Dragon Warrior

Dragon Warrior

NES - USA - 1st Edition.

Developer Chunsoft Publisher Enix Published 1986-05-27 Platforms MSX, MSX2, NES Genres Role-playing game Themes Adventure, Fantasy Series Dragon Quest Distribution Commercial

Dragon Warrior is a fantasy role-playing video game developed by Chunsoft. It was first published by Enix in Japan as Dragon Quest on 1986-05-27 for the Famicom, then later that year for the MSX and MSX2. The game later published by Nintendo in the USA in August 1989 on the NES after being reworked and localized. It was later ported to SNES, Game Boy Color, Android and iOS. It is the first game in the Dragon Quest series and marks the first traditional style RPG published on the Famicom. It was followed up by Dragon Warrior II.

In the game's story, the evil Dragonlord has stolen a sacred relic from the kingdom of Alefgard plunging the land into darkness which has allowed monsters to kidnap Princess Gwaelin. King Lorik has sent many brave men to retrieve the relic, but none have returned. You are the last hope to defeat the monsters of the realm, rescue the princess, and vanquish the Dragonlord to return light to the kingdom.

Personal

Own?	Yes. NES USA loose cartridge.
Won?	Yes. Maxed out character.
Finished	Early 1990s.

Around 1990, my mother bought my siblings and I Dragon Warrior and River City Ransom at a garage sale, and I found both games to be a lot of fun. Although, by today's standards, Dragon Warrior is a pretty dull game, I still spent a lot of time playing it at home and at my cousin's house. I remember my religious aunt being very concerned about us playing it, especially considering it had a "warlock" in it. My brother and I played the game, grinding for many hours, until one day he told me that he beat the game. I used our shared character to grind more until I maxed out the experience, gold, and hit the level 30 cap. After that, I beat the game too.

Review

5	5	4	6	4

Best Version: NES

— This section contains spoilers! —

Good

• The cartoon monster graphics are drawn fantastically by Akira Toriyama.
• Even with the game's rather poor audio driver, the music is quite good. Enix was wise to hire Koichi Sugiyama, a professional, to compose their music.
• In the NES port, the player sprite graphic changes when he's holding a sword, shield, and the princess, which is a nice touch.
• Showing the evil Charlock Castle surrounded by swamp in the distance is a nice way of letting the player imagine how awful it's going to be long before they can actually reach it. Although, it creates a serious plot hole: doesn't Alefgard have boats?
• I like the reveal in the final battle.
• The game has three different endings, based on whether you accept the Dragon Lord's offer, and whether you have rescued Princess Gwaelin. And it's a pretty good cut scene for 1986.

Bad

• There isn't much to do in the game. If grinding wasn't necessary, you could talk to every NPC, collect every item, traverse every map, and beat the game in about a twenty minutes.
• The combat is very primitive. You only ever control one hero, you only ever fight one monster, and your actions are limited to fight, spell, item, and run. However, if given the choice between combat that is too complex or too simple, I prefer too simple.
• Even with only a handful of items in the game, the designer's still managed to make a few of them effectively useless including the Fighter's Ring, Cursed Belt, and Necklace of Death.
• The save-the-princess trope was pretty played out, even in 1986, and it's embarrassing now. Especially since you have to literally carry Gwaelin all the way back to the castle (are her legs broken?). Finally, she professes her love to you simply because you rescued her.
• The game only has a single role-playing element (a decision to make) at the very end, and it's entirely predictable.
• The game caps your level at 30, preventing you from getting especially powerful.

Ugly

• The game is painfully grind heavy. The designers would need to make enemies reward about 10 times more gold and experience than they do in order to make the game bearable by today's standards.
• The Japanese original has a sex worker which is inappropriate for game targeting kids.

Media

Box Art

• 

  Famicom - Japan - The original art really fits the game's cartoonish style. It depicts Erdrick's descendant fighting The Dragonlord in his revealed form (although the player won't know it yet).

• 

  MSX - Japan - Same art and logo, just on a larger white field.

• 

  MSX2 - Japan - Same art and logo, just on a larger black field.

• 

  The North American box art is much more heroic and grown up, and while Erdrick's descendant is spot on, the dragon's head looks more like an insect. Over all, I prefer the American box art.

Documentation

• 

  Manual - Japan.

• 

  Manual - Japan - Translated.

• 

  Manual - USA.

• 

  Strategy guide - Adventure Guide.

• 

  Strategy guide - Explorer's Handbook.

• 

  Strategy guide - Strategy Guide.

• 

  Map - Poster.

• 

  Map - Monster guide.

• 

  Coming soon in The Official Nintendo Player's Guide.

Maps

• 

  Alefgard, clean map.

• 

  Alefgard, with labels.

• 

  Monsters.

• 

  Tantegel Castle.

• 

  Brecconary.

• 

  Erdrick's Cave.

• 

  Garinham.

• 

  Garin's Grave.

• 

  Swamp Cave.

• 

  Mountain Cave.

• 

  Kol.

• 

  Rimuldar.

• 

  Shrines.

• 

  Hauksness.

• 

  Cantlin.

• 

  Charlock Castle.

• 

  Alefgard, Original Japanese version.

• 

  Alefgard, MSX version.

Screenshots

• 

  Battling a slime.

• 

  Using palette swaps to show damage and make unique monsters.

• 

  Reaching the level cap.

Graphic Sheets

• 

  Characters.

• 

  Map Tiles.

• 

  Monsters.

• The fonts from the MSX2 and NES ports are in the video game font collection.

Fan Art

• 

  Fan art by Zac Gorman.

• 

  Comic by Zac Gorman.

Videos

Review - NES Works.

Review - What's So Great About Gaming?

Longplay.

Play Online

Famicom, MSX, MSX2, NES

Representation

Strong female character?	Fail	Princess Gwaelin is a damsel in distress and reward who doesn't even need to be rescued. The other women are nameless NPCs.
Bechdel test?	Fail	Women never talk to each other in the game.
Strong person of color character?	Fail	There are no people of color.
Queer character?	Fail	There are no queer characters.

Titles

The title was changed from the Japanese "Dragon Quest" to "Dragon Warrior" in the USA because TSR sold a fantasy RPG called "DragonQuest," and Enix feared a lawsuit. Enix continued calling the American sequels "Dragon Warrior" until 2004 when they started using "Dragon Quest" for all regions.

Language	Native	Transliteration	Translation
English	Dragon Warrior
Japanese	ドラゴンクエスト	Doragon Kuesuto	Dragon Quest

Links

               

• thealmightyguru.com/Reviews/DragonWarrior/Index.html - My old Dragon Warrior site.
• crpgaddict.blogspot.com/2019/12/game-349-dragon-warrior-1986.html - CRPG Addict.