Sentences written about this title, gathered by type from the Japanese and English Wikipedia articles (as of 2026-8-30).
It is the 4th title in the Dragon Quest series and the last Dragon Quest released for the Famicom.
From the 1st to the 3rd game the series was released at a pace of 1 titles every 1 years, but this game came out after a gap of 2 years from the 3rd title.
Together with the later Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride and Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation, it forms what is called the Zenithian trilogy, of which it is the 1st title.
The Family Computer version earned a place in the Platinum Hall of Fame in the "Cross Review" of the game magazine Famitsu, and also took 1st place in reader support and won the RPG award at the "'90 Best Hit Game Awards".
At the same time it has much in common with the world of Dragon Quest V, released after it, and Dragon Quest VI contains hints that it shares the same world. In the bonus dungeon of the DS version the chronology of the 3 titles is made clear, and they are shown to be set in the same world.
The ROM capacity used in the game was 4 megabits, double that of the previous game and an enormous amount for the time, and magazine advertisements before release made the claim that "even adding up all of Enix's earlier Famicom software - the previous 3 Dragon Quest games, Portopia Renzoku Satsujin Jiken, and Door Door - there would still be room to spare".
Within 20 days of release, shipments passed 1,000,000 copies.
Within 3 weeks of release, shipments reached 1,000,000 copies.
The 3 games released overseas - this one, V, and VI - all use the internal sound source.
In the same magazine's "'90 Best Hit Game Awards" it also took 1st place in reader support and won the RPG award in the awards by genre.
In the "Game Report Card" reader poll run by the game magazine Family Computer Magazine its rating was 25.34 out of 30.
In the "Cross Review" feature of the magazine Famitsu, the game scored a total of 32 out of 40, earning a place in the Gold Hall of Fame.
In the "Cross Review" feature of the magazine Famitsu, the game scored a total of 34 out of 40, earning a place in the Gold Hall of Fame.
It was the first game music release to enter the Oricon chart at number 1 (1990-3-26).
The PlayStation version of Dragon Quest IV was the fourth best-selling game in Japan in 2001 with over 1 million copies sold, and has sold nearly 1.2 million copies as of December 26, 2004.
It is the 4th title in the Dragon Quest series and the last Dragon Quest released for the Famicom.
Learning from the confusion on the previous game's release day, and to avoid such confusion, it was the first game in the Dragon Quest series to be released on a Sunday rather than a weekday.
In 2001-8, about 1 years after the release of Dragon Quest VII, a PlayStation remake was announced of this game, which at that time was the only Famicom Dragon Quest title that had not been remade.
It was the first game music release to enter the Oricon chart at number 1 (1990-3-26).
Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen, titled Dragon Warrior IV when initially localized to North America, is a 1990 role-playing video game, the fourth installment of the Dragon Quest video game series developed by Chunsoft and published by Enix, and the first of the Zenithian Trilogy.
A North American NES version followed in October 1992, and would be the last Dragon Quest game localized and published by Enix's Enix America Corporation subsidiary prior to its closure in November 1995, as well as the last Dragon Quest game to be localized into English prior to the localization of Dragon Warrior Monsters in December 1999.
Together with the later Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride and Dragon Quest VI: Realms of Revelation, it forms what is called the Zenithian trilogy, of which it is the 1st title.
At the same time it has much in common with the world of Dragon Quest V, released after it, and Dragon Quest VI contains hints that it shares the same world. In the bonus dungeon of the DS version the chronology of the 3 titles is made clear, and they are shown to be set in the same world.
Dragon Warrior IV was scheduled for release in North America in 2002, but never came out.
Early in development the game saved by meeting the king, as in the previous titles, but it is said that this was changed to a system of saving at a church, because the king is deep inside the castle, far from the entrance to the town or the castle, which made the journey to see him a nuisance, and because the king's own lines could not be written.
Dragon Warrior IV was scheduled for release in North America in 2002, but never came out.
It was originally released for the Famicom on 11 February 1990 in Japan.
Among the titles released in 1990, Dragon Quest IV (released in 2) and Final Fantasy III (released in 4) were both major hits for their strong storytelling, and came to be recognised as the 2 great RPGs.
The PlayStation version of Dragon Quest IV was the fourth best-selling game in Japan in 2001 with over 1 million copies sold, and has sold nearly 1.2 million copies as of December 26, 2004.
Dragon Quest IV: Chapters of the Chosen, titled Dragon Warrior IV when initially localized to North America, is a 1990 role-playing video game, the fourth installment of the Dragon Quest video game series developed by Chunsoft and published by Enix, and the first of the Zenithian Trilogy.
A North American NES version followed in October 1992, and would be the last Dragon Quest game localized and published by Enix's Enix America Corporation subsidiary prior to its closure in November 1995, as well as the last Dragon Quest game to be localized into English prior to the localization of Dragon Warrior Monsters in December 1999.
Dragon Quest IV was awarded "Best Game Grand Prize" and "Best RPG Game" in Famitsu magazine's 1990 Best Hit Game Awards.
It was also awarded "Best Challenge" and 2nd place "Best Overall Game" (NES) in 1993 by Nintendo Power.
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