| Dragon
Quest (ドラゴンクエスト ,Doragon Kuesuto), published
as Dragon Warrior in North America
until the 2005 release of Dragon Quest VIII: Journey
of the Cursed King, is a series of role-playing
games created by Yūji Horii and published by Square
Enix (formerly Enix). Installments of the series
have appeared on MSX computers, Famicom/NES, Super
Famicom/Super NES, Game Boy Color, Game Boy Advance,
Nintendo DS, PlayStation, PlayStation 2 and Wii
video game consoles, as well as on several models
of mobile phone. As of February 2009, the Dragon
Quest series has sold nearly 45 million units
worldwide. It is Square Enix's second most successful
franchise after Final Fantasy and is one of the
most popular video game franchises in Japan.
Dragon Quest's North American name was changed
due to a trademark conflict with the role-playing
game DragonQuest, which was published by veteran
wargame publisher SPI in the 1980s until the company's
bankruptcy in 1982 and purchase by TSR, which
then published it as an alternate line to Dungeons
& Dragons until 1987. In 2003, Square Enix registered
the Dragon Quest trademark in the US, making the
Dragon Warrior name obsolete. |