What, you thought I’d forgotten my threat promise to post NES content every stinking day this month? That I’d give you a break just because we published a sneak peek for the next issue? You only wish you could be so lucky!
This is one of the more carefully researched pieces I put together for GameSpite Quarterly 5; it was based on a whim to debunk the weird notion many people have that Dragon Warrior was so insanely successful that Nintendo Power whipped up extra copies to give away in celebration, or something. Dragon Warrior didn’t do very well, which is why it was given away for free. The thrust of this piece is really to explore why it didn’t succeed… which of course all comes down to speculation and guesswork. Fat lot of good that research did me. Ah well.
As for myself, I dutifully asked for a copy of the game the first Christmas it was on sale, so I wasn’t part of the problem! And despite the game’s problems, I really enjoyed it. I remember getting to the point at which I rescued the princess… and realized the game was just beginning, unlike every other NES game, where the point was to rescue the princess. You guys don’t care because you’ve played Final Fantasy to death, and Square totally ripped that idea off. But in 1989, that was some mind-blowing stuff, for serious.
this game changed my life. i am what i am because of dragon warrior 1, dragonlance, and civilization, which i all discovered simultaniously, all at the same friend’s house one summer.
“Had Nintendo skipped the original game and started with the second, the franchise probably would have fared much better in the States.”
I’m wondering why they didn’t try releasing part 3 here first, given that it was a prequel.
“Here in the U.S., we had Wizardry, Ultima, The Bard’s Tale, Might and Magic, Quest for Glory, S.S.I.’s Gold Box games, and countless other examples showing us just how deep and expansive the genre could be.”
The thing is that, in the U.S. at the time, RPG gamers were not the same as console gamers. RPG gamers either played the D+D board game stuff or on computer. That’s why you’ll notice that there weren’t many ports besides those titles you mentioned.
“but most of all for being a rare instance where Nintendo got it wrong.”
Well, that, and disowning RPGS entirely until Pokemon, in spite of the fact that Final Fantasy made money for them.
But I think DQ’s real problem was that it came out back when gamers were becoming more interested in grittier fare like Contra and Bad Dudes. And it’s kind of tough to take seriously when the enemies don’t look very threatening. That’s partly why Final Fantasy took off better here, I think. Had the edgy atmosphere DQ didn’t. So I’m guessing the reason the series has only “caught on” here recently is that RPGs have become less user-friendly as of late, while DQ retains the basic mechanics anyone can get into. Though it still baffles me why Enix of America did not cash in on Chrono Trigger’s success by localizing the S-Famicom games in the series.
I admit I was a bit stunned to hear this game wasn’t a huge success. But, then, my perception of the early RPG market is a bet eschewed, due to the heavy RPG fandom of my older brother that purchased most of our games back then. I was fascinated with Dragon Warrior, but never really enjoyed playing it myself. I tried DW4 some years later, and again, it was decent, but didn’t do too much for me at the time. But by then, I think 16-bit RPG’s had set my sensibilities so that the simple style of the early RPG’s would be ruined for me for some time. Still, I remember holding a Dragon Warrior manual in my lap and converting the monsters pixel-by-pixel from it into PC drawings.
So I couldn’t help but notice that the last screenshot was taken from the tool-assisted speedrun. More publicity for us!
I was just about to comment on how great it was to end with the “put DragonLord to sleep strategy” shot. …and now it suddenly occurs to me to wonder whether you can do it in DQIX. I may have to try it.
The Dragon Quest series still doesn’t get enough attention. Would it kill people to, I don’t know, forgo one extra playthrough of Pokemon?
I recently played and beat this game for the first time and liked it alot.
I think where they went wrong was in renaming it Dragon Warrior. “Warrior” sounds too strong, too much like Wizards & Warriors, Golden Axe, etc.
For what it’s worth, DQVIII did manage to become a ‘Greatest Hits’ title in the US. Granted, it came with a demo of that wacky FFXII, but still, it seemed like gamers received it with more enthusiasm than apathy.
