10 Unforgettable Game Over Sequences

Chrono Trigger

Keeping the “strangely ominous ending” train going is Chrono Trigger. Since the game focuses entirely on stopping Lavos’ return, losing obviously means that Lavos returns no matter how much effort you put into it. The phrase here is unique like Zelda 2’s, but not as a result of bad translation. The game over screen proclaims that “the future refused to change”, as though the future were an active force working against you…which, in a sense, it is. Chrono Trigger teaches us that time travel doesn’t work entirely on the butterfly effect, and to get a change made it would take the massive investment into the game to see it through.