Theatrhythm Dragon Quest
| Theatrhythm Dragon Quest | |
|---|---|
 Cover art
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| Developer(s) | indieszero |
| Publisher(s) | Square Enix |
| Director(s) | Masanobu Suzui |
| Producer(s) | Ichiro Hazama |
| Artist(s) | Monster Octopus |
| Composer(s) | Koichi Sugiyama |
| Series | Dragon Quest |
| Platform(s) | Nintendo 3DS |
| Release |
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| Genre(s) | Rhythm |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
Theatrhythm Dragon Quest is a rhythm game developed by indieszero and published by Square Enix for the Nintendo 3DS. It was released in Japan on March 26, 2015, and was the first game of its type in the Dragon Quest series and the third Theatrhythm game after Theatrhythm Final Fantasy and Theatrhythm Final Fantasy: Curtain Call.
Gameplay
Theatrhythm Dragon Quest features 65 musical pieces selected from the Dragon Quest series, all originally composed by Koichi Sugiyama. Additional tracks were released as downloadable content via the Nintendo eShop.
Unlike Theatrhythm Final Fantasy and its sequel Theatrhythm Final Fantasy Curtain Call, Battle Music Sequences (BMS) are shot from a top-down perspective similar to Guitar Hero. The player can tap, swipe, and hold the touch screen when the correct notes are hit. Field Music Sequences (FMS) are functionally identical to those from Theatrhythm Final Fantasy and Theatrhythm Final Fantasy Curtain Call, though can now feature a player's party, rather than the leader.
There are three game modes: challenge mode, music-play and Casino. While tracks can be unlocked in challenge mode, playable characters can be unlocked in Casino.
Development
Theatrhythm Dragon Quest was first announced at Jump Festa 2015 on December 10, 2014, with a playable demo. A trial version was released on March 11, and a smartphone app called Intro Quiz Battle was released on March 20, 2015. The app has players listen to songs from Dragon Quest games and answer questions about them until the app was shut down on April 30, 2015.
Producer Ichiro Hazama mentioned in an interview that developers would monitor fan feedback as to what additional songs would be included as downloadable content. The first collection of DLC was previewed a week before the game was released in March 2015 and featured five songs, one from each of the first five Dragon Quest games. A second DLC song collection from Dragon Quests III through V was released in April 2015. A fourth DLC packet of four songs was made available free of charge in May 2015.
Reception
Famitsu scored Theatrhythm Dragon Quest a 35/40. More than 76,000 copies were sold in its first week, making it the best-selling Nintendo 3DS game in that week.