Dragon Quest IX dated for July

By Robert Purchese Published 19 May, 2010

Japan's blockbuster nearly here.

Nintendo has just announced a 23rd July date for Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies.

This DS game has sold a whopping 4.26m copies in Japan, where it was given top marks by regional magazine Famitsu.

Dragon Quest IX picks up the series where the PS2 left off. You will create your own hero and grow them over the course of the adventure, discovering over 1000 pieces of clothing, items, weapons and armour. Companions can be customised too.

A key feature of DQIX is wireless co-op. This enables up to four friends to share the adventure and join their unique characters locally to tackle tough dungeons and monsters.

And if you leave the DS on while the handheld is stowed in your bag, the game enters a Canvassing mode and shares character information with other players as they stride unknowingly by.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds. @Clert on Twitter.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

You may also like...

Comments (14) Latest comment 2 years ago

Comments for this article are now closed, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • menage #1 2 years ago

    Wow, didn't expect it so soon actually, I thought xmas for sure.

  • Cid #2 2 years ago

    Hopefully DQVI and Monsters Joker 2 will follow.

    DQ overload.

  • Golgo #3 2 years ago

    Is this game mostly about the wifi or is there a decent single player mode?
    (yes, I have no friends...)

  • iamian #4 2 years ago

    And if you leave the DS on while the handheld is stowed in your bag, the game enters a Canvassing mode and shares character information with other players as they stride unknowingly by

    They tried this in one of the other ones too - DQV i think. Never tried it - what were the odds that someone would be walking past my house with the DS on and with DQV in?? Might work in a country where 4.26 million people have it, not over here though :(

  • geeza2020 #5 2 years ago

    hmmm, only just heard about this game. I loved the PS2 dragon quest (not sure what number it was, i think it was just called Dragon Quest here in England), but i've just looked at the screens for this and i just want to know, why have they made all the characters look like children? That style just doesnt appeal to me. Why couldnt they bring it out on home console as well? I can't afford a DS :(

    After the horror show that was FFXIII i guess im going to have to give up on Square's rpg's. (Although i think this might just be published by them, please correct me if im wrong)

  • retr0gamer #6 2 years ago

    It's your loss if you don't like the art style since it's what sells the game in japan since it's Akira Toriyama that does the artwork.

    Also it's a Factor 5 game only published by Square so there should be none of the square enix rot present.

  • geeza2020 #7 2 years ago

    oh, dont get me wrong, i love the art style, i just dont like the fact that the main characters seem to have been shrunk into little kids/munchkin form. I guess thats just the DS for you!

  • convercide #8 2 years ago

    *squeals*

  • Incarta #9 2 years ago

    Hooray! Now announce a date for DQVI. DQV was epic.

  • geeza2020 #10 2 years ago

    ahh thanks readers. negged for having an opinion. I didnt think what i posted was trolling, or hurtful to anyone, but i have been negged anyway. i have learned my lesson. Must. not. post. in. comments.......

  • Senate #11 2 years ago

    Squeals as well

  • Silvergun-Blue #12 2 years ago

    Not surprised at those sales figures given that the Japanese consume Dragon Quest games like the West consumes fast food.

    I thought Level 5 did an excellent job of the Ps2 one personally.
    Edited by Silvergun-Blue at 19/05/10 @ 22:11

  • Spuzzell #13 2 years ago

    @Geeza

    I'm with you, actually. I'm playing through DQVIII right now for the first time, and the artwork is fantastic. It's perfectly balanced between adorable and adult and might be the best looking RPG I've ever played. (I'm using PCSX2 and running at high res)

    The DS version looks way too Pokemoned to me in comparison. The characters look more like tweenage Oompa Loompas than anything else. I don't really want to play as them :/
    Edited by Spuzzell at 19/05/10 @ 22:47

  • firefly #14 2 years ago

    @Geeza.

    It was Dragon Quest VIII, they dropped the number here because it was the first one they released.
    I've had the Japanese version of IX since August. It's pretty cool, although there are some major structural changes from the rest of the series (imagine more of a Monster Hunter type affair with more focus on stand alone quests than a traditional RPG story) it's a good game. My progress so far has been hampered by the limits of my Japanese but it's worth picking up.

    It'll be interesting to see what the translation does with Sandy, the gyaru fairy that Japanese players seemed to loathe.