Trivia / Dragon Quest IV

• Bad Export for You: The English version of the DS-remake that was released was stripped of the Party Chat feature, a mechanic in which selecting the "talk" button when there was no one to talk to would instead make the current party members talk to each other, revealing hints and much needed characterization. Given that one of the major flaws of the original game was that each character's personality disappeared once they joined your party in Chapter 5, this feature was considered very welcome indeed. Thankfully, this feature isn't removed from the later remakes of V and VI nor the mobile port.
• Dummied Out: The Party Chat feature, which is still in the game code, but was cut so the game could be released quicker. Fan outcry since then forced Square Enix to not make that mistake with the sequels. The iOS version finally adds it in, with a dedicated button specifically for talking to your party. And they are chatty.
• Late Export for You: European players had to wait eighteen years before they could play this game for the first time on the Nintendo DS.
• Manual Misprint: The instruction manual for the NES version has got quite a lot of misprints. For example, it is claimed that Maya and Meena's (Mara and Nara's) father was "Loro", a weaponsmith who "died of unknown causes" ("Loro" was actually alchemist Mahabala/Edgar who got murdered by Balzack); that the Powder Keg/Gunpowder Jar would have the Chancellor "lead [the player] to Keeleon" in a castle (the castle was already named Keeleon Castle/Palais de Leon, and the "boss" is not Keeleon, but rather Balzack); and that Tom Foolery/Panon is a "she" who is "a brilliant star" and "is good to have in dark places" (Tom/Panon is not a woman, but he's rather a comedian, and we don't know if he's "good to have in dark places" or not, but he is more of a Joke Character than a helpful person).
• No Export for You:
  • The PlayStation remake was originally going to be released in English, and there were advertisements for it in copies of Dragon Quest VII as well. However, a partner company of Enix which handled the development went bankrupt, and it became impossible to translate because they could not reprogram the script's code to implement the English text.
  • The NES version, much like previous installments in the franchise, was never released in Europe.
• What Could Have Been:
  • In a 1990 interview with Famitsu magazine, series director Yuji Horii revealed that Psaro was originally intended to become a party member but had to be cut due to memory limitations. This eventually became a reality when the game was remade for the PlayStation eleven years later.
  • Coding in the Game Boy Color remake of Dragon Quest III suggests that they were planning on remaking Dragon Quest IV for the Game Boy Color, which could have introduced new monster relatives for the Skeleton, Firespirit, Winky, Erazor Blade, Dragon Rider, Hellspawn, Dangler Fish, Preying Manta, Night Clubber, and Rashaverak monster families, before Enix chose to remake it for the PlayStation.

---