Dragon Quest localization history

From Dragon Quest Wiki
Revision as of 20:10, 14 January 2020 by Molacarthy (talk | contribs) (Removed subjective material. Changed writing style to be less sensational.)


The Bring Dragon Quest Back to the U.S. Campaign

This article seeks to provide a localization history of the Dragon Quest series. The various English localizations of the Dragon Quest series are a result of three separate eras of the franchise in North America by Enix and Square Enix. This has resulted in a localization lack of uniformity in North America. This article will list the localization changes that Enix and Square Enix have made since the first English release of Dragon Quest.

Nintendo, Dragon Warrior, and Enix America Corporation

In 1989, around three years after the first Dragon Quest game was released in Japan, Nintendo of America decided it was time to introduce the series to North America. So they localized Dragon Quest and renamed it Dragon Warrior. This was necessary as a company called TSR owned the name Dragon Quest at the time. Shortly after, Enix Corporation established a localization branch in Washington, Enix America Corporation, to localize additional Dragon Quest titles for North America. Often called Enix of America, Enix America Corporation brought Dragon Warrior II, Dragon Warrior III, and Dragon Warrior IV stateside. While Enix America Corporation wanted to bring the Super Famicom Dragon Quest VI over as Dragon Warrior V, Enix had closed their North American localization branch at the end of 1995.

As the Final Fantasy franchise's Super Nintendo titles were being released stateside, the Dragon Warrior series did not receive the same treatment. Through sites such as Dragon's Den and the DQShrine, fans in North America were able to form communities and kept hopes of a return of Dragon Warrior to North America. It was also at this time that many North American fans began referring to the series as Dragon Quest, DraQue or simply DQ.

Eidos, Dragon Warrior Monsters, and Enix America, Inc.

In 2000 Dragon Warrior returned in the form of Dragon Warrior Monsters for the Game Boy Color. The game was followed by a reestablishment of Enix in North America, as Enix America, Inc., which released Game Boy remakes of Dragon Warrior I & II, Dragon Warrior III, a dual version Dragon Quest Monsters 2, Torneko: The Last Hope, and the much anticipated Dragon Warrior VII. The games' translation was also more faithful to the Japanese versions (one example being that the legendary hero Erdrick was renamed Loto, which was a more faithful translation of his Japanese name, Roto). By then, Enix had established their own localization for the series. The names of characters, monsters, spells, items, places, etc., had been chosen carefully to reflect the Japanese names, while still maintaining many traditions that had been established since the days of the NES. Enix continued to release the Dragon Warrior titles in America during this period.

Enix Merges with Square, Dragon Quest VIII, and the Current Square Enix

On April 3rd 2003, Enix and Square merged into one company to form Square Enix. Shortly after the merger, there was anticipation for the PS2 remake of Dragon Quest V to be released in North America. However, this did not come to pass. In 2005, Square Enix announced that Dragon Quest VIII for the PS2 would be coming to the states. The game's English localization took liberties with the original Japanese and substituted new names in place of the old Enix naming conventions when the series was known as Dragon Warrior

Current Square Enix Localization of Dragon Quest

The following sections will describe differences found in the localizations of the series.

Voice Acting & Script Writing

Dragon Quest VIII is the the first Dragon Quest game localized by Square Enix. Square Enix USA added several new features including voice acting and the symphonic soundtrack. The original Japanese version of Dragon Quest VIII had no voice acting and utilized synthesized music. When Square Enix took over, they changed the writing style as well as hiring a British acting group to accommodate the new script. Changes had been made to the game's script in order to appeal to a different market in North America. New naming conventions had been devised for reappearing monsters, spells, items, etc. One example is that the Hero's pet was named Toppo in the Japanese, but renamed Munchie in English.

Square Enix in Japan took notice and decided to implement voice acting of their own in Dragon Quest Swords for the Wii. Square Enix used the same British actors for the English version of this game.

Semantics

Names in particular have been subject to changes from the original Japanese script. For instance, there is a monster called Battle Rex in the Japanese version of the series. When Enix localized the Dragon Warrior games, they left its name the same. But for Square Enix's new Dragon Quest localization, they changed its name from Battle Rex to hacksaurus instead. Square Enix also changed almost all of the traditional spell names. For example, Firebal were changed to Sizz and Vivify changed to Zing. This may have been done to reflect the perceived onomatopoeia of the Japanese spell names.

Sound Design

In the North American release of Dragon Quest VIII, Square Enix replaced the original battle and spell sound effects that debuted in Dragon Quest with brand new sound effects. This practice was abolished in all future releases of Dragon Quest titles in the states, which maintain the sound effects of the Japanese versions.

Religion

In Square Enix's localizations for Dragon Quest VIII and subsequent titles, all references to God are replaced with Goddess. In the Dragon Warrior games for the Game Boy Color, Enix replaced all references to God with "gods". The references to God in Dragon Warrior VII remained intact.

Dragon Quest IX and Beyond; Current Localizations

In 2010, Nintendo of America published Dragon Quest IX in North America and Europe, marking the third time that a Dragon Quest game has been published by a company other than Enix/Square Enix. In the translation, some of the localizations that had been changed by Enix America, Inc. were reverted to their earlier NES era localizations; such as:

However, other aspects of the translation, such as items and spell names, remained consistent with the newer localizations adopted by Square Enix. In 2011, Nintendo published the DS release of Dragon Quest VI in North America and Europe, and published Dragon Quest Monsters 2 and Fortune Street in these regions as well. It is possible that as Nintendo continues to be involved with the English localizations of Dragon Quest, that further name changes could occur.

See Also