Pokemon was a big time phenomenon, and many developers tried to copy the formula. The results were mixed, but some memorable role playing games came out of these attempts. Dragon Warrior Monsters is one of these such games. Developed by Enix and published in North America by Eidos this is somewhat of a forgotten gem overshadowed by the franchise it was inspired by. What’s interesting is the fact that this isn’t a straight copy of the formula; the Dragon Warrior (Dragon Quest as it’s now known) series allowed you to ‘catch’ monsters and recruit them into your party years before Pokemon was even a concept. Nintendo’s Pocket Monsters (as it’s known in Japan) did however no doubt encourage Yuji Horii to go all out on the monster collecting with this release. So how does this game stand up? Surprisingly well, actually.
For the first time in the Dragon Quest franchise we have a returning hero. This time it’s Terry (of Dragon Quest VI fame) but the game takes place years before his grand adventure to defeat the archfiend Mortamor. He’s a mere child here, and this story begins as his sister is kidnapped by a monster and dragged into a whole other world. Terry follows her in and discovers a new kingdom built entirely into a tree. It is here that the Starry Night Tournament is held; a series of battles in which monster trainers battle with one another. The victor is granted a single wish, and Terry sets out to win so that he can have his sister returned to him and they can go home together. Easier said than done; our child protagonist must travel to a variety of different warp gates that transport him to other worlds where he will encounter wild monsters he can recruit into his party after defeating. It’s a little light on story, but Dragon Warrior Monsters is chock full of references to the franchise.
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| GreatTree is limited in exploration, but it’s a pretty unique setting. |
Dragon Warrior Monsters is, on the surface, a very traditional role playing game. The major differences are that there’s no world map, only one town, and the dungeons are randomly generated. You wander the halls (and branches) of GreatTree kingdom interacting with NPCs, purchasing items, managing/breeding monsters, and more. In the basement of the castle are warp portals that take you to monster infested realms. This is where the majority of battles take place; you wander around and are engaged at random. Enemy encounters take place on a separate screen and are strictly turn based affairs. You can let your monsters act on your own or select commands for them. Upon defeating these monstrosities they will sometimes join your cause, and you can encourage this to happen by feeding them meat during battle. Your crew gains experience points after defeating all foes in battle and your party gains levels increasing their stats. Terry does none of the battling; it’s entirely the monsters while our protagonist only provides support by using items.
My biggest issue with the game is that the dungeons are all randomly generated. Yes, it does mean everyone will have a different user experience but it comes at the cost of interesting geography and puzzle elements. The gate worlds are all extremely boring and straightforward because of this. They feature multiple paths with a map that fills in as you explore it, and multiple levels allowing you to travel further into the world via a portal. You can only return to the castle by using a special item which is kind of annoying to be honest. At the end of each of these zones is a boss fight of sorts, typically referencing scenarios in earlier Dragon Quest titles, and upon defeat the creature will join your crew. From here you return to GreatTree, enter and win a tournament, and unlock even more gates leading to new worlds with even more powerful monsters. It’s a little grindy, and extremely repetitive, but I’ll be darned if Dragon Warrior Monsters doesn’t retain the franchise charm.
The biggest and most strategic part of the game is the breeding system. You can generate an offspring from two of your monsters (of opposite genders of course) that has the traits of both. This comes at the cost of sacrificing both of them, but the outcome is always going to have much more potential than either of the parents due to the averaging of stats. The outcome can even produce a new species especially those in the slime family The spawn of two monsters always starts at level one so you’ll want to take your time designing your ultimate team. What’s even more interesting is the fact that, via the Game Boy’s link cable, you and another player can each choose a monster to breed and you’ll both receive an offspring. That’s a great incentive for players to cooperate with one another, and is an element I would like to see Nintendo incorporate into the Pokemon series.
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| The battle scenes are identical to those in the main series. |
Dragon Warrior Monsters is a difficult game. You will need to make heavy use of the aforementioned breeding system to design a great time in order to be successful here. It’s not that the dungeons are that tough. Usually you’ll struggle through the first few battles until you either recruit one of the new foes or gain a few levels and then it becomes mindlessly easy. Generally I was pretty successful just relying on auto battle during these portal worlds, and I saw them only as a means by which to grind. Why would you need to if most of the game is so easy, you may ask?
This is because the tournaments are what you have to worry about. Opponents generally introduce monsters that are a few stages above those that you’ve encountered at that point, and they are big fans of using status effects which can be annoying. On top of this you’re at three severe disadvantages during tournament matches. The first of these is that Terry cannot use items. This changes the strategy behind designing a team because you’ll want a monster with healing abilities in your party. Additionally, your party members do not recover hit points or magic in between the matches, and each tournament consists of three. By the end of each I was barely scraping by. The last, and most significant disadvantage is that you cannot input commands for your monsters. The A.I. is left to do your bidding, and it often makes poor decisions especially in regards to healing.
Dragon Warrior Monsters is a simple enough game that the Game Boy is able to do it justice visually. This title employs the traditional top down view when you’re navigating the world, and the series’ trademark battle screens with the enemies that face straight at you. The latter sequences lack background graphics which is a little disappointing, but the attacks (and especially spells) are animated very impressively. I’ve always been a huge fan of the franchise’s monster designs by Akira Toriyama, and so this game is a visual treat for me because that’s the focus in this spin-off. The music is largely recycled from other games in the series, but unfortunately a lot of the new compositions are pretty forgettable. I was pretty disappointed with the soundtrack overall.
While not as fleshed out as a full entry in the main series, Dragon Warrior Monsters retains the classic feel of the storied franchise. Despite what I was led to believe before playing it this one feels more like Dragon Quest than it does Pokemon, and while it does have some interesting elements that set it apart from the other ‘catch em all’ games this one didn’t age as well as Nintendo’s games. It’s still well worth playing for any fan of Dragon Quest, but if you don’t fall under that category you’ll be bored rather quickly with this one even if you’re a big Pokemon fan.
