Sentences written about this title, gathered by type from the Japanese and English Wikipedia articles (as of 2026-8-30).
The story is set 100 years after the previous game, Dragon Quest (released in 1986). The peace of the world, broken by the founder of an evil religion, is regained by 3 descendants of the previous game's hero, who carry the blood of the hero "Loto".
The previous game, this game, and the later Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation (released in 1988), 3 titles in all, are connected in story, and are called the "Loto series" or the "Loto trilogy" after the hero "Loto".
The Family Computer version earned a place in the Platinum Hall of Fame in the "Cross Review" in the game magazine Famitsu, and in the "Game Report Card" in Family Computer Magazine it placed 1st for characters, 1st for music, 1st for absorption, 2nd for controls, 1st for originality, 1st for value for money, and 1st overall.
6 years after the release of the Famicom version, in 1993 (Heisei 5), it was released together with the 1st title, Dragon Quest, as a single package of 1 games, Dragon Quest I & II.
Nearly 1 years after that release date, on 2025-10-30 (and on 10-31 of the same year on Steam), it was released together with Dragon Quest I as a single package of 1 games, Dragon Quest I & II, for Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and Windows.
In the "Game Report Card" reader poll run by the game magazine Family Computer Magazine, its rating was 28.02 out of 30, as shown below.
The Famicom version sold 500,000 copies on its first release in Japan, and copies by the end of the year, grossing several hundred million dollars.
The Super Famicom and Game Boy Color remakes together shipped in excess of 1.92 million copies worldwide.
The game was included in a 2011 compilation called Dragon Quest Collection for the Wii, which sold 403,953 copies.
It was finished once at the start of month 11 and should have been in time for the original release date (late in month 12), but the release was put back by 1 months for balance adjustment.
The Super Famicom remake was only released in Japan.
Several guide books were published: the first was published by Shueisha in February 1987, the second by Tokuma Shoten in July 1987, and the third by game publisher Enix in 1988 as an "official guide book".
The Famicom version sold 500,000 copies on its first release in Japan, and copies by the end of the year, grossing several hundred million dollars.
Also with the success of the Game Boy Color remake, Enix released a Game Boy Color Dragon Warrior III in 2001, which was based on the Japan-only Super Famicom update of the original Dragon Quest III.
Nakamura has stated that the Cave of Rhone found in the game is inspired by a classic trick to exit mazes, that of always moving forward while sticking to the right-hand side wall to avoid traps.
"Only Lonely Boy", the background music in the game's name and password input interface, was arranged as a vocal promotional song and released as a single by Anna Makino named “Love Song Sagashite”.
Several guide books were published: the first was published by Shueisha in February 1987, the second by Tokuma Shoten in July 1987, and the third by game publisher Enix in 1988 as an "official guide book".
In 1987-2, the judgment of the Tokyo District Court in the High Score case, in which the printing of the game's screens in a magazine was held to be copyright infringement, was published together with a commentary in Hanrei Hyakusen.
Dragon Quest II was ported to MSX computers in February 1988, but the ported version had many issues like choppy scrolling, black-surround characters titles, poor graphics, along with sluggish combat and menus.
Dragon Quest II: Luminaries of the Legendary Line, titled Dragon Warrior II when initially localized to North America, is a 1987 role-playing video game developed by Chunsoft and published by Enix for the Nintendo Entertainment System as a part of the Dragon Quest series.
The North American release of the game as Dragon Warrior II was created by Enix themselves and published in 1990.
The game was praised for improving on almost all aspects of the original, including having better graphics, having a larger world to explore, and more characters to participate in a more dynamic combat system.
The game's music is often praised, despite its limited 8-bit capabilities.
These were introduced in magazines and elsewhere as "tricks".
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