Meta:Dragon Quest (series)

Dragon Quest (Japanese: ドラゴンクエスト), formally published as Dragon Warrior in North America until 2005, is a series of Japanese role-playing video games made by Yuji Horii, with the first game released on May 27, 1986. Square Enix, previously known as Enix, are the franchise's main publisher for a variety of video game platforms. 39 years after its debut, it is the all-time best-selling video game series in Japan if not considered as a cultural success in the country, and enjoys increasing worldwide popularity through a stronger international marketing push with the merger of Enix and Square.

Each game in the main series of games it titled with the name Dragon Quest followed by a roman numeral. Since 1986, which marked the release of the first game, Dragon Quest has so far featured 11 games within the main series, as well as several spin off games. It has also featured two animated productions.

Name change

Dragon Quest's North American name was changed due to a trademark conflict with the role-playing game DragonQuest, which was published by veteran wargame publisher SPI in the 1980s until the company's bankruptcy in 1982 and purchase by TSR, which then published it as an alternate line to Dungeons & Dragons until 1987. In 2003, Square Enix registered the Dragon Quest trademark in the United States, and has since not marketed any product under the Dragon Warrior name since the North America 2005 release of Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King. This change has affected only one title in the Mystery Dungeon series, being World of Dragon Warrior: Torneko: The Last Hope.

Related to the Mystery Dungeon series

Before it would happen, Chunsoft has contributed in the development of the five first mainline titles. After the company stopped working on the mainline series and collaborate with Enix, it would be later in 1993 when the Dragon Quest franchise received its first roguelike game in Japan, known as Torneko's Great Adventure: Mystery Dungeon, on Super Famicom.

Chunsoft developed a Super Famicom game that included Torneko, known as Taloon back then, a character that first appeared in Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen. The roguelike game Torneko's Great Adventure: Mystery Dungeon continues Torneko's story from Dragon Quest IV as he attempts to make his store famous, venturing into mysterious dungeons to retrieve items to stock his store with. The game was successful in Japan. The direct sequel, Torneko: The Last Hope, was later released in Japan in 1999, and the United States in 2000. The gameplay is similar to the first game, though Torneko: The Last Hope is considered easier to play. The game sold enough copies in Japan to allow development of the second direct sequel on the PlayStation 2, titled Torneko's Great Adventure 3: Mystery Dungeon. The second and third Torneko games have had remakes for the Game Boy Advance. A later game featured Yangus, a character who first appeared in Dragon Quest VIII; Dragon Quest: Young Yangus and the Mysterious Dungeon follows Yangus on his adventures before he meets up with Eight, the Hero in the aforementioned game. The success of Torneko's Great Adventure spawned the Mystery Dungeon series that has grown to include franchises beyond Dragon Quest, as well as other clones. This includes an indirect sequel that would later become its own original series in 1995, Mysterious Dungeon 2: Shiren the Wanderer.

Games

See also: Dragon Quest Mystery Dungeon.

There are a total of six Mystery Dungeon games that crossed over with the Dragon Quest franchise; four on console and two on mobile phones. Since 2009, only one game was able to receive an official release in the west, being World of Dragon Warrior: Torneko: The Last Hope only in North America. The other games have remained in Japan due to the series' popularity in Japan at the time.