Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake
| Main series games | |
|---|---|
| Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake | |
| |
| Developer(s) | ARTDINK & Square Enix (Team Asano) |
| Publisher(s) | Square Enix |
| Designer(s) | Yuji Horii |
| Artist(s) | Yoshiya Fujisaki |
| Composer(s) | Kōichi Sugiyama |
| Series | Dragon Quest |
| Platform(s) | Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, Steam |
| Release date(s) | Nintendo Switch INT October 30th, 2025 Nintendo Switch 2 INT October 30th, 2025 PlayStation 5 INT October 30th, 2025 Xbox Series X/S INT October 30th, 2025 Steam INT October 30th, 2025 |
| Genre(s) | Console role-playing |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
| Rating(s) | ESRB: Everyone +10 |
Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake is a full re-imagining of the first two titles in the Dragon Quest series in Team Asano's famed HD-2D artstyle which fuses high-quality pixel art with 3D graphics. It includes a full remake of Dragon Quest and Dragon Quest II, continuing the compilation tradition begun in 1993 with Dragon Quest I & II for the Super Famicom.
This dual pack was announced following the release of Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake on November 14 2024. It will be released on October 30, 2025 for the Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and Steam. For the Nintendo Switch 2 version, physical copies will only come with a game-key card, and an upgrade path from the original Nintendo Switch version has been ruled out by the publisher.
New features
Scenario changes
- The Princess of Cannock is now a party member accompanying the Scions of Erdrick on their quest to stop Hargon.
- New boss battles added for both games such as the Goregoyle, Lunagriff, Nekomancer, and the uncanny descendant of Robbin' 'Ood and his henchmen.
- New story segments such as Belial incinerating a Goyling and a Midnight manguini, as well as threatening the faeries in the Rain Shrine, in addition to Pazuzu appearing in the Great Conflagration alongside his 2 whackolyte subordinates.
- In Dragon Quest I the Hero will help the faeries craft together the Five Sigils, which will be later collected by his descendants.
- The Scions of Erdrick now have to collect medals from their home kingdoms of Midenhall, Cannock, and Moonbrooke in order to be worthy of visiting the Pillar of Winds.
- The Sun Sigil is now found on a pedestal near the outskirts of the Fire Shrine.
- Mermaids have been added to Dragon Quest II, along with an undersea kingdom named Mersea.
- The Ship in Dragon Quest II can now travel underwater and explore the Ocean Floor with the help of the mermaids.
- The Tombola minigame is changed to be a game where random balls are given over a slot machine minigame. New Tombola locations are added, each location now has their own selection of prizes, and the ticket cost to play Tombola now varies.
- Besides both games having locations from the Alefgard originally exclusive to Dragon Quest III, Dragon Quest II has most of the Alefgard locations intact despite the overworld map's smaller size, with locations such as Galenholm being restored.
- It's confirmed that Dragon Quest II will have a new endgame scenario if players have first cleared Dragon Quest I, and most importantly, have clear game save data of Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake on the same platform.
- Mini Medals have been added to both games.
Presentation
- Re-imagined locations and HD-quality sprites.
- Certain areas have been slightly modified to account for the perspective changing from the classic top-down view to the pop up book style found in other HD2D titles.
- Orchestral soundtrack.
- Torches now fully illuminate caves, nixing the use of the Glow spell.
Character changes
- The Prince of Cannock has been buffed considerably, as opposed to how weak he infamously was originally.
- The Wrecktors and Mummies have their current appearance from the Battle Road series for the former and the SNES remake of 'Dragon Quest III' for the latter, while Whackolytes have their appearance from Dragon Quest X onwards, rather than using their old appearances.
- The hawk men and gargoyles now have dialogue during the siege on Moonbrooke.
Battle changes
- The hero of Dragon Quest I now battles multiple enemies at once rather than only one at a time originally.
- New skills and spells have been added to the repertoire of the heroes, such as Dragon Slash and Kacrack. These can be learned by finding ability scrolls located from side-quests as well as in treasure chests from dungeons and hidden areas.
- The Five Sigils each have their own special effects in battle after they're obtained. The Sun Sigil makes abilities deal critical damage. The Moon Sigil helps spells go haywire and deal critical damage. The Star Sigil has allies recover MP whenever they use the Defend command. The Water Sigil can enhance effects from using items. And the Soul Sigil briefly upgrades certain skills and spells with the right conditions. Selecting them under a green marker has them be used in a stronger form, such as turning a Dragon Slash into Double Dragon Slash.
- Men o' war now use Paralysis Attack just like in appearances from Dragon Quest III onwards, while drackolytes now cast Bang just like in appearances from Dragon Quest X onwards.
- Players can now view Enemy Info while battling them by clicking the right stick.
- Targeting a monster with an elemental attack it is vulnerable to displays a red marker over it, and doing so with a resisted element displays the marker in blue.
- Enemies from later entries of the main series and enemies of the first entry for II are added in Dragon Quest I and Dragon Quest II, such as bubble slimes in the former and scornets and drackolytes in the latter and monsters from the Zenithia Trilogy such as terminonatators and cauldrones.
Others
- Having saved data of Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake allows players to receive animal costumes for the playable characters. For the Hero of Dragon Quest I, it is the dog suit, based on a shiba-inu. For the heroes of Dragon Quest II, it is a cat suit, which are based on the different colours of cats.
Update history
October 30th, 2025
- English voice-overs have been added to certain scenes
- More traveller's tips guides have been added to the menu
- The anti-freeze earrings and asbestos earrings have been made available in the Dragon Quest I half
- Adjustments have been made to party member AI and enemy AI behavior
- Small adjustments have been made to system optimization and character attribute function, as well as minor bug fixes
Trivia
- Yuji Horii let it slip that I & II were being remade in HD years prior to the official reveal during the Dragon Quest 35th anniversary live stream, shocking the host and causing an off-screen producer to fuss
Gallery
Illustrations
Artwork of the Erdrick Trilogy HD-2D Remakes by Naoki Ikushima
Japanese logo
The Hero battles the green dragon in Quagmire Cave
The Scions of Erdrick being escorted by mermaids
The Scions travelling, in a homage to the GameBoy Color port released in 1999
Characters
The Hero
The Goddess Rubiss
The Dream-Whisperer
Promotional events
Tonmara mini medal hunt
From October 16 through November 30th the Tonmara company hosted a mini medal hunt at participating Aeon stores to promote the game's release. Parents were encouraged to search for the medals with their children and report their findings for prizes
Bic Camera Ikkerubo stamp rally
The Bic Camera main store in Ikkerubo hosted a photoshoot from October 27th through November 3rd, where customers could take photos with replicas of a golem and restless armour. The Dragonlord was also present on October 30th as a greetable character for customer photography.
Miscellaneous
Yuji Horii and Masaaki Hayasaka launch message
Halloween art featuring various monsters from I & II.
