Dragon Warrior IV

"Best NES Dragon Warrior game ever made and also 2nd best Dragon Warrior Game in general."

Ah yes the 1992 finale for the DW games for the NES which suprisingly went better than the alredy very good DW3 which was much better than the first two which were average but not great. Its also one of the finest RPG games ever made for the NES system as well. Its the first DW game to truly have more of a storyline than the ''save the world/princess/both from a very evil force'' (though to be fair DW3 did have you try to find Ortega whom is the Hero/Heroine's father and the concept of trying to stop Kandar's theivery twice over the course of the game does give a bit of something different). So while DW4 isn't the first DW game to have something resembling a storyline it does have more of a storyline than the either three and thats what give it such a impressive edge. Many of the characters in here are already made that you can play as and have good developed personalities. And the NPC's aren't too shabby either. I won't spoil anything in the game's storyline but it does have somethings that may suprise you. This 5-Chapter story is pretty lengthly (ESPECIALLY the 5th one of course) but none of them ever truly feel like they ''overstayed their welcome'' if you know what I mean.

It also has very good gameplay and while the character movement is not quite as good as in the GBC version of DW3 but it does improve over the rather slow pace in the NES version of DW3. The Monster artwork has improved from the past (but not too much) and while this is a better game than DW3 its not MUCH of a improvement. And its also the first to feature certain nice gameplay elements such as that not all doors have to have a key to open them. (Which is QUITE nice.) And more...

However the truly sad thing about this is that unlike DW3 this one never had any ''Modern remake'' for it. There was going to be for the Sony PSX but it never got released in the states. Its a dire shame that a very good remake wasn't made for this in the modern systems. After all look at how DW3 did for the GBC, until that came along THIS was the best game in the series. And if they made a really good remake for this game its QUITE possible that it would've been even better than the GBC version of DW3. But I digress, however even though its harder to find than the other DW games it is still quite worth the money and is overall just simply a very good game.

+ Best DW game for the NES
+ First DW storyline to have a bit more elaborate storyline (not too mention a very good & lengthly one)
+ Feels a bit more polished & improved than its NES prodecessor
+ Very nice graphics and artstyle
- Unlike DW3 its ''modern remake'' was a Sony Playstation One game that was never released in the States
- Its better than the good game that is DW3 for the NES but not THAT much better
- Of the NES DW games out there its THE hardest one to find and more expensive than the others.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 07/15/03, Updated 02/11/04