Dragon Quest (video game)

Dragon Quest
Box art of the original North American NES release, titled Dragon Warrior
Developer(s)	Chunsoft
Publisher(s)	JP: Enix NA: Nintendo
Director(s)	Koichi Nakamura
Producer(s)	Yukinobu Chida
Designer(s)	Yuji Horii
Programmer(s)	Koichi Nakamura
Artist(s)	Akira Toriyama
Writer(s)	Yuji Horii
Composer(s)	Koichi Sugiyama
Series	Dragon Quest
Engine	Unreal Engine 4 (HD-2D remake)
Platform(s)	Nintendo Entertainment System MSX MSX2 PC-9801 Super Famicom Satellaview Game Boy Color Mobile phone Wii Android iOS Nintendo 3DS PlayStation 4 PlayStation 5 Nintendo Switch Xbox Series X/S Windows
Release	May 27, 1986 Nintendo Entertainment System JP: May 27, 1986 NA: August 1989 MSX JP: 1986 MSX2 JP: 1986 Super Famicom JP: December 18, 1993 Game Boy Color JP: September 23, 1999 NA: September 27, 2000 Mobile phones JP: 2004 Wii JP: September 15, 2011 Android, iOS JP: November 28, 2013 WW: September 11, 2014 Nintendo 3DS, PlayStation 4 JP: August 10, 2017 Nintendo Switch WW: September 27, 2019 HD-2D Remake Windows, Switch, PS5, Xbox Series X/S WW: 2025[1]
Genre(s)	Role-playing
Mode(s)	Single-player

Dragon Quest,^[a] titled Dragon Warrior when initially localized to North America, is a 1986 role-playing video game developed by Chunsoft and published by Enix for the Nintendo Entertainment System. It was originally released in Japan in May 1986 and by Nintendo in North America in August 1989. It is the first game in the Dragon Quest video game series. Dragon Quest has been ported and remade for several video game platforms, including the MSX, MSX2, PC-9801, Super Famicom, Game Boy Color, mobile phones, and Nintendo Switch as of 2019. The player controls the hero character who is charged with saving the Kingdom of Alefgard and rescuing its princess from the evil Dragonlord. Dragon Warrior's story became the second part in a trilogy, with several spinoff anime and manga series.

Dragon Quest was created by Yuji Horii, inspired by previous role-playing games such as Wizardry, Ultima, and his own 1983 game The Portopia Serial Murder Case. Horii wanted to create an introductory RPG for a wide audience. He emphasized storytelling and emotional involvement, and simplified the interface, to translate the mostly Western PC game genre of RPG to the Japanese console market. Manga artist and Dragon Ball creator Akira Toriyama produced the artwork and Koichi Sugiyama composed the music. The North American version features numerous changes, including battery-backed RAM save games (rather than using a password save system), larger character sprites, and pseudo-Elizabethan English style dialog.

Dragon Quest was commercially successful in Japan, but its later release as Dragon Warrior in North America was less favorably received. The original version of the game sold more than 2 million copies worldwide, with 1.5 million sold in Japan and 500,000 in the United States. Later, Western critics noted the game's shortcomings but acknowledged its importance to the genre. It inspired fan-made ROM hacks with substantial changes. The game's synthesized soundtrack has been orchestrated, and its music has been performed at numerous concerts. As a whole, Dragon Quest has been credited with establishing the basic template for subsequent Japanese console RPGs.

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