Dragon Quest

Games The first installment of the franchise was released in Japan on May 27, 1986, titled with the name "Dragon Quest". Since 1986, the franchise has featured eleven games within the main series, as well as several spin-off games, and also two animated productions. Main series The first four Dragon Quest installments were released for the Famicom and Nintendo Entertainment System in Japan and North America, respectively. The first two installments were released in Japan on the Famicom and ported that same year to the MSX; all four games have been remade for newer systems. Dragon Quest was first released in Japan on May 27, 1986, and in North America as Dragon Warrior in August 1989. Dragon Quest II Akuryō no Kamigami was released in Japan in 1987 and in North America in 1990 as Dragon Warrior II. Dragon Quest III Soshite Densetsu e... was released in Japan in 1989 and North America as Dragon Warrior III in 1992. Dragon Quest IV was released in Japan in 1990 and in North America in 1992 as Dragon Warrior IV. A 2001 Japanese PlayStation remake of Dragon Warrior IV scheduled for the North American market was never released. The Nintendo DS remake of Dragon Quest IV was released in North America, Europe, and Australia under its original translated title; the European release removed the number from the title. The Nintendo DS remakes were released in North America with Dragon Quest V also being released in Europe and Australia, the latter without the numbering. One game was released for the PlayStation: Dragon Quest VII: Eden no Senshi-tachi in 2000 in Japan and 2001 in North America under the title Dragon Warrior VII. again without the number in the title for Europe. Dragon Quest VIII was the first game in the series to be released in North America under the title of Dragon Quest, and the first European release of a main series game. Dragon Quest X was announced for the Wii in December 2008. In September 2011, Square Enix announced that Dragon Quest X would also be released on the Wii U, with Nintendo 3DS connectivity. It is the first MMORPG in the series, and the only numbered Dragon Quest game not released outside Japan. Dragon Quest XI was released in Japan on July 29, 2017, and worldwide on September 4, 2018. Dragon Quest XII: The Flames of Fate was announced in 2021. According to Horii, the game will have a darker tone, feature more meaningful choices, and overhaul the traditional Dragon Quest turn-based combat. Dragon Quest XII will also be the first mainline title released after the deaths of series music composer Koichi Sugiyama and character designer Akira Toriyama who had been involved with the series since its inception. Spin-offs The franchise includes several spin-off games, including the Dragon Quest Monsters RPG. The series has also inspired arcade games such as the Japanese Dragon Quest: Monster Battle Road, where players compete for real-life cards with monster data that the arcade game issues to the players through a slot on its front. The latter is the only spin-off series to have none of its titles released outside Japan. The Mystery Dungeon and Itadaki Street series use characters and other elements from Dragon Quest games, and the Mystery Dungeon series has gone on to spawn its own franchise. In 1993, Chunsoft developed a SNES game that included Torneko (a.k.a. Torneko Taloon), a character that first appeared in Dragon Quest IV. The roguelike game Torneko no Daibōken: Fushigi no Dungeon continues Torneko's story from Dragon Quest IV as he attempts to make his store famous, venturing into mysterious dungeons to retrieve items to stock his store with. The game was successful in Japan. In 2000 the direct sequel Torneko: The Last Hope was released in Japan and the United States. The gameplay is similar to the first game, though Torneko: The Last Hope is considered easier to play. The game sold enough copies in Japan to allow development of the second direct sequel on the PlayStation 2, Fushigi no Dungeon 3 Torneko no Daibouken. The second and third Torneko games have had remakes for the Game Boy Advance (GBA). A later game featured Yangus, a character who first appeared in Dragon Quest VIII; Dragon Quest: Young Yangus and the Mystery Dungeon follows Yangus on his adventures before he meets up with Hero in the aforementioned game. The success of Torneko no Daibōken spawned the Mystery Dungeon series that has grown to include franchises beyond Dragon Quest. When Enix took over the Monopoly-inspired video game series Itadaki Street, the Dragon Quest franchise became an integral part of the game in its second version, Itadaki Street 2: Neon Sain wa Bara Iro ni. The first Itadaki Street, released by ASCII, did not contain elements from the Dragon Quest franchise. The fourth game in the series, Dragon Quest & Final Fantasy in Itadaki Street Special, included characters from the Final Fantasy franchise, and later versions would include characters from Mario. Like the main series, Dragon Quest Monsters was originally released under the Dragon Warrior name in the US. The next