There are so many JRPGs out there – and I mean so many. It’s an incredibly popular genre, and for myriad justified reasons. Games of this ilk encompass a wide range of gameplay styles, visual varieties, and in a way, genres within the genre. Even when just comparing one Final Fantasy game to another, there’ll be core similarities, but they’re also completely different experiences.
I like Final Fantasy and Persona; they’re both incredible series that have distinct stories, styles, and colossal followings. But I’m glad at least we can all agree that Dragon Quest is, objectively, the best JRPG series ever created.
…You Agree That Dragon Quest Is The Best, Right?
With the recent look at Dragon Quest 1 & 2 HD-2D during this week’s Nintendo Direct, following on from the release of Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D last year, this period has been a sweet reminder of where the series began and how far it’s come. However, it’s also a less-sweet reminder of how much smaller Dragon Quest is in the West compared to its massive popularity in Japan.
Does anyone remember the myth about Japan having a national holiday when a Dragon Quest game releases because of mass call-ins to work? I’m still not convinced that’s a myth.
A large part of this Japanese popularity comes from just how long the series has been around, with the first entry launching in 1986 – over a year before Final Fantasy. To elevate this, the character designs were handled by the late, great Akira Toriyama, otherwise known as the creator of Dragon Ball, who continued to work on every installment until his passing in 2024.
Dragon Quest’s Style Remains So Distinct
While I can’t speak for the future of the series and the supposedly dark direction that Dragon Quest 12 is headed in, the games before it stuck by Toriyama’s iconic art style, and rightly so – despite being so similar to Dragon Ball in many ways, nothing else comes close to it.
And this doesn’t stop at the characters themselves, but the monsters. The majority of people will know of Dragon Quest purely from the image of a silly little slime with a silly little face, and how could it possibly be any more charming?
Now you could argue that a blond spiky-haired thing – Cloud Strife or Chocobos, take your pick – is just as iconic, if not more. And you’d be right. You could argue that the stylish approach of Persona has quickly garnered a more iconic aesthetic. And yes, probably. But I will ignore both arguments because I’m stubborn.
I’m really not talking negatively about any other JRPG series, and I love these examples all in totally different ways. But with how long Dragon Quest has been around, and just how big it is in its home country of Japan, there’s something there to show for it.
It might seem like Final Fantasy is ultimately bigger, and that’s true – the West encompasses a lot, and Americans are much louder than most. But when looking back at the source, the home of the JRPG, Dragon Quest remains unrivaled, and to see it continue even in a lesser capacity is a wonderful thing.
