Okay, I can't believe I have to elaborate, but:
Square made Chrono Trigger. Square owns the copyright to Chrono Trigger. Square owns the copyright to the characters, locations, graphics, music, and gameplay of Chrono Trigger. They also own the copyright to the name "Chrono Trigger."
You do not.
Square has an obligation to strike down projects using the Chrono Trigger name and character or their copyright will become diluted and uninforceable. This is a fairly common requirement of all aspects of copyright law but was shown specifically in the field of videogames in Nintendo vs. Universal Pictures (Donkey Kong vs. King Kong). Years of lax enforcement of the King Kong copyright had caused it to become uninforceable in court, and Nintendo won. In Atari vs. Magnavox (Pac-Man vs. K.C. Munchkin) it was shown that games don't even have to be exact copies of the titles they "rip off" - merely being very, very similar is enough.
It doesn't matter if you say "it's for educational purposes!" You can say what you like, but a game is a game, and it's infringing on Square's copyright in the domain where they own the copyright.
Fan fiction is hardly an argument in the project's favor, either. Fan fiction is a grey area - it's not legal, but most companies tend to look the other way for purposes of customer goodwill. There's no legal basis for fanfiction whatsoever, and companies can and have been known to shut it down in the past. Square is a large, impersonal Japanese company, and they have historically been known to side with "intellectual copyright enforcement" over "customer goodwill."
Square is NOT going to like your project so much that they make you official. They don't permit that. They tried to do that once, with me, and some people at the U.S. branch got seriously reprimanded and nearly lost their jobs over it. A mod for a game for a U.S.-company, perhaps, but not Square.
Basically, you should no more suspect to finish a Chrono Trigger remake without attracting Square's ire than you would self-publish the "sixth" Harry Potter novel and think J.K. Rowling won't take offense. It doesn't matter how little money you make, how pure your intentions are, or how much in the moral right you are. Square holds all the power in this "relationship," and the moment they say "boo" your project shuts down with no second chances and no hope of revival.
The End.
Michel has been in the game industry for 3 years and it shows. This fluid and inspirational animations already bring life to our project and we are deeply satisfied with his work.
