Dragon Quest IX on DS

By Tom Bramwell Published 12 December, 2006

Series switches platforms.

Dragon Quest IX will be a Nintendo DS title, and is due out sometime in 2007, Square Enix has announced in Japan.

Given the series' massive popularity over there, the company's decision to make the next epic instalment for the diminutive Nintendo handheld is likely to cause a stir. For example, this paragraph, which wouldn't be here otherwise.

Developed by Level-5, who did the last PlayStation 2 title, Dragon Quest VIII, and are also working on PlayStation 3's White Knight Story, the ninth DQ RPG is subtitled "Hoshizora no Mamoribito", which is translated as something like "Defender of the Starry Skies" according to 1UP.

It will be done in 3D, with action-oriented battles and network options that will see up to four players teaming up. Series creator Yuji Horii has reportedly spoken of his desire to make a game that's "a true part of the series" and not simply a spin-off in the vein of other Nintendo DS RPGs based on renowned home-console series.

The game's said to be quite a way along, with a playable demo shown off at the game's unveiling in Japan, while Famitsu has a pair of screenshots demonstrating bright, handsome 3D RPG visuals more akin to the game's recent traditions than the top-down battling typically associated with the two-screen handheld.

Square-Enix's event in Japan also saw the unveiling of card-battler Dragon Quest: Monster Battle Road, according to reports.

Picture of Tom.

About Tom Bramwell

Tom is Operations director of Eurogamer Network and Editor-at-Large of Eurogamer.net. He joined the company in February 2000.

Read more articles from Tom by visiting the Tom Bramwell archive page.

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Comments (44) Latest comment 5 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Pac-man-ate-my-wife #1 5 years ago

    And here I was thinking the DS sales would be peaking soon. With this every Japanese person will be issued a DS at birth! ;)

  • lambtron #2 5 years ago

    Woot!

  • f00b_inc #3 5 years ago

    Awesome - I'll look forward to this!

  • varsas #4 5 years ago

    It looks great and as Pac-man said it looks like the DS is going to dominate for some time in Japan! :D

  • richardiox #5 5 years ago

    Like the DS wasn't selling enough in Japan already!

  • The12thMonkey #6 5 years ago

    One more nail in the coffin of the Japanese PSP sales.

  • DUFFMAN5 #7 5 years ago

    Hi
    screens look great.
    Can anybody tell me what RPG I should get for my DS, doesn't matter if it's a Gameboy sp version, just something in colour thats got a good story and a good few hours worth of in game time, and not too hard to get into.

  • Steroyd #8 5 years ago

    *sniff*

    No epic DQ on PS3 or Wii? :'(

  • varsas #9 5 years ago

    @DUFFMAN5: There are too many to list if you include SP games.

    DS - Children of Mana, Final Fantasy III (3D remake)
    SP - The Legend of Zelda: Link to the Past, The Legend of Zelda: Mini Capish, Final Fantasy I, II, IV, V and VI...

    EDIT: For some reason I completely left off the Fire Emblem games for GBA; which are fantastic imho.
    Edited by 2 at 12/12/06 @ 10:36

  • Steroyd #10 5 years ago

    Zelda's not a goddamn RPG.

  • Cosmopolitan #11 5 years ago

    Way off-topic but is there a way how to play the old Dragon Quests (the GBC ones or even the SNES ones) on a DS?

  • Tomo #12 5 years ago

    Awesome. I'm thoroughly enjoying Final Fantasy III at the moment - it's so nice to have such an in depth game on my DS. Great news!

  • dolphan #13 5 years ago

    @Duffman5

    Golden Sun for a GBA rpg. Excellent gameplay (best use of magic outside of the battle system that I've seen in a console rpg) and decent length, 20 hours at the very least. Second hand copies going for about 12 quid on amazon marketplace.

    Any of the FF re-releases are worth it if you haven't already played them as well.

  • varsas #14 5 years ago

    Crap! I can't believe I forgot the Golden Sun games too...I own those aswell as the Fire Emblem ones...must be old age...

    @Cosmopolitan: If it was on GBC then you can use it on a DS since you can plug GB games into the DS.

  • toy_brain #15 5 years ago

    @DUFFMAN5

    Summon Night: Swordcraft Story 2 is another option to consider, especially if you are after something in the Tales Of... mould as it features similar side-on realtime battles.
    Bit tricky to get a hold of mind. Videogamesplus.com and ravenonline.co.uk seem to be your best bets.

    As for the news story..... all I can say is holy cow! I think that's the 'next-gen' war in Japan wrapped up before it even really got started.
    Excellent news for us too, as it means we can import the (inevitable) US version with ease, rather than waiting ages for some home console PAL localisation.

  • DUFFMAN5 #16 5 years ago

    To one and all thank you for help and information, off to ebay I go.

  • mkreku #17 5 years ago

    Aww crap. I was hoping for a sequel to Dragon Quest 8 on the Playstation 2 or Playstation 3. Dragon Quest 8 is easily the best RPG I've ever played on my Playstation 2. Unfortunately it ended. After only 110 hours or so of RPG goodness :p

    Guess I'm looking forward to Final Fantasy XII instead then.

  • Steroyd #18 5 years ago

    Don't ya mean FFXIII?

    Anyway I was really anxious to see next gen Cell Shading from Level 5 but with White Knight Story and no announced Dark Cloud 3 how long do I have to wait?

  • mkreku #19 5 years ago

    No, I actually mean Final Fantasy XII. It's still not being sold in Sweden :(

    And Rogue Galaxy.. I guess I'll be seeing that sometime in.. 2007. Or 2008.

    WHY MUST EVERYTHING TAKE SO DAMN LONG TO GET TO SWEDEN?!

