Meta:Torneko's Great Adventure: Mystery Dungeon
| Torneko's Great Adventure: Mystery Dungeon | |
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| Information | |
| Developer(s) | Chunsoft |
| Publisher(s) | Chunsoft |
| Platform(s) | Super Famicom |
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| Version | 1.1 |
| Credits | |
| Director(s) | Tadashi Fukuzawa |
| Producer(s) | Koichi Nakamura |
| Designer(s) | Tadashi Fukuzawa Kazuya Asano Seiichiro Nagahata |
| Programmer(s) | Takenori Yamamori |
| Artist(s) | Akira Toriyama |
| Writer(s) | Kazuya Asano |
| Composer(s) | Koichi Sugiyama |
| Release date(s) | |
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| Additional information | |
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| File:Mystery Dungeon Franchise Wiki Logo.png | [[Mystery Dungeon Franchise Wik
i]] has an article on Torneko's Great Adventure: Mystery Dungeon |
Torneko's Great Adventure: Mystery Dungeon
(Japanese: トルネコの大冒険 不思議のダンジョン) is the first Mystery Dungeon game, and a spin-off game based on Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen. It was developed and published by Chunsoft for the Super Famicom in 1993.
The game features Torneko, a merchant first encountered in the third chapter of Dragon Quest IV, where he wishes to make his store famous by venturing through mystery dungeons so he could retrieve valuable items to stock in his store.
Gameplay
| " | The RPG that can be played thousands of times! 1000回遊べるRPG! |
„ |
| ~ Torneko's Great Adventure's tagline from the box art. The quote would be later used for many titles related to the Mystery Dungeon series. |
The gameplay is similar to roguelike-style PC games. The main similarity is the heavy use of randomized dungeons and effects. The main character of the game is Torneko, originally localized as Taloon in North America, a merchant and playable character from Dragon Quest IV. The player continues his story from Dragon Quest IV, where he wishes to make his store famous and ventures into mystery dungeons to retrieve items to stock in his store.
While Torneko explores the dungeons, he collects items and fights monsters, similar to the ones found in Dragon Quest games. If he leaves the dungeon, he can sell off the items he found. He can also equip certain items. By saving up money, he can improve his home and shop.
Development
Torneko's Great Adventure was developed by Chunsoft, the developers for the first five Dragon Quest games. It was the first game in the Mystery Dungeon series of roguelike games, of which over thirty have been produced, including five Dragon Quest spin-offs. Letting players explore a familiar setting was part of lowering the difficulty and attempting to broaden the appeal of the genre.
After the launch of the Super Famicom and finishing development for Dragon Quest V in 1992, Chunsoft ceased working on the Dragon Quest series and began working on other genres, now known as the Sound Novel and Mystery Dungeon series. The series was based on the 1980's game Rogue, which has spawned its own genre called roguelike. For a week, Koichi Nakamura, founder of Chunsoft and co-creator of the Dragon Quest series, played Rogue at the recommendation of a colleague, Seiichiro Nagahata, trying to understand the game's appeal, and concluded the high degree of challenge made the game very rewarding. Tasked with creating one of the first "rogue-like" games for the Super Famicom, a home console, instead of a computer, the team decided to use characters from a recognizable franchise in Japan. Nakamura initially asked Yuji Horii, scenarist and creator of the Dragon Quest series, for permission to use the Dragon Quest games as the template, including Torneko, the merchant from Dragon Quest IV, on which he was given permission soon after. Unlike today's game software development, as soon as Nakamura expressed his desire to work on this project, he started brainstorming without going through the approval process or budget, which resulted in an unclear work division. When he explained the system introduced in Rogue, which was used as a reference prior to development, there was considerable resistance from employees around him; as he talked about it, other staff members gradually gave in disagreeing with this idea.
One major change from the normal Dragon Quest game was the replacement of the hero, who normally had a grand mission to save the world, with the kind of person who would go hunting for treasure in dungeons. For this reason, Nakamura chose Torneko, the well-loved shopkeeper from Dragon Quest IV, imagining that he was exploring, looking for items to put in his shop. The "permadeath" featured in most rogue-like games, where the game starts over if the player character dies, was also softened so that the player does not completely start over, but becomes level one again and has a new dungeon to complete. Furthermore, music and sound effects were introduced in this game, which was not common in the roguelike genre at the time. It was published in 1993 and became the first video game to bear the "Mystery Dungeon" moniker. Koichi Nakamura conceived the series as Chunsoft's first original work.
