dragon-quest posts(Subscribe to this feed)
Nintendo publishing Dragon Quest IX in North America
by JC Fletcher 
{ Feb 24th 2010 at 2:20PM } 
Square Enix previously said that it would consider localizing DQIX in its next fiscal year (beginning in April). Update: Nintendo has scheduled Dragon Quest IX for a summer 2010 release.
Dragon Quest VI remake approaches 1m Japanese sales in first week
by JC Fletcher { Feb 5th 2010 at 11:31AM }
A pair of other newly-released RPGs also did quite well: the PS3 version of tri-Ace's shooty-RPG End of Eternity (we call it "Resonance of Fate") landed in second place on the weekly software chart with 118,088 units sold (the Xbox version charted respectably at #8, selling 27,048 units) and Ar Tonelico 3 hit #4 with 81,633 copies sold. Even the Japanese release of MAG managed to make it into the top ten!
See the complete weekly top ten sales list after the break.
Dragon Quest Monsters Joker 2 to be Japan's next hit DS game
by JC Fletcher { Feb 1st 2010 at 3:48PM }
The new sequel, out April 28 in Japan, will feature over 300 catchable monsters and online multiplayer for up to eight people. And in a post-Dragon Quest IX Japan, with millions of people happily playing online, this game would seem to have a built-in audience.
[Via Andriasang]
Dragon Quest VI advertised in Japan by these guys
by JC Fletcher { Jan 25th 2010 at 5:15PM }
Check out the new ad after the break. Dragon Quest VI will be out in Japan this week, with a Western release to follow at some unspecified later date.
Square Enix introduces 'Ultimate Hits' line for DS in Japan
by David Hinkle { Jan 12th 2010 at 6:45PM }
Enter: Dragon Quest IX, Final Fantasy IV, Dragon Quest IV and Dragon Quest V, a line-up of games to be branded under Square Enix's 'Ultimate Hits' (partial machine translation) line of DS games. Square Enix is gearing up to re-release these games this March, at a discounted ¥2,940 (around $32). That's cheap, considering most DS games release there for around $50.
[Via Kotaku]
Dragon Quest VI trailer prepared in time for Jump Festa
by JC Fletcher { Dec 21st 2009 at 3:47PM }
Even 14 years after its release, we found ourselves occasionally wowed by the trailer. The boat went underwater! The covered wagon floats! The characters look like every other Akira Toriyama character! (The last one was a different kind of wow). By the time the traditional theme came up, we were thrilled about Realms of Reverie. Too bad it's only coming out in Japan on January 28, with its North American release at some unspecified later date.
[Via NeoGAF]
Trademark suggests upcoming European release for Dragon Quest IX
by JC Fletcher { Dec 3rd 2009 at 12:30PM }
Square Enix has filed a series of trademarks for the phrase "Sentinels of the Starry Skies" in English, French, Spanish, Italian, and German (search for trademark #008724528 on the EU trademark database to see the English application for yourself). The phrase corresponds closely to the Japanese subtitle of Dragon Quest IX, Hoshizora no Mamorubito ("Defenders of the Starry Sky").
The publisher could be waiting to get its other big RPG out the door before saying anything. It previously noted that if it does localize the DS game (which it will!) it'll be in the next fiscal year, which starts in April.
Dragon Quest VI arrives in Japan in January
by JC Fletcher { Nov 11th 2009 at 11:45AM }
Square Enix is planning to start 2010 off right in Japan: by selling a Dragon Quest game. The publisher announced that Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Reverie, the last of the planned DS remakes, will be out in Japan on January 28, just over a month after another big RPG franchise release. We can now attempt a guess at when the North American release will take place, given the release dates of the last two games.Dragon Quest IV came out in Japan in November 2007, and then in America in September 2008 -- ten months apart. Dragon Quest V was released in July 2008 in Japan, and February 2009 in North America, just seven months apart. Therefore, Dragon Quest VI will probably be released in America in ... spring 2010. That's when every game is coming out.
[Via Andriasang]
Dragon Quest VI: Screens of Reverie
by JC Fletcher { Oct 7th 2009 at 2:15PM }
At Tokyo Game Show 2009, Square Enix showed off the last in its trilogy of announced DS Dragon Quest remakes, Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Reverie, and now Famitsu has some new screens of the RPG. Unsurprisingly, it looks, graphically, just like the other two DS Dragon Quest remakes, also developed by Artepiazza.So why is it exciting? Well, for one thing, Dragon Quest games tend to be good. But most importantly, like Dragon Quest V, the Super Famicom version of Realms of Reverie never left Japan, and this DS version has already been announced for localization. North America will then finally have the whole numbered Dragon Quest series. Well, except for IX, but we can also be pretty sure that's coming.
Square Enix looking to develop more best-selling IPs
by Griffin McElroy { Sep 29th 2009 at 5:30PM }
So, where are these other five franchises going to come from? According to the interview, Square Enix is cooking up two or three potential blockbusters which should drop by late 2010 or early 2011. For the other IPs, the company may not need to look further than its recent Eidos acquisitions -- a haul which includes the recently successful Batman: Arkham Asylum. We certainly wouldn't mind seeing more of Bruce Wayne on a biennial basis.
[Via Siliconera]
NintendoWare Weekly: Dragon Quest Wars, Arkanoid Plus, Altered Beast
by David Hinkle { Sep 28th 2009 at 11:21AM } 
If you fall into the latter group, we'd just like to thank you for waking up this early to check out what's available for download today on the Wii and DSi. It's nice of you to do so considering you don't have any obligation to be up before noon. Boy, that must be nice. So head past the break and see what's available already!
ESRB: Dragon Quest Wars draws near
by JC Fletcher { Sep 14th 2009 at 4:00PM }
Dragon Quest Wars is a simplistic strategy game in which players control teams of four monsters, each trying to destroy the other teams or invade their bases (represented by a goal line). It's developed by Intelligent Systems, which makes it sort of a Nintendo/Square Enix collaboration. And it's got online multiplayer! It seems like a nice diversion while we wait to hear anything at all about Dragon Quest IX.
Square Enix 'considering' Dragon Quest IX localization sometime after April
by JC Fletcher { Aug 9th 2009 at 3:30PM }
In an investor Q&A session, president Yoichi Wada said that the company is "considering" releasing DQIX overseas, according to Siliconera's translation, and still deciding which regions will receive it. And when Square Enix does get around to it, the company doesn't plan to release it anywhere until after April 2010, the start of the company's next fiscal year.
The Dragon Quest series, obviously, isn't as major anywhere else as it is in Japan, but Dragon Quest VIII sold around half a million copies in North America, which seems, at least ... worth the trouble.
There are now 3.5 million Dragon Quest IX cartridges
by JC Fletcher { Aug 6th 2009 at 7:30PM }
Sales are currently at 3.39 million, so we're confident that the 3.5 million shipped copies will be out of stores soon enough, and within a couple of weeks we'll hear about the number hitting 4 million. Still no announcements about a release outside of Japan, however, presumably because ... actually, we have no idea why Square Enix isn't using this ridiculous popularity to promote an international release.
Square Enix expects to ship 5 million copies of Dragon Quest IX
by JC Fletcher { Jul 20th 2009 at 12:30PM }
Somewhat less conservative is the forecast Wada made last year, of ten million units. While we have absolutely no doubt DQIX will break a record or two in Japan with the combination of Dragon Quest-level initial sales and DS-style longterm sales, that still seems optimistic.
