SNES · 1995 · North America / Japan · Art: Akira Toriyama
Square put the artist behind Dragon Ball and Dragon Quest on the cover of its most ambitious RPG — a snowbound battle scene selling the game on star power alone.
Chrono Trigger was assembled as a "Dream Team" project, and its box art is the clearest expression of that strategy. The illustration is by Akira Toriyama, already one of the most recognisable artists alive as the creator of the Dragon Ball manga and the character designer of the Dragon Quest series, and the cover trades entirely on that recognition. It depicts Crono, Marle and Frog mid-combat against a stark, snowy backdrop, weapons raised and faces set, in Toriyama's unmistakable clean-lined style — the white ground pushing the characters forward and letting the colour work do all the selling. The choice was strategic as well as aesthetic: in 1995 a Japanese buyer who recognised nothing else on the shelf would recognise a Toriyama, and Square was betting that the association with Dragon Quest and Dragon Ball would carry the game. It did. The artwork was reproduced as a poster packed inside the retail box, and Square reused it as the basis for the Nintendo DS re-release more than a decade later.