game, Dragon Warrior Monsters 2, is the only game to be split into two versions, ''Cobi's Journey (Ruka's Journey in Japan) and Tara's Adventure (Iru's Adventure in Japan), named after the main player characters. Each version has slight differences, such as the monster that appear in them. Dragon Quest Monsters: Caravan Heart is a prequel to Dragon Warrior VII, following Keifer who is pulled into Torland and must find the six Orbs of Loto in order to return. The release of Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker is the first spin-off title to be released in English using the Dragon Quest name; its sequel Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2 was released in North America on September 19, 2011. There is also an Android title, Dragon Quest Monsters: Wanted!''. Dragon Quest has also produced a number of smaller spin-off titles. In two of them, players use their special controllers as a sword, swinging it to slash enemies and objects. Kenshin Dragon Quest: Yomigaerishi Densetsu no Ken is a stand-alone game in which the controller is shaped like a sword, and a toy shield contains the game's hardware. Dragon Quest Swords for the Wii uses the motion sensing Wii Remote as a sword. Another spin-off title, Slime Mori Mori Dragon Quest, uses the game's popular slime monster as the protagonist, and its sequel, Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime, has been translated into English. There is also a downloadable DSiWare turn-based strategy game, Dragon Quest Wars and other titles have been released in Japan for cellphones. ''Dragon Quest Heroes: The World Tree's Woe and the Blight Below, a PlayStation 3 and 4 game featuring the gameplay of the Dynasty Warriors series by Koei Tecmo, was released in Japan on February 26, 2015, and in North America and Europe in October 2015 as a PlayStation 4 exclusive. It later had a sequel that released on May 17, 2016, in Japan, and later came out in North America and Europe in April 2017 to the PlayStation 4 as well as PC. Dragon Quest Builders for the PS4 was released in 2016. It later had a sequel release on July 12, 2019, for the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4. Theatrhythm Dragon Quest is a rhythm game developed for the Nintendo 3DS. Like the Theatrhythm Final Fantasy games before it, the game allows players to play alongside various songs from the Dragon Quest franchise. In September 2019, Dragon Quest Walk'', an augmented reality game, was released for Android and iOS mobile phones. Other media Novels Beginning in 1988, the media franchise expanded into other media, with a number of anime, manga, and light novel adaptations. Following the success of a Dragon Quest III light novel, Enix began publishing more volumes starting from the first game in sequential order. Enix published titles from every main series game previously released by March 23, 1995, as well as the first Torneko's Mystery Dungeon game. The titles are written from a second-person perspective; the reader determines the next course of action and the stories have multiple endings. Other printed titles released in 1989 include: Dragon Quest Monsters Story; Dragon Quest Item Story; the Dragon Quest Perfect Collection series starting with Dragon Quest Perfect Collection 1990; and the first two Dragon Quest novels by Takayashiki Hideo. All of these works have had additional titles published for different games by different authors: Hideo wrote the first four volumes spanning the first three games; Kumi Saori authored ten volumes comprising the next three games; and Hiroyuki Domon wrote three volumes for Dragon Quest VII. Starting with Shinsho Shousetsu Dragon Quest I in 2000, a new series by all three authors began publication. The authors wrote new stories for their respective series, three stories for Hideo, nine for Saori, and three for Domon; with the latter's works featuring illustrations by Daisuke Torii. Several standalone titles and audiobook titles have also been released. With more than 50million copies in circulation, it is one of the best-selling manga series of all time and has been adapted into a variety of other media, including its own video games. was published in Monthly Shōnen Gangan from 1991 to 1997. Written by Chiaki Kawamata and Junji Koyanagi, with art by Kamui Fujiwara, it was collected into twenty-one volumes. Taking place between Dragon Quest III and Dragon Quest I, it was adapted into a drama CD in 1994, and an animated film that was released on April 20, 1996. As of 2019, the series had sold 21million copies, including 400,000 copies sold overseas. It was licensed by Square Enix for English release in North America in 2025. In 2004, Kawamata, Koyanagi and Fujiwara published a sequel mini-series in Gangan YG called Emblem of Roto Returns. On December 2, 2022, two side-stories were published in Young Gangan to celebrate the magazine's 18th anniversary, one for The Mark of Erdick and one for To the Children who Inherit the Emblem. Aki Tomato and Masaomi Kanzaki's was serialized in Monthly Shōnen Gangan from 1997 to 