versions. Those dungeons are grouped separately, so if you are playing the Super Famicom version, feel free to skip right past them.

Pulling all of this back together, I noticed something for the first time: Chrono Trigger packs remarkably few areas into any single dungeon. I would bet that is the real secret behind its pacing — short, tightly cut dungeons, stacked up by the dozen across every era.

World Maps — How the Continents Change Across Seven Eras

What makes Chrono Trigger click is that the same patch of land wears a different face in every era. Prehistory’s one giant supercontinent is torn apart when Lavos falls, then reshapes itself through the Middle Ages, the Present, and the Future. Look at the seven maps below in order, top to bottom. The changing geography is this game’s story.

Prehistory (65,000,000 BC) — Ioka Village and the Continent Before Lavos Falls

Antiquity (Skies) — The Floating Continent That Holds Zeal Palace

Antiquity (Surface, Before the Fall) — The Ice-Covered World Below

Antiquity (Surface, After the Fall) — The Surface Sunk by Lavos’s Awakening

Middle Ages (600 AD) — The Era of the Kingdom of Guardia and Magus’s Castle

Present (1000 AD) — The World Crono and Friends Live In

Future (2300 AD) — A World Destroyed by Lavos

Dungeon Maps — 77 Dungeons, 493 Areas (By Era, Collapsible)

The dungeons are grouped by the era they appear in. Areas are listed in the order they are laid out in the source diagrams. The Lost Sanctum (added in the Nintendo DS version) gets its own separate group.

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Can You Still Play Chrono Trigger on Modern Hardware? A Platform-by-Platform Guide

1. Available Through a Subscription or for Free

Chrono Trigger is not included in the Super Famicom lineup on Nintendo Switch Online (as of September 2026). Square Enix has generally kept its Super Famicom catalog off NSO and sells those games through its own channels instead. There is currently no way to play it via a subscription or for free.

2. Available as a Standalone Purchase

3. Available as a Remaster or Remake

As of September 2026, there is no official release badged as a Chrono Trigger “remaster” or “remake.” The Steam version above is the de facto high-resolution remaster. Rumors of an HD-2D remake have been floating around for years, but Square Enix has never announced one.

4. Hard to Get on Current Hardware

Bottom line: if you are starting Chrono Trigger in 2026, the Steam version is the one to buy. On sale it runs under $3. If you also want it in your pocket, the iOS/Android release is more than good enough. Plenty of people are still asking for a Switch release, but there is no port on the schedule.

Final Word | Thirty Years On, Chrono Trigger Is Still the High-Water Mark for the RPG

Chrono Trigger launched on March 11, 1995, as a Square RPG. It is the time-travel adventure across seven eras that came out of the dream project uniting Yuji Horii, Hironobu Sakaguchi and Akira Toriyama.

Techs are the heart of playing it well. The Dual Techs and Triple Techs you can fire off change with the three characters you field, so who you bring along is the whole of your strategy. The strongest party is Crono, Robo and Ayla, with the Triple Tech Twister serving as a non-elemental hit-everything answer to almost anything. In the Lavos Core fight, stick to the attack order without exception: right bit, then left bit, then the center.

When it comes to differences between versions, the ones that matter are the PlayStation version’s loading problem, the Nintendo DS version’s extra dungeons, and the Steam version’s revival via updates. As of September 2026, the Steam version ($13 normally, around $3 on sale) is the best value and the smoothest way to play. There is still no word on the Super Famicom version coming to NSO.

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