Dragon Quest's Creator Unlocks Decades of Secrets

From Manga Columnist to RPG Legend: The Genesis of Dragon Quest, According to Yuji Horii

It's not every day a Dragon Quest game lands the cover of Game Informer, but Dragon Quest VII Reimagined has done just that. This momentous occasion gave me the incredible opportunity to sit down with the series creator himself, the legendary Yuji Horii, for an expansive 90-minute interview. The full retrospective is, of course, available for subscribers – and honestly, it's a deep dive you won't want to miss.

Dragon Quest's Creator Unlocks Decades of Secrets

But, I wanted to share some highlights, starting with the fascinating journey that led Horii to create the first Dragon Quest.

Before becoming the mastermind behind one

Before becoming the mastermind behind one of gaming's most beloved franchises, Horii was a magazine writer, penning his own column in Weekly Shōnen Jump. Yep, that's right - the same magazine that would publish Dragon Ball! He tells me that he diligently saved his earnings and, at the age of 27, finally purchased a computer. It was with this machine that he began experimenting with game development.

Timing, as they say, is everything. Around that time, Enix Corp (long before they merged with Square) hosted a game development contest. Horii won an award. "And that's actually the beginning of my career as a developer," he humbly admits.

He credits the primitive RPG *Ultima 1: The First Age of Darkness* as a major source of inspiration. It's clear looking back, how that game, alongside *Wizardry,* played a part in shaping not just Dragon Quest, but also Final Fantasy and the entire JRPG landscape. "That really inspired me," Horii says. He remembers thinking, "If I make a game like this, it'll surely become a hit."

But instead of just emulating *Ultima*

But instead of just emulating *Ultima* on PC, Horii envisioned something different. He wanted to bring that RPG experience, something new and special, to the Famicom, Nintendo’s console, while working within its limiting 64-kilobyte memory. He wanted to combine *Ultima’s* 2D dungeon system with *Wizardry’s* character growth, now known as RPG elements.

"Within that limitation [of the Famicom], I wanted to make something that would resonate with people," he explains. "[...] I was really fascinated by the interactive nature of computer games. I wanted to create a game that was really story-focused, or had a heavy story element, because that would surely be an interesting product."

This "interesting product" was, of course, Dragon Quest. Horii began sketching maps, cities, and characters on paper, fleshing out the game's core story in his mind. But even with his vision and technical prowess, he couldn't create Dragon Quest alone. He needed a team.

And the story of how he found the first key member of that team is just as intriguing, involving a staff member at Weekly Shōnen Jump, named Torishima-san… but I'll save that story for another time.