Last month, Square Enix brought Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Blade to compatible smartphones and tablets. The retro Japanese role-playing game, or JRPG, has been well-received by fans since its port and release on January 21 and 22 for Android and iOS devices respectively.
Dragon Quest, published as Dragon Warrior in North America until 2005, is a role-playing game series created in 1986 by Yuji Horii featuring the internationally recognized artwork of Dragon Ball artist Akira Toriyama. Dragon Quest V originally made its debut in 1992 for the Super Famicom (Japanese version of the Super NES), but the game didn’t reach North America until the release of a remake in 2009 for the Nintendo DS, to which the mobile version is most similar.
The basic premise of most Dragon Quest titles is to play as a hero on a quest, usually accompanied by a group of party members, to save the land from the hands of a powerful and evil enemy. Common elements include turn-based combat, text-based menus, and recurring monsters like the iconic Slimes. My favorite title in the series was Dragon Warrior III for the Game Boy Color.
So far Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Blade has impressive user ratings for both versions of the mobile app: Android with an average of 4.9 stars across 233 reviews since its release and the iOS version averaging 4.5 stars with 42 reviews.
The game’s in-store description reads:
Take your place among a family of heroes, sharing in all the triumphs and tragedies of their storied lives! Enjoy three generations’ worth of adventure in one standalone package!