I sort of missed Chrono Trigger in the SNES era (I was a sophomore in college in 96...yes I'm that old), and I didn't have the time or money for it. Once it came out on the PSOne, and I just couldn't get very far into it without losing interest. The load times on that Playstation port series really turned me off.
In a way, I'm glad of that, because I'm really enjoying CT DS, and I'm experiencing Chrono Trigger for the first time. Perhaps it's just because I'm very used to JRPG games from that era, but I've loved the experience so far.
It does feel unique compared to a lot of JRPGs I've played, mostly because of the moderate freedom it gives to you in how you want to play the game.
For intance, there aren't many games that make you lose the main character and give you the option to revive him or not. I actually wonder if this instance helped spread the rumours that you could revive Aeris in FF7? It's not perfect by any means, but I've had more fun with this than with the FF IV and FF VI DS remakes I've played recently; that's probably because I have Final Fantasy burnout, though.
I'm also a sucker for Akira Toriyama's art style, I was one of those geeky kids who actually caught the old
Dragon Warrior/Quest cartoon that was aired over in the west briefly before being deemed to violent. I've had a soft spot in my heart for the art style, even if half of his characters look like his other characters in Dragonball. Consequently, this is why I also love playing the Dragon Quest remakes as well. I'm eagerly awaiting DQ V.
I <3 SMRPG as well. So much so that I bought it immediately after showing up on the VC, even though I my backlog hasn't permitted me to go play it again yet. It's still one of my favorite RPGs.