Sentences written about this title, gathered by type from the Japanese and English Wikipedia articles (as of 2026-8-30).
The Famicom and Super Famicom versions were included, together with the 1st game Dragon Quest and Dragon Quest II: Luminaries of the Legendary Line, in the Wii software Dragon Quest 25th Anniversary: Famicom & Super Famicom Dragon Quest I, II, III, released in 2011.
In addition, the Family Computer version placed 4th for characters, 2nd for music, 2nd for absorption, 4th for controls, 3rd for value for money, and 2nd for overall rating in the "Game Report Card" of the game magazine Family Computer Magazine.
First-week sales were 640,000 plus 1195 copies for the Nintendo Switch version and 180,000 plus 575 for the PlayStation 5.
When Hiroshi Naito, who served as chief programmer on the original version, checked the game's remaining capacity in 2024, only 302 bytes of the 256 kilobytes were unused, or 0.1152% of the total capacity.
Sales in Japan reached 3,800,000 copies.
As of 2010, that figure ranks 3rd in the Dragon Quest series, behind Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies and Dragon Quest VII: Fragments of the Forgotten Past.
In the "Game Report Card" reader poll run by the magazine Family Computer Magazine,it scored 27.30 out of 30, as shown below.
In the "Game Report Card" reader poll run by Family Computer Magazine,it scored 25.9 out of 30, as shown below.
In the "Cross Review" of Famitsu it received a total of 30 out of 40, earning a place in the Silver Hall of Fame.
It became the best-selling game of 1988 in Japan, with 3.8 million units sold, and the best-selling game in Japan between 1986 and 1989, grossing at the time.
The Super Famicom remake sold 1.4 million units in Japan, with nearly 720,000 units sold in 1996 alone.
The Game Boy Color version sold a lower 604,000 copies in Japan by the end of 2001, and eventually became the fifth best selling Game Boy Color game in Japan, with 638,551 copies sold.
It became the last Super Famicom software released by Enix.
The same was true of the "official guidebook" published later: apart from the "rotating floor", almost none of the elements that appear in the final part of the game were included, and the last enemy the heroes had to defeat was given as "Baramos"; the official guide for the remake likewise left some elements out.
Gamebook Dragon Quest III (Enix Products) - the first gamebook in the Dragon Quest series from Enix.
It is the third installment in the Dragon Quest series and was first released for the Family Computer (Famicom) in Japan and later for the Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) in North America.
The game was released a year after its predecessor, which was finished only five months after the first installment.
The Super Famicom version, released in late 1996, during the last days of the Super NES in North America, was never brought to North America, due to Enix America Corporation's closure in 1995.
Dragon Quest III sold over one million copies on the first day, with almost 300 arrests for truancy among students absent from school to purchase the game.
A survey conducted by Famitsu magazine in early 2006 among its readers placed Dragon Quest III as the third most favorite game of all time, being preceded by only Final Fantasy X and Final Fantasy VII.
In North America, Dragon Quest III was considered an improvement over the first two games, with critics finding the new day/night system and the addition of an in-game bank praiseworthy, but the game was criticized for keeping "the same ugly graphical style and clumsy interface" according to Kurt Kalata of Gamasutra.
GameSpot gave the Game Boy Color version a "good" 7.6/10, saying that "DWIII is a worthy port of its old NES ancestor, but its firm grounding in the RPG old-school means that only the hard-core need apply.
In a 1989 interview, Horii said that developers had perfected the series' game structure in Dragon Quest III, and this was reflected by the transition from one character's quest to a party of heroes.
A review in said that from the story, setting and events, the game was excellent all around and that parts of the game were even more elaborate than the previous Dragon Quest game.
In North America, Dragon Quest III was considered an improvement over the first two games, with critics finding the new day/night system and the addition of an in-game bank praiseworthy, but the game was criticized for keeping "the same ugly graphical style and clumsy interface" according to Kurt Kalata of Gamasutra.
In 2023, Time Extension included the game on their "Best JRPGs of All Time" list.
GameSpot gave the Game Boy Color version a "good" 7.6/10, saying that "DWIII is a worthy port of its old NES ancestor, but its firm grounding in the RPG old-school means that only the hard-core need apply.
With Yuji Horii's scenario and game design, Akira Toriyama's character design, and Koichi Sugiyama's heroic music, the game won explosive popularity and set off a social phenomenon, with queues several kilometres long forming in front of mass retailers on the release day.
Among the titles released in 1988, Dragon Quest III (released in 2) added elements such as a day-night cycle and Luida's Bar, and became a major hit.
It became the best-selling game of 1988 in Japan, with 3.8 million units sold, and the best-selling game in Japan between 1986 and 1989, grossing at the time.
In North America, Dragon Quest III was considered an improvement over the first two games, with critics finding the new day/night system and the addition of an in-game bank praiseworthy, but the game was criticized for keeping "the same ugly graphical style and clumsy interface" according to Kurt Kalata of Gamasutra.
Many of the items sold in shops were also changed.
Apart from this, early in development there was a Swiss-style village with its own yodel-like background music, but it is said that both the village and the music were removed at the development stage because of capacity.
Dragon Quest 3 also had a title screen at first, but it was cut (laughs)", he said, telling a story from the time of production.
The game's director, Masahiro Sakurai, explained that the Hero's inclusion was originally meant to include just the two protagonists from Dragon Quest III and Dragon Quest XI, but the number would ultimately be doubled to four, including the protagonists from Dragon Quest IV and Dragon Quest VIII.
Dragon Quest III: The Seeds of Salvation, titled Dragon Warrior III when initially localized to North America, is a 1988 role-playing video game developed by Chunsoft and published by Enix.
For the North American release of the Dragon Quest III Game Boy Color remake, Enix decided to give the packaging an anime feel, due to fan demand on Enix's message boards.
The North American release's poor sales are partly due to the fact that the game was released after the release of 16-bit gaming systems, making it seem archaic to gamers.
Kobunsha also printed the ending screen in the photo weekly FLASH and was sued by Enix for copyright infringement, and the question of whether a video game screen can be a copyrighted work was brought into focus once again.
Dragon Quest III Maruhi Official Guide: Dorakue 3 Nazo no Mao o Yattsukero (Tojusha, ) - it was once sued by Enix over spoilers.
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