Square Enix has been making a push to promote the Dragon Quest series outside of Japan, which has resulted in an expanded port of Dragon Quest XI: Echoes an Elusive Age for the Nintendo Switch and the addition of Hero in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. The decision was made to release ports of the first three Dragon Quest games on the Nintendo Switch (rather than the more popular Zenithia trilogy which followed them) and all of them have been released for a budget price.

The first Dragon Quest is undoubtedly one of the most important games in the JRPG genre, having taken part in the early formation of the genre itself - but the port doesn't do it justice. While the game might be enjoyable to those with an appreciation for its historical context, its poorly aged gameplay and mangling of Akira Toriyama's artwork will make it a hard sell to anyone else.

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Still The Same Game, Basically

Dragon Quest tells the story of a nameless hero who must save the land of Alefgard from an onslaught of monsters that are plaguing the countryside. The hero needs to discover the hidden relics that will allow him to lay siege to the castle of the Dragonlord and reclaim the sacred Sphere of Light. The story is straightforward and is a holdover from a time when games only had limited room in which to weave a tale.

Dragon Quest Overworld Screenshot

The gameplay of Dragon Quest is also a throwback to the technical limitations of the 8-bit era. The hero fights alone, while only ever fighting one monster at a time. This means the hero has to fulfill a multitude of party roles on his own: he is the brawn, the caster, and the healer all in one while still being limited to a single move per turn. There are only a few different spells in the game, so the combat system isn't very complex compared to the later entries in the series.

Dragon Quest requires the player to explore several dungeons, some of which use a frustrating mechanic relating to darkness. If the player doesn't bring a torch to the dungeon (which is consumed upon use), then they will only be able to see in a small radius. This means that the player needs to take up slots in their inventory with torches until they learn the Glow spell, which makes the entire mechanic redundant.

Dragon Quest Erdrick's Tomb

The "Updated" Graphics

The biggest issue with Dragon Quest is the changes to the graphics. The overworld maps look fine, but the character models are low-effort sprites that look as if they were ripped from RPG Maker. These issues wouldn't be so bad if there weren't other ports of Dragon Quest that had better graphics, including one on the Super Nintendo.

The character sprites got off easy compared to the monsters in the game. Akira Toriyama's artwork is instantly recognizable and has been associated with the Dragon Quest series since the beginning, yet something terrible happened during the porting process that makes the monster graphics look like garbage. The monsters in the Nintendo Switch port of Dragon Quest look as if they were traced by a young child. What makes this even worse is that the mobile port of Dragon Quest has far superior sprites for its monsters.

Dragon Quest Dragon Battle

The one saving grace of the Switch port is the music, which is still as beautiful and stirring as it is was years ago and is in the other games in the franchise. The music in Dragon Quest is so good that the player might be left wondering why it's attached to such a cheap-looking game.

A Classic Better Left On The Shelf

The original version of Dragon Quest was a marvel at the time due to how it worked within the limitations of the Nintendo Entertainment System - but it's no longer 1986. As it stands, Dragon Quest is simply a short game and most of its puzzles involve visiting one of the few locations in Alefgard, some of them having extremely simplistic solutions. The port is pretty much the same title from 1986 - even with a few quality of life improvements regarding the menu, it hasn't aged well.

If Square Enix wants the Dragon Quest series to be a big hit outside of Japan, this isn't the game to do make it happen. It would have been better if Square Enix had released Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen, Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride, or Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Reverie instead, as those were the first true classics of the series. The original Dragon Quest is better left as a historical curiosity, an artifact of when the JRPG genre was taking its first bumbling steps. Only the small price tag on the port can justify a purchase, especially when its two superior sequels have also been launched on the same day.

2 Out Of 5 Stars

A review code for Dragon Quest was provided to TheGamer for this review. Dragon Quest is available now for Nintendo Switch.

Dragon Quest

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