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Retro Darling Dragon Quest Monsters Returns with The Dark Prince this Year

Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince

The Dragon Quest game franchise is absolutely massive both in size and popularity. Having started in 1986 with Dragon Quest – published as Dragon Warrior – the mainline series has its 12th instalment on the way while countless spin-offs have connected different genres of gaming to the setting.

One of the greats among these many spin-offs is Dragon Quest Monsters. With legendary worldbuilding in its premise of catching and battling monsters, the 1998-commenced series goes much further, often with world-ending big bosses to defeat and an in-depth breeding system. It makes for a wonderfully varied and customisable experience every time and one of those retro games that are remembered fondly.

In 2023 – on 1 December, in fact – a new quest will begin in Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince. The graphics aren’t as retro as they once were, but they certainly lean towards the classic series’ unique aesthetics. Crucially, it’s set to be teeming with the dragons we love from the old games, to catch and breed along with hundreds of other monsters and new dragons.

Once again, dragons mean sales

The Dragon Quest series overall has sometimes been a bit fast-and-loose with dragons actually being a focal point. All contain a monster from the Dragon Family at some point, but while the original entry from 1986 was about defeating the Dragon Lord, later ones didn’t feature a dragon as the big boss.

Luckily, Dragon Quest Monsters has never shied away from making dragons immensely powerful in the games. This, along with the captivating mechanics, has enabled each entry in the series to sell very well. A low point was a near 300,000 copies in 2002, which certainly didn’t mark a flop, while sales have peaked at over 2.3 million.

Dragons sell in gaming and are incredibly nostalgic for 80s and 90s Dragon Quest players and almost all other forms of gamers to come since. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim is the most obvious example of dragons looping you in, boasting over 60 million in sales following a very dragon-heavy advertising campaign, but success is also more subtly achieved with dragons at the forefront in iGaming.

In South Africa, online casino game Dragon Orb remains among the most popular predominantly because the name includes ‘Dragon.’ The slot’s tile, which has to be perfect to sell scrollers, only shows the dragon’s claws to keep the ultimate selling point of the theme a bit of a mystery. It’s clever and utilises the popularity of dragons.

Similarly, Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince doesn’t go too big on dragons in its reveal video. In fact, there was only one truly overt look at a dragon and a fleeting glimpse of the dragon-like Raptile in action. This, though, is plenty to capture the imagination and coax us into a world of dragons. That main dragon showcased is the mighty Rashaverak, who first appeared in Dragon Quest IV in 1990.

A classic game series loaded with monsters old and new

Dragons are a huge selling point, and Game Rant currently reports four confirmed members of the series’ Dragon Family being in The Dark Prince, but most of the over 500 are yet to be revealed. Still, there’s much more to be enticed by than the mere presence of dragons.

For most, the simple Slime will likely form the foundation of your first team in the new game just as they did the older ones. As noted, one of the aspects that truly sets the Dragon Quest Monsters series apart is its breeding system. Through ‘synthesis,’ you get to combine a huge selection of different monsters to make better, more powerful, and more diverse members to battle in your team.

Undoubtedly, everyone will be running through all of the synthesis paths to make the biggest, strongest dragon in Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince, for the first time since 2016’s Joker 3!