Dragon Quest, previously published as Dragon Warrior in North America until 2005, is a series of role-playing games created by Japanese game designer Yuji Horii, character designer Akira Toriyama, and composer Koichi Sugiyama and published by Square Enix. Since its inception, development of games in the series have been outsourced to a plethora of external companies until the tenth installment, with localized remakes and ports of later installments for the Nintendo DS, Nintendo 3DS, and Nintendo Switch being published by Nintendo outside of Japan. With its first game published in 1986, there are eleven main-series games, along with numerous spin-off games. In addition, there have been numerous manga, anime and novels published under the franchise, with nearly every game in the main series having a related adaptation.
Enix Corporation was a Japanese multimedia publisher who handled and oversaw video games, manga, guidebooks, and merchandise. It was founded in 1975 by Yasuhiro Fukushima as Eidansha Boshu Service Center, initially as a tabloid publisher and later attempting to branch into real estate management. Beginning in 1982, Enix began publishing video games. Three notable early collaborators were designers Yuji Horii and Koichi Nakamura, and composer Koichi Sugiyama. Horii, Nakamura and Sugiyama would all work on the 1986 role playing video game (RPG) Dragon Quest for the Family Computer; one of the earliest successful RPGs for consoles, it spawned a franchise of the same name which remains Enix's best-known product.
Dragon Quest II: Luminaries of the Legendary Line, titled Dragon Warrior II when initially localized to North America, is a role-playing video game developed by Chunsoft and published by Enix in 1987 for the Nintendo Entertainment System as a part of the Dragon Quest series. Enix's U.S. subsidiary published the American release, Dragon Warrior II, for the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1990. Dragon Quest II is set one hundred years after the events of the first game.
Slimes are a fictional species of slime monster in the Dragon Quest role-playing video game franchise. Originally inspired by the game Wizardry to be a weak and common enemy for the 1986 video game Dragon Quest, Slimes have appeared in almost every Dragon Quest game since. Their popularity led to the appearance of many varieties of Slimes, including boss characters, friendly allies, and even emerging as the protagonist of their own spinoff series. Slimes have also appeared in other video game properties, including Nintendo's Mario and Super Smash Bros. series of crossover fighting games.
V Jump is a Japanese shōnen manga magazine, focusing on manga as well as video games based on popular manga. The magazine's debut was in 1990 by Shueisha under the Jump line of magazines.
Torneko is a character in the 1990 video game Dragon Quest IV, one of its heroes. He also appears as the star of multiple games in the Mystery Dungeon series, being used for the first entry to make the series more appealing by using a recognizable brand. He is among the most recurring characters in the Dragon Quest series.
Kazuhiko Torishima is a Japanese publishing executive and former manga magazine editor, who is currently serving as an outside director at Bushiroad. He formerly worked at Shueisha, where he began as an editor in 1976, before becoming a senior managing director (CEO), and later a Shogakukan-Shueisha Productions director. When he moved to Hakusensha in 2015, he first served as president, then representative director, before taking on the role of advisor. He began working for Bushiroad at the end of 2022.
Dragon Quest: Your Story is a 2019 Japanese 3D CG anime film based on the Dragon Quest series of video games, adapting the storyline of the 1992 video game Dragon Quest V. It was released in Japan by Toho on August 2, 2019, with an international release on Netflix on February 13, 2020.
Bianca, Nera, and Debora are three female characters in the video game Dragon Quest V. Where Bianca and Nera were introduced in the 1992 Super Famicom release of the game, Debora was introduced in the 2008 Nintendo DS release. They are all three major characters in the game, with their significance depending on which of the three the protagonist marries. Bianca is the protagonist's childhood friend, while Nera and Debora are sisters whom he becomes acquainted with later in life. Whomever is chosen, the protagonist will marry them before eventually giving birth to two children, with whom they work together to defeat the main antagonist, Grandmaster Nimzo.
Malroth, known in Japan as Sidoh, is a character in the video game Dragon Quest II. He is its final boss, though he is rarely mentioned and never seen until he is fought at the end of the game. His boss battle was notable for its difficulty, particularly due to his use of the spell Fullheal, which recovered his health points in full. His design was created by Akira Toriyama. He also appears as a main character in the game Dragon Quest Builders 2 as a young man with no memories, assisting the protagonist in surviving and rebuilding a world, while grappling with strange voices and his inability to create things. His appearance in Dragon Quest Builders 2 earned positive reception, praised for enhancing the game and creating heartfelt moments in the game.
Puff-puff is an onomatopoeia that conveys a woman's breasts being rubbed in someone's face. It was first created by Akira Toriyama, creator of Dragon Ball and lead artist of Dragon Quest, having it featured in both. In Dragon Quest, it appears in multiple games as a service a character may receive. It has been featured in a non-sexual way in Dragon Quest as well through methods such as having two Slimes being used to simulate the act, or by swapping the performer for a man, which has been criticized for lacking consent by critics. It has been routinely censored in the Dragon Quest series in English until Dragon Quest XI. Multiple video games in other series include the puff-puff scene or make references to it, including 3D Dot Game Heroes, Yakuza: Like a Dragon, Final Fantasy XIV, and Dragon Ball Xenoverse.
