Dragon Quest I

About

Dragon Quest is one of those games that can hardly be measured with a simple modern look. Today, the saga is an institution in Japan, but in 1986, this first episode laid the foundations for a genre that will make a lasting mark on the entire industry: the Japanese console and microphone JRPG, readable, accessible, structured around exploration, hero progression and turn-by-turn fighting.

The game places the player in the kingdom of Alefgard, in the skin of the descendant of Lotto, charged with facing the terrible Dragonlord and restoring light in the world. In contrast to the following episodes, the adventure remains voluntarily tightened: a single hero, a very direct progression, duel fighting and a rise in power through experience, equipment and progressive knowledge of the map.

This Japanese MSX version retains all the raw charm of the micro adaptations of the era. We are facing a Dragon Quest in its most primitive form, with a still very rigid interface, a progression that does not take the player by hand and a typical requirement of Japanese RPG of the mid-1980s. This is precisely what is of interest today: it is not a modernized, smoothed or reworked version, but a true testimony of the time when the genre was still inventing.

The dressing of this black box edition is superb, with the Dragon Quest logo, the illustration signed Akira Toriyama (Dragon Ball's dad), the Mega ROM cartridge and the Enix presentation typical of the early years of the saga. For a MSX collector, it is a strong piece: both a great name for the Japanese video game and a much less common micro adaptation than the console versions.

The copy here includes the box, cartridge and package leaflet visible on the photos. The set is very good for its age, with a clean box, a still legible label cartridge and a record kept. The photos are an integral part of the description and allow you to judge precisely the cosmetic state of the product.