Dragon Quest Review for NES & Famicom 1986 

the artbook for this series is my most precious possession.

This game hits me hard with the nostalgia bug. I’m an old man, so I first played it in 89, when it was the only real JRPG out there. It blew me away, and I grinded the heck out of it.

That Japanese manual is so slick

I love Dragon Warrior I. I remember in elementary school talk to my friends about how far they had come in the game and comparing notes. I have always like turn-based RPGs since then.

Sadly, I probably never would’ve played this game if my cousin hadn’t given it to me as a birthday present back in 1990. I surprisingly ended up loving it and it’s undoubtably one of my favorite NES games.

I got the NES version free as a bonus for subscribing to Nintendo Power as a kid. To this day, it's STILL the best free gift I've ever received from any company. I remember checking the mailbox every day for weeks until it arrived stuffed in a giant padded envelope and I played it for months. Loved it so much. Thanks for the excellent review, hit me right in the nostalgia spot.

RIP Toriyama.

I got Dragon Warrior free with Nintendo Power and it was life changing 😀 I loved it.

This is awesome, I (Gabe) have always wanted to play the early Dragon Quests! Dragon Quest 8 is one of my favorite games of all time. Great review, I love looking at the manual!

"Will thou take me to the castle?" NO "But thou must..."

"I love thee, HPRshred..." 🧡

Yuji Horii allegedly wanted an RPG (or a trilogy) more causal and tutorial-ish than what was already out in the market, and he provided everyone with this. While this game is archaic in today's POV, it sure did its job when it came out. I bet it still can work as an entryway for a person who never played an adventure/RPG video game throughout their life and who isn't too fond of getting bombarded with information until they get used to.

Ultima is the grand daddy of all!

Great review mate! Will be watching your DQ2 video next and checking out some of your other content as well. Very entertaining, insightful, and knowledgeable. Thanks for stopping by during my live stream as well, hope to see you back some time.

"but thou must..." Not sold on playing it in Japanese, thou I must, the instruction booklet sure looks like a blast to go through and to keep it open close by when playing.

Found ya after your post on Reddit! Good stuff, subbed!

Dragon Warrior was still pretty awesome in 1989.

Playing this at 4 years old.... The demon knight gave me nightmares.... Yes it still does

Played through the SFC remake yesterday and i really liked it! Looking up stuff from the manual instead of online was really fun and Toriyama's designs really are amazing. I grew up with DB but never tried DQ before this, i'm excited to finally experience this side of his work.

I haven’t played the original Dragon Quest yet. I guess I have to pick it up sometime soon!

Great video man! Can't wait to hear your thoughts and impressions of Dragon Quest II

In single digits back in the 80s, this was my first RPG. Fun fact: my grandma had a Nintendo a full year before we did. DW was hard as nails. I remember hitting level two, seeing the colors turn pink, thinking that's normal. I was low on HP. ; ) I beat DW. Then DWII. And played DWIII so many times when I visited. Switching a fighter into a soldier with agility, a wizard into a pilgrim, and a pilgrim into a wizard who knows healall. DWIII is one of my favorite games. I'd say it's the best rpg, but Chrono Trigger takes that spot.

This is a hell of a underrated channel. Sub

Great videos! New subscriber here. I first played Dragon Warrior in 1990 when I traded my copy of Excite Bike for it. It completely captivated me at the time despite never completing it at the time. I still have the cart, the guide, and the map from Nintendo Power to this day. I played the remake in 2019 or 2020 in the switch and it was almost as great 👏

I've never played a Dragon Quest before, but the battle theme in this one gives me never-ending anxiety. Once again, good shit my dude. I really love old 8-bit era sprites because they always have that perfect balance of beautiful stylized limitations and "lol holy shit look at this guy's dumb expression" and "haha is this dragon trying to eat me or is it going to rob me of my coin".

Love this channel, just recently found it. I'm surprised you don't have more viewers but I guess the algorithm is ruthless, anyway the quality it awesome and I love that you have a bit slower pace than what content makers usually go by nowadays

Really great review! I *love* dragon quest, but I've only played the mobile and switch versions of DQ1 (and 2 and 3, 3 being my favorite in the series), but I've always been interested in giving this version a go. My first console was the N64 and I haven't gone back to many NES rpgs. But it's impressive they crammed a fully-fledged adventure into such a small game.

“but thou must…”

Orwick still waits to this day for his girlfriend. That's dedication right there.

