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Lightning Deal on Dragon Quest IV today →

Update: It’s DQIV again. I expected the “full-fledged Dragon Quest adventure” to be an original one, not a port. Anyway, it’s $11.99 right now.

At 2:15pm PST today (5:15pm EST), Amazon will offer a limited-time Lightning Deal on what is likely to be Dragon Quest IX. “A full-fledged Dragon Quest adventure comes to Nintendo DS for the first time,” according to the hint.

I’m not sure how much it will be — Amazon doesn’t even have any in stock at the moment (except for third party sellers) to compare it to. But I encourage you to check the game out, even if you don’t really do the JRPG thing anymore! I didn’t think I was going to get into it, and it consumed my life for months.

Find: Nintendo DS/3DS release dates, discounts, & more

See also: More Dragon Quest posts

[Image via Chebu]

tags / amazon / deals / dragon quest ix / gaming / jc / dragon quest iv

/ permalink / / 2 months ago / Comments (View)

Tiny Q&A: Dragon Quest IX 100 percenter Steve Tolin

Last week, we reported on the remarkable achievement of Steve Tolin, who completed 100% of the content in Dragon Quest IX in 773 hours of play time. I casually mentioned at the end of that post that we’d be interested in an interview, and he contacted us!

Read on to receive wisdom from someone who has absorbed everything Dragon Quest IX has to teach, someone worthy of the Infinity Trousers (and who, in his spare non-DQ time, works as creative and technical director for Deep Fried Games).

/ permalink / / 7 months ago / Comments (View)

DQIX, One Year Later: Trial of the Dragon

[Today marks the first anniversary of Dragon Quest IX’s release in North America, and in honor of the RPG, we’re reprinting this fantastic essay from Infinity Counter’s Francesco Dagostino on the struggles of JRPGs in recent years, their migration to handhelds, and DQIX’s emergence as the paragon of Nintendo DS RPGs.]

RPGs are facing a hard time.

We all know why and how, so let’s not focus on the usual stuff for now. Let’s imagine them as a cute little princess in distress. I know it’s stupid, but please just do it, OK?

Thank you.

Now imagine game developers as the classic fantasy hero, zooming to the rescue, casting Frizzle and Kazap while slashing dragons, goblins and zombies with their +10 sword of PK Love.

Except he wants to save her not because of amorous feelings or for the well-being of the people in the country. This hero wants to save the princess because of her riches; rescuing her would net him a fuckload of money. Such is life, and what matters is the result, not the way it is achieved: in this specific case, giving aficionados something to happily play with and piling up Zenny.

/ permalink / / 7 months ago / Comments (View)

Dragon Quest IX's final DLC available in America →

It’s truly the end of an era. An era that I kind of forgot was ongoing, but an era nonetheless. This week, a year after the game’s release, you can log onto the DQVC with your North American copy of Dragon Quest IX and download the final quest.

The end of new quest content means that it is now possible to fully complete the game, as NeoGAFfer stolin did (that’s his character above), in a staggering 773-hour effort. I’m really impressed, and also kind of scared. Stolin, if you’re reading this and want to do a post-game interview, hit us up!

Buy: Dragon Quest IX

[Via GoNintendo]

tags / dragon quest / gaming / dragon quest ix / jc / stolin

/ permalink / / 7 months ago / Comments (View)

Dragon Quest IX for $15.96 →

There have been a lot of Dragon Quest deals lately! While this one isn’t nearly as cheap as the brief $6.99 sale Best Buy ran last weekend, you’re still getting an enormous value for your investment — you could sink more than a hundred hours into Dragon Quest IX, and still have dozens of hours of the game’s world to enjoy.

The above artwork, by the way, is from the first panel of this humorous “Forever A Slime” strip.

Find: Nintendo DS/3DS release dates, discounts, & more

See also: More Dragon Quest IX posts

[Thanks, Nick!]

tags / dragon quest ix / dragon quest / deals / amazon / square enix / level-5 / ec

/ permalink / / 9 months ago / Comments (View)

Dragon Quest IX for $6.99 →

If you still haven’t played Dragon Quest IX, our favorite DS release in 2010, you can pick up the masterpiece online for just $6.99 today. $6.99! That’s some crazy value even if you only intend to play through the main campaign, and not spend hundreds of hours exploring treasure maps and collecting alchemy ingredients.

There are plenty of other sales going on that I’ll post from our DS Dates blog (follow it!), where we publish notable game and accessory discounts on the reg:

Find: Nintendo DS/3DS release dates, discounts, & more

See also: More Dragon Quest IX posts

tags / dragon quest / dragon quest ix / gaming / deals / best buy / level-5 / square enix / ec

/ permalink / / 10 months ago / Comments (View)

Dragon Quest VI/IX events at Best Buy →

Nintendo and Best Buy are giving you another opportunity to pick up crucial Dragon Quest IX maps — and try out Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation if you have yet to do so.

Best Buy stores across the US are holding events February 26 and March 5, from noon to 4pm, during which people can gather, play multiplayer, trade maps, and most importantly, pick up the exclusive Orgodemir treasure map for DQ9. You’ll also get a free poster.

DQ6 demo stations will also be set up, but this is primarily being billed by Best Buy as a DQ9 event, which is a bit weird given that it came out in July of last year and DQ6 came out like a week ago. But that’s okay, because DQ9 is so, so, so good and any chance to grab more maps is welcome.

