Dragon Quest (known as “Dragon Warrior” in the United States) is one of the most celebrated names in the RPG world in Japan.  Sure, Final Fantasy may be more popular in the US, but without a doubt, Dragon Quest is the dominant of the two franchises in Japan.  However, today’s blog is NOT about Dragon Quest, but rather, “T-Dragonquest.“  Nope, that was not a typo.  There IS a “T” in the front.

“T-Dragon Quest” has an uncanny visual resemblance to normal Dragon Quest.  However, it is not a bootleg version of Dragon Quest.  It was released exclusively for the Japanese home computer system, the Sharp X68000.  The first model appeared in 1987 and used an operating system is called Human 68K (similar to MS-DOS), created by Hudson Soft.  My bro and I used to own one.

Here’s an image comparing the two games:

Comparing T-Dragon Quest (L) and Dragon Quest (R)

Despite the obvious similarities, I would like to believe T-Dragon Quest as a legitimate game on its own.  I see it as a reaction to the overwhelming popularity of Dragon Quest thus forcing an individual to create this game out of admiration of the series.  The “T” in “T-Dragon Quest” is derived from the creator’s name, Hide Tanbo.

I am currently playing this game and I love how old-school and uniquely-original it is.  If you are an otaku, and a hardcore RPGer, you must try this truly rare game.

See more screenshots of T-DragonQuest: http://ssrs.at.infoseek.co.jp/tdq1reve.htm
Find out more about the X68000 home computer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sharp_X68000

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