Dragon Warrior for NES got me into JRPG’s. In some ways it’s the perfect minimalist 2D JRPG. You are the hero, you save the princess, battle the Dragonlord and save the kingdom. There is level progression, random monster battles, and a big (for the time) world to explore.
NOTE: they changed the name to Dragon Quest after the NES era games came out in the US.
It’s still one of my favorite games and I’m currently replaying it again on my RGB30 (emulator handheld). I’ve even gone so far as to try and remake the game myself in DragonRuby (vids on YT if you’re curious).
So I was beyond excited at this week’s Nintendo Direct when not only did they show off the progress made on the Dragon Quest 3’s HD2D remake (Octopath Traveler style), but then they announced they were remaking Dragon Quest 1 and 2 in the same style!
Dude, this is freekin great! I love those games, so it’s pretty much a day one purchase for me.
Now why am I telling you this? First, it’s because those games are great games if you are into JRPG’s of any sort. But that’s not my big reason…
I want to highlight a game company doing right by their customers and fans. The other week I wrote about why the modern game industry is broken (and it still is), but I want to also point out when something awesome happens.
Square-Enix continuing to support the Dragon Quest games and lovingly create new games as well as keeping the one games alive via remakes is awesome. AND, they aren’t screwing it up with a pile of microtransactions and nonsense. It’s just quality games you can buy and enjoy.
So, while a lot of the gaming world is falling apart right now, there are a few bright spots. I’d count the Dragon Quest series as one of them (for me at least).
The other kind of similar surprise for the Nintendo Direct was the Marvel vs. Capcom fighting game collection announcement. I played so much MVC2 on Dreamcast back in the day, I’m stoked to get a chance to play that again (even if I’m only mediocre on a good day).
Anyway, at least there’s a few cool games to look forward to!
-Brian