Ditto with DQIX. The series has reached ‘moderate success’ here in the US, and that’s probably its peak. Better than free copies bundled with a gaming rag, though. At the very least, those two past games received much more hype and fanfare than DQVII ever did.
As for this first game, it’s pretty sluggish and unplayable by today’s standards. Parish pointed out a key to its failure: Phantasy Star. Not that that game was so popular, either, but it’s just a testament to how utterly outdated DQ1 was when it arrived here.
Yeah, I generally try to take all our images from HG101 and VGM, since Kurt and Rey have been kind enough to offer them to us ad infinitum, but I saw that that Dragonlord screenshot and just had to steal it.
Yeah. The remake versions are the only way to go.
The sequels had some crazy price tags. I remember seeing DW2 for like $59.99 (or was it $54.99?) when it came out.
Parish, I think you have outdone yourself with today’s pun. Perhaps you should stop now; it would be like quitting after winning the superbowl. Also, I love me some Dragon Warrior I, II, and III. Couldn’t get in to IV–the switching perspectives thing totally threw me.
I’ve always been a Dragon Warrior/Quest guy. Much more than Final Fantasy, although I greatly enjoyed them as well. It was really my first exposure to RPGs, and while the game isn’t all that deep, it was certainly something unseen to that point for the NES.
Dragon Warrior III and IV were incredible, though. I was very nervous about the chapter-style progression going in, but it turned out to be a high point of the game. And I’ll take those over the original Phantasy Star any day of the week, but that may be because I wasn’t exposed to PS until emulation became mainstream, and didn’t get an actual copy until around five or ten years ago (it’s all fuzzy in my head).
Dragon Warrior II actually comes quite close to the quality of Final Fantasy, although it’s missing the insanely fun class system. I remember my quest to actually find the game, and my elation upon doing so at a local salvage store, on a night where I didn’t really want to stop but my brother insisted. Guess I should thank him profusely for that.
Dragon Warrior II had balance issues, including a squishy wizard who wasn’t wizard enough (needed more spells).
I think more people would have a stronger impression of the series had they been exposed to III and/or IV earlier on. Too bad those arrived over here after the SNES hit, and both were going for the same price as many SNES games.
Anonymouse- Well, Earthbound came out before Pokemon. And the reason that Enix didn’t publish its other games was because its American branch was dead! Square published Chrono Trigger in the US, and Enix would NEVER let Square publish one of their games.
I really like how FF has Loto’s grave in the game, which I take to mean that Sakaguchi wanted FF to murder DQI. :)
It really is a testament to the quality that Sega use to put out that the first Phantasy Star aged real well compared to the first few Dragon Quests and Final Fantasys in terms of mechanics.
Secondly it’s just strange that no one can seem to market Dragon Quest here in the states. Enix asked what the fans wanted with DQ3(GBC) and people wanted a more anime feel. Square Enix asked what fans wanted going with the DS releases and people wanted a more European feel.
But neither of these helped in terms of sales. Personally I love the GBC versions of 1,2, and 3 as it feels like they got it right and they didn’t need gimmicks.
I really hope with DQ10 they go back to a more straight forward translation.
Refa: “Well, Earthbound came out before Pokemon.”
Yeah, but that was more like a “We need something to keep people playing the SNES while we work on the N64” kind of deal, not a “Final Fantasy VI/III and Mana made money, so maybe we can cash in, too!” plan. When you think about it, it was probably real ego-bruising to have your flagship franchises cede market share to a lazy collect-a-thon like Pokemon-even moreso than losing out to that CD add-on which became its own system. Then you have to turn Link into a friggin’ Saturday Morning cartoon which wasn’t of the “excuse me, Princess” variety, just to keep that audience interested in your next console which also ends up lagging behind a Playstation.
“And the reason that Enix didn’t publish its other games was because its American branch was dead!”