2001, and consists of fourteen volumes. It is a retelling of Dragon Quest VI with some minor changes. Fujiwara serialized in Monthly Shōnen Gangan from 2001 to 2006. Collected into eleven volumes, the series is a retelling of Dragon Quest VII with some minor changes. In January 2026, Fujiwara began a sequel in Young Gangan titled Dragon Quest Eden. Yuuki Nakashima's is a sidestory of Dragon Quest X supervised by Yuji Horii. It was serialized in V Jump between December 2012 and October 2022, with 20 volumes released. A sequel in the form of an illustrated short story, titled Dragon Departure, then ran for twelve chapters on the magazine's website until March 30, 2023. Other shorter manga series have been released including several based on other games, some official 4koma strips, and a manga about the making of the original Dragon Quest game. The Road to Dragon Quest is a manga about the creators of Dragon Quest, published by Enix. The single-volume manga was released in 1990 and produced by Ishimori Productions. It focuses on the creation of the series and features series creator Yuji Horii, programmer Koichi Nakamura, composer Koichi Sugiyama, artist Akira Toriyama, and producer Yukinobu Chida. Hiro Mashima drew the one-shot , based on Dragon Quest XI, for the October issue of V Jump, which was released on August 21, 2019. A manga adaptation of Dragon Quest Treasures titled Dragon Quest Treasures: Another Adventure Fadora no Takarajima began serialization in V Jump in November 2022. It is written by Masaki Hara with illustrations by Yoichi Amano and supervision by Horii, and was collected into three volumes. Anime Prior to the debut of any direct Dragon Quest adaption for television, elements of the first English-language game in the series, Dragon Warrior, were incorporated into the 1989 DIC Entertainment animated series Captain N: The Game Master, where "Dragonlord" served as a recurring antagonist to both his home-world of "Dragon's Den" and the greater dimension of "Videoland". There are three major television series that were adapted from the games. was produced by Studio Comet and aired from December 2, 1989, to April 5, 1991, 43 episodes were broadcast before the series ended. It was supervised by Horii, with a story loosely based on Dragon Quest III. The first 13 episodes of the series were translated into English by Saban Entertainment under the title Dragon Warrior. Due to its early time slot, it was not renewed. The series was released on DVD in Japan in October 2006, with its nine volumes selling about 90,000 units by February 2007. A second anime series, Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai, based on the manga of the same name, was produced by Toei Animation. It ran for 46 episodes from October 17, 1991, to September 24, 1992. A second anime adaptation of the same manga also produced by Toei Animation aired from October 3, 2020, to October 22, 2022. On April 20, 1996, a film titled Dragon Quest Saga – The Crest of Roto was released. It was produced by Nippon Animation. Virtual reality Dragon Quest VR (ドラゴンクエストVR) was a virtual reality team-based only arcade-style roleplaying game first released at VR ZONE SHINJUKI in Tokyo's Shinjuku district, then later hosted at VR ZONE OSAKA on September 13, 2018, and finally MAZARIA in Sunshine City, Ikebukuro, Tokyo on July 12, 2019, a series of then Bandai Namco-owned virtual reality theme park arcades. Prices for the one-time experience fee was 3,200 yen and a separate facility entrance fee was required. The experience took approximately 15 minutes. The game's plot is based on Dragon Quest III in which a party of two Warriors, a Priest, and a Mage of either male or female genders are sent on a quest by the king to defeat the evil archfiend Baramos to return peace to the land. Players battled Slimes, Drackies, Skeletons, Shadows, Mummies, Golems, and Dragons with a variety of weapons and magic in various stages to make it to and finally defeat Baramos in the final level. Dragon Quest VR was discontinued on March 9, 2019, before the closure of VR ZONE SHINJUKI itself on April 1 in the same year, with the experience also ending at VR ZONE OSAKA on October 25, 2020, and MAZARIA on August 31, 2020. Yuji Horii has expressed the possibility of future commercial titles being released in VR or with VR support. == Common elements ==

