BS Dragon Quest

From Dragon Quest Wiki


Broadcast Satellaview Dragon Quest was a promotional remake of Dragon Quest released for the Super Famicom's Satellaview peripheral in 1996.

BS Dragon Quest is based on the 16-bit remake of the game released commercially three years prior. It was available to play for free from February 4 to March 1, 1996 from 6:00PM to 8:00PM, and rebroadcast from April 29 to May 25, 1996 from 7:00PM to 8:00PM.

Broadcast structure[edit]

The game is divided into four episodes with a specific goal each, being acquiring a magic key, retrieving the Staff of Rain, searching for the Mark of Erdrick, and slaying the Dragonlord. Each episode was available to play only during it's broadcast schedule, and completing an episode would have no impact on the others with the exception of the player's score. When an episode's goal is achieved or the timer runs out, the player is Zoom'd to Tantegel castle to have their progress assessed by King Lorik. As with all Satellaview games, BS Dragon Quest could only be played during its broadcast schedule. Once the broadcast rotation for an episode was finished, it would not be available to play again.

Differences from the cartridge release[edit]

This version of the adventure was modified to be accessible to inexperienced players in a variety of ways, such as the Copper sword being a part of the Hero's starting equipment. Monsters are able to drop items after battle as well, something that has not appeared in any other version of the game to this day.

A small side-quest centered around finding happiness medals is present, with 46 medals being hidden throughout Alefgard. Much like Mini medals, these tiny tokens are hidden in pots, chests of drawers, and similarly suspicious areas. These medals are also hidden on the world map, with perceptive players spotting ground, forest, and swamp tiles that are slightly altered from the normal appearance and can be searched to uncover a medal. The number of medals obtained is carried over between all four episodes and each one increases the player's score.

Radio drama events[edit]

One of the features of the Satellaview was its ability to broadcast radio-quality audio and bypass the Super Famicom's sound limitations. This was put to use in BS Dragon Quest with several voice acted events that would trigger during the course of an episode:

  • An introduction to the first episode by Yuji Horii, reminiscing on his memories of creating the game on the original Famicom and how the series has grown since its humble beginnings.
  • An old woman stating that she will aid the player at random intervals by way of restoring their HP to max, voiding all MP costs, and making critical hits occur much more frequently for a battle's duration. During the finale of the last episode the old woman will appear in Tantegel castle (using the normal old woman npc sprite), and reveal herself to be none other than the Goddess Rubiss. Her divine grace will then congratulate the player directly if they were able to slay the Dragonlord before the time limit. Rubiss is voiced by actress Rika Matsumoto (松本梨香).
  • A mustachioed warrior appearing in Tantegel town to give the player a map of Alefgard, which is then assigned to the X button.
  • The ghost of Galen will speak to the player, strumming the Lyre of Ire to repel weak monsters. This indirectly implies that only Galen is talented enough to play the lyre properly.
  • The spirit of Erdrick speaks to the player, giving them encouragement and hints to finding his legendary sword.
  • Princess Gwaelin contacts the player telepathically and gives clues on how to rescue her. She is voiced by Fumie Hosokawa (細川 ふみえ)
  • One of the Dragonlord's minions casts a spell to spirit away the player, triggering a battle with a random enemy.
  • A monster that wants to defect from the Dragonlord's ranks and live a peaceful life asks the player to purify the Wasteband before the fountain in Tantagel castle. The player must become cursed in order to perform this action, so whether the monster is being sincere or lying is up to the player to decide.