Dragon Warrior (Dragon Quest)
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Developer: Enix and Nintendo
Platforms: Nintendo Entertainment System (NES)
Release Date: May 27, 1986
Why this game mattered: It's the classic RPG in its simplest form. Grind, explore, and save the world from the Dragonlord. With punishing difficulty but an easy enough concept to understand, players name their character and do their best not to stray too far before reaching the right level to avoid certain death.
Fun fact: The original game was titled Dragon Quest, but for the North American release it was renamed "Dragon Warrior" to avoid copyright infringing on a pen-and-paper game called DragonQuest. Plus, the artwork for the game manual was done by Akira Toriyama, the creator of Dragon Ball.
Future games influenced by this title: The Dragon Warrior/Quest series is still going strong today. It was considered the cornerstone of RPG elements, even before Final Fantasy. To this day, Dragon Quest games are story-focused epics that have incredible world-building that has extended to various game spinoffs, symphonies, anime, and manga.
Where you can play it today: Play the RPG that started it all and grind for days with Dragon Warrior(Quest) now on Nintendo Switch Online.