Unreleased Official English Translation
- See also: Taloon's Great Adventure: Mystery Dungeon.
A PAL prototype originating from Germany was unearthed, proving that it was far in development. Its owner acquired it while working at Nintendo of Europe, in Germany. The same prototype was put on sale on eBay much later in 2022, including in-game screenshots and an official translation of the game now named Taloon's Great Adventure: Mystery Dungeon.
Plot
Torneko, a weapon merchant for hire, lives in Lakanaba with his wife, Nene, and son, Paolo. He has one dream: to own his own shop and make it the greatest one. As such, he sets out on a journey, searching for an iron safe and works on other various jobs, and finally opens a store thanks to the help of his wife. Soon after, Torneko hears a rumor that there is an amazing treasure in a mysterious dungeon that no one has ever seen. However, he is worried about the store and his family. Nene understands Torneko and decides to go alongside him to the "Mystery Dungeon". Torneko, his wife, and their son travel across oceans and mountains for years before finally arriving near the dungeon. Torneko sets up store near a single large tree in a new village near it.
Torneko tries to get permission from the King of the land to explore the dungeon, but he refuses to budge, saying it is too dangerous. Torneko, however, does not back down, and the King promises to give him permission only if he can retrieve the jewel box from the "Small Mystery Dungeon". Torneko brings back the King's jewelry box and gets permission to explore the "Mystery Dungeon". After successfully obtaining permission, Torneko immediately begins to venture into the dungeon, gradually expanding his store with the income he earns from selling the items he brings back from his repeated adventures. Finally, he succeeds in bringing back the "Box of Happiness"; a rumored treasure hidden in the dungeon's innermost depths. When he opens the box, a small melody begins to play, which reveals it functions as a music box. The box is displayed in Torneko's house, and the beautiful music makes everyone near Torneko's store, including his family happy. Thus, Torneko's goal of obtaining the treasure in the "Mystery Dungeon" was realized. While the story concludes here, Torneko continues to explore a new "More Mysterious Dungeon".
While it is unknown how many years went by between the events of Dragon Quest IV and this game, there is a continuing linear story thereafter; Torneko: The Last Hope happens half a year later, and Torneko's Great Adventure 3 seven years later.
Music
As with other games in the Dragon Quest series, the musical score for the game was written by Koichi Sugiyama. Sony Records released the soundtrack, titled Suite "Torneko's Great Adventure" ~Musical Chemistry~, on October 21, 1993 in Japan. It contains eight arranged tracks performed by a chamber orchestra, as well as three tracks containing original game music. The album was reprinted on October 7, 2009. Two pieces of music from the game were performed by the Tokyo City Philharmonic Orchestra at the Game Music Concert 3, the year of the game's release.
Release
The game was promoted with an exceptionally high-budget television commercial. It had a running time of 30 seconds (unusually long for Japanese commercials of the time) and consisted almost entirely of claymation footage filmed to run at 24 frames per second. Torneko's Great Adventure was released on September 19, 1993, exclusively in Japan, with a catchphrase that will be re-used throughout the series; "The RPG that can be played 1000 times".
Unofficial Translation
An English unofficial translation of Torneko's Great Adventure was published on May 24, 2004 by Magic Destiny.
Sales
While the game was not as popular as the mainline Dragon Quest series, it was well received with over 800,000 copies sold in total, only in Japan.
Gallery
- For this subject's image gallery, see Torneko's Great Adventure: Mystery Dungeon.
Super Famicom cover art.
In Other Languages
| Language | Name | |
|---|---|---|
| English | Torneko's Great Adventure: Mystery Dungeon
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| Japanese | トルネコの大冒険 不思議のダンジョン, Torneko's Great Adventure: Mystery Dungeon | |
| Korean | 톨네코의 대모험 이상한던전
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| Simplified Chinese | 特鲁尼克大冒险 不思议的迷宫
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See Also
| Dragon Quest Mystery Dungeon articles | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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References
- [1] Gameplay, Plot and Sales sections based on the Wikipedia page.