About Dragon Quest


2007-01-01 (updated 2016-10-02)
Product Number: NES-DQ-CAN NES-DQ-USA
Dragon Warrior is called Dragon Quest in Japan. The Japanese version (1986) used passwords but the US (1990) and Canadian versions used battery backed save RAM
A pen and paper RPG called Dragon Quest had already been published in the United States. For copyright reasons, the name Dragon Warrior was used. However, it turns out there was also Dragon Warriors RPG in existence at the time.

The English version was translated and published by Nintendo and strictly uses Early Modern English in conversational dialogs. Often mistakenly called King James English or Shakespearian English, but those styles were in fact derived from the Early Modern style (King James style also borrows extensively from Middle English). Early Modern English is in fact a bit more understandable than King James or Shakespearian English, for those who understand the contemporary Modern English of the late 20th century. The Japanese names for the characters and locations were changed into English names that better fit with the Early Modern English and a northern Europeanish location. The changes are influenced by the Arthurian Legends. The Nintendo version also made significant improvement in graphics and game mechanics. The number of menus was reduced. The protagonist could face multiple directions (instead of south only). Direction of talking and actions was automatically based on the direction the protagonist was facing rather than needing to be manually specified. Shorelines looked a bit like breaking waves instead of abrupt hard edges into sea water.

Original/English version:

    Alefgard/Alefgard
    Bubble slimes/Babbles
    Garai/Garinhaim
    Gira/Hurt
    ?/Healmore
    Hoimi/Heal
    Hiomi Slimes/Healers
    ?/Hurtmore
    King Dragon/Dragonlord
    Lora/Princess Gwaelin
    Loto(Roto)/Erdrick
    Maira(Maila)/Kol
    Merukido/Cantlin
    Pafu Pafu girls/Puff Puff massage girls (actually removed from the US version)
    Radatome Castle(Ladataurm)/Tantegel Castle
    Radatome Town(Ladataurm)/Brecconary
    Domudora/Haukness
    Chimeras/Wyverns