Dragon Warrior Retroview
Dragons, Princesses, and Slimes – Oh My!
Originally released in 1986 for the Famicom, the beloved Dragon Quest franchise’s first game did not reach American audiences until three years later, when it was released as Dragon Warrior for the NES. Spawning one of the most popular and well-known RPG series of all time, the game stands as a foundational titan for JRPGs and is largely responsible for so many aspects that define RPGs to this day. Having only played a few titles in the series myself and never having played the original or any of its remakes, I wanted to blast back to 1989’s Dragon Warrior with a fresh set of eyes to see what the neglected NES cart occupying my shelf, with its tantalizing, dragon-slaying box art, has to offer.
Right off the bat, the most striking aspect of Dragon Warrior is its accessibility and immediate ease of understanding. As a solo hero with no accompanying party, there is a quaint charm to the battle system’s simplicity, with every encounter being a rudimentary one-on-one showdown with only four options: fight, run, spell, or item. Three of these are self-explanatory, and each of the spells has a clear function – “STOPSPELL” does exactly what it says. The actual execution of combat, elementary as it is, feels quite satisfying, and learning to apply slight nuances to the game’s enemies feels rewarding; the physically brawny wolf enemies should be put to sleep and the imposing dark wizards are best silenced with “STOPSPELL” to avoid being put to sleep.
That said, combat is not all sunshine and rainbows. While the incremental development of the hero’s strength generally results in solid and satisfying forward progression, there are a few points in the game, notably before the final dungeon, when grinding against the same enemies is required to stand a chance in the next location. Depending on the tolerance players have for grinding, mileage may vary, although it never amounts to more than a few hours of concerted effort and, spread across multiple play sessions, it’s not completely intolerable. That said, it is a major drag on the experience, and had the developers staggered enemy spawns more evenly and increased experience yields for certain enemies, this may have been less of an annoyance.
He’s not joking.
Plotwise, Dragon Warrior is nothing to write home about, and it’s about as classic and basic of a story as possible. The hero is the proclaimed descendant of Erdrick, a legendary warrior who saved the world from darkness ages ago, and arrives in Tantegel as a stranger. His ancestral claims are widely disbelieved by the populace but luckily, King Lorick XVI, the reigning monarch, trusts his assertion. Here, the king informs the hero that his daughter, Princess Gwaelin, has been kidnapped by a dragon, while the Dragonlord has wreaked havoc and chaos across the world, poisoning the land and terrorizing the citizens. While the damsel-in-distress subplot and saving the world are cliché beyond measure, they’re inoffensively banal and the former is ultimately a common thematic relic of when the game was released.
Where Dragon Warrior shines the most; however, is in its world design, overworld interaction, and especially its translation. From the game’s outset, the Dragonlord’s domain and final dungeon, Charlock Castle, is immediately visible from Tantegel, just across the river. Placing the game’s ultimate destination and threat so close to the game’s starting hub brilliantly establishes the stakes, with the villain’s castle constantly casting an imposing shadow every time the player returns to save their progress. Traversing across the spiraled overworld and trying to find the way to this castle builds great anticipation throughout the entire adventure.
The Dragonlord’s domain looms menacingly…
The overworld interaction, NPC dialogue, and translation are Dragon Warrior’s most pleasantly surprising elements. All the characters speak with a “ye olde” English dialect, filled with thous, thees, and shan’ts, which is thoroughly endearing and adds a special little charm to the game’s dialogue. More important than the stylistic flair, though, is the sheer quality of the translation and the resultant helpful nature of the game’s NPCs. Traversing beyond Tantegel and towards Charlock Castle, the game sees players collecting numerous artifacts to progress forward, several of which are hidden in incredibly obfuscated locations that would be impossible to find without specific, proper guidance. Many games of the time often failed in conveying esoteric progression methods due to mistranslating crucial information — such as Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest and the infamous red crystal at Deborah’s Cliff — but Dragon Warrior never once fails at guiding players to the finish line and giving helpful information.
The smaller nuances and subtleties of exploration also work exceptionally well, and exploring the game’s dungeons and caves is rife with tension and fear. Starting in the early game, but even beyond, it can often help to hand-draw maps while stumbling around the maze-like labyrinths, but the game has numerous spells later on that help to reduce frustration with traversal and make dungeon navigation easier. The only real stain on the game’s otherwise superb progression is the prevalence of magic keys that can only be purchased in a few locations and are crucial for forward progression. Once a door is opened with one, it does not stay open upon leaving the screen, which is incredibly frustrating and promotes needless backtracking to purchase more, especially as one can only hold six at a time.
NPCs are unusually helpful for an NES title.
Other aspects of the game aren’t quite as strong, unfortunately. The music is incredibly basic, and while its overworld and main menu themes are catchy and iconic, respectively, the ubiquitous dungeon music is a dull musical drawl (fitting, but not especially pleasant!) and the game’s singular battle theme very quickly becomes insanely grating, especially during prolonged grinding sessions. The sound effects are generally good and effective at conveying movement, spellcasting, and attacking.
Graphically, the game is unremarkable for the NES, and while it doesn’t look bad, it doesn’t really shine as especially pretty, either. Quite simply, it just looks okay and pleasant. The monster sprites are cute, effective, and adequately evocative of Akira Toriyama’s signature style, but once one type of monster is seen, be prepared to come across frequent palette swaps. There are, however, a few neat examples of attention to detail. When crossing over mountains on the overworld, there is a brief little pause when crossing each tile, indicating the difficulty of traversal, and when the hero’s HP is low, much of the world becomes outlined in a daunting, bright red, which immediately conveys the dread of potentially dying.
All in all, this is as basic as it gets for an RPG; a true grandfather to the genre which served as the genesis for much of what followed. While it’s remarkable for its fluid progression, lasting approachability, and charm, there’s no doubt that Dragon Warrior has some rust around the edges, with a dated and unimpressively average presentation and some obnoxious grinding sessions. While this can make it somewhat difficult to recommend, especially for the non-RPG acquainted, Dragon Warrior offers a cute, digestible, and short adventure for those interested in the foundations of the genre.
Extremely approachable gameplay and combat
Fantastic translation and excellent progression
Filled with charming elements
Grinding is occasionally necessary
Magic keys are frustrating and annoying
Battle theme is grating... please, no more!
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