Dragon Quest (ドラゴンクエスト), or Dorakuê (ドラクエ) as it is affectionately nicknamed, is an extremely popular series of electronic RPG games in Japan. Dragon Quest is probably the most popular Japanese RPG game in the country, considering that in the West, the Final Fantasy series tends to be better known.
The popularity of DQ is so great in the land of the rising sun that it is common to see dolls, advertisements, and items related to the franchise in various places and stores throughout the country. Countless children, young people, and adults are passionate about the games in the series, and it is hard to find a Japanese person who does not know or has not heard of Dragon Quest.
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History and Origin of Dragon Quest
Dragon Quest was created and designed by Yuji Horii (堀井雄二) back in the 80s, with its first version released in May 1986. It currently has an enormous number of spin-offs, books, mangas, animes, encyclopedias, dolls, plush toys, collector’s items, and everything you can imagine.
Counting from the original series (not including extra, special, and spin-off games), the game already has eleven versions, with the latest (Dragon Quest XI) released in 2017.
The first versions of Dragon Quest were present on Nintendo consoles in the 80s and 90s (up to around Dragon Quest VII) and later migrated to the more modern PlayStation 2 consoles (Dragon Quest VIII) and finally to the current Switch and PS4 (Dragon Quest XI). There are currently also versions for mobile and PC.
Millions of copies of the game have already been sold in Japan. Popularity grew considerably after the release of Dragon Quest III (one of the best in my opinion) and with the popularization of RPG games worldwide.
Because of this, the West adapted the first versions for Brazil and the USA using the name Dragon Warrior, to avoid possible confusion with games of the same name.
To give you an idea of the importance of this Square Enix franchise within Geek Culture and within Japanese society in general, the Japanese government even devised a plan to change the release date of DQ games, considering that many people were skipping work or school to play, and this was negatively impacting the country’s economy.
Slime: The Popularity of the Mascot
The character Slime has practically become the mascot of the game for being the only monster that appears in all editions. The design of the creature was based on a simple drop of water and pleases the Japanese due to the kawaii characteristic of the little creature.
In most versions of Dragon Quest, Slime is a weak monster, easy to defeat, and tends to appear frequently at the beginning of the journey. However, in later games, new types/species of Slime begin to emerge. Some of these Slimes that appear throughout the other games are stronger and give more experience points to the character.
The metal Slime, for example, is much rarer to appear and when it does, it is much more complicated to defeat it. Upon defeating this specific type of Slime, you are rewarded with a large amount of XP. Other Slimes are introduced throughout the series’ games, such as King Slime, Slime Knight, and Shell Slime.
The variety of subtypes that emerge throughout the infinite maps is astonishing, not to mention that this makes the game even more interesting and fun.
The character is also one of the favorites in terms of marketing, as seen by the amount of plush toys, dolls, backpacks, balls, slippers, food, and utensils characterized with the creature. The quantity is considerably large compared to products adorned by other monsters from the game.
The Excellent Soundtrack
Another incredible aspect of the series’ games is the beautiful soundtrack composed by Koichi Sugiyama. Below, you can listen to and appreciate the music composed by him:
Besides being extremely talented, Sugiyama is also known for being involved in controversies related to political opinions and is often considered a revisionist (someone who attributes different ideas about various historical events).
Currently, Koichi Sugiyama (椙山 浩一) is 89 years old and remains active. In fact, the composer is already working on the soundtrack for Dragon Quest XII, which will be released soon.
The Japanese composer and conductor is a very famous name in the musical and artistic field, having contributed not only to the soundtracks of Dragon Quest but also to the music of various animes, such as Cyborg-009.
The Dragon Quest Monument
In celebration of the 30th anniversary of the game, in 2017, Square Enix erected a monument honoring the overwhelming success that DQ achieved in the country. The monument is located in Hyogo, more specifically on Iwaji Island, the birthplace of Yuji Horii (the creator of the series).
If you have the opportunity to play at least one game in the series, you will not regret it, as it will surely be fun.
Dragon Quest Vocabulary
- ドラクエ = Dorakuê (nickname by which DQ is known in Japan);
- ドラゴンクエストIIIそして伝説へ… = Dragon Quest 3: And the legend continues (free translation);
- スライム = Slime;
- 冒険 (ぼうけん) = Adventure, risk;
- 大冒険 (だいぼうけん) = Great adventure;
- 魔王 (まおう) = Dragon king;
- オーブ = Orb;
- 魔物 (まもの) = Monster, creature;
- 道具 (どうぐ) = Tools;
- 呪文 (じゅもん) = Spells;
- 攻撃 (こうげき) = Attack;
- 装備 (そうび) = Equipment;
- 防具 (ぼうぐ) = Defensive armament;
- 鎧 (よろい) = Armor;
- たて = Shield;
- 服 (ふく) = Clothes;
- 薬草 (やくそう) = Medicinal Herb;
- 杖 (つえ) = Rod, cane, staff;
- 冠 (かんむり) = Crown;
- 闇 (やみ) = Darkness;
- 光 (ひかり) = Light;
- 王国 (おうこく) = Kingdom;
- 兵士 (へいし) = Soldier;
- 戦い (たたかい) = Fight, war;
- 闘い (たたかい) = Battle, fight;
- 剣 ( けん) = Sword;
Article Written by: João Victor Gadelha
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