Portable Classic RPGs

Bandai has announced a color version of their extremely popular Wonderswan hand-held game system. Scheduled for release in Japan in December with a retail price of 7000 yen, one of the upgraded system’s first titles will be a port of Square’s original Final Fantasy game.

Those who grew up in the 80’s may remember the classic Nintendo RPG Dragon Warrior, with character design by Akira Toriyama of Dragon Ball fame, and maybe the domestic television showing of the Dragon Warrior anime series. 14 years after the original release that introduced thousands of NES owners to RPGs, the re-release of Dragon Warrior I and II for Game Boy Color is almost at hand. Due out September 21, the cart features both of the first two games and should retail for about $29.99.

On a side note, the recent release of the long, long, long awaited Dragon Quest 7 (Dragon Warrior 7) is on track to dwarf sales of Final Fantasy 9. (The half decade delay between Dragon Quest 6 and 7 certainly accounts for a significant portion of the game’s popularity over the current installment of the annual Final Fantasy series.) There have even been two reports of people being mugged in the streets for their just-purchased copies of the sold-out game.

Source: Gaming Intelligence Agency