Once upon a time, the Balls of Light illuminated the kingdom of Alefgard, keeping its winters short and sustaining its peace. However, a man who could tame dragons and hence known as a Dragonlord, became corrupted by his magical studies. He attacked the Tantegel Castle and stole the Balls of Light, causing monsters to roam the land. A valiant hero named Erdrick, who had obtained the Balls of Light for the kingdom in the first place, attempted to defeat the Dragonlord and disappeared without trace. Many years later, during the reign of King Lorik XVI, the Dragonlord abducted Princess Gwaelin, carrying her to Castle Charlock. One day, a knight appears in front of the king, claiming to the be the descendant of Erdrick. He is entrusted with the mission to vanquish the Dragonlord, as the prophet Mahetta has predicted.

Though not the first role-playing game developed by a Japanese company, Dragon Warrior is considered one of the progenitors of the Japanese RPG genre, and the first to appear on a home console. The player navigates a lone pre-made protagonist on a top-down overworld, accessing locations represented by icons, similarly to early Ultima games. As opposed to most other RPGs of the time, dungeons are viewed from an overhead perspective as well. In cities and palaces it is possible to talk to people, rest in inns and buy weapons, armor and items in shops.

When wandering around in the wilderness or through dungeons, the player character encounters randomly appearing enemies. Combat is turn-based, with the player selecting menu options while fighting. It is possible to attack with the equipped weapon, cast one of the few available spells (using up some of the magic energy), use an item, or try to run. All the battles in the game are exclusively one-on-one. Killing monsters yields experience, and the player character's attributes improve automatically when he levels up.

With the exception of the final location, the entire game world is theoretically open for exploration from the beginning. However, the enemies become increasingly tough as the player character attempts to move away from the starting town, effectively limiting him to confined areas determined by his level. The hero has limited hit points, loses them when attacked by enemies, and dies when he runs out of them, at which point he is automatically restored in a nearby town. It is possible to save the game only by talking to the king in the initial castle.

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Screenshots

Dragon Warrior NES Original Japanese title screen

Dragon Warrior NES Action menu: commands like "Open door", "Talk", "Search", "Equip", etc.

Dragon Warrior NES Walking around through castle grounds

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Promo Images

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Alternate Titles

"勇者斗恶龙" -- Chinese spelling (simplified)
"Dragon Quest" -- Japanese title
"DQ" -- Common abbreviation
"ドラゴンクエスト" -- Japanese spelling

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Part of the Following Groups

User Reviews

Not all oldies are goodies	Unicorn Lynx (181446)
Rudimentary In Many Ways But Exemplary Overall	mobiusclimber (245)
1st RPG for NES, Best RPG for Nes!	OlSkool_Gamer (102)
One of a kind RPG	GNJMSTR (174)

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Critic Reviews

Jeuxvideo.com	Dec 09, 2011	17 out of 20	85
NES Times	May 13, 2006	8 out of 10	80
Quebec Gamers	Dec 19, 2004	7.9 out of 10	79
All Game Guide	1998		70
The Video Game Critic	Feb 01, 2011	B-	67
Random Access	2005	6.5 out of 10	65
Ultimate Nintendo: Guide to the NES Library	2016		60
Legendra	Jun 29, 2010		60
GameCola.net	Sep, 2008	3.5 out of 10	35
The Game Hoard	Jul 08, 2020	2 out of 7	29

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Forums

Topic	# Posts	Last Post
Green dragon	2	Donatello (463) Mar 19, 2013
Is the PC-98 version really an official release?	13	Kabushi (257508) Sep 08, 2010

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Trivia

1001 Video Games

The NES version of Dragon Quest appears in the book 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die by General Editor Tony Mott.

Nintendo Power

Nintendo eventually gave away a free copy of Dragon Warrior to everyone who subscribed to Nintendo Power.

Awards

Game Informer
- August 2001 (Issue #100) - #37 in the "Top 100 Games of All Time" poll

Information also contributed by Satoshi Kunsai

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Related Web Sites

Dragon Warrior 1 Shrine (Shrine dedicated to the great NES game. Includes maps, item chart, boss guide enemy guide, walkthroughs, and everything related to the game)
Dragon Warrior I @ Dragon's Den (Very comprehensive fansite with hints, manuals and other information.)
Dragon Warrior shrine (In-depth information to the Dragon Warrior series on this fan-made site.)
Howard & Nester do Dragon Warrior (A regular feature in Nintendo Power magazine, Howard & Nester was a comic strip about two game whizzes who would one-up each other, while disclosing hints and tips, in the settings of various recently-released games for the NES platform. In the January/February 1990 two-page installment, Howard and Nester employ different approaches toward retrieving the Stone of Sunlight from Tantegel Castle.)
Kingdom of Alefgard (A Dragon Quest/Dragon Warrior fansite.)
OC ReMix Game Profile (Fan remixes of music from Dragon Warrior.)