Dragon Quest IX for Nintendo DS

PKFC writes "Square Enix, at the 20th Anniversary Dragon Quest conference, has announced Dragon Quest IX: Defender of the Stars ... for the DS. Developed by Level 5, the game will feature four player co-operative mode and an action battle system. Also announced is a Dragon Quest arcade game called Battle Road. Both are expected to hit sometime in 2007 in Japan." This is huuuge news, as it puts the immensely popular Dragon Quest together with the immensely popular DS. Odds are Nintendo will pick up even more sales on the heels of this announcement. Relatedly, DS Fanboy got a few tidbits of info on the upcoming Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles , also for the DS.

Re:The real DQ9?

[Bagels]

All of the main-line Dragon Quest games have subtitles like this (see: Dragon Quest VIII - Journey of the Cursed King, etc). And the head honcho behind the game, Yuji Horii, has stated that it's an actual factual numbered entry in the series (check http://ds.ign.com/articles/750/750590p1.html [ign.com]). And it's got the same Level-5 team that made DQ8.

Re:The real DQ9?

[Anonymous Coward]

Way to be wrong, guy.

Final Fantasy XIII Versus is the name of the game, and it is PS3 exclusive. FF13 is PS3 exclusive as well, and FF13 Agito will be a cell phone game. The only Xbox360 game coming from Square-Enix was FFXI, a port of the PC version. Nothing since has been even hinted at for the Xbox.

Re:The real DQ9?

[Anonymous Coward]

FF versus XIII is for 360, not PS3.

If there is a mod option for -5 False, that is what I would mark your post as.

Re:The real DQ9?

[smithbp]

In TFA, it says that the title is the actual DQ IX, not a spinoff.

Re:The real DQ9?

[kai.chan]

Final Fantasy Versus XIII is NOT for 360. Notice that at the end of this trailer [61.195.57.11], there is a big Playstation 3 logo? Due to the complete lack of popularity of the Xbox360 in Japan, it is pretty much guaranteed that no big-budget spin-offs of Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest, let alone the main series, will appear on the Xbox360.

More coverage at GamesAreFun

[Daetrin]

There's another article at GamesAreFun [gamesarefun.com] which includes links to some gameplay footage and other tidbits.

Re:The real DQ9?

[Garse Janacek]

Actually, that isn't the real question, as I quote from the first paragraph of TFA:

"Dragon Quest IX, the next sequel in the officially numbered series and not a spin-off, will be arriving on the Nintendo DS."

I know, I know, Ring TFA isn't what we do around here, but if you're going to say this is the real question, you could at least take the 15 seconds required to check the answer...

Re:Wow.

[masklinn]

This is pretty much the last nail in the psp's coffin (at least in Japan.. in Europe it's dead since it was released).

The PSP is actually much deader in Japan than in Europe as the DS has consistently been outselling it 5:1 to 10:1 for more than 30 weeks (since the release of the DS Lite in March)

Re:The real DQ9?

[Anonymous Coward]

In Japan, every Dragon Quest game from the second onward had a subtitle. Prior to 8, the subtitles were dropped from the overseas titles, along with "Dragon Quest" being changed to "Dragon Warrior".

Re: Yamauchi vs. SquareSoft

[Grey Ninja]

That's a load of crock. It was money out of Yamauchi's pocket that funded Square's return to Nintendo, via the Game Designer's Studio. It wasn't his stepping down that allowed Square to develop for Nintendo systems again. It was the public apology from Square for their actions during the N64/PSX era, and the demotion of their officers.

Basically, Square flooded the consumers with anti-Nintendo propaganda, and publicly stated that they would never develop for a Nintendo system again, during the FF7 promotions. There is also a rumour that Square convinced Enix to move Dragon Quest to Playstation, costing Nintendo BIG TIME. Nintendo took a huge loss in sales over the incident, and held a grudge against Square for years.

Square started to feel the pain as well when the GBA came out. It was a PERFECT system for them to develop for. They could port many of their old games to it, and make tonnes of money. In addition, the FF Movie bombed big time, and Square was in TROUBLE. They really had no choice but to bite the bullet and give Nintendo their apology, to gain permission to develop for the handheld. A side effect of the deal was a Final Fantasy game for GameCube.