Psaro is a character in the 1990 video game Dragon Quest IV. He is the primary antagonist of the story, leading a charge to wipe out humanity for the sake of demons, particularly due to his infatuation for an elf named Rose, who suffered under humans. He wishes to find and kill the human prophesized to one day defeat him, which causes him or his minions to come into contact with one or more of the multiple main heroes of the game who later come to support the prophesized hero in their quest. He comes to assume the form of Psaro the Manslayer after a tragedy pushes him to the brink. A sixth chapter was added to the PlayStation version that expands Psaro's story and features him as a playable character. He is also the protagonist of the 2023 game Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince. His design was created by Akira Toriyama. Psaro has been generally well received, praised as a tragic villain and for the multiple forms he goes through in the battle against him.
Alena is a character in the 1990 video game Dragon Quest IV, one of its main characters. She is the star of the second chapter, going out to explore the world and become a strong warrior with her retainers Kiryl and Borya, before discovering her kingdom wiped out. She later joins with the protagonist of the game in their quest to defeat the leader of the monsters, Psaro, and save the world. Her design was created by Akira Toriyama, and she is voiced in Japanese by Shoko Nakagawa. She is a fan favorite Dragon Quest IV character, noted as a strong female character by multiple critics, one from RPGFan noting how rare this was on the NES.
The Hero is the protagonist of Dragon Quest V. He starts out the story as a child, the son of Pankraz, who suffers through various tragedies before growing up, getting married, and having children. Unlike previous Dragon Quest protagonists, he is not a Legendary Hero, instead being a monster tamer, a mechanic added due to the popularity of Healie from Dragon Quest IV. He was created by Yuji Horii and designed by Akira Toriyama. He appears in other works, including the film Dragon Quest: Your Story. The Hero has received positive reception, with critics commenting on how impactful his tragic life was and how iconic a design he had.
Enix's role-playing video game Dragon Quest IV (DQIV), features eight permanent player characters in the Nintendo Entertainment System version, and nine in the PlayStation and Nintendo DS versions. The chapter structure of DQIV results in a new set of characters being controlled in each chapter; it is not until the fifth chapter that the Hero becomes the controllable protagonist.
Ladja is a character in the 1992 video game Dragon Quest V. He is one of the primary antagonists, responsible for the death of the Hero's father, Pankraz, and the subsequent enslavement of the Hero. He is the minion of the game's final villain, Grandmaster Nimzo. He was designed by Akira Toriyama and created by Yuji Horii, who aspired to create a villain who spanned multiple generations and who would ultimately be defeated in the end. He also appears in the film Dragon Quest: Your Story as an antagonist, which is based on the story of Dragon Quest V. He has received generally positive reception, with critics noting his superiority as the game's antagonist to his master, Nimzo, as well as noting how sadistically he treats the Hero and his father.
Healie, also known as Hoimin is a character in the 1990 video game Dragon Quest IV. He is a Healslime, a variant of the Slime monster from the series, who aspires to become a human, joining the warrior Ragnar McRyan in his quest to rescue kidnapped children from minions of Psaro. In promotional media for the franchise, he has been portrayed by Kanna Hashimoto.
Ragnar McRyan, known in Japan as Ryan is a character in the 1990 video game Dragon Quest IV. He is one of multiple characters who assist the game's Hero in their battle against the monster Psaro. He stars in chapter 1, allying with the monster Healie to rescue children kidnapped by Psaro's minions. He was the first playable character in the NES version of the game. He has appeared in multiple other games, including the Itadaki Street and Dragon Quest Heroes series.
Maya and Meena are two characters in the 1990 video game Dragon Quest IV. Maya is a dancer and Meena a fortune teller. The two are sisters who set out on a journey to avenge their father's murder. They appear as the lead characters of the fourth chapter, and join the Hero in the fifth chapter to defeat the monster Psaro. They were created by Yuji Horii and designed by Akira Toriyama, and have been the subject of praise for both their designs and concepts, particularly Meena's use of tarot cards as weapons and Maya's beauty. The music played for the pair has also received praise, with critics identifying folk music and Middle Eastern music inspirations for their theme.
The Hero, also known as Loto in Japanese and Erdrick in English, is the protagonist of the 1988 video game Dragon Quest III. Unlike previous Dragon Quest protagonists, this Hero can be male or female, though fans criticized the lack of differences between the two gender options. They are the child of Ortega, who went missing after seeking out the villain Baramos. The Hero assumes this quest on their 16th birthday. The male Hero appears in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as a playable character as part of a character called "Hero," alongside the heroes of Dragon Quest IV, Dragon Quest VIII, and Dragon Quest XI. They are a silent protagonist save for one line, which was not well-received by fans. The lack of differences between the male and female Hero received criticism as well, leading to efforts to improve this in Dragon Quest IV. The Hero has been identified as an iconic Hero, with multiple critics identifying their design as a foundational one, citing the protagonist of the light novel Maoyu as an example.
