Dragon Quest: Difference between revisions

| image=[[File:DQ Logo.png|325px]][[File:DQ Laurel Wreath art.png|325px]]

| platforms={{Famicom}}/{{NES}}, [[MSX]], [[Wikipedia:NEC PC-9801|NEC PC-9801]], [[Wikipedia:Sharp X68000|Sharp X68000]], {{Super Famicom}}, {{Game Boy Color}} (hybrid cartridge), [[Cell phone|Mobile phone]], [[Wii]], [[Cell phone|Android & iOS]], {{PlayStation 4}}, [[Nintendo 3DS]], [[Nintendo Switch]]

{{Translation|'''''Dragon Quest'''''|ドラゴンクエスト|Doragon Kuesuto}} is the original ''Dragon Quest'' game which preceded the entire {{DQSeries}}. It was developed by [[Enix]] and released in 1986 in Japan for the [[MSX]] and {{Famicom}} consoles. The game was localized for North American release in 1989, but the title was changed to ''Dragon Warrior'' to avoid infringing on the trademark of the pen and paper game ''[[wikipedia:DragonQuest|DragonQuest]]''. The North American version of the game was greatly improved graphically over the Japanese original, and added a battery backed-up save feature and 5 password systems, whereas the Japanese version used a password system. [[Nintendo]] was impressed with the Japanese sales of the title and massively overproduced the cartridge; the end result was that Nintendo gave away copies of ''Dragon Warrior'' as an incentive for subscribing to ''[[Nintendo Power]]'', the company's in-house promotions magazine.

*[[King Lorik]]: The king of Tantegel, and ruler of the land of Alefgard.

''Dragon Quest'' is set on a sprawling overworld with towns and dungeons to be explored throughout. The player selects actions from a menu, including talking to {{NPC}}s (non-player characters); opening doors; and opening [[treasure chest]]s. The towns have inns where the player can rest to restore their {{HP}} and {{MP}}; and shops to buy weapons, armor, and items from. Most {{NPC}}s give useful information to help the player progress.

The battle system is turn-based, with enemies seen in a first-person perspective. As in the overworld, the player selects actions from a menu, including attacking; casting magical spells; using items; and attempting to flee the fight.

===Differences from later games===

*The stat improvement algorithms depend on the player's name, deciding if the player will be more proficient in {{Strength}}, {{Agility}}, or magic ({{MP}}).

*There is no party, only a single player character.

*Although his sprite changes when the princess is rescued, to show him carrying her, the princess does not participate in any battle.

*Enemies attack the Hero 1-on-1, never in groups.

*There are no [[vehicle]]s; one can only traverse the overworld map on foot, or by using a [[chimaera wing]] or [[Zoom]] spell to travel to Tantegel Castle.

*The player can only save their game by speaking to King Lorik. As such, the Zoom spell can only return to Tantegel. This is because the spell's Japanese name, ''rura'', derives from the English word ''Ruler''.

*Acquired weapons, armor and shields will automatically replace the previous item, which is then discarded or sold to the store. This is changed in the remakes.

*[[Key]]s are disposable and break when used; new ones can be purchased at one of the "key houses" in Tantegel, [[Rimuldar]], or [[Cantlin]].

*Caves are dark, and must be lit up with a [[torch]] or the [[Glow]] spell. These have limited range, which diminishes as the spell or torch wears out. The range is effectively reduced in the remakes, since the scale of the caves is larger, but the range is not increased to compensate.

The genesis of the game that would become ''Dragon Quest'' took place in 1983, when the fledgling video game publisher [[Enix]] announced that it would host a national programming contest with a prize of ¥1,000,000―a value of over $21,000 in 2024―as well as the option for the amateur programmers to have their titles professionally released. Yuji Horii had been programming his own games as a hobby during this period in his life, and on a whim decided to enter what he considered to be his most accomplished work: ''Love Match Tennis'' (ラブマッチテニス). Later when Horii arrived at the awards ceremony to report on the event, he was shocked to discover that his tennis game had earned him second place. The awards ceremony was also the fateful day when Horii met [[Koichi Nakamura]], the first place winner of the contest, who was only in his junior year of high school at the time. The two became fast friends and began publishing their work through Enix, with Horii's first commercial success being the murder mystery title ''[[Portopia]]''.  

Later that same year would see Horii and Nakamura travel to the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KansasFest consumer electronics trade show Applefest], along with Enix director [[Yukinobu Chida]]. It was here that all three men would first encounter the concept of the RPG genre through the titles [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ultima_(series) Ultima] and [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wizardry Wizardry]. The younger men quickly became enamored with the two titles, having never encountered games where success was dependent on the player's strategy rather than quick reflexes, and upon returning to Japan Horii would purchase a compatible machine to play the games. Concurrent to this was the release of the [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_Entertainment_System Family Computer] in July of '83, which quickly made waves in the consumer electronics industry as an affordable alternative to the traditional computer. Enix would experiment with the new hardware by publishing a port of ''Portopia'' programmed by Namakura and marked the first time that he and Horii collaborated on commercial software.  

While busy developing on the game, Horii was still taking freelance work as a writer and was working on the ''Famicom Shinken'' section of Weekly Shonen Jump magazine under the pen name of Emperor Yu (ゆう帝). ''Famicom Shinken'' was the video game section of the magazine, created by editor [[Kazuhiko Torishima]]. Horii and Torishima met years prior when introduced by their mutual friend [https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%81%95%E3%81%8F%E3%81%BE%E3%81%82%E3%81%8D%E3%82%89 Akira Sakamura] and quickly became friends themselves, which led to Torishima learning of the development of ''Dragon Quest'' in passing. This was the news the editor needed to hear, as Shonen Jump was struggling to compete with rival magazine [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CoroCoro_Comic CoroCoro comics] when it came to video game coverage, and being able to use ''Famicom Shinken'' to provide coverage on the development of a brand new title would give Jump an unprecedented advantage. Torishima convinced the skeptical management of Shonen Jump to provide page space for the unreleased and experimental title in the magazine, using his authority as the editor of [[Akira Toriyama]] to assign the rising star artist to the project as chief illustrator. The game's title screen was designed by [https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E3%83%89%E3%83%A9%E3%82%B4%E3%83%B3%E3%82%AF%E3%82%A8%E3%82%B9%E3%83%88%E3%82%B7%E3%83%AA%E3%83%BC%E3%82%BA Kazuo Enomoto], also a Shonen Jump employee, who suggested adding the silhouette of the dragon to the logo due to being in the game's title and the importance of the beasts in the game's setting. As Enomoto did not know what an RPG was at the time, he used films as a point of reference and created a title screen that resembles a wide-screen lens to replicate the cinematic effect.

 

 

Dragon Quest 1 box.jpg|Famicom box art.

Dragon_Warrior_NES.png|NES box art.

DQ Famicom guide.png|Famicom guide.

Higuchi_Dragon_Quest.png|Adventure novel.

Shousetsu Dragon Quest.png|Novelization.

Dragon Quest Suite.png|Dragon Quest Suite.

DQI CD Theater.png|CD Theater.

DQ 4koma Gekijou Extra 9.png|4koma comics.

Dragon Quest NES Slime battle.png|Battle against Slime.

DQI iOS Android.png|iOS/Android.

DQI 25th Anniversary wallpaper.png|25th Anniversary wallpaper.

DW NES Characters.jpg|Characters. ({{NES}})

Adventure Time S6 Episode 30.png|Unnamed video game from ''Adventure Time'' S6 Episode 30 resembling the NES Version of ''Dragon Quest''.

{{DQI}}

{{Dragon Quest series}}