Gameplay that depicts the typical battle layout and menu types that is seen in most Dragon Quest'' games|alt=A black screen with two moth-like creatures in the center and three white-bordered boxes around it. The box above the moth-like creatures has "Hero", "Brin", "Math", and "Viro" on the top, each with an H and an M under each of them, with Hr under "Hero", Sr under "Brin", Wz under "Math", and Pr under "Viro". A number is next to the letters on the right. The bottom left box displays "Hero" on the top and the options "Fight", "Run", "Parry", and "Item". The bottom right box contains the text "Masked Moth 2". In most Dragon Quest games, players control a character or party of characters that can walk into towns and buy weapons, armor, and items to defeat monsters outside of the towns: on the world map or in a dungeon. However, in the original Dragon Quest, there was only one character walking on the map. In most of the games, battles occur through random monster attacks and improving the characters' levels requires players to grind. The series uses cursed items, difficult dungeons where players need to use their resources wisely to complete them, and difficult boss battles. When the party encounters monsters the view switches perspective and players are presented with several options on a menu; these turn-based menu-driven battles have become a staple of the series. Players use the menus to select weapons, magic, and other items used to attack and defeat the monsters, or can attempt to flee the fight; though characters cannot flee during a boss battle. Once the party defeats the monsters by winning the battle, each party member gains experience points in order to reach new levels. When a character gains a new level, the statistics (stats) of the character are upgraded. Winning battles also rewards players with gold which can be used to purchase items. In addition to the experience points and gold awarded for successfully defeating monsters, occasionally, items will be dropped as well that are added to the player's inventory. In most Dragon Quest games, players must visit a church (known as a House of Healing in the NES translations) and talk to a priest or nun to save the games' progress; in Dragon Warrior, players had to talk to a king to save their progress, In Dragon Quest III, Dragon Quest VI, Dragon Quest VII, and Dragon Quest IX, several character classes can be chosen for the party members. In Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen, a new collectible item known as mini medals, resembling small gold coins with a five-pointed star in the middle, was introduced; they have nothing to do with winning the game, but they can be traded with a certain character for items. Players collect them throughout the game, primarily by opening chests, breaking pots and barrels, and searching in sacks and drawers. Horii introduced them as he wanted to have something players collected that were similar to the crests and orbs in the previous Dragon Quest games but did not want to repeat the necessity for players having to collect a certain number of them before they could complete the game. Characters Monsters The Dragon Quest series features several recurring monsters, including Slimes, Drackies, Skeletons, Shadows, Mummies, Bags o' Laughs, and Dragons. Many monsters in the series were designed by Akira Toriyama. Several Dragon Quest games allow the player to recruit monsters to fight alongside them. In Dragon Quest IV, a Healer monster called "Healie" can be recruited for the first chapter. Dragon Quest V and VI monsters can be selected by the player to join the player's party and fight in battles. The Slime, designed by Toriyama for use in Dragon Quest, has become the official mascot of the Dragon Quest series. Series designer Yuji Horii cited the monster as an example of Toriyama's skills, claiming it took "[artistic] power to take something like a pool of slime and use his imagination to make it a great character." A Slime is a small blue blob, shaped like a water droplet, with a face. It has appeared in every Dragon Quest game and it is usually one of the first monsters the players encounter. The Slime's popularity has netted it the Slime spin-off series on handheld consoles. Erdrick Erdrick, known as in Japanese and in the North American remakes of the Game Boy Color versions of the first three games, The chronological order of the first three Dragon Quest games is: Dragon Quest III, Dragon Quest, and Dragon Quest II. The character's popularity with players led to further appearances or easter egg references in subsequent mainline sequels, as well as a starring role in 1993's Torneko no Daibōken: Fushigi no Dungeon, the inaugural entry of the long-running Mystery Dungeon video game series by Spike Chunsoft. The character's other video game appearances include two direct sequels to Torneko no Daibōken: Fushigi no Dungeon, the 2016 video game Dragon Quest Heroes II, and the Itadaki Street series. Zenithia Zenithia, also called Zenith Castle, Zenith, or in Japanese, is a floating castle that first appears in Dragon Quest IV; it is used as a descriptor for several elements in Dragon Quest IV, V and VI. Its appearance in all three games has led to the games being described as the Zenithia or Tenkū trilogy, despite different geographical layouts in each of the three games' worlds. Horii explained that a trilogy was never the intention: "Each Dragon Quest title represents a fresh start and a new story, so it seems too much of a connection between the games in the series. It could be said that the imagination of players has brought the titles together in a certain fashion." In Dragon Quest IV, Zenithia can be accessed by climbing the tower above the entrance to the world of darkness. In Dragon Quest V Zenithia has fallen into a lake south of Lofty Peak (Elheaven in the original release), until the Golden Orb is returned leaving the castle able to move freely in the sky. In Dragon Quest VI Zenithia is sealed by Demon Lord Dhuran, and a large hole is left in its place in the "Dream World". When the Dream World returns to its natural state in Dragon Quest VI, Zenithia is the only part that remains, floating above the "real" world. In addition to the trilogy, a castle in the Dragon Quest III remakes is also called Zenith, although the layout differs from the castle in the Tenkū series. == Development and history ==

