History VideoGame / DragonQuestI

In Japan, however, ''Dragon Quest'' simply began ''everything''. It was there at the right time and place -- Japan in 1986 -- to get millions of people playing it, being a simple enough game for a child to play but long and difficult enough for even an adult to appreciate. While it isn't quite '''the''' true UrExample and TropeCodifier for the Japanese RPG -- that would be [[VideoGame/DragonQuestIII its second successor]] -- said successor would never have happened without this game, and it still had, and continues to have, a massive influence on the Japanese video game zeitgeist.

** The Japanese version lacks the chibi-style superdeformed character sprites that would become standard in the series, instead using realistically-proportioned figures similar to those in the ''Ultima'' series.

* LevelGrinding: So much in the NES version, adjusted a bit in the various remakes but still needed (for the most part). It's so bad that if you didn't have to grind at all, the game would be about a half-hour long. Maybe a little longer if you basically go for a 100% completion run, getting all the weapons and items one by one, but there's surprisingly little "story" when you eliminate grinding.

* LevelGrinding: So much in the NES version, adjusted a bit in the various remakes but still needed (for the most part).

The game's release history is absolutely enormous - in Japan. In the '80s and '90s, it was ported to virtually every platform imaginable -- the {{UsefulNotes/MSX}}, the UsefulNotes/PC98, the UsefulNotes/SharpX68000, the [[UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem Super Famicom]], and ''{{UsefulNotes/Satellaview}}''... the SFC port is notable, however, for introducing some significant graphical and performance updates to the game. North America never saw any of this; when a UsefulNotes/GameBoyColor port was produced in 1999, North America received it a year later... and then that was ''it'', despite a feature-phone version coming out in 2004 and the entire Loto trilogy getting a multi-version port archive release on the Wii in 2011. In 2013, a SFC-based smartphone version was produced (its visuals, however, were further updated and resemble those of the UsefulNotes/{{S|uperNintendoEntertainmentSystem}}NES remake of ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIII''), and this was released to the wider English-speaking world with an updated translation. The game was re-released as part of the ''Dragon Quest 1+2+3 Collection'' for the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch on September 27, 2019.

* YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe: The original game had enough Faux English to make any classical English scholar shake in their boots. It was dropped in the UsefulNotes/GameBoyColor remake, however, the mobile and Switch ports come back full circle and return to this but with much better results due to a better translation.

* RNGManipulationMechanic: The NES version's randomness is controlled entirely by the player's inputs. As WebVideo/GamesDoneQuick demonstrates, the right set of inputs allows you to beat the game at Level 7 in half an hour.

* ArtifactOfDeath: The Cursed/Death Necklace/Choker and the Cursed Belt/Waistband. Oddly enough, if you don't equip them, shopkeepers pay good money for them. Considering how early you can acquire them, it's reasonable to repeatedly enter the (low-leveled) dungeon to acquire more Waistbands to sell for lots of cash.

* BleakLevel: Damdara. Unlike other towns, Damdara was razed to the ground by the Dragonlord. High-level monsters prowl among the ruins, and toxic acid pools bubble everywhere.
* BoringReturnJourney: The game does not conclude with the defeat of the BigBad. You complete the game by returning to visit the king. You can just cast return and be done with it. But you can go anywhere you like before doing this, including visiting towns to receive thanks from all the people you've saved. While getting to the BigBad involves thousands of random battles, after his defeat, there are none to be found, even in the dungeons, since defeating the Dragonlord gives you the stolen Sphere of Light, which essentially saves the realm.

** The Japanese versions of both the first and second game feature a PasswordSave system; ''Dragon Quest III'' was the first entry with battery saves.

** Monsters who have the Midheal spell (Cosmic Chimeras and Knights Abhorrent). Either the battle gets annoying enough that it will spam it almost every time it gets low health. Either keep on attacking and hope it doesn't use that spell or waste 2 MP on STOPSPELL and proceed. Made worse if it is the Armored Knight/Knight Abhorrent due to its massive health.

* MetalSlime: The trope namer. There's also the Gold Golem.

* ReptilesAreAbhorrent: The only reptilian creatures who show up in the game are the Dragonlord and his minions like Chimaeras and Green Dragons.

* SequenceBreaking: The player is supposed to rescue Gwaelin from the Quagmire Cave in order to get Gwaelin's Love/Princess's Pledge, which tells your position relative to Tantegel. You're supposed to receive a hint that a PlotCoupon can be found exactly x steps away from Tantegel on the x-axis and x steps away from Tantegel on the y-axis [[spoiler: (The Mark of Erdrick can be found 40 steps south, 70 steps east of Tantegel)]]. Thus, you're supposed to use Princess' Pledge to locate your position relative to Tantegel and search. However, that's not actually necessary if you already know where to look (The PlotCoupon will be there regardless of whether or not you rescue Gwaelin), you can get it and skip rescuing Gwaelin to begin with.

* UselessItem: Thou must be warned about thy items thou receivest:

The first in the groundbreaking ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'' series, ''Dragon Quest I'' (titled ''[[MarketBasedTitle Dragon Warrior]]'' in North America when it was first brought over) is the story of the descendant of the legendary hero Erdrick, who has been summoned by the king of Alefgard to rescue his daughter and defeat the Dragonlord, who is threatening the kingdom and has stolen the legendary [[MacGuffin Sphere of Light]].

** The ending in which you save Gwaelin, and eventually marry her has to happen, since she’s the grandmother of the VideoGame/DragonQuestII cast, with the Hero being their grandfather.

