Games - Dragon Quest

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	Games - Dragon Quest

Dragon Quest (Japanese: ドラゴンクエスト), known as Dragon Warrior in North America until the 2005 release of Dragon Quest VIII, is a series of role playing games created by Enix, now Square Enix. Installments of the series have appeared on the MSX, Famicom (NES), Super Famicom (Super Nintendo), Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance, PlayStation, and PlayStation 2 video game consoles, as well as on several models of mobile phone. As of 2005, the Dragon Quest series has sold over 35 million units worldwide.

Dragon Quest's North American name change was necessitated due to a trademark conflict with the role-playing game DragonQuest
, which was published by veteran wargame publisher SPI in the 1980s until the company's bankruptcy in 1982 and purchase by TSR, which then published it as an alternate line to Dungeons & Dragons
until 1987. In 2003, Square Enix registered the Dragon Quest trademark in the US, signalling the end of the Dragon Warrior name.

Overview

During the mid-1980s, Dragon Quest was created by Yuji Horii. The series monster and character designs were by famed Dragon Ball manga artist, Akira Toriyama. Most of the music for the Dragon Quest series has been composed by Koichi Sugiyama.

The series is extremely popular in Japan. Following the release of Dragon Quest III in 1988, the Japanese Diet requested that Enix only release new installments of the Dragon Quest series on Sundays or holidays, to prevent children from skipping school to wait in line for the latest Dragon Quest title.

The official mascot of the Dragon Quest series is the Slime. A Slime is a small blob with a face, shaped like an onion or Hershey's Kiss. It has appeared in every Dragon Quest game and it is usually one of the first monsters you encounter (usually the Blue Slime). There are several varieties of Slimes in the Slime family, including the King Slime which is formed by a group of Slimes merging into one. The Slime's popularity has netted it a spinoff, Slime MoriMori Dragon Quest.

The games themselves feature a number of religious overtones: bishops are often seen wandering around the overworld of Dragon Warrior Monsters and have the ability to heal. In Dragon Warrior VII, the Demon Lord, otherwise known as the Devil (known as Orgodemir in the game), is the final boss, and there is also a sidequest to fight God himself.

Dragon Quest is such a cultural phenomenon in Japan that there are live-action ballets, musical concerts, and audio CDs based on the Dragon Quest universe. The London Philharmonic Orchestra has performed for several Dragon Quest music albums.

Outside Japan

Dragon Quest is not nearly as successful outside Japan, having been eclipsed by Final Fantasy
and other RPG series. Due to Enix America's closure, Dragon Quest V and Dragon Quest VI were never officially released in North America. In Europe, none of the games except Dragon Warrior Monsters have seen release. The lack of official localizations for Dragon Quest games has inspired many fan translation projects. Completed fan translation projects include: the Super Famicom remake of Dragon Quest I & II, Dragon Quest V, and Dragon Quest VI

The first four Dragon Warrior titles suffered from substantial censorship in their North American localizations, largely in keeping with Nintendo of America's content guidelines, which placed severe restrictions on religious iconography and mature content. Both graphics and text were edited, replacing coffins with ghosts, crucifixes with five-point stars, and "Priest" with "Healer," to name but a few. However, the graphics, sound and menus of the first two games were given an upgrade for their American release.

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Dragon Quest ]

Games - Dragon Quest

Overview

Outside Japan

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