The series' monsters, characters, and box art were designed by Toriyama. In the past, main Dragon Quest games have been developed by Chunsoft, Heartbeat, ArtePiazza, Level-5 and starting with Dragon Quest X, by Square Enix for the first time. Horii's company, Armor Project, is in charge of the script and design of Dragon Quest games that were published by Enix and Square Enix. Origin , the creator of Dragon Quest series In 1982, Enix sponsored a video game programming contest in Japan which brought much of the Dragon Quest team together, including creator Yuji Horii. Horii wanted to introduce the concept of RPGs to the wider Japanese video game audience. He chose the Famicom because, unlike arcade games, players would not have to worry about spending more money if they got a "game over", and could continue playing from a save point. Horii used the full-screen map of Ultima and the battle and statistics-oriented Wizardry screens to create the gameplay of Dragon Quest. When Horii first created Dragon Quest many people doubted that a fantasy series with swords and dungeons, instead of science fiction elements, would become popular in Japan; however, the series has become very popular there. Since then Horii has been the games' scenario director. Dragon Quest was Sugiyama's second video game he had composed for, Wingman 2 being his first. He says it took him five minutes to compose the original opening theme. His musical motifs from the first game have remained relatively intact. The first six Dragon Quest stories are divided into two trilogies. The first three games of the series tell the story of the legendary hero known as Roto (Erdrick or Loto in some versions). Dragon Quest IV-VI are based around a castle in the sky called Zenithia, referred to as the Tenku in Japan, meaning "heaven". Games in the main series from Dragon Quest VII onwards are stand-alone games. The early Dragon Quest games were released under the title Dragon Warrior in North America to avoid trademark conflict with the pen-and-paper role-playing game Dragon Quest, which was published by Simulations Publications in the 1980s until the company's 1982 bankruptcy and acquisition by TSR, Inc. TSR continued publishing the line as an alternative to Dungeons & Dragons (D&D) until 1987. On July 23, 2002, Square Enix registered the Dragon Quest trademark in the United States for use with manuals, video cassette tapes, and other video game software. On October 8, 2003, Square Enix filed for a more comprehensive Dragon Quest trademark, also on August 2, 2016. Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King became the first Dragon Quest game released outside Japan, all previous games having used the Dragon Warrior title. With this announcement, all the main Dragon Quest games at the time had been released outside Japan. The ninth installment was released in Japan for Nintendo DS on July 11, 2009. The North American version was released on July 11, 2010, while the European version came out on July 23, 2010. The tenth installment of the main series was released for the Wii. Nintendo has been a major publisher outside Japan for the main Dragon Quest games, publishing the first Dragon Quest game in North America, and published Dragon Quest IX worldwide outside Japan; the NDS version of Dragon Quest VI is published by Nintendo in North America. Horii tries to design the games in such a way that players never need to read a manual nor play through a tutorial in order to figure out how to play the game, and tries to create good storylines with short dialogues. Ryutaro Ichimura, who has worked on Dragon Quest titles with Horii since Dragon Quest VIII, has implemented Horii's suggestions even when it is not obvious why his ideas will work. "[A] lot of the time when he [Horii] points these things out, we cannot see them at first, but eventually you get it." To ensure players continue to enjoy playing the game, no storyline path is made without some kind of reward and, to help ease players who may be apprehensive about whether they are on the right path, the distance the character has to travel to get rewarded is reduced at the beginning of the game. While the player never starts the game in a wholly non-linear way, they usually allow players to explore an open world in a non-linear manner following an early linear section of the game. The trend continued through the first four games, although the artwork for weapons and armor