Dragon Warrior 3
System:
Game Boy Color
Publisher & Developer: Enix
Released: 2001
Genre: RPG
Capabilities: Battery Backed Memory
Review Written: March 19, 2002
The Game
Dragon Warrior was one of the first RPG’s around when the first game arrived on the NES. It has spawned many sequels and spin offs on various platforms such as the NES, Super Nintendo, Playstation, and Game Boy Color. The latest version to arrive on the GB Color is a port of Dragon Warrior 3 from the NES, with some new features added. Will this remake be as successful as its predecessor? Let’s get onto the review and find out.
The Story
You are the son of the legendary hero, Ortega, who hailed from the community of Aliahan. He went off to fight the demon lords, but never returned. And now it’s your turn to follow his foot steps.
Graphics
Just the same way you remember them from the NES days, but with slight improvements. The main towns and world you explore has the familiar overhead view. All the characters have their own unique look so you can easily distinguish them. For characters that tiny, I’m impressed on how you can make out who’s the knight, priest, cleric, and so on. The battle scenes are what I like the most, with each character having all their own animations for their variety of attacks. Some of the new improvements to the graphics engine is added backgrounds for battles. Also, the icons on the world map indicating mountains and forests have a more polished look to them. Another thing you will notice is the game’s manual and box design features character art done by one of the designers of Dragon Ball Z. I like it a lot better than the more cartoon-ish box art from Dragon Warrior 1 & 2 for Game Boy Color.
Sound
Everyone should know what music from RPG’s from the NES and SNES days were like. For those of you that do, that music is still featured in the DW3. I love the change of pace of music in the game, like when the tune gets a much more deeper for the story scenes. The battle theme also has a nice theme to it. The sound effects are all very basic, and nothing special. It’s all the standard beeps and bonks you hear to indicate walking, attacking, and so on. But it’s what you expect from most Game Boy games.
Game play
The main battle engine is the same what Enix set the standard for. It still is text menu, turn based. Which may sound a bit simple, but it’s what everyone loved back in the day. There have been a few improvements from the original NES game that you fans will notice. For example, walking on the world map isn’t as slow as you remember it to be. Also, all items you are not using can be stored in a bag.
The game plays a bit different from the previous Dragon Warrior. Instead of having people join your party during your quest, you get to assemble it right at the beginning of the game. This game introduces the class system where you can have your characters choose to be Warriors, Clerics, Jesters, Mages, and several other class types. Each one has their own strengths and weaknesses, so make sure you start off with a party with equal strengths and weaknesses. The game plays along as all other standard RPG’s do where you get in battles and experience points to level up your characters. When leveling up, you also have to improve your weapons and armor, and later on you get to learn new magic spells to use in battle. Combine that with a great storyline, and you have another blockbuster hit.
Replay Value
The game has added a few new features to keep you playing like the medal system, where you randomly are awarded with medals after certain battles. You also have this coliseum mode where you can bet on duels between monsters to see who can come out on top. Add these new features to the many hours involved in beating the game, and you will find yourself playing this game for a long time.
In Brief
+: Classic RPG action, Improved visuals, New features added to game play
-: Basic sound effects, Simple story line
The Final Ratings Rundown
Graphics: 9.3
Sound: 7.0
Game play: 8.5
Replay Value: 9.0
Overall: 8.4
Rounded to fit GameFAQs Score: 8
Comments
Dragon Warrior 3 is a great conversion of the NES classic. You’ll easily be playing this game for a while in order to beat it and enjoy the added new features to the game. Any RPG fan shouldn’t pass up this opportunity to enjoy this classic one more time.