Editing Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies (section)

==Development==
[[File:Monster Battle Victory DQ IX group.png|right|border|430px|thumb|Splash art from ''[[Dragon Quest: Monster Battle Road Victory|Monster Battle Road Victory]]'']]
Development of ''IX'' actually began long after the preliminary stages of what would become {{Dragon Quest X}} were completed, in 2005. It was originally entering development under the assumption of being a gaiden title, or spin-off, rather than a numerical entry, but [[Akihiko Hino]] protested that the game deserved to be treated as a canon entry in the series. Hino's passion for creating a title worthy of a roman numeral led directly to the game's story being expanded enough to match the volume of previous entries: the original plan was a simple tutorial section that would then give way to the multiplayer aspect.

The desicion to produce the game for the [[Nintendo DS]] came from [[Yuji Horii]]'s desire to create an RPG that friends can play together, and the handheld's ability to connect to other units merely by being in proximity eliminated the connectivity issues of stationary consoles. The {{DS}}' overwhelming popularity also contributed to the desicion, as the seventh generation of consoles paled in terms of hardware sales.

In mid-2006, {{Main Series}} series composer Kōichi Sugiyama confirmed that ''Dragon Quest IX'' was in development. He is quoted by Japanese video game magazine Famitsu as saying, "I'm not sure when ''Dragon Quest IX'' will be released, but it seems that progress is continually being made. I'm personally excited." On December 12, 2006, during a press conference celebrating the 20th anniversary of the {{Main Series}} franchise, Square Enix announced that ''Dragon Quest IX'' would be released exclusively for the [[Nintendo DS]] handheld video game console making it the first numbered {{Main Series}} title to debut on a handheld. A demo build of the game was released to select outlets at the time, featuring battles that took place in real time as opposed to turn-based menus. This was suggested by Akihiko Hino to provide a different experience forfans, but bad reception and [[Yuji Horii]]'s belief that {{Main Series}} should be something that can be played by anyone regardless of skill led to the system being scrapped.

Directorial duties were split between Akihiko Hino and Jin Fujisawa, with the latter taking the lion's share of the responsibilities as Hino supervised Level-5's personal projects. Fujisawa implemented a user interface similar to that found in ''{{DQMJ}}'', having found it to be an ideal utilization of the {{DS}}' touch screen feature. As ''IX's'' development continued in tandem with that of {{X}}, the teams shared ideas and influenced one another throught the process: the [[Vocation system]] was added to ''IX'' after it was implemented in {{X}}, and the quest system was added to the latter after being devised as a way to extend playtime in the former, to name two examples.

The Japanese release of ''Dragon Quest IX'' was subsequently delayed from 2007 to 2008. The company cited the need for more time to make a better game as reason for the delay. At the 2008 Tokyo Game Show, a new trailer was shown at the Square Enix booth which showed a glimpse of the changes made to the gameplay and graphics. At the end of the video, a confirmation of the release date (set for March 2009) was unveiled. Square Enix released another new trailer for the game, showing various aspects of the storyline, boss battles, along with cutscenes; the end of the trailer showed a then-correct release date for March 28, 2009, along with a price point of ¥5,980.

On February 12, 2009, after having delayed the release of its quarterly financials by a week, Square Enix announced the game would be delayed once again to a Japanese release on July 11 of the same year. The game's release delay worried ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' fans, who were told by Square Enix president Yoichi Wada that ''Dragon Quest IX''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s delay may affect ''Final Fantasy XIII''<nowiki>'</nowiki>s release, stating that he "[could] not say there [would not] be an effect."

''Dragon Quest IX'' was designed to be the hardest ''Dragon Quest'' game yet. The rationale is that, according to Brian Ashcraft, Night Editor for Kotaku, the ''Dragon Quest IX'' developers say "people can always find out information on the internet　— like that's part of the game experience." In addition the game has only one game slot. Ryutaro Ichimura, producer of ''Dragon Quest IX'', clarified the reason explaining that there is not enough space on the system for multiple traditional save-slots given the amount of freedom the game allows. Instead, the save area is used for a backup save-slot in case of battery failure.