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Dragon Warrior 4 – RPG(NES / Var)
Enix

Enix’s most successful RPG series, Dragon Warrior is now up to its eighth entry – now, of course, rechristened its original Japanese name, Dragon Quest. The series has a long history of refining formulas (like Koei) to make a great, if traditional, RPG experience.

The fourth entry in the series, specifically, is one of the more traditional ones, although it is probably just as likely that it creates as many traditions as it uses. There are several characters – only four of which can be used at any time – so you can pick and choose your party. There are five chapters, each of which has its own set of characters (in the fifth, you get to use all of them). And, of course, there is an evil threatening to destroy the world.

Graphically, the game isn’t especially great. The music is very good in some places, though, and more than makes up for the graphics. Characters get a good deal more fleshing out than usual in NES RPGs, so the story is more enjoyable than usual. Difficulty can get very hard for an RPG, but it’s nothing unusual for the series.

Some of the best features of the game were pretty much started here. In the third chapter, you get to manage a shop, and when you finally get to the fifth chapter, you get to choose your party (!) of four from 10 or so characters.

What DW4 has to offer, however, is one of the best RPG experiences on the NES. In Japan, it’s been re-released more than once, but we haven’t gotten any here yet. Play and enjoy.

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