Dragon Quest Monsters 2

Spinoff games Dragon Warrior Monsters 2
North American box art Developer(s) TOSE Publisher(s) Enix Series Dragon Quest Monsters Platform(s) Game Boy Color Release date(s) ^JP March 9, 2001
^NA September 15, 2001
Genre(s) Console role-playing game Mode(s) Single-player Rating(s) ESRB: E
Media 32-megabit cartridge

Dragon Quest Monsters 2 is a 2001 spinoff game in the Dragon Quest series, and the second game in the Dragon Quest Monsters sub-series. Like its predecessor, Dragon Quest Monsters 2 features young children and the monsters they have recruited and trained to fight for them.

In a similar fashion to the Pokémon series of games, Dragon Quest Monsters 2 was released in two versions, called Dragon Warrior Monsters 2: Cobi's Journey and Dragon Warrior Monsters 2: Tara's Adventure in the North American localization. In addition to minor aesthetic differences, each version alters which monsters are common and rare to encourage trading amongst players without locking away specific creatures. Each version also has a different protagonist who will experience their own take on the game's events.

The Nintendo 3DS Version of both games were remade in 2014, called Dragon Quest Monsters 2: Iru and Luca's Marvelous Mysterious Key and released only in Japan.

Story

The game begins with a family of Monster Masters moving to the island kingdom of GreatLog via a large ship. Cobi and Tara are the children of the family, and want to help their parents make a living as monster breeders. Shortly after they arrive, their mother tells them to pick up a Nut Pie from the town Vault. As they are heading towards the Vault, they run into Prince Kameha and his companion Scruffy, who are known for making trouble for the islanders. Unfortunately, after the siblings get the pie, it is taken by the Prince and Warabou. Cobi and Tara follow them to the inside of the tree underneath the kingdom, where the two are arguing about who should get the goods. Cobi and Tara try to get the pie back but, in the process, knock a big plug out of a hole. The Prince leaves frantically and Warabou uses himself to plug up the hole. He tells Cobi and Tara that the plug allows the island of GreatLog to stay afloat and without it, it will sink. He tells them to get a monster master and ask for his or her assistance. But when they cannot find anyone who will believe or help them, Warabou says that they will have to do it. A lone Slime who overheard the commotion volunteers to help the children prevent the island from sinking, and joins them as their first monster companion.
A quest to save the kingdom has now begun...

Gameplay

In contrast to the first game's use of a series of rooms holding Gates to the Monster Realm, Cobi and Tara's Quest sets them off to complete realms that contain entire plotlines, casts, and monster encounters unique to themselves. These realms are carefully designed maps that feature none of the randomization of the previous game, and possess terrain obstacles based on the theme of the location that can be overcome via the central treasure of that land. For example, the sea world of the second realm has rolling seas that can be sailed over on a large shell, and the world of floating islands will see the player soar atop a cloud.

Additional worlds akin to those found in the original game are obtained in the form of keys that can be amassed through a number of means such as simple exploring, winning in the Monster Arena, and through Link Cable trading. The number of keys is near unlimited, and carry a range of monsters, weak and strong. These magical keys greatly increase the length of the title's post-game section, offering nearly unlimited variety of areas that can challenge even a team of maximum level monsters.

The core mechanics of Monster breeding and taming remain the same, with all monsters having a base chance to join the protagonist that can be increased via food. A new family of monsters has been added as well, the Aquatic family, which was included due to fan demand in the previous game. Monsters from the then-recent Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past were included as well, bringing the total amount of monsters to 312. If players recruit or breed a cumulative total of 150 monsters, then Terry of the first game will appear in GreatLog's arena and challenge the player. If he is defeated, monsters can be bred with those found in the original game.

Reception

On release, Famitsu magazine scored the game a 34 out of 40. According to Famitsu, Dragon Quest Monsters 2 has sold a combined total 1,592,728 copies in Japan. DQM 2 is regarded as a significant improvement over the original game, addressing criticisms of the first game such as the randomized dungeons and lack of oceanic monsters.

The Sony PlayStation compilation Dragon Quest Monsters 1 + 2 received a 33 out of 40 by Famitsu magazine. The game was the 38th best-selling game of 2002 with 292,275 copies.

Trivia

• Carver was briefly considered for the role of protagonist for Monsters 2, before it was decided to use original characters and separate the spinoff series from the world of Dragon Quest VI.

Gallery

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  Cobi Version.

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  Tara Version.

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  Cobi version Japanese box.

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  Tara version Japanese box.

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  Synthesizer Suite.

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  Cobi guide.

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  Tara guide.

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  Classic ad.

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  Dragon Quest Monsters 1 + 2.

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  DQM 1 + 2 V Jump guide.

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  DQM 1 + 2 artwork.

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  The siblings defeating the prince and Scruffy.

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  Prince Kameha.

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  Scruffy.

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  Marta.

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  Mamon.

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  The egg evaluator.

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  Islander.

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  The two Scruffy borders seen when played on the Super Game Boy.