The Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai franchise is making a comeback and Square Enix has announced that three games based on the series are currently in development.
Dragon Quest is best known for its video games, but there have been several successful anime and manga based on the series in Japan. Dragon Quest: The Adventures of Dai was a manga that ran in Weekly Shonen Jump that was published from '89 to '96, was adapted into a forty-three episode anime series and spawned three animated features. While being relatively unknown in the west, Dragon Quest: The Adventures of Dai was a huge success in Japan and is one of Weekly Shonen Jump's best-selling series of all time. Dai was recently given a publicity bump in the west when he was added to Jump Force as a playable character, which was likely to introduce the character to international fans, as a new anime based on the series is currently in development.
Square Enix has just held a livestream discussing three new video games based on Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai. According to Famitsu, the first is a mobile title called Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai - o Daibouken Soul Bond, which will be released in 2021. The second one is an arcade title that likely won't leave Japan, called Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai - Xross Blade, which is due to be released this year. Xross Blade requires the player to use cards in order to play the game and physically move them across a screen to determine the positions of each character.
The last game is Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai - Infinity Strash, which is an action RPG that wouldn't look amiss on the Sega Dreamcast. The strangest thing about the presentation is that the platform for the game was "undecided", which means that Square Enix isn't ready to reveal what systems Infinity Strash will be available for.
Xross Blade isn't likely to be released outside of Japan, but there is a good chance that Soul Bond and Infinity Strash will be localized, especially if there is a positive reception to the upcoming remake of the Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai anime.
Source: Famitsu