  • Cosmopolitan #20 5 years ago

    If I'm not mistaken, FFXII is yet to be released in PAL, and that includes Sweden.
    As for RPGs on the DS in general, thank God for backward compatibility with the GBA.

  • Steroyd #21 5 years ago

    Oh you mean upcoming.

    Fair enough.

    Last I heard Rogue Galaxy isn't coming out till summer next year. :'(

    In time for the PS3's launch then.

  • siro #22 5 years ago

    DS is such an awesome platform! Even I can't believe that I still don't own one (or a gba that is).

  • JediMasterMalik #23 5 years ago

    [link url=http://kotaku.com/gaming/dragon -quest/dragon-quest-ix-gameplay-footage-221139.php
    ]http://ko taku.com/gaming/dragon-quest/dr...[/link]

    I'm confused. If this is one of the main series of DQ games. Why does it have real time combat? Is it a spin of being announced before the proper version?

    /confused

  • Steroyd #24 5 years ago

    Hmmm... i'm not so sure now surely with Japan's revolt against FF going real time-ish on XII doing it to DQ is a bad move right?

    BTW DQVIII sold 50% more than Final Fantasy in Japan.... and Final Fantasy XII sold something like 2.4 million in one week. O_O
    Edited by 1 at 12/12/06 @ 15:14

  • CitizenGeek #25 5 years ago

    Teriible news, really. I wanted an epic DQ game and that won't be as possible on DS. I would have prefered it on PSP so it could have had better visuals, along the lines of DQVIII and voice acting. Oh well, this game is still a must buy for me.

  • spongebob #26 5 years ago

    This is screwed up news. Surely DQ would be much grander and visually appealing on some next-gen machine instead of DS. Why didn't they just make a side story for DS?

  • Blerk #27 5 years ago

    I can see why they did it, but I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed. Mostly because I don't have or want a DS. ^_^

  • Steroyd #28 5 years ago

    Dragon Quest IX is practically Final Fantasy Chrystal Chronicles, and I refuse to go down that route again.

    What a way to piss all over me Square.

  • Blerk #29 5 years ago

    It is a bit odd that it seems so different from all the other DQ games. I'm sure it'll be great 'cos Level 5 are brilliant, but it doesn't look much like DQ. Curious as to why they didn't just make it another spin-off game.

  • Steroyd #30 5 years ago

    That's easy they want to sell on name alone.

    "Oh look the new Dragon Quest... KA-CHING"

    That way SE have got money in their pocket without even trying to sell a spin-off.

  • ekko #31 5 years ago

    Cheer up. You've still got Blue Dragon to play which looks just as dull and plain as DQ8.

  • Steroyd #32 5 years ago

    Your right.

    Now if only I had a Xbox 360.

  • twinbee #33 5 years ago

    I thought this was a joke! Any: Yay.

  • kincaide #34 5 years ago

    WOW - Massive news for the DS (and good news for DS owners)

  • kincaide #35 5 years ago

    DUFFMAN5 - Final Fantasy III

  • JSD124 #36 5 years ago

    .YAY.

  • ilmaestro #37 5 years ago

    Oh FFS. Worst decesion of the ever if it's 'true'. If they are just giving this a numbering title to make sure it sells as well on DS as they'd like, and they're still going to do a 'proper' DQ game for PS3, then fair enough, but if this is to be taken at face value then it's a bag of the proverbial.

  • Pacman8MyGhostkart #38 5 years ago

    Why are people assuming they can't do an 'epic' game on the DS. FFS the DS is powerful enough to do N64 conversions (Mario 64 for example). I'm sure the game will be lengthy......unless this is the usual whining about graphics pfff.

  • Steroyd #39 5 years ago

    It's not the graphics (Cel shaded gfx look really good) it's to do with the game being remotely close to the sheer scale and depth as DQ8 which was a true next gen RPG from the PS1 era (five years better late than never I suppose).

    The storyline, voice acting and amount of content and how it all fits together superbly just rapes any other RPG.

    I just don't see that being replicated and bettered on the DS, given Level 5 is at the helm I would love to be surprised.

    Can't see this beyond FFCC TBH.

  • Dirtie #40 5 years ago

    Well it has been announced that the game will have TWO carts: a first for any game on a cart based system.

  • Steroyd #41 5 years ago

    eh? o_O

  • elliotreed #42 5 years ago

    two cards, really? that would be awesome.

    wait, how are they even gonna package that. I'm just frothing all over now. package porn.. mm..

  • soanso #43 5 years ago

    Square-Enix have always traditionally supported the most popular console with their flagship titles.
    Maybe this is the first time that the most popular console by a long margin has been a portable one.
    It looks quite nice from the screenshots, it looks like it has the same graphical style as the PS2 one.
    It's all very well hoping for an epic PS3 DQ game but how long and how much would it cost to make.
    It's probably not finacially viable at the current time. You're not going to break even out of sale to 190,000 customers but out of 7 or 8 million you certainly will.

  • Muddtallica #44 5 years ago

    Well, this is certainly a big coup...I gather that the Japanese are quite fond of these games. :p Is the two cards thing really true? That certainly is unheard of...won't that make it really expensive? Ah well - I've been kind of hoping for a big, epic DS game. I've got Zelda and Pokemon pencilled in, but maybe I might give this a spin too. And to the disappointed PS3 fans - I will be absolutely flabbergasted if a true Dragon Quest game does not materialise on that system at some point.

    Also, DUFFMAN - an error appears to have occured; you have asked for recommendations on GBA/DS RPGs, and NO-ONE has said Mario and Luigi: Superstar Saga/Partners in Time. That's just wrong; rectify their error by eBaying both games right now.