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Dragon Warrior
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Dragon Warrior, known as in Japan, is a console role-playing game developed by Chunsoft and published in Japan by Enix (now Square Enix) in 1986 for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It is the inaugural game in Enix's flagship Dragon Quest series, which is sometimes known as the Dragon Warrior series in North America.
Dragon Warrior has been ported and remade for several platforms including the MSX, Super Famicom, Game Boy Color, and mobile phones.
ragon Warrior uses simple console role-playing game mechanics.
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Encyclopedia
Dragon Warrior, known as in Japan, is a console role-playing game developed by Chunsoft and published in Japan by Enix (now Square Enix) in 1986 for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It is the inaugural game in Enix's flagship Dragon Quest series, which is sometimes known as the Dragon Warrior series in North America.
Dragon Warrior has been ported and remade for several platforms including the MSX, Super Famicom, Game Boy Color, and mobile phones.
Gameplay
Dragon Warrior uses simple console role-playing game mechanics. Battles are fought in a turn-based format and experience points and gold are awarded after every battle, thus allowing the Hero to level up in strength and to buy equipment and items. Progression consists of traveling throughout locales and fighting monsters encountered along the journey.
Plot
The protagonist of the story is a warrior who is a descendent of the legendary hero Erdrick (known as Loto in remakes). Starting in the chambers of King Lorik, the player is made aware that the Dragonlord has stolen the Ball of Light which must be reclaimed to restore peace to the land. Although this minimalistic story presents itself at the beginning, the player will find more minor story elements to the game as it progresses. These mostly occur through dialogues with NPCs that detail rescuing the Princess Gwaelin, the destruction of the town of Hauksness, and the hints about relics needed to reach the Dragonlord.
Although this is the first title released of the Dragon Warrior franchise, this game is actually the second, chronologically, of a three game series which share a storyline. The story is preceded by that of Dragon Warrior III and followed by Dragon Warrior II.
Characters
The Warrior
Little is known about the Hero besides his ancestry, being a descendant of the legendary Erdrick. The only hints of personality for the character are a somewhat forced relationship with Princess Gwaelin and the yes or no answers the player can select to certain questions proposed by certain characters throughout the game. The player can name him however he or she wishes, within the limits of the naming system (eight letters in the North American NES version, four hiragana characters in the Japanese Famicom version). The Hero's name has an effect on his statistical growth over the course of the game.
The Dragonlord
A dragon from Charlock whose soul became evil from learning magic. He sought "unlimited power and destruction," which resulted in a rising tide of evil throughout Alefgard. He rules from Charlock Castle to the southeast of Tantegel Castle, where surrounding swamps and a destroyed bridge to the mainland have rendered it inaccessible. Inside Charlock, a complex maze of turns and monsters further protects his throne. The Dragonlord's origin is unclear, but his motives are to enslave the world with his army of monsters. His castle is southeast of Tantegel Castle, the starting point of the game.
King Lorik
Father of Princess Gwaelin and the king of Tantegel Castle, where the Hero's quest begins.
Princess Gwaelin
The princess of Tantegel Castle. When the game starts, Gwaelin had been kidnapped by a dragon, and after the Hero rescues her, she falls in love with him.
Development
Dragon Quest was originally released in Japan in 1986 for the Famicom. Designer Yuji Horii cited western RPGs like Wizardry and Ultima as inspiration for Dragon Quest's gameplay.
North American Localization
The game was localized for the North America release in 1989, but the title was changed to Dragon Warrior to avoid infringing on the trademark of the pen and paper role-playing game DragonQuest, although there was another pen-and-paper role-playing system called Dragon Warriors. The North American version of the game featured improved graphics and a battery-backed RAM savegame, whereas the Japanese version used passwords.
There are many differences in comparing the original Dragon Quest and Dragon Warrior, most notably:
- The Nort American version has revised sprites which face in their direction of travel. In the original Japanese versions, the sprites were smaller and only faced forward, and players had to choose which direction they acted in from a menu.
