Dragon Quest previously published as ''Dragon Warrior'' in North America until 2005, is a franchise of Japanese role-playing video games created by Armor Project ( Yuji Horii), Bird Studio (Akira Toriyama) and Sugiyama Kobo ( Koichi Sugiyama) to its pu ...

'' is a series of

role-playing video game A role-playing video game (commonly referred to as simply a role-playing game or RPG, as well as a computer role-playing game or CRPG) is a video game genre where the player controls the actions of a character (or several party members) immers ...

s created by

Yuji Horii (also written as Yuuji Horii; born January 6, 1954) is a Japanese video game designer and scenario writer best known as the creator of the ''Dragon Quest'' series of role-playing games, supervising and writing the scenario for '' Chrono Trigger ...

, which are published by

Square Enix is a Japanese multinational holding company, production enterprise and entertainment conglomerate, best known for its ''Final Fantasy'', ''Dragon Quest'', '' Star Ocean'' and ''Kingdom Hearts'' role-playing video game franchises, among numerou ...

(formerly

Enix was a Japanese video game publisher that produced video games, anime and manga. Enix is known for publishing the ''Dragon Quest'' series of role-playing video games. The company was founded by Yasuhiro Fukushima on September 22, 1975, as . ...

). The first game of the series was released in Japan in 1986 on the

Nintendo Entertainment System The Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) is an 8-bit third-generation home video game console produced by Nintendo. It was first released in Japan in 1983 as the commonly known as the The NES, a redesigned version, was released in American ...

, and ''Dragon Quest'' games have subsequently been localized for markets in North America, Europe and Australia, on over a dozen

video game console A video game console is an electronic device that outputs a video signal or image to display a video game that can be played with a game controller. These may be home consoles, which are generally placed in a permanent location connected to ...

s. In addition to traditional role-playing games, the series includes

first-person adventure games First person or first-person may refer to: * First person (ethnic), indigenous peoples, usually used in the plural * First person, a grammatical person * First person, a gender-neutral, marital-neutral term for titles such as first lady and first ...

, portable games,

massively multiplayer online role-playing game A massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) is a video game that combines aspects of a role-playing video game and a massively multiplayer online game. As in role-playing games (RPGs), the player assumes the role of a character ( ...

s, and games for mobile phones. ''Dragon Quest'' is Square Enix's second most successful franchise internationally behind the ''

Final Fantasy is a Japanese science fantasy anthology media franchise created by Hironobu Sakaguchi and developed and owned by Square Enix (formerly Square). The franchise centers on a series of fantasy and science fantasy role-playing video games. The ...

'' franchise, having sold over 78 million units worldwide to date. It has been cited as Japan's most popular and favorite gaming series by many publications. The original game in the series, renamed ''

Dragon Warrior previously published as ''Dragon Warrior'' in North America until 2005, is a franchise of Japanese role-playing video games created by Armor Project (Yuji Horii), Bird Studio (Akira Toriyama) and Sugiyama Kobo ( Koichi Sugiyama) to its pub ...

'' outside Japan, was released in 1986 in Japan and in North America in 1989. ''Dragon Quest'' games are released in Japan and, until 2004's ''

Dragon Quest VIII A dragon is a reptilian legendary creature that appears in the folklore of many cultures worldwide. Beliefs about dragons vary considerably through regions, but dragons in western cultures since the High Middle Ages have often been depicted as ...

'', were later localized for the North American market under the ''Dragon Warrior'' title. That game was also the first main series game to be released outside Japan and North America. In addition to the 11 games released as part of the main (numbered) series and their many spin-offs and related titles, the ''Dragon Quest'' series has spawned many works in other media including anime, movies, novels and manga, and radio dramas. Many games, particularly the main series, have soundtrack album releases featuring their

music Music is generally defined as the The arts, art of arranging sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Exact definition of music, definitions of mu ...

in different

arrangement In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestr ...

s. Square Enix has also released companion books for its games, which provide additional

backstory A backstory, background story, back-story, or background is a set of events invented for a plot, presented as preceding and leading up to that plot. It is a literary device of a narrative history all chronologically earlier than the narrative of ...

and plot information, as well as detailed

strategy guide Strategy guides are instruction books that contain hints or complete solutions to specific video games. The line between strategy guides and walkthroughs is somewhat blurred, with the former often containing or being written around the latter. Str ...

s. The majority of the games and media related to the series have only been released in Japan, although the series began to see more international popularity beginning in the 2010s.

Video games

Main series

Spin-offs

''Dragon Quest Monsters''

, initially known as ''Dragon Warrior Monsters'' in North America, is a series of ''Dragon Quest'' games focused on capturing, breeding, and raising monsters to do battle, similar to ''

Pokémon (an abbreviation for in Japan) is a Japanese media franchise managed by The Pokémon Company, founded by Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures (company), Creatures, the owners of the trademark and copyright of the franchise. In terms of ...

'' games.

''Mystery Dungeon''

is a series of

roguelike Roguelike (or rogue-like) is a subgenre of role-playing game, role-playing computer games traditionally characterized by a dungeon crawl through procedural generation, procedurally generated level (video gaming), levels, Turns, rounds and time- ...

video games. There are several games in the series based on ''Dragon Quest'', as well as on other series such as ''

''.

''Slime''

is a series of ''Dragon Quest''

action-adventure The action-adventure genre is a video game hybrid genre that combines core elements from both the action game and adventure game genres. Typically, pure adventure games have situational problems for the player to solve to complete a story ...

games starring the

Slime Slime may refer to: Biology * Slime mold, a broad term often referring to roughly six groups of Eukaryotes * Biofilm, an aggregate of microorganisms in which cells adhere to each other and/or to a surface * Slimy (fish), also known as the pon ...

, a common enemy and mascot of the series.

''Monster Battle Road''

'' Dragon Quest: Monster Battle Road'' is a series of

arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated game machine ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware ** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board * Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games * ...

and video games focused on collecting real-life cards with monster data imprinted on them and using them to battle opponents.

''The Adventure of Dai''

A project focused on three games based on the 2020 anime adaptation of the '' Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai'' manga.

Video games

Main series

Spin-offs

''Dragon Quest Monsters''

''Mystery Dungeon''

''Slime''

''Monster Battle Road''

''The Adventure of Dai''

Other

Television and film

Books and manga

Music and soundtracks

Footnotes

References