I heard they *wanted* to publish DQ5. And they did get out part 7 before they went under. It’s just that DQ7 failed because certain nameless reviewers had it in for the graphics along with the PSX ports of Lunar, even though they looked roughly the same as the Wonderswan/PSX reboots for FF1+2. I’m guessing they were also the ones who loved Kane + Lynch.
“Square published Chrono Trigger in the US, and Enix would NEVER let Square publish one of their games.”
Yeah, I see the irony.
ecco: Disagree. Graphically, Phantasy Star looks better than DQ and FFI, but it’s a lot more ancient in its gameplay.
They died out well before they got out part 7…then came back. Offices were closed in the mid 90s somewhere.
Also:no, there is no irony there, Alanis.
Hugh: “Also:no, there is no irony there, Alanis.”
What happened to Enix of Japan again?
I got my NP subscription copy of Dragon Warrior and I played through it, but on replays I’ve never been able to maintain interest long enough to get past the first set of stairs. That said, the real fatal flaw of the old DQ games was their inability to look good in screenshots.
An overused game nerd joke draws near! Command?
I can’t remember if I actually bought Dragon Warrior 1 for the NES or had the Nintendo Pravda version. But I know I bought 2-4. 1 was an OK game but pretty simplistic. 2 was better but still flawed and limited. I feel that of the NES Dragon Warrior/Quest games 3 had the best gameplay and 4 had the best story.
Aside: I wonder if the computer-controlled party members in 4 were a reaction to the Defend-Cancel trick in 3.
“And they did get out part 7 before they went under. It’s just that DQ7 failed because certain nameless reviewers had it in for the graphics.” As I’ve stated before the biggest problem I had with 7 was how tedious it was to play especially compared to the Final Fantasy games or other RPGs on the PlayStation.
“Secondly it’s just strange that no one can seem to market Dragon Quest here in the states.” I think the problem is that most people expect something a little different from an RPG. I think the problem with Dragon Quest is the design of its gameplay systems. I really think the Enix part of Square Enix should look at how Square does the same thing in what I feel is a more user-friendly manner. I feel there’s a way to make a game that is as accessible as Final Fantasy but still feels like a Dragon Quest game.
“As I’ve stated before the biggest problem I had with 7 was how tedious it was to play especially compared to the Final Fantasy games or other RPGs on the PlayStation.”
Compared to Legend of Legaia, it’s a breeze.
“I really think the Enix part of Square Enix should look at how Square does the same thing in what I feel is a more user-friendly manner.”
They did with part 8, and then decided to go back to the drawing board.
Anonymous – I did not know that. I haven’t played 8 or 9.
Ah, yes… I must’ve seriously played through this game four or five times, and even after having discovered 16-bit RPGs it held me captive in its own weird little way. The last time I played it, though (about a year ago), it felt so incredibly grindy… once you know where everything is, the sheer amount of leveling you had to do was absurd. DW2 improved this somewhat, and by DW3, the series had attained a balance where leveling was the natural consequence of exploration.
Now if only the sixth game would come out in the states so I could play the series in order…
“I really think the Enix part of Square Enix should look at how Square does the same thing in what I feel is a more user-friendly manner.”
“They did with part 8, and then decided to go back to the drawing board.”
Apart from the updated graphics, I don’t see how DQ8 had more user-friendly features than previous games. The GUI menu and voice-acting were only added to the NA/EU release of the game.
Also, Enix (Square Enix) plays a minimal role in actually developing the DQ games. SE has one studio that assists Yuji Horii and his own team (Armor Project) and an external development studio (Level 5, Chunsoft, etc.) in making DQ games, so SE doesn’t really have much to say in terms of specific gameplay ideas.
Besides, Dragon Quest is primarily a Japanese series, and is tailored foremost to a Japanese audience. There really is no need for Yuji Horii to make the DQ series more Final Fantasy-like, because they already sell better than the FF series in Japan.
“What happened to Enix of Japan again?”
Enix absorbed Square in Japan, then shutdown Enix America and made Square USA the current Square Enix office in North America.