Enix was a Japanese video game publishing company founded in September 1975 by Yasuhiro Fukushima. Initially a tabloid publisher named Eidansha Boshu Service Center, it ventured in 1982 into video game publishing for Japanese home computers such as the PC-8800 series, the X1 series, and the FM-7. Enix initially found games to release by holding contests for programming hobbyists and publishing the winners, with the first titles appearing in February 1983. Enix continued to hold contests and publish the winners through 1993. [1] When Enix moved into traditional publishing for video game consoles in 1985, it began with ports of two of its more successful games, Door Door (1983) and The Portopia Serial Murder Case (1983). From that point onward, Enix served as a publisher for both video games developed independently by other companies as well as for titles in franchises owned by Enix and created by licensed developers. Enix's flagship franchise was the Dragon Quest series of console games, developed primarily by Chunsoft; some of the games, such as Dragon Quest VII (2000), have sold millions of copies, and the series as a whole has sold over 85 million copies as of March 2022. [2] [3] [4] [ page needed ]
On April 1, 2003, Enix and Japanese video game developer and publisher Square merged to form Square Enix, with Enix legally absorbing Square. [5] Between 1985 and April 2003, Enix published 95 video games for 56 developers on 12 systems, 65 titles of which were exclusive to Japan. Only one game, King Arthur & the Knights of Justice (1995), was not released in Japan at all, with the remainder appearing in Japan as well as either the North American or PAL regions. Enix served as the Japanese publisher for all of the games released in that region that it was involved in with the exceptions of Paladin's Quest (1992) and Ogre Battle: The March of the Black Queen (1993), where it served solely as the North American publisher.
This list includes retail games published by Enix during its existence under that name after its transition from hobby programming contests to retail publishing in 1985. Only versions of the games that were published by Enix in at least some regions are included; some games have additional ports to other systems that were only published by Square Enix or other publishers. The release dates given are the earliest release of the game by Enix; some games may have been originally published earlier by other publishers in another region.
Symbol | Meaning |
---|---|
Yes | Published by Enix in this region |
SE | Published by Square Enix in this region |
Other | Published by a company unrelated to Enix in this region |
NP | Not published in this region |
Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past is a 2000 Japanese role-playing video game developed by Heartbeat and ArtePiazza, and published by Enix for the PlayStation. It was released in North America in 2001 under the title Dragon Warrior VII. The game received a remake on the Nintendo 3DS in Japan in 2013, released in English under the title Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past in 2016. A version of the game for Android and iOS was released in Japan in 2015.
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.
Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation, titled Dragon Warrior III when initially localized to North America, is a 1988 role-playing video game developed by Chunsoft and published by Enix. It is the third installment in the Dragon Quest series and was first released for the Family Computer (Famicom) in Japan and later for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in North America. The game saw an enhanced remake for the Super Famicom in 1996 and the Game Boy Color in 2001, and a port to mobile phones and the Wii in 2009 and 2011. A version of the game for Android and iOS was released in Japan on September 25, 2014, and worldwide as Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation on December 4, 2014. It was the first time the game was given an official English subtitle. Later in 2021, another remake of the game titled Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake, based on Octopath Traveler's style, was announced during the franchise's 35th anniversary livestream.
Torneko: The Last Hope is a 1999 role-playing video game for the PlayStation. The game was co-developed by Chunsoft and Matrix Software and published by Enix. In Japan, the game was ported to the Game Boy Advance in 2001.
Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies is a role-playing video game co-developed by Level-5 and Square Enix for the Nintendo DS. Published by Square Enix in Japan in 2009, and by Nintendo overseas in 2010, it is the ninth mainline entry in the Dragon Quest series. The storyline follows the protagonist, a member of the angelic Celestrian race, after a disaster in their home scatters magical fruits across the mortal realm. While carrying over traditional gameplay from the rest of the series with turn-based battles, the game is the first Dragon Quest entry to feature a customizable player character, and the first to include a multiplayer mode, with the option of trading treasure maps and loaning player characters through Nintendo Wi-Fi. Online functions ended in 2014 when it ceased operations.
