Yes it was one of the most successful PC games of the 1990s, but that doesn't say much today. Have a look at its subreddit and it's a ghost town. Wasn't remade and re-released often since and little to no effort has been put into growing the franchise.
In contrast contemporary SNES games have had more remakes and had their audiences grow remarkably over time. The franchise hasn't been cared for and so it's relatively obscure despite being a top tier best in class game on its release.
Tbh in general I think you could say the same of a lot of top tier successful PC games of that era.
How many 1995 games have active subreddits though? There was a 2024 remaster, and I believe that the game remained playable throughout.
Besides, the Warcraft franchise moved to WoW, which is still highly popular. Sure, I miss the RTS games, and the remaster of the 3rd bombed hard because it was low-effort, but it's not dead.
Probably not too many! Chronotrigger would be one.
But it is remarkable that Warcraft 2 would have been considered a game of the year contender for PC in that year, with similar acclaim to Chronotrigger, but these games have taken very, very different paths.
No doubt a part of it is that interest in RPGs has largely persisted with only minor declines, while RTS games spiked in popularity and then severely receded.
But stewardship from their owners likely played a role as well. Square has seen fit to keep Chronotrigger in the public eye a lot more often.
> Wasn't remade and re-released often since and little to no effort has been put into growing the franchise.
I’m certainly disappointed that it hasn’t gotten more love, but it got its first balance patch in 25 years(!) last year, following a rerelease that added higher resolution graphics and better online play, so your information is out of date.
The community doesn’t exist on Reddit, it’s in communities like that one around war2combat, old Russian forums and discord rooms. It’s not big but there are still some folks keeping it alive.
In contrast contemporary SNES games have had more remakes and had their audiences grow remarkably over time. The franchise hasn't been cared for and so it's relatively obscure despite being a top tier best in class game on its release.
Tbh in general I think you could say the same of a lot of top tier successful PC games of that era.