Also that little Sony crt you got is great! Love to get my hands on one of those

Dragon Quest is one of my go-to replay games, like the original Super Mario Bros. and Sonic The Hedgehog. It’s a game I know front to back, but it can still surprise me from time to time. I usually don’t play the NES version though, as it’s aged quite a bit. The Switch port is my go to, it’s got a much better translation and quicker pace but the graphics on that version aren’t particularly appealing. I hope we get an HD2D remake for it once the remake of 3 is out.

I love DQ1 but it really works best as a complimentary piece to the two games that came after it, and you can't really have those games without DQ1.

I

"I love thee, HPRshred..."

You should try the SFC remake, very pleasant. Thanks for the video.

RIP Toriyama

but thou must...

Great video!

The first time I played and beat Dragon Quest was the Dragon Warrior I & II combo release for Gameboy Color back in the early 2000s. Unbeknownst to me at the time since I hadn't played the original Dragon Warrior at that time is that the GBC version has lots of tweaks with minor enhancements like new animated cut scenes with tweaked gameplay involving higher Exp and Gold output with slightly less enemy damage overall in battles. Over the years I used to recommend the GBC version for newcomers over the original but I've heard good things about the newer Mobile/3DS/PS4/Switch remake but unfortunately I haven't tried it yet. 😃

Which of the Dragon Quest games in Japan introduced game saves?

Great channel!

Does anybody else think the mountain on the left in the battle screen background looks like ALF?

Don't know if you'll read this, but I actually made a violin and viola duet medley of the music for this game and called it Dragon Questing. Posted a video on my channel of the tune if you want to check it out. It's how I discovered the second form of the dragon lord is in a different time signature from everything else. Whereas most of the game music is 4/4, that one is 2/4.

Growing up I of course had a copy of the US version, no idea where I got it, and pretty much everyone I knew who owned an NES had at least one (if not more) even if they had no interest in the genre. I really can't recall my first experience with it so much as just spending afternoons grinding the hours away just for the simple pleasure of it, by that point I had been a veteran of RPGs for at least a few years but far from an expert. I did get a copy of 2 at a garage sale but the Nintendo Power coverage of 4 made me incredibly interested in the series only to never come across a copy in the wild. Meanwhile the series kind of died after that one only to thankfully get a second chance with the DS remakes in the later 2000s. It's been like 35ish years since I first played DQ and to this day any new releases are immediate purchases for me.

Magi drakee can cast hurt.

This game was important but maybe it wasn't important for us? Final Fantasy really spoiled me on what an NES RPG could be and Dragon Quest didn't make such a cultural impact over here as it did in Japan. I may not have cared to much for it when I went through it but I appreciate what it did for us and lead too

I'm actually struggling with this game, it's like there's an imbalance between the moment you don't get much XP from the monsters in a region anymore and the next monsters. I got to level 7 and the only place it seemed i could go is the cave leading to the town with the key seller but it's a labyrinth and if you wander to low floors dragons will kill you in one hit, while there's actually a specific route to the stairs you need to find. Then there are the mages that in this area put you to sleep and have tons of hp, etc. It has this weird mixture of incentivizing exploration and exhaustion doing it. I'm taking breaks from it frequently.

Never played this one but I like the newer dragon quests, I deffo wanna give it a go maybe it’s worth picking up on the switch? I love those little drawings of the spells. Toriyama (rip) designs are just so appealing

Love your videos man not the same old shit everyone says

Magidrakees can cast HURT too.

Any chance of you doing a mother (earthbound begins) review? I love it, for me it is the best of the mother series.

I want your opinion on Dragon Quest/Warrior III (FC/NES). The jewel of the crown in the original trilogy. Dont spoil yourself on this game WHATSOEVER before playing it. Just get it and play it. Please.

Nice thing about the US Dragon Warrior is that it's a QoL improvement to the Japanese Dragon Quest! And NOT just because of the battery backup save feature! 😉😉😁😁 However, that being said, I prefer the Japanese version of the game 😁😁

Are you gonna play Ys games eventually? Given how influential they are

But thou must

cor blimey

1:58 THAT'S SO WEIRD! 😳😳😳 didn't you Review Metroid before this Episode? The Famicom Game you can save like Zelda but the NES Game you had the Password System but this is weird seeing this being the Opposite Dragon Quest One using a Password when Dragon Warrior One didn't and used a Battery Backup!

Ten-tage-ell Castle. The home of King Arthur.

I jus finished the android version. the artwork is different though

20? The level cap is 35.

21:28 you know, if you go around the other way you run into Orwick's girlfriend

Dragon Quest made a huge impression , just like Mario Kart 64, when's that dropping?

In the opposite corner of Rimuldar you'll find a girl who is looking for her boyfriend.

JRPG sounds racist. Nobody says D&D is an USARPG