Speaking of chances, I don’t get one, since there are no stores holding events anywhere near me. :(

Buy: Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation (free Slime plush!), Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies

See also: More Dragon Quest VI

[Image: Yunbo]

tags / dragon quest ix / best buy / jc

/ permalink / / 11 months ago / Comments (View)

Torneko Taloon now chillin’ at Quester’s Rest

Everyone’s favorite RPG shopkeeper and the father of the Mystery Dungeon series Torneko Taloon is now available to download as a Dragon Quest IX inn guest.

Just talk to Selma at the Quester’s Rest, download the latest quest/shop data, then hit the inn elevator to visit Torneko’s room (being the RPG equivalent of rapper Rick Ross both in size and ability to move questionable merchandise, he’s naturally staying in the Royal Suites like a bawse).

Once you meet up with the Dragon Quest IV hero, he’ll give you one of his striped muumuus and a purple vest. If you meet certain conditions, he’ll offer you more copies of his gear. Soon, you, too, will be able to roll around Stornway looking like a bawse, an icy Meteorite Bracer decorating your wrist and Dangerous Bustier-wearing elderly women batting their eyelashes at you.

Buy: Dragon Quest IX

See also: More Torneko Taloon posts

[Via Flailthroughs, which is posting an awesome playthrough of Torneko no Daibouken; Image via Junny]

tags / torneko / dragon quest ix / downloadable content / dragon quest iv / level-5 / square enix / ec

/ permalink / / 1 year ago / Comments (View)

Dragon Quest IX screensaver, one of two new reward options available to Club Nintendo members — the other being these Mario-decorated terrycloth towels.

I thought I’d upload my crappy video capture of it so you could preview the thing in motion before spending 10 coins on it. The epic Dragon Quest trance music is my own goofy addition, taken from the Dragon Quest Best Dance Mix. Consider yourself lucky; I almost used Jedward’s “Under Pressure (Ice Ice Baby)” mash-up instead.

The clouds drift by much more smoothly than shown here — it just looks choppy because my computer was too caught up jamming to this mix.

Buy: Dragon Quest IX

See also: Dragon Quest Best Posts

tags / dragon quest / dragon quest ix / level-5 / square enix / club nintendo / screensavers / dragon quest best dance mix / ec

/ permalink / / 1 year ago / Comments (View)

“We’re making history here, okay. This has never ever been done.”

Jedward discussing their Dragon Quest IX outfits. Don’t front, you know you’re dying to hear more about Jedward’s DQIX promotional event in the UK last weekend.

The Irish pop duo came out with their hair dyed wild colors, wearing colored contacts and DQ attire:

Apparently, the idea was to dress up as their Dragon Quest avatars. The fellow in the stylish Swinedimples slacks claims he has a level 23 character, while the tosser on the right has a pitiful level 15 hero. They don’t mention what classes their characters are, but I suspect that if we were to check Jedward’s DSes, we’d find that they’ve somehow been playing as two Teeny Sanguinis the entire time.

Here’s a video of the two coming on stage, followed by an interview in which the twins stroke each others’ mohawks, fix each others’ contact lenses, and feign excitement over receiving a couple drab FirstNews shirts.

At some point, no lie, one of the brothers declares, “It’s so small, you can fit it in your mouth”.

Buy: Dragon Quest IX

[Via Girls Gamer UK]

tags / jedward / dragon quest ix / square enix / dragon quest / level-5 / oh man i burned jedward so hard / ugggghhhhhh / ec

/ permalink / / 1 year ago / Comments (View)

Two jackasses promoting Dragon Quest IX in the UK. Nintendo’s latest advertising campaign features “Jedward,” a pair of Irish twins apparently best known for their cover of “Ice Ice Baby/Under Pressure”, which I won’t link to because you might be tempted to listen to it.

Dragon Quest IX players in the UK can totally trade maps with Jedward at Covent Garden this weekend:

It goes without saying, of course, but if you live in London and happen to attend this thing, send us pictures! Of Jedward’s avatars.

Buy: Dragon Quest IX

See also: Dragon Quest posts sans Jedward

[Via Marzy17]

tags / buy dragon quest ix anyway / ugggghhhhhh / who are these guys / sorry about this post / fusajiro yamauchi rolling in his grave / dragon quest ix / jc

/ permalink / / 1 year ago / Comments (View)

Photos from a Dragon Quest IX slumber party in Los Angeles. It’s great to see Nintendo still promoting Dragon Quest IX with multiplayer events — even if the target of the promotion is limited to one house full of little girls. I’m not sure I understand, honestly. So Nintendo PR coordinated with… one family? To have a party in their house? Because that looks like someone’s house.

Now I totally want to have a DQ9 slumber party. Doesn’t that sound awesome? Hanging out all night, doing quests together, trading maps. With adults, I mean.

Speaking of DQ9, check out this slime stack of pumpkins that Tiny Cartridge reader Elizabeth Bahm carved!

Buy: Dragon Quest IX (save an extra 15 percent by using this “GAMESAVE” coupon code!)

For reading aloud at your next slumber party: More Dragon Quest IX posts

tags / dragon quest / dragon quest ix / jc / level-5 / square enix / slumber party

/ permalink / / 1 year ago / Comments (View)

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