Dragon Warrior
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For information about the game series in general, see Dragon Quest.
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| Developer(s) | Enix |
| Publisher(s) | JPN Enix NA Nintendo of America |
| Release date(s) | JPN May 27, 1986 NA August, 1989 |
| Genre(s) | Role-playing |
| Mode(s) | Single player |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: E (Everyone) (GBC) |
| Platform(s) | NES/Famicom, MSX, Super Famicom, Game Boy/Game Boy Color (hybrid cartridge) |
| Media | 640-kilobit NES cartridge (NA) 512-kilobit Famicom cartridge (JP) GBC/SFC/MSX cartridges |
Dragon Warrior, the first game in the Dragon Quest series, hence also known as Dragon Quest, was developed by Enix (now Square Enix) and released in 1986 in Japan for the MSX and the Nintendo Family Computer ("Famicom"). 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 DragonQuest. The North American version of the game was improved graphically over the Japanese original, and it added a battery backed-up save feature, whereas the Japanese version used passwords. Nintendo was impressed with the Japanese sales of the title and massively overproduced the cartridge[citation needed]; the end result was that Nintendo gave away copies of Dragon Warrior as an incentive for subscribing to Nintendo Power. It was re-released along with Dragon Warrior II in a compilation known as Dragon Warrior I & II for the Super Famicom and the Game Boy Color. Dragon Quest has recently been released on cellular phones.
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[edit] Plot and setting
[edit] Plot
A villain by the name of Dragonlord has kidnapped the princess of Tantegel and an artifact called the Orb of Light (also known as Ball of Light). Eventually the hero who is a descendant of the legendary Erdrick has emerged and has vowed to rescue the princess and defeat the Dragonlord.
[edit] Setting
Dragon Warrior takes place in a country called Alefgard.
[edit] Characters
The Warrior: The silent protagonist, referred to as "you" in the instruction manual and throughout the game since the player dictates the name of the hero. Little is known about the hero besides his ancestry, being of the bloodline of Erdrick. The only hints of personality for the character are a somewhat forced relationship with Princess Gwaelin and the yes or no answers the player can select to certain questions proposed by certain characters throughout the game.
The Dragonlord: A powerful and evil sorcerer who has caused a rising tide of evil throughout Alefgard. He rules from Charlock castle to the east, where surrounding swamps and a destroyed bridge to the mainland have rendered his castle inaccessible. Inside Charlock a complex maze of turns and monsters further protects his throne. The Dragonlord's origin is unclear but his motives are to enslave the world with his army of monsters.
[edit] Reception
Dragon Quest was wildly popular in Japan, and became the first in a series that now includes eight games, with several spin-offs, including Dragon Quest Monsters. The release of Dragon Quest is regarded as a foundational milestone in the history of the console RPG, a popular genre that also includes the Final Fantasy series. Seemingly primitive by today's standards, Dragon Quest features one-on-one combat, a limited array of items and spells, and only five towns and five dungeons. Nevertheless, it was successful financially and well received by many fans.
[edit] Development
[edit] Differences between versions
In Japan many characters, locations, and spells had different names. In Japan Erdrick was originally called Roto (or Loto), King Lorik was called King Lars, Princess Gwaelin was known as Laura, and the Dragonlord was known as King Dragon. Tantegel castle was called Ladutorm Castle, Brecconary was called Ladutorm town, Garinham was called Galai, Kol was called Maira, and Cantlin was called Mercado. Charlock Castle was not named in the Japanese version. Spells generally had nonsense names, but the term for the heal spell, Hoimi, became the official term for heal in Japan. The Game Boy Color release of Dragon Warrior in North America had a more accurate translation of many character and town names.
In the Game Boy Color remake Dragonlord's name was changed to DracoLord, and Erdrick is now known as Loto. Several conveniences were added, such as a vault for storing gold and items, and a streamlined menu system. Monsters yield more experience and gold after being defeated to reduce the amount of time needed to raise levels and save up for purchases.
The Super Famicom remake was marketed exclusively in Japan due to the absence of Enix America Corporation, but it was unofficially translated into English and Spanish through emulation by online fan translation group RPG-One in 2002. The Game Boy Color version is based on the Super Famicom version.
Loto's Sword is used during an optional boss fight in Final Fantasy XII and is also the prize for winning said battle. This also marks the first time the mix of Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest has happened in the light of both Square and Enix merging to be noticed in the western world. (Technically speaking, the crossover has happened a few time previous in a set of board game video games which were only available in Japan.) In the United States, however, Erdrick was referenced as early as the original NES Final Fantasy, where one of the tombstones in Elfland reads, "Here lies Erdrick." (The Japanese version reads, "Here lies Link." This is a reference to the Legend of Zelda series.)
[edit] Trivia
A free game pack was given away to new subscribers of Nintendo Power during a short promotion cycle.
The characters were designed by Akira Toriyama
Story written by Yuji Horii
[edit] Soundtrack
As with every Dragon Quest, Koichi Sugiyama composed the music and directed all the associated spinoffs. The Dragon Quest I symphonic suite was bundled with the Dragon Quest II symphonic suite and a disc of original compositions called Dragon Quest in Concert. List of Dragon Quest I tracks:
- Overture March (3:59)
- Château Ladutorm (3:25)
- People (3:36)
- Unknown World (2:07)
- Fight (2:12)
- Dungeons (3:40)
- King Dragon (3:08)
- Finale (2:40)
[edit] References
[edit] External links
- A Dragon Warrior I shrine at RPGClassics
Categories: Articles with unsourced statements | Articles lacking sources from September 2006 | All articles lacking sources | 1986 computer and video games | 1989 computer and video games | Dragon Quest games | Game Boy Color games | Game Boy games | Mobile phone games | MSX games | Nintendo Entertainment System games