- Spells are given self-explanatory one-word titles, as opposed to the made-up words in the Japanese version.
- Locations are given names relating to Arthurian Legend
- In-game dialogue is presented in an Early Modern English style.
- The town in which the hero must first buy keys features a woman who now offers to sell tomatoes rather than the sexually-explicit "puff-puff" she and her "maidens" offer in the Japanese version
Nintendo Power Bonus
Nintendo Power provided three feature articles on Dragon Warrior from May/June 1989 - Sept/Oct 1989. The Nov/Dec 1989 issue provided a Strategy Guide. In March/April 1990, the magazine provided a map/poster of Dragon Warrior/Super C, and it featured a Dragon Warrior text adventure. During that year, Nintendo Power gave away free copies of Dragon Warrior to new (and old) subscribers, along with a card explaining the equipment, monsters, levels, and locations. Brief mention of the subscription bonus is made in Vol. 80 of Nintendo Power.
Super Famicom
Dragon Quest, along with Dragon Quest II, was remade as a one cartridge compilation known as Dragon Quest I & II for the Super Famicom on December 18, 1993. This remake was marketed exclusively in Japan (due to the absence of Enix America Corporation), and was changed from the original, which included enhanced graphics and sound, as well as enhancements in their game play, including a vault added in Mercado, a wandering item salesman added in Rimuldar, the Flame Sword can now be used as an item in battle, the ability to save the game instead of the password system on the original, and some monsters (Dragon guarding Laura and the Golem guarding Mercado) had their HP and rewards increased.
This remake has since been unofficially translated into English and Brazilian Portuguese by the online fan translation group RPG-One in 2002. Like the Gameboy Color version, the Early Modern English language was not used in the unofficial translation.
BS Dragon Quest was also released for the Satellaview extension for the Super Famicom exclusively in Japan in 1998. This game is based on the Super Famicom remake of Dragon Quest. In this game, players would download a portion of the game over the period of a month. There would be special quests taken from the original game, which needed to be completed in a certain time period. This game included tiny medal collection as a new feature from previous releases.
Game Boy Color
The Game Boy Color September 2000 release of Dragon Warrior I + II in North America, was based on the Super Famicom release of Dragon Quest I + II. It used an entirely new translation, discarding the Early Modern English style and giving names closer to the Japanese version's. In this remake Dragonlord's name was changed to DracoLord, and Erdrick was changed to Loto.
Several conveniences were added, such as a quick-save feature and a streamlined menu system. Monsters yield more experience and gold after being defeated to reduce the amount of time needed to raise levels and save up for purchases.
Mobile phone version
Dragon Quest was released for cellular phones in Japan in 2004, with updated graphics that are similar to those of Dragon Quest VI.
Soundtrack
As with every other game in the Dragon Quest series, Koichi Sugiyama composed the music and directed all the associated spinoffs. The Dragon Quest I Symphonic Suite was bundled with the Dragon Quest II symphonic suite and a disc of original compositions called Dragon Quest in Concert. Dragon Warrior tracks include the following:
- Overture March (3:59)
- Château Ladutorm (3:25)
- People (3:36)
- Unknown World (2:07)
- Fight (2:12)
- Dungeons (3:40)
- King Dragon (3:08)
- Finale (2:40)
Reception and legacy
Dragon Quest was wildly popular in Japan, and became the first in a series that now includes nine games with several spin-offs, including Dragon Quest Monsters. The release of Dragon Quest is regarded as a milestone in the history of the console RPG, a popular genre that also includes the Final Fantasy series. It was the first console RPG to use a top-down perspective, a staple of 2D console RPGs, and has since been cited by Gamespot as one of the fifteen most influential games in the history of video games.
Seemingly primitive by today's standards, Dragon Quest features one-on-one combat, a limited array of items and equipment, ten spells, five towns, and five dungeons. Nintendo Power critics ranked the NES Dragon Warrior an average of three on a scale of zero to five. It was rated the 140th best game made on a Nintendo System in Nintendo Power's Top 200 Games list.
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