began using more of Toriyama's original artwork for Dragon Warrior III and IV. However, while the booklets' artwork was altered, the setting and poses remained virtually identical. The translated versions of the games have largely followed the originals since Dragon Quest VII. For English releases, games usually include a number of British dialects, such as Polari and Cockney. Music scored the majority of Dragon Quest games until his death in 2021. The majority of Dragon Quest soundtracks were written and orchestrated by the classically trained composer Koichi Sugiyama. In the mid-1980s, Sugiyama, who was already a well-known composer of television shows, anime, and pop songs at the time, sent a feedback questionnaire from an Enix game to the company, and, upon seeing Sugiyama's feedback, producer Yukinobu Chida contacted him to confirm that "he was the Sugiyama from television." Upon confirmation, Chida asked Sugiyama to compose a score for Dragon Quest. Sugiyama had previously composed a video game score for Wingman 2. Sugiyama stated it took him five minutes to compose the original opening theme, and noted the difficulty in adding a personal touch to the short jingles, but that his past experience with creating music for television commercials helped. According to Sugiyama, the composer has between three and five seconds to catch the audience's attention through music. The theme and other jingles for Dragon Quest have continued to be used throughout the series. Sugiyama was also composing for Dragon Quest XII prior to his death in 2021. The first album of music from the series was released in 1986 and was based on music from the first game, followed by a Symphonic Suite album for each game in the main series. The original soundtrack's "eight melodies" approach set the template for most RPG soundtracks released since then, hundreds of which have been organized in a similar manner. The original game's classical score was considered revolutionary for video game music. Other compilations of Dragon Quest music have been released, including Dragon Quest Game Music Super Collection Vol. 1. The London Philharmonic performed many of the soundtracks, including a compilation entitled Symphonic Suite Dragon Quest Complete CD-Box. Some of the soundtracks include a second disc with the original game music, as with the Dragon Quest VI soundtrack. In 2003 SME Visual Works released Symphonic Suite Dragon Quest Complete CD-Box, featuring music from the first seven Dragon Quest games. == Reception ==

In 2006, readers of the Japanese gaming magazine Famitsu voted on the hundred best video games of all time. Dragon Quest III was third, Dragon Quest VIII fourth, Dragon Quest VII ninth, Dragon Quest V eleventh, Dragon Quest IV fourteenth, Dragon Quest II seventeenth, Dragon Quest thirtieth, and Dragon Quest VI thirty-fourth. In 2009, Horii received a special award at the Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association Developers Conference for his work on the Dragon Quest franchise. According to Satoru Iwata, former President of Nintendo, Dragon Quest widespread appeal is that it is "made so that anyone can play it...and anyone can enjoy it depending on their different levels and interests." According to him, Dragon Quest is designed for anyone to pick up without needing to read the manual in order to understand it. Ryutaro Ichimura, producer at Square Enix, who has played the game since he was a child, says the Dragon Quest storylines allow players to experience a moving sense of achievement where they take the role of a hero saving the world. One of the main aspects of the series that critics point out, either positively or negatively, is that the series "never strays from its classic roots." Unlike other modern, complex RPGs, Dragon Quest on the DS retains the simple gameplay from the first game that many critics find refreshing and nostalgic. Points of contention are its battle system, comparatively simplistic storylines, general lack of character development, simplistic primitive-looking graphics (in earlier titles), and the overall difficulty of the game. These arguments are countered by noting its strength in episodic storytelling with the various non-player characters the party meets. The stories avoid melodrama and feature relatively more simplistic characters than Final Fantasy Squall Leonhart or Tidus, a source of contention. There are exceptions, however, such as Dragon Quest V, which has been praised for its unique, emotional storytelling. Battles are also simple and finish quickly. As for difficulty, Yuji Horii is noted as a gambler. The lack of save points and the general difficulty of the battles were included with the intention of adding a sense of tension. Because of this added difficulty, the punishment for the party's death was toned down compared to other games by simply going back to where you had last saved, with half of your gold on hand. Dragon Quest III set sales records in 1988 by selling game cartridges in Japan within a day and in a week, and it grossed () within a month and by 1991. Dragon Quest IV in 1990 sold out copies within an hour, and Dragon Quest V sold over cartridges within a day. The series had sold copies by 1990, and units by 1993, with the Dragon Quest sequels having grossed several hundred million dollars each. As of 2007, all games in the main series, along with three spin-offs, had sold over a million copies each in Japan, with the highest-selling single release (not including remakes) being Dragon Quest VII which sold over four million copies. The remake of Dragon Quest VI sold 910,000 copies in Japan in the first four days after its release, an exceptional sales figure for a remake. == Legacy ==

