Dragon Warrior Monsters

"Yeah! Dracky is the best monster ever! Okay, but really this is a surprisingly outstanding title."

Dragon Warrior Monsters was a skeptical game for me. I didn't like Dragon Quest Monsters:Joker much, but I had heard many saying the original two for Game Boy Color were far better. So, out of curiosity I gave it a try. My first encounter with this game was when I was extremely young. I had been a pokemon maniac at the time so of course I had to give Dragon Warrior Monsters a try. At the time, I understood very little about the game so I did not get far. Eventually I got rid of my Gameboy Color and all of its games. Several years later here I am. A major DQ fan. I did not feel satisfied that I could not get into Joker despite me greatly anticipating the title. So, I went out and bought Dragon Warrior Monsters for my Game Boy SP. It was a risky decision I certainly did not regret. This RPG surprisingly exceeded my expectations. I had a blast playing this game and thought I should share my opinion on this game.

Graphics:9.5/10:For a Game Boy Color game especially RPG the Graphics are extremely good. As a matter of fact, the only RPG's for the system that ever surpassed these Graphics were the two sequels and Dragon Warrior 1-3. The area designs are done extremely well and so are the monster designs. If your a major fan of this series expect to see many familiar monsters who you may have previously battled in one of your journeys through a Dragon Quest or Warrior game. From the wacky silly awesome slimes, to the oddly awesome Dracky's. The game's Graphics in battle will not disappoint either. While there is a lack of a background, there is a great amount of detail put into the attack animations and enemy sprites. Overall, the Graphics earn a 9.5/10. They are outstanding. Next, is the Gameplay of Dragon Warrior Monsters which will have you absolutely hooked.

Gameplay:9.2/10:Dragon Warrior Monsters is a extremely fun game. It is not your typical RPG by any means. To begin with your a young boy named Terry who by accident ends up going into another dimension. Here, your adventure as a monster tamer in the world of Greatlog begins. Now, to start things off you have Greatlog. This place serves as a hub or in simpler terms the town of Dragon Warrior Monsters. It consists of various locations used for several different purposes. In order to go do some monster butt kicking in dungeons you'll go to the king's castle. Here located in the lower floors of the castle are gates. As you proceed along, you'll fight in tournament battles as well. Which are required to be beaten. Due to the fact they help unlock more gates. As mentioned before, the gates lead you to randomly generated dungeon where a extreme majority of the battling and catching monsters goes on.

The dungeons are randomly generated. So each time you revisit that gate it will be a different fun experience. Battling and exploration in these randomly generated dungeons is done with a three man(rather monster) party. As with most RPG's battles are randomly initiated. You'll walk around and suddenly a transition from the field to a battle screen will occur. In battle it's pretty much the same old. Like the main entries of the series battles will take place from a first person point of view. Sometimes, at the end of a battle a monster may request to join you. You then have the option of accepting the monster into your party or accepting it, but if your party is full sending it to the monster farm back in Greatlog. There is a unfortunate limit to how many can be stored back in the monster farm in Greatlog, but you'll be able to store at least 20 monsters. So, you'll be fine regardless. Another way to catch them is to use meat found randomly throughout dungeons or brought in Greatlog as a motivational factor. Once, done choosing to recruit the monster or not you'll resume traveling through the current dungeon to the end.

As expected, once you reach the end of a dungeon a boss will be awaiting you. Once, you defeat the boss in battle you may have the option to recruit that powerful monster into your party. If not, then your not supposed to basically. When the boss is defeated you automatically return to Greatlog and are instantly healed by the king's servant. One thing that really separates Dragon Warrior Monsters from the monster catching RPG sub-genre is breeding.

Breeding leads to a countless amount of customization in Dragon Warrior Monsters. Basically, it involves getting two monsters of the opposite sex to combine them into another monster. Who will inherit their skills and stats to a extent. As with every monster catching game breeding has it's faults despite it's extreme amount of positives. The fault being you'll never know what monsters to breed in order to get good monsters. Making the use of a guide extremely vital or else you'll spend a lot of time and frustration breeding useless or maybe good monsters. If you do not mind that though, you'll find breeding a extremely satisfying experience. With careful planning you'll be able to create monsters that are extremely powerful. Even simply make a monster that you want because you love it's design. I myself must admit, having the guilty pleasure of making a monster simply because I love how it looks. A nice thing about those monsters you really like is you can make them into whatever you want with a large amount of good breeding planning. Simply put, Dragon Warrior Monsters shares one of the flaws all monster catching games do and one other most don't.

The first being you'll never know what monsters are good. Also, where to get needed monsters and etc. Second, are the tournament fights. I'm not sure who decided this was a good idea, but the tournament fights are A.I. controlled only. Meaning the fights are completely dependable on raw stats, skills and luck. Where instead it really should be dependent on strategy. Dragon Warrior Monsters scores a 9.1 out of 10 in the Gameplay. It's a lot of fun, breeding adds a lot of customization and the randomly generated dungeons make every trek through a dungeon fresh and exciting. On the negative side, you may not know what monsters to get etc. Plus, the tournament fights are only A.I. controlled. So, overall Gameplay 9.1/10. Last, is the Music which like everything so far does not disappoint at all.

Music:10/10:For a Game Boy Color game this soundtrack easily stands the test of time. I would go as far as calling it one of the best 8-Bit soundtracks in a game ever. Sound effects are nothing special, but on the music Koichi Sugiyama really outdid himself. Over the course of the game, you'll find several of your favorite songs from the main series remixed masterfully. Music gets a 10/10 for being just about flawless. So, is Dragon Warrior Monsters ultimately worth a purchase?

Overall:9.4/10:Yes, easily. This game alone is worth buying a Game Boy SP for. It is outstanding and certainly surpassed my expectations. The game can provide over a hundred hours of entertainment depending on how much of the stuff you do in the game. It features extremely good Graphics and Audio too. So, if you like RPG's give this game a try. It will not disappoint at all.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 01/14/09

Game Release: Dragon Warrior Monsters (US, 12/31/99)