| In 1986, Enix Corporation (Enix) released Dragon Quest (commonly abbreviated as DQ) for Nintendo's Famicom (Family Computer). Some time before, Yuji Horii got together with Akira Toriyama and Koichi Sugiyama to create a game which could be enjoyed by everyone. Some previous role playing games (RPGs) were too complex or confusing; they also wanted to add a Japanese style to the game. The result was Dragon Quest. |
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Dragon Quest became so popular (each new game selling millions of copies) that people would not go to school or work to obtain a new game, waiting in long lines for hours. Because of this, the Japanese government passed a law stating that Dragon Quest games could only be released on a Sunday or holiday. |
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Enix also produced action figures, pencils, rulers, stuffed toys, virtual slime pets, wind-up toys, and other merchandise as well as TV series based upon Dragon Quest. The only way to understand the success of Dragon Quest in Japan is to look at the current Pokémon craze in North America. It is as of now the only thing which comes close to the impact Dragon Quest has had upon the Japanese and their culture. If you were to go to Japan, and ask someone to draw slime, it would look like an onion shaped creature. |
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Dragon Quest has competed with Final Fantasy for the honor of being known as the best RPG. Each new game would try to improve over the other series newest release.
Now, after having published sixteen Dragon Quests (Dragon Quest I - VII, I - III remix, I - III (GBC), and Dragon Quest Monsters 1 - 2), we await the release of the next Dragon Quest title. Enix has announced plans to develop for the PS2, and Nintendo of America hopes that Enix will develop software for their next generation console, the GAMECUBE. |
