Longtime fans of the Dragon Quest series must be happy, because the games are finally getting widespread recognition outside of Japan. Much of that is thanks to the Hero appearing in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. His reveal inspired the same "Who?" reaction that Marth did so many years ago in Melee. And we know how well Fire Emblem is doing these days. As Dragon Quest hopefully picks up the same momentum, I volunteered to review the recently-released Nintendo Switch port of Dragon Quest III. Getting to the end left me with one big question: Who the heck is Erdrick?
Origins Of Erdrick
The Dragon Quest series got its start in Japan with an NES RPG. The original game told the fairly basic story of a young man who goes on a quest to stop the evil Dragonlord from conquering the realm. Part of his journey involves finding weapons and armor left behind by Roto, a hero of old. The English translation of the game would change "Roto" to "Erdrick." In Dragon Quest II, the heroes are descendants of Erdrick. Dragon Quest III rounds out the trilogy by having you become Erdrick, which you learn is more of a title than a given name. Still, Erdrick is the name that stuck for the character, and is used whenever he appears or is referenced in later Dragon Quest games.
The Game Boy Problem
Here's where my confusion began. Sometime after the initial NES release, Enix (not yet merged with Square) re-released the Erdrick trilogy on Game Boy Color. Apparently the Game Boy Color screen was too small to comfortably fit the text, leading to certain changes. The biggest of these was changing Erdrick's name to "Loto." It seems like this was meant to evoke the original Japanese "Roto" but with an "L" for some reason.
The Game Boy Color ports were my introduction to Dragon Quest. For many years I would remember my time finding Loto's Sword in Dragon Quest and being named Loto at the end of Dragon Quest III. So when I played the review copy, and read fellow writer Scott Baird's reviews of Dragon Quest I & II for Switch, I had no idea why Erdrick was suddenly the hero's name. Turns out I was the one using a weird, offbeat name this whole time.
He Goes By Erdrick Now
Since Erdrick's legend started the Dragon Quest franchise, his name pops up repeatedly throughout the series. The next instance for English-speakers would be in Dragon Quest IX. In that game, the translation returned to using the name Erdrick. In the most recent game, Dragon Quest XI, the main character is bestowed the title of Erdrick. So it seems Erdrick is the way of things now, and Loto was just a phase Enix went through for a brief time.
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