Chrono Cross' most powerful equipment is made of Rainbow Shell fragments. Players will both need to get the forging hammer and reagents.

Rainbow weapons and armor are the highest tiers of gear in Chrono Cross. Previously, in Chrono Trigger, the Rainbow Shell was a rare artifact used to make Crono’s ultimate weapon. However, 20 years later, its fragments serve as a potent crafting material.

Rainbow armor comprises all six elemental colors, making it balanced against everything in Chrono Cross. While it has no disadvantage, it also has no real advantage other than its sheer raw power. Players should still heavily rely on the elemental grid, field effects, and innate colors to maximize damage and defense.

Related: Chrono Cross - The Radical Dreamers Edition: How to Recruit Every Party Member

While Rainbow equipment is powerful, it is by no means necessary to beat any content in Chrono Cross. Due to the way star levels function, players will eventually be strong enough to complete all fights with Stone weapons and armor. Rainbow gear is instead that extra boost to get through Chrono Cross side quests much earlier, including defeating bosses intended for Serge or Lynx with the other main character.

To create Rainbow weapons and armor, players will need to complete an ongoing side quest and recruit a few key party members. Failing any part of this quest will lock off the ability to forge this high-level equipment. However, one can try again during New Game Plus.

The questline involves the purification of Marbule in the Home world. During the main quest, players must fight the Sage of Marbule in a boss fight for access to the Sea of Eden. After this Chrono Cross Boss fight, Nikki will approach and speak to the Sage. And this point, players must follow Nikki back onboard the Magical Dreamers ship and agree to help with putting on a concert. If players skip going right to the ship, there is still a small window of time to still speak with Nikki. But the cutoff point is completing the Sea of Eden proper.

If the Marbule quest was started, players must progress the main story until gaining Fargo from Another world. Take him onboard the SS Zelbess and confront the Home version of himself. Afterwards, the party’s Fargo will have control of the vessel and can authorize Nikki’s Chrono Cross concert to begin. While it is going on, enter Marbule and defeat every Lagoonate monster; they are Blue innate, making them weak to Red fire attacks and characters. After all of them are killed, the roar of the Black Dragon in Another will be heard.

Leave Marbule back to the world map of Chrono Cross, and allow the pirates and demi-humans a chance to rebuild the city. Then, reenter and travel to the back cave where the Black Dragon would typically reside. Instead, a merchant will be hanging in the left corner. He will offer to sell the Master Hammer for 10,000 gold.

For the second half, at any point, bring party member Radius to Zappa’s forge in Termina (Home). Speak to the smithy, and Radius will convince him to join the party. Place Zappa in the party and now travel to Termina (Another). Enter this version of the smithy, and the two Chrono Cross versions of Zappa will agree to work together. However, their tools are too weak and need new ones. Use the item menu and hand the Master Hammer over to the Another Zappa. A cutscene will play, and the pair will unlock the ability to forge Rainbow gear.

Now that one has the Chrono Cross recipe to make Rainbow, it is required to obtain the ingredients for forging. These are all Shiny type materials, six in total, corresponding to an element. Dew for Blue, Ember for Red, Leaf for Green, Salt for White, Sand for Yellow, and Soot for Black. Players can directly farm for these or use Chrono Cross' crafting system to break down other items to recover them.

Any foe killed by summoning magic will yield the Shiny item of the same color as the attack. This does require that the entire field be the correct color and that the caster is innate of the spell’s color. Players can cast three individual spells or use one of the Field elements to transform all three rings instantly. Setting up the field is best done by the other two party members while the summoner conserves elemental level and stamina. Players can use a total of twelve summons in Chrono Cross:

Players who don’t want to bother with the whole summoning and field process can also rely on various theft abilities that a handful of characters learn. Kid, Mel, and Fargo all have a version of Steal as their level 3 Tech named Pilfer, Snatch, and Pillage respectively. Each of these Chrono Cross attacks matches their innate color, making it more or less potent based on the target’s own color and current field effects. Additionally, a team with both Kid and Mel can use the Double Tech Double Take for even higher odds of stealing. Regardless of the method, players will want to look for the following items:

When disassembled at a forge, the above items will yield one or two extra Shiny ingredients. Some will be of a single color matching their composition, while others will also yield the opposing color they are defending against. While not much, it may be enough to finish off an ultimate weapon.

Next: Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition Review - Fond Memories & Few Updates

Chrono Cross: The Radical Dreamers Edition is for Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.

Kurtis Seid has been covering the game industry for over a decade. His published works have appeared on GameSpot, EGM, and App Annie. He also was a former editor for Electronic Arts' Origin platform.