* ButThouMust: The line itself comes from talking to the princess after you save her. She asks: "Dost thou love me?" The answer to saying no is: "But thou must," and her asking again until you pick yes. The remakes remove the illusion of choice entirely:

* DependingOnTheWriter: The hero is either from a small village in Torland who washed up on the shores of Alefgard (Alfregard in the GBC version) ''or'' an Alefgard native who had been training for the day he might be able to fight. Either way, he was already aware of his lineage, despite not having any way to prove it until he found his ancestor's seal in a perilous poison swamp. [[HilariousInHindsight You'd think they'd keep family trees.]] At least ''his'' descendants actually had his gear as family treasures.

In North America, it didn't make very much of a splash, in part because [[LateExportForYou it arrived much later than it did in Japan — North America didn't see it until 1989]], at which point the Anglophone RPG scene had already moved past the game that had inspired ''[=DQ1=]'''s creation in turn.[[note]]This would become an unfortunate theme for the franchise outside of Japan.[[/note]] Despite this, Creator/{{Nintendo}} did try ''very'' hard to push the game, giving out copies to subscribers of ''Magazine/NintendoPower'' and giving the game a ton of attention in said magazine, as well as it featuring in several episodes of ''WesternAnimation/CaptainNTheGameMaster''. It proved decently popular, but the "hardcore" RPG players of America derided it for its simplicity compared to the ''{{VideoGame/Ultima}}'' and VideoGame/GoldBox releases of the time.

The game's release history is absolutely enormous - in Japan. In the '80s and '90s, it was ported to virtually every platform imaginable -- the {{UsefulNotes/MSX}}, the UsefulNotes/PC98, the UsefulNotes/SharpX68000, the [[UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem Super Famicom]], and ''{{UsefulNotes/Satellaview}}''... the SFC port is notable, however, for introducing some significant graphical and performance updates to the game. North America never saw any of this; when a UsefulNotes/GameBoyColor port was produced in 1999, North America received it a year later... and then that was ''it'', despite a feature-phone version coming out in 2004 and the entire Loto trilogy getting a multi-version port archive release on the Wii in 2011. In 2013, a SFC-based smartphone version was produced (its visuals, however, were further updated and resemble those of the SNES remake of ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIII''), and this was released to the wider English-speaking world with an updated translation. The game was re-released as part of the ''Dragon Quest 1+2+3 Collection'' for the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch on September 27, 2019.

* AbsurdlyHighLevelCap: The level cap is 30 at 65535 EXP, but you can curbstomp the Dragonlord well before then, around Level 24 (you need a minimum of Level 20 to have the least chance at beating him). If you reach level 30, the king will lampshade this by saying "Thou art strong enough! Why can thou not defeat the Dragonlord?" Unlike most others on this list, however, it actually becomes ''easier'' to gain levels, as the XP amount between levels is static at that point, even though you're dealing more damage and taking less in return. However, since 98% of the entire game is grinding, it's all a matter of whether you even want to bother grinding more than you have to.

In North America, it didn't make very much of a splash, in part because [[LateExportForYou it arrived much later than it did in Japan -- North America didn't see it until 1989]], at which point the Anglophone RPG scene had already moved past the game that had inspired ''[=DQ1=]'''s creation in turn.[[note]]This would become an unfortunate theme for the franchise outside of Japan.[[/note]] Despite this, Creator/{{Nintendo}} did try ''very'' hard to push the game, giving out copies to subscribers of ''Magazine/NintendoPower'' and giving the game a ton of attention in said magazine, as well as it featuring in several episodes of ''WesternAnimation/CaptainNTheGameMaster''. It proved decently popular, but the "hardcore" RPG players of America derided it for its simplicity compared to the ''{{VideoGame/Ultima}}'' and VideoGame/GoldBox releases of the time.

In North America, it didn't make very much of a splash, in part because it arrived much later than it did in Japan -- North America didn't see it until 1989, at which point the Anglophone RPG scene had already moved past the game that had inspired ''[=DQ1=]'''s creation in turn.[[note]]This would become an unfortunate theme for the franchise outside of Japan.[[/note]] Despite this, Creator/{{Nintendo}} did try ''very'' hard to push the game, giving out copies to subscribers of ''Magazine/NintendoPower'' and giving the game a ton of attention in said magazine, as well as it featuring in several episodes of ''WesternAnimation/CaptainNTheGameMaster''. It proved decently popular, but the "hardcore" RPG players of America derided it for its simplicity compared to the ''{{VideoGame/Ultima}}'' and VideoGame/GoldBox releases of the time.

** {{Useless Useful Spell}}s are actually useful.

The game's release history is absolutely enormous - in Japan. In the '80s and '90s, it was ported to virtually every platform imaginable -- the {{UsefulNotes/MSX}}, the UsefulNotes/PC98, the UsefulNotes/SharpX68000, the Super Famicom, and ''{{UsefulNotes/Satellaview}}''... the SFC port is notable, however, for introducing some significant graphical and performance updates to the game. North America never saw any of this; when a UsefulNotes/GameBoyColor port was produced in 1999, North America received it a year later... and then that was ''it'', despite a feature-phone version coming out in 2004 and the entire Loto trilogy getting a multi-version port archive release on the Wii in 2011. In 2013, a SFC-based smartphone version was produced (its visuals, however, were further updated and resemble those of the SNES remake of ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIII''), and this was released to the wider English-speaking world with an updated translation. The game was re-released as part of the ''Dragon Quest 1+2+3 Collection'' for the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch on September 27, 2019.

!!A List of Tropes draws near! Command?