Dragon Warrior - Legacy

Legacy

Bits and pieces of Dragon Warrior had been seen in videogames before, but never all sewn up together so neatly. DW's incredible combination of gameplay elements established it as THE template for console RPGs to follow.

Dragon Warrior's release has been noted as a notable turning point in video game history. The game has been listed as a genre builder for RPGs. Its popularity in Japan is synonymous with RPGs. While the game's elements had been present in previous RPG titles, Dragon Warrior set the template for others; almost all of its elements became the foundation for nearly every later game of the genre, from gameplay to narrative, replacing D&D as the model to follow. According to Shigeru Miyamoto, the success of Dragon Warrior changed the nature of video game development by making scenario writers far more important.

When Dragon Warrior was released, many of the development techniques used were intended to compensate for hardware limitations, but contemporary RPG developers continue to use these techniques despite technological advances that made them unnecessary. Dragon Warrior introduced the damsel-in-distress storyline that many RPGs follow, and a fresh plot twist to the "saving the princess" formula, where the game's true objective is not revealed until the princess is rescued. The game also introduced an element of romance, where the player character is given a dialogue choice to respond to the princess's question of whether he loves her; romance has since become a commonplace feature the genre. The game's 2D graphic style was used by most RPGs until the advent of 3D graphics. Dragon Warrior's top-down perspective has become "a dead giveaway to an RPG". The game featured elements still found in most RPGs, such as the ability to obtain better equipment, major quests that intertwine with minor subquests, an incremental spell system, use of hit points and experience points, and a medieval theme. Reviewers said that, while Final Fantasy has been considered more important due to its popularity and attention in North America, Dragon Warrior laid the fundamentals on which Final Fantasy was based. Dragon Quest is also credited with affecting D&D's leveling system to even out its randomness by giving more bonuses early on and giving players maximum hit points on the first level.

In the Nintendo Power's November 2010 issue, in celebration of the NES' 25th anniversary in North America, Horii recalled the making of Dragon Warrior. Horiii was a fan of basic RPG mechanics, and wanted to simplify the interfaces; he said that many other RPGs' interfaces at the time "were so complicated that they intimidated new users". He said that Dragon Warrior's simplified gameplay made the game appealing to people and made the franchise successful. he had been told that the NES lacked sufficient capacity for RPGs, which further motivated him to make one.

Dragon Quest became a national phenomenon in Japan, inspiring spinoff media and figurines. The video game industry has called it as Japan's national game. Horii, who was linked through his Shonen Jump articles, increased in celebrity status, and become a household name in Japan, as well known in Japan as Steven Spielberg is in the US; in contrast Miyamoto, creator of Super Mario Bros. and The Legend of Zelda, is not nearly as well-known. In a Famitsu poll, the Japanese public voted Dragon Quest as the seventh favorite game for the NES. Several clones such as Glory of Heracles and Legend of the Ghost Lion and Mother were inspired by the Japanese version's success. For Mother, Shigesato Itoi, a fan of Dragon Warrior, and Miyamoto, a detractor of RPGs, created an RPG that would subvert the Dragon Warrior RPG template by changing the setting and themes from the Middle Ages to the US. Dragon Warrior, along with other NES titles, has spawned many ROM hacks in recent years. One notable hack includes Super Mario Remix II, which features a new plot and revised character sprites to reflect the Mario series, while the gameplay and layout remain the same. Dragon Warrior became so popular in Japan that, if asked to draw 'slime', a Japanese person is likely to draw a shape similar to that of the game's interpretation of slime.

The video game music band Descendants of Erdrick, based in Austin, Texas, is named after the game's main character.

In 2012, Google added a Dragon Warrior-inspired 8-bit option to Google Maps for April Fools Day.