50 Fun Facts About Dragon Quest

Who created the Dragon Quest series and has written its scenarios since 1986?

He discovered Wizardry at AppleFest '83 after winning an Enix programming contest.

Which Dragon Ball creator designed the series' characters and monsters?

Horii knew him through the pages of Weekly Shōnen Jump.

Who composed the music for most of the series until his death in 2021?

He was already famous for TV jingles and pop songs when Enix hired him.

Under what name was the series published in North America until 2005?

A tabletop role-playing game already owned the Dragon Quest trademark in the US.

Why was the series renamed for its early North American releases?

The pen-and-paper DragonQuest was published by SPI and later TSR until 1987.

In which year was the first Dragon Quest released in Japan?

It came out on May 27 and reached North America in August 1989.

Which company originally published the series before merging with Square?

The 2003 merger created Square Enix and finally brought the games to more markets.

How many main-series Dragon Quest games had been released by the end of 2025?

The twelfth was restarted from scratch in 2026 as Beyond Dreams.

Which small blue monster became the series mascot?

Horii said it took real artistic power to turn a pool of slime into a great character.

Which two Western RPGs did the original game borrow its core concepts from?

Horii took Ultima's full-screen map and Wizardry's battle and stats screens.

What is the legendary hero of the first three games called in the Japanese versions?

He is Erdrick in English; the first three games form the Erdrick, or Loto, trilogy.

Which kingdom did the legendary hero free from darkness?

The first game's hero is his descendant, marching on the Dragonlord's castle.

What is the correct chronological order of the first three games?

The prequel twist is why the original III refuses to let you name the hero Erdrick.

Which name will the original Dragon Quest III refuse to let you give the hero?

It would spoil the reveal that III is a prequel; the Game Boy Color remakes block Loto instead.

What is the floating castle that links Dragon Quest IV, V and VI?

Horii says the trilogy label came from players' imaginations, not design.

Which travelling merchant from Dragon Quest IV got his own roguelike in 1993?

He wants to fill his shop with rare items from mysterious dungeons.

Which long-running Chunsoft series began with that 1993 roguelike about a merchant?

It grew well beyond Dragon Quest, including Pokémon spin-offs.

Which collectible, shaped like a gold coin with a five-pointed star, debuted in Dragon Quest IV?

Horii wanted something to collect without making it a requirement to finish the game.

In most games, where must players go to save their progress?

NES translations called them Houses of Healing; in the first game you saved by talking to a king.

What does the party lose when it is wiped out in battle?

You warp back to the last save point and must pay a priest to revive the others.

Which recurring gag service, named for a Japanese onomatopoeia, was cut from some US versions?

Later games replaced the text descriptions with visual gags.

Which game was the first released outside Japan under the series' real name?

It was also the first main-series game released in Europe.

Which main-series entry was originally released only on the Nintendo DS?

It sold over a million copies outside Japan.

Which entry was scheduled for North America but cancelled amid rumours Enix had quit the US?

It finally arrived in the West as a Nintendo DS remake.

What was the announced subtitle of the twelfth game before development was restarted in 2026?

The rebooted version was unveiled as Dragon Quest XII: Beyond Dreams.

Which Monopoly-inspired board game series folds in Dragon Quest characters from its second entry?

A later version added Final Fantasy characters, and later still Mario.

Dragon Quest Heroes borrows its hack-and-slash gameplay from which Koei Tecmo series?

It launched in Japan in February 2015 and came West as a PS4 exclusive that October.

Which manga, one of the best-selling ever, began as a one-shot called Gush! Gulp!?

Riku Sanjo and Koji Inada's series ran 37 volumes and got anime adaptations in 1991 and 2020.

Which studio produced both anime adaptations of the Dai manga?

The first ran 46 episodes from 1991; the second aired from October 2020 to October 2022.

Which 1989 DIC cartoon used the Dragonlord as a recurring villain?

His home world was called Dragon's Den.

Which company dubbed the first 13 episodes of Legend of the Hero Abel into English?

It aired under the series' old North American name and was dropped because of its early time slot.

How long did Sugiyama say it took him to compose the original opening theme?

He credited his years of writing TV commercial jingles.

How did Sugiyama first come to Enix's attention?

Producer Yukinobu Chida called to check he was really the Sugiyama from television.

Which orchestra performed many of the series' Symphonic Suite recordings?

Early Dragon Quest concerts inspired Nobuo Uematsu's Final Fantasy scores.

In Famitsu's 2006 readers' poll of the best games ever, which entry placed highest, at third?

VIII was fourth, VII ninth and V eleventh.

Roughly how many copies had the series sold worldwide as of March 2022?

Dragon Quest VII was the biggest single release, with over four million sold in Japan.

How many cartridges did the third game sell in Japan in a single day in 1988?

It reached three million in a week; IV later sold out 1.3 million in an hour.

Roughly how many schoolchildren were arrested for truancy while queuing for the third game?

The episode spawned an urban myth that Japan banned weekday game releases by law.

On which day of the week was every Japanese entry released until the tenth game?

X broke the streak on Thursday, August 2, 2012.

What is the name of the Dragon Quest-themed eatery opened in Tokyo's Roppongi district in 2009?

Its food is inspired by items and monsters from the games.

Which live-action TV drama, first aired in 2011, was inspired by the series?

A sequel series followed the next year.

Which Google service got a Dragon Quest-style "NES version" as a 2012 April Fools' hoax?

It used graphics and music based on the series.

Which Dragon Quest piece was the first music played at the opening ceremony of the Tokyo 2020 Olympics?

The series was also the first video game franchise to get a live ballet adaptation.

How many protagonists share the single "Hero" slot in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate?

Eleven, Arusu, Solo and Eight are functionally identical.

In Dragon Quest XI, the hero is chosen by which world tree?

He saves Erdrea from Calasmos and is granted the title of Erdrick.

Besides Cockney, which British slang dialect turns up in the series' 21st-century English releases?

The localisations lean on regional British voices for flavour.

At which 1983 event did Horii first discover Wizardry?

The trip was the prize for an Enix programming contest that assembled the team.

Which Enix mystery game did Horii, Nakamura and Chida release before Dragon Quest?

Sugiyama was so impressed by it that he sent Enix a postcard of praise.

Why did Horii choose the Famicom over arcades for his RPG?

He wanted to introduce the genre to a wider Japanese audience.

Dragon Quest IV's "Tactics" AI system is seen as a precursor to which Final Fantasy XII feature?

Dragon Quest V's monster recruiting likewise inspired later monster-collecting RPGs.