Twenty five years ago, a little Japanese company known as Enix decided to capitalize on the local fixation with western adventure games like Ultima and Wizardry, and published a game known as Dragon Quest. 25 years later, that game is a cultural phenomenon, and Enix, now Square-Enix, is holding a celebration.
Most notably, Wii gamers will be getting a double-dose of the series’ early offerings with the upcoming Dragon Quest 25th Anniversary Famicom & Super Famicom Dragon Quest I, II, III Collection (no, that’s the title) which holds both the NES and SNES versions of the first trilogy on one disc. Slated for release in Japan this September, it’s not yet clear whether we’ll see it in the West, even though each game saw a translation on their initial releases.
After this, there’s also a bunch of merchandise, featuring the series’ iconic monster mascot, the Blue Slime.
There’s a pair of plush slimes enroute, as well as a “Smile Slime Crystal Mascot figurine,” measuring about six cm tall. All the slime items have a DQ 25th anniversary logo stamped on their bottoms, and will run about $20 USD.
Square-Enix is also offering some special edition anniversary tote bags, and custom Dragon Quest business card holders, featuring the artwork from the Famicom boxart from the first three games. All this stuff will be available in Japan – and your favorite importer – starting in late July.
Why include both the NES and SNES versions of the DQ games on the Wii disc? What's different between the versions?
Graphics.
And unfortunately I seriously doubt we'll see this collection hit stateside, simply because while the NES versions were all localized, none of the SNES versions were, and given DQ's limited popularity over here I don't see them fronting new translations for old roms for an English release.
I had a slime once but I gave it to someone and he made a hilarious video with it
I'd like to see them release the collection over here but agree that it is unlikely.
I have a couple of slime keychains I got for getting (or reserving) Dragon Quest 8 - They are pretty cool, made of a hard clear plastic so they are durable - but they are on those "ball chains" that are notorious for coming undone on their own, so because of that (and also because I'm not a total nerd) I never used them on my keys. Still they look pretty good on my toy shelves (says the dude who's not a "total nerd").
As much as I'd like to see them released Stateside, I doubt I'd ever get them. Dragon Quest 4 seems to be about as far back as I'm willing to go. Although I DO have found memories of playing Dragon Warrior (Dragon Quest 1) after winning it from a Pepsi 2 Liter soda pop bottle top. In fact it was the first RPG I ever played, I enjoyed it soo much that I went out and got Final Fantasy 1 and the rest is history.