Let's Play Dragon Quest: Side × Side: Introduction

Long ago, circa the mid-1980s, a man named Yūji Horii had a dream. That dream was to make the role-playing game genre that he loved more accessible to a general audience. You see, at that time the RPG catalog was mostly made up of games like Dungeons & Dragons, Wizardry, and Ultima, and while all of these were very good games, all of them were fairly difficult, and none were simple. So, with the help of Akira Toriyama as graphic designer and Kōichi Sugiyama as composer, he went about creating the legendary Dragon Quest! In doing so, he not only crafted a classic piece of electronic gaming which is still loved by fans today, but he also created a brand new sub-genre: the Japanese role-playing game, also known as the JRPG, without which many Western gamers may never have heard of RPGs at all. If Final Fantasy VII is the game that brought console role-playing to the West, then Dragon Quest is the game that created the door that it opened.

Now, this is one of my favorite games right here. It has graphics, it has sound, it has words, it has numbers—all very important to me as a player. Also, it was free. Yes, I was one of the many who obtained a copy of this game through the infamous Nintendo Power promotion. When I was 11 years old in '89 my brother and I rented Dragon Warrior (as it was known at the time), and we thought it was GAAAAWful. We made fun of everything about it—the Slimes, the battle theme, the Elizabethan English—nothing was sacred! But when the possibility of getting a free game popped up, we changed our tune:

"Mom, can you get us that Nintendo magazine? It comes with a free gaaaaaaaame~!"

"...I thought you didn't like that game?"

"But MAAAAWM, it's free! And maybe we'll like it better later!"

We did. Oh, yes. We did. But enough about that, I'm here today to tell you about what I'm going to be playing!

Dragon Quest
Famicom, MSX, MSX2—1986

Famicom

The original version of the game was released in three different forms simultaneously. The best known was for Nintendo's Family Computer, or Famicom (the equivalent of North America's NES). The other two releases were for the MSX computer system, a standardized computer architecture which was never released in North America; however, in Japan, Brazil, and most of Europe (except the UK) it did very well. One of those versions was for the original hardware, while the second was for the MSX2, an upgraded system. I'll be playing all three of these.

MSX

MSX2

Dragon Warrior
NES—1989

PRG0

By the time Dragon Quest finally came to North America three years later—that's a long time in video game years, even back then!—so many improvements had been made that it could almost be considered a remake rather than a simple localization. Dragon Quest III had been released in Japan already, and major graphical improvements had been made in the series, as well as a battery-backed RAM to save games in progress. However, the name was changed in the new region to avoid a trademark conflict with TSR, which owned the Dragon Quest name in conjunction with a Dungeons & Dragons board game.

PRG1

An interesting thing about this release is that there were two versions, called PRG0 (the original) and PRG1 (an updated version that replaced PRG0 sometime after release). The differences between them are extremely small—only four bytes, two of which can be seen in the screenshots here ("Trademark of Nintendo" as opposed to the less grammatical "Trademark to Nintendo"). The other two bytes govern pointers in the battle routine, leading to somewhat more sensible text. Due to their near identicalness, I'll be playing only one of these, the PRG1.

Dragon Quest I·II
Super Famicom—1993

The first true remake of the game came seven years after its initial release, in a multi-cart released on the Super Famicom (equivalent to the SNES). This version saw many upgrades and additions, including graphics, sound, game difficulty and balance, and the save feature from Dragon Warrior. It was never brought to North America, so apart from this, I don't know much about it since I've never played it through before. I'm looking forward to this one!

BS Dragon Quest
Super Famicom Satellaview—1998
This interesting addition to the Dragon Quest family was made for an add-on for the Super Famicom. What the Satellaview did was link the player to the St. GIGA satellite system, where one could download a game onto the Satellaview cartridge to play. This particular game was available in four one-hour episodes, each episode available for one week. Graphically it was the same as the Super Famicom version, but it included an orchestral score, along with voice acting for most characters. Unfortunately, none of that data exists within the downloaded game itself, but was streamed during play from the satellite; furthermore, since St. GIGA is no more, the best we can hope for is to find videos of the game as it once was. For that reason I won't attempt to play this version, but you can see some of how it was by watching kiddocabbusses's videos on YouTube.

Dragon Quest I·II/Dragon Warrior I&II
Game Boy Color—1999/2000

Japanese

Six years after the Super Famicom multi-cart, Dragon Quest I·II was remade again, this time for the portable Game Boy Color. The game content is basically the same as on the Super Famicom, although some NPC locations seem to be shifted around, but otherwise the only striking additions were an opening scene added to Dragon Quest I and a short sidequest added to Dragon Quest II. Color depth and screen resolution were both reduced, obviously.

North American

North America's first taste of a Dragon Quest remake came the next year, with the localization of the portable multi-cart. Changed once again to Dragon Warrior, many of the names we had become accustomed to were altered to match the original Japanese; gone was the Erdrick that we knew, replaced by the new and unfamiliar Loto! The translation was completely new for the most part, based on the revised script that had been in use in Japan since the Super Famicom release. I'll be playing both regional versions.

Dragon Quest Mobile
Mobile—2004
It seems that this game is somewhat difficult to get a hold of, even in Japan. From what I have read, it is only available for certain models of cell phones, and even then only from three specific carriers. For obvious reasons, I won't be playing this version.

Dragon Quest 25 Shūnen Kinen: Famicom & Super Famicom Dragon Quest I·II·III
Wii—2011
This compilation disc is the latest re-release of the early Dragon Quest games. The title translates as "Dragon Quest 25th Anniversary Commemoration," and it contains the Famicom and Super Famicom versions of the entire Loto Trilogy, along with bonus content. It hasn't even been released in Japan yet, and there is no word on a possible North American release, but here's hoping!

Finally, there are several unofficial versions that have been released. The Sharp X68000 and NEC PC-9801 computer systems each saw a port, in 1992 and 1994 respectively. There have also been many hacks and unofficial fan translations; the Super Famicom release has been translated into English several times, and the Famicom/NES versions have been translated into Chinese, French, German, Portuguese, and Swedish, and possibly more. I don't plan to play any of these for this project, but if asked I have no problem with checking any of them out for you! All in all, this is what I'll be playing, and the order in which I'll play them:

Let's Play Dragon Quest: Side × Side
System	Region	Year	Method
NES (PRG1)	(U)	1989	Emulation
MSX	(J)	1986	Emulation
MSX2	(J)	1986	Emulation
Famicom	(J)	1986	Emulation
Super Famicom	(J)	1993	Emulation
Game Boy Color	(U)	2000	Gamecube + Game Boy Player
Game Boy Color	(J)	1999	Emulation

So now that that's over with (phew!), I will very soon be closing down the poll to decide on my character's name. Once that happens, it's only a matter of time until I get to share my ultimate DQ experience with you! So grab your Bamboo Pole, strap on your Leather Armor, power up your HURT spell, and come with me—Let's Play Dragon Quest: Side × Side!