Dragon Quest, alongside Final Fantasy, is the longest-running RPG series in gaming history. The original release (Dragon Warrior, 1986) never came out in Australia; the first PAL Dragon Quest game, Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King on PlayStation 2, launched here in 2006. My introduction to the series came even later, with Dragon Quest XI: Echoes of an Elusive Age, which I played on PlayStation 4 in 2018.
I loved my time with DQXI, and have since gone back to play a couple of earlier entries, where available. However, I had never played any of the original three NES games, dubbed the “Erdrick Trilogy”. Thankfully, Square Enix has now released remakes of all three games (III in 2024 and I & II as a package in 2025) using their now signature HD-2D graphics style.
All three games are easy recommendations for anyone who’s a fan of classic JRPGs, or of the Dragon Quest series many spin-offs. Akira Toriyama’s classic art style translates wonderfully to this modern-retro pixel art, as do all the musical stings and sound effects Dragon Quest is known for. The addition of voice acting is fantastic, and deepens the characters and emotion of the narrative tenfold.
There are numerous Quality of Life improvements across all three games: you can increase the speed of battles, tell your party to adhere to set tactics and fight automatically, choose to display treasure chests, secret spots and your next objective on the map, and you can even use the fast travel spell Zoom indoors! All three games have new story events and side quests, mini medal collectibles, post-game content and more woven in.
Now to get a bit more specific about the differences and additions of each title. In the original Dragon Warrior, you fought monsters one-on-one. In the remake, he must now contend with multiple foes at once, adding a layer of strategy to each fight. By exploring and finding hidden scrolls, you can gain new spells and abilities. Outside of this, it’s a straightforward, smaller scale adventure that will probably take you around 10 hours to complete.
The remake of II is another beast entirely with both the story and world being altered significantly. There is a whole new ‘layer’ to the map in this remake, featuring brand-new areas, monsters, quests and bosses to discover. The entire map of I is just a small part of the world map in II, which is a cool way of making the in-world history connecting the two games feel more tangible than ever. The Princess of Cannock joins your party as the fourth member this time, which not only has a dramatic effect on the story, she is also just a wonderfully written and performed character whose interactions with the rest of the party and other friends and foes is an ongoing treat. The ability and spell scrolls return, although as you have a full party you must strategise as to who gets what.
III, despite releasing after the first two games originally, is a prequel set hundreds of years before the events of both I and II. For this reason you may want to play it first, then I & II, which is what I did, but ultimately all three games work as standalone adventures. This remake of III features a new monster wrangler class, allowing you to recruit certain monsters and gain their abilities, and adds a series of monster arenas, where you can enter your roster of monsters into tournaments. III features a party of created characters and so neither they nor the voiceless protagonist ever speak. When compared to the voiced, fully rounded characters in the remake of DQII, DQIII can feel a little lacking in this regard.
Overall, these three remakes felt pleasantly familiar to someone who now has a few Dragon Quest games under his belt. They each feature a sprawling adventure across magical worlds full of quaint towns, perilous dungeons and treacherous seas. The stakes gradually go from rather local problems to, of course, taking on villains that threaten all creation. You can tell a lot of love went into remaking each title, with the climax of II in particular serving as a beautiful, emotional send-off to this three-part project. Whether you’re new to Dragon Quest or not, these remakes are well worth checking out.
Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake Rating: 8/10
Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake Rating: 8.5/10
These games were reviewed on PS5 with codes provided by the publisher.