Square Enix and DeNA Co. announced they are collaborating for a brand new Dragon Quest mobile game titled, Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai: A Hero’s Bonds.
The game is based off the anime Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai as well as the wildly popular Japanese roleplaying game franchise Dragon Quest.
Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai was recently nominated as a finalist in the Best Fantasy category in the Crunchyroll Anime Awards. It was developed by Shueisha, Tokyo Corporation, Toei Animation, and Square Enix.
It was based on the manga Dragon Quest The Adventure of Dai created by Riku Sanjo with art by Koji Inada and supervised by Yuri Horii and serialized from 1989 to 1996 in the Weekly Shonen Jump Magazine. It’s currently available to purchase in 22 paperback volumes.
In a press release, Square Enix describes the game as a “Team Action RPG for mobile that will feature dynamic battle sequences and deep character progression options.”
Take a look at the announcement trailer.
Specifically the game will follow the story of the anime as “they form a team of three heroes and battle their way through the legions of the Dark Army on a three-lane battlefield.”
Square Enix details, “The key to victory is observing your opponents’ skills and attacks, and responding with the right counter-attack, dodge, or spell.”
While you will for a team of three heroes, the game actually features six playable characters and promises more will be introduced following the game’s release.
Each character is unique with “different roles, abilities, and special skills.” And as is typical with RPGs, players will be able to upgrade and customize their characters including their attacks, weapons and equipment.
Square Enix shared a number of details about some of the characters featured in the game.
Dai is voiced by Atsumi Tanezaki. He was rasied by the shaman Brass and has been training under Avan, who previously saved the world from the villainous Hadlar.
Popp is voiced by Toshiyuki Toyonaga. He’s an apprentice mage to Avan.
Maam is voiced by Mikako Komatsu and is the defender of her hometown Nayle. She defends the town with a magic bullet gun given to her by Avan.
Avan is voiced by Takahiro Sakurai. He’s Dai’s mentor and previously defeated the Dark Lord and saved the world.
Crocodine is voiced by Tomoaki Maeno. He’s the leader of the Dark Army’s Furfang Legion.
Hyunckel is voiced by Yuki Kaji. He’s the commander of the Dark Army’s Undead Legion. He wields the Dark Armour Blade in battle and was previously a disciple of Avan.
Finally, Hadlar is voiced by Tomokazu Seki. He was previously known as the Dark Lord, but has since been revived by Vearn and now goes by the Dark King.
While the game will follow the story of the anime, it will also feature two different story modes.
First, Dragon Tacks “follows the original storyline of Dragon Quest The Adventure of Dai and allows players to complete quests and add familiar characters to their teams.”
The other mode called Bonding Journey is “an all-new story written exclusively for this game under the guidance of Riku Sanjo.” This story is set in the world of Milladosia and the player, whose character is called the Luminary Leader is the protagonist.
The Luminary Leader will be customizable with different hairstyles, faces, a gender option, and more.
As part of their announcement, Square Enix also revealed a sweepstakes, where players who follow the official Dragon Quest The Adventure of Dai A Hero’s Bonds Twitter account and retweet the campaign tweet will be entered into a chance to win a pet set featuring the game’s characters.
The sweepstakes runs from March 16th to March 23rd. You can see what the pins might look like below.
The game is currently available for pre-registration on both Android and iOs.
Do you plan on checking out Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai: A Hero’s Bonds?