Dragon Quest III
1988 · RPG · NES / Famicom
Overview
Dragon Quest III (1988) is Yuji Horii's Famicom role-playing game, released in North America as Dragon Warrior III, which sold about 1.1 million copies in Japan on its first day.
Deep Dive
The Hero, child of the warrior Ortega, sets out to defeat the archfiend Baramos, though Zoma proves to be the real villain. Party members are hired at a tavern from several classes and can change class at level 20. A day and night cycle controls when some people, items and quests can be found. It is a prequel to the first two games.
Developer Story
Chunsoft developed it with Koichi Nakamura directing, Horii designing and writing, Akira Toriyama drawing and Koichi Sugiyama composing. It won Famitsu's 1988 Game of the Year. The NES version reached North America in 1992, after 16-bit consoles had arrived, and sold poorly.
Did You Know?
- About 300 students were arrested for truancy while skipping school to buy it; Enix later chose to release its games at weekends, though no law required it.
- It was the best-selling game of 1988 in Japan, with 3.8 million copies.
Sources & further reading
- Dragon Quest III — Wikipedia