The original Dragon Quest game is often cited as the first console RPG. GameSpot called it the most influential role-playing game of all time, stating that nearly all Japanese RPGs since then have drawn from its gameplay in some shape or form. Next Generation said it was "probably the first ever 'Japanese style' RPG", and listed the series collectively as number 56 on their "Top 100 Games of All Time". They commented, "While never as ambitious as Square's Final Fantasy series, later installments of Dragon Warrior can't be beaten for sheer size (if you only had enough cash to buy you one game that had to last you a month, you bought a Dragon Warrior title)." In response to a survey, Gamasutra cites Quinton Klabon of Dartmouth College as stating Dragon Warrior translated the D&D experience to video games and set the genre standards. Games such as Mother, Grandia, Lunar, Atelier, Shin Megami Tensei, Rune Factory, Story of Seasons, Breath of Fire and Lufia & the Fortress of Doom were inspired by various Dragon Quest titles. Dragon Quest III class-changing system would shape other RPGs, especially the Final Fantasy series, and its day-night cycles was also a "major innovation" for console RPGs according to GameSpot. Dragon Quest IV "Tactics" system, where the player can set the AI routines for NPCs, is seen as a precursor to Final Fantasy XII's "Gambits" system. Dragon Quest V is cited as having monster recruiting and training mechanics that inspired monster-collecting RPGs such as Pokémon, Digimon and Dokapon. Dragon Quest V was unique in that it made pregnancy, and who the player chose as the mother, a crucial aspect of the plot. The real world and dream world setting of Dragon Quest VI is considered an influence on the later Square RPGs Chrono Cross and Final Fantasy X. Dragon Quest is a cultural phenomenon in Japan. According to Ryutaro Ichimura and Yuji Horii, Dragon Quest has become popular enough that it is used as a common topic for conversation in Japan, and is considered by the Japanese gaming industry as Japan's national game. With the Japanese release of Dragon Quest IX in January 2009, a new eatery inspired by the series called Luida's Bar was opened in Roppongi, a well-known nightlife hotspot in Minato, Tokyo. This was notable due to the usual center of Tokyo's gaming culture being Akihabara rather than Roppongi. The venue provides a meeting location for fans of the series: styled in the fashion of a Medieval public house like its virtual counterpart, its food is directly inspired by both items and monsters found in the games. It was described by a Western journalist as a cross between a Disneyland resort and a maid café. Dragon Quest also served as the inspiration for a live-action television drama. Yūsha Yoshihiko initially aired in July 2011, with a sequel series being produced and released the following year. When III was released in Japan, over 300 schoolchildren were arrested for truancy while waiting in stores for the game to be released. The rumor claims there was a measurable dip in productivity when a Dragon Quest game was released and although muggings of Dragon Quest titles became so widespread that there were hearings in the Japanese Diet, no law was ever passed. However, the Japanese release of every Dragon Quest title continued to be on a Saturday until the release of Dragon Quest X, which was released on Thursday, August 2, 2012. and musical concerts and audio CDs were produced based on the Dragon Quest universe. Since 1987, the series' music has been performed annually in concert halls throughout Japan. "Lotto's Theme" was one of the video game music compositions selected for the opening ceremony of the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, and was the first to be played. The series is also represented in the 2018 crossover fighting game Super Smash Bros. Ultimate via downloadable content released in July 2019. Unlike most of the game's roster, the "Hero" is not a single playable character but rather a character slot shared by four separate, albeit functionally identical, main protagonists from the series: Eleven (also known as The Luminary) from Dragon Quest XI, Arusu (also known as Erdrick) from Dragon Quest III, Solo from Dragon Quest IV, and Eight from Dragon Quest VIII. Other elements from the series are also featured, such as Slimes and a stage based on Yggdrasil's Altar from Dragon Quest XI. == See also ==