"Get back here you metal slime!"

Unlike a lot of other lucky folks here, I actually bought Dragon Warrior ( and then received a second free one from Nintendo Power). It is not a decision I regret however, as Dragon Warrior was a very good game. It was released shortly after Ultima Exodus which I also got, meaning I was locked inside my room for a good month playing through these two games!
Dragon Warrior places you as the legendary descendent of Erdrick, a hero of lore who had bested evil many eons ago. Now darkness descends upon the land, not to mention a princess being kidnapped, so off you go, gaining levels and defeating foes. It may seem very basic, but this game helped develop RPG's on the NES. It was a little more user friendly than Ultima Exodus. It featured a greater variety of enemies and played on a much more linear path. A nice RPG, though it tends to move a little slowly at times.

Graphics=8.0 The overworld is very basic, but the still shots of enemies are well drawn and cartoony. For the size of this game at the time, I think it was well done.

Sound=6.4 Rather tinny and simple. The songs have a nice, adventurous feel to them but the sound effects are very limited. These effects were greatly improved upon in the following Dragon Warrior games.

Gameplay=7.7 Your hero moves a little slowly across the land, but battles are easily fought. Again, Enix was just starting to get a feel for the RPG so I can't be too harsh on them!

Story=6.0 It's a pretty basic save the world because it is in your blood theme. Nothing new here...

Challenge=7.7 A fun and time consuming game to play! It takes a good deal of thinking to find things on your own, but overall it comes down to having high levels to beat the enemies you need to advance.

Overall=8.1 One of the best RPG's on the NES. I cannot imagaine anyone giving this a bad score unless they were playing it for the first time after the 32 bit systems came out. A revolutionary game!

Reviewer's Score: 8/10, Originally Posted: 02/08/00, Updated 02/08/00