Dragon Warrior Monsters 2, known in Japan as Dragon Quest Monsters 2, is a role-playing video game published by Enix for the Game Boy Color. It is the second Dragon Warrior Monsters game for the Game Boy Color and features two different versions of the same game, Cobi's Journey and Tara's Adventure. Both games were remade in 2002 for the PlayStation in a compilation game called Dragon Quest Monsters 1+2 and released only in Japan. The Nintendo 3DS version combined both games into one and was released only in Japan in 2014 with the title Dragon Quest Monsters 2: Iru and Luca's Marvelous Mysterious Key. The 3DS version was later brought to iOS, Android on August 6, 2020, in Japan.
Dragon Quest Characters: Torneko's Great Adventure 3 – Mystery Dungeon is the third game in the Torneko series. It is part of the Mystery Dungeon series and contains randomly generated dungeons and uses turn-based action combat. It is the third Dragon Quest spin-off game in Mystery Dungeon. The game was also made for the Game Boy Advance in 2004 as Torneko's Great Adventure 3 Advance.
Crystal Defenders is a set of two tower defense video games developed and published by Square Enix. The games use the setting of Ivalice and design elements from Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift, forming part of the wider Final Fantasy franchise. The games feature a selection of characters sporting Final Fantasy-based character classes, and play out tower defense scenarios against recurring series of monsters. The first game in the series is Crystal Guardians, which was released in three parts for Japanese mobile phones in 2008. It was adapted for iOS later that year as Square Enix's first game for the platform, and renamed Crystal Defenders. Under that name, the game was also released between 2009 and 2011 for Android, Xbox Live Arcade, WiiWare, and PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Portable via the PlayStation Store. It was re-released with graphical improvements for iOS as Crystal Defenders Plus in 2013. A sequel, Crystal Defenders: Vanguard Storm, was released for iOS in 2009.
Dragon Quest X: Rise of the Five Tribes Online, also known as Dragon Quest X Online, is a massively multiplayer online role-playing game (MMORPG) developed and published by Square Enix. It is the tenth mainline entry in the Dragon Quest series. It was originally released for the Wii in 2012, and was later ported to the Wii U, Windows, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, Android, iOS, and Nintendo 3DS, all of which support cross-platform play. Other than a discontinued Windows version in China, the game was not released outside of Japan. A single-player remake, titled Dragon Quest X Offline, was released in 2022 in Japan. It is also set to release in other Asian regions in 2024.
Dragon Quest Heroes: The World Tree's Woe and the Blight Below is a hack and slash game developed by Omega Force and published by Square Enix. It was released for PlayStation 3 and PlayStation 4 in Japan in February 2015, and in North America, Australia and Europe only for PlayStation 4 in October 2015. It was later released for Microsoft Windows in December 2015. The game received generally positive reviews, with a sequel Dragon Quest Heroes II being released in Japan during May 2016. Dragon Quest Heroes would later be released with the sequel in a compilation for Nintendo Switch in Japan.
Valkyrie Profile or Valkyrie is a series of role-playing video games created by Masaki Norimoto and Yoshiharu Gotanda, primarily developed by tri-Ace and published by Square Enix. The series is notable for featuring elements from Norse mythology.
Dragon Quest Builders is a 2016 sandbox action role-playing game developed and published by Square Enix for the PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Android iOS, and Microsoft Windows and published by Nintendo for Nintendo Switch.
Spike Chunsoft Co., Ltd. is a Japanese video game development and localization company specializing in role-playing video games, visual novels and adventure games. The company was founded in 1984 as Chunsoft Co., Ltd. and merged with Spike in 2012. It is owned by Dwango.
Our first Epic Center developer focus zooms in on King Arthur & the Knights of Justice from Enix. Manley & Associates is breaking ground with this game as the first American developer of a major adventure for Enix.