Almost as surprising as the announcement to make Dragon Quest IX for the DS (after the major graphics upgrade of VIII on PS2), is the DQ franchise invasion of arcade machines. CEO Yoichi Wada said a while back that they'll be making remakes before the latest numbered installment of Dragon Quest. One of those remakes is the arcade game Dragon Quest Monsters: Battle Road.

The good news is, the game doesn't look half bad. We haven't got our hands on it yet, but this video sure caused some drooling. It's easy to mistake it as a crazy mix of Monster Rancher and Dragon Quest, together with ridiculous attacks and epic bosses. Looks like there's a pretty cool card system for the machine too, but it's hard to confirm if the sword thing is part of it.

We know you want to see it, so here it is:

 

 

CEO Yoichi Wada of Japan's Manichi Shimbun has revealed that they are planning remakes releases for the Dragon Quest franchise. Speaking at a Square Enix financial briefing in Tokyo earlier today, Wada unveiled their plans. "This summer, we'll release Battle Road in arcades and Sword for the Wii," he explained. "Following that, we're thinking of a release for 9 (referring to Dragon Quest XI) once we've released remake versions and so forth.

Well he certainly gave out a lot, and at the same time, so little on this remake release plan of theirs. No specifics were mentioned as to the remakes, not even on what specific console they are planning to launch it to. At least what's clear is that Square Enix does have plans for Dragon Quest remakes before the launch of Dragon Quest XI.

We'll be sure to keep you posted on more updates as they come.

Okay, so a lot of you Squeenix Heads have been asking, "Is it getting here? When will it get here? Is there a launch window? Will it be released in the US at all? We want to play it too!"

Relax folks. Square Enix has announced release windows for several of their anticipated upcoming games, among which are Final Fantasy Tactics: The Lion War, and Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings.

Below are the the games you wish you had, and the launch windows that come with the North American localizations:

• Dragon Quest Monsters - Joker, NDS, Q4 2007
• Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors, Wii, TBA (sorry, no window, but at least it's confirmed)
• Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions, PSP, October 2007
• Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings, NDS, Winter 2007
  

The Lion War by Halloween, and Revenant Wings for by the Holidays... nice! Time to save up.

For those of you who aren't fans of Square Enix games, take note anyway. At least you'll know when they're coming out, if ever you get curious and you want to try to test one or something.

Square Enix revealed more info during their party, as the GamesRadar folks were able to interview Dragon Quest's creator Yuji Horii. They asked Horii "What sets [Dragon Quest Monsters] apart from the main DQ series, and what does it bring to the table?" and he responded:

Where Dragon Quest Monsters originated from was Dragon Quest V, where you had a monster befriending system, as a main part you could actually befriend monsters and have them fight on behalf of your party, as part of your party. So the monster collection games, particularly Dragon Quest Monsters we decided to take that element and make a whole game out of it. So from the very start you'd befriend monsters and use them to fight as your party, and the whole system is based on the original DQV system.

With that said, series fans would know that Dragon Quest Monsters ain't no Pokemon Lite. A toned down Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne might be close, but not quite.

More on the interview after the jump!

Slimes are a staple of RPG games. Whether it be those blobs you have to kill in WoW's Un'goro Crater or Dragon Quest's beloved blue creature, there's almost no doubt that they will not go away.

Much like the monster taming minigame of the PS2's Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King, the upcoming Dragon Quest Monsters - Joker for the DS will work on the same basic idea. You'll find monsters, tame them, and use them to beat up other monsters to tame those guys. Or you could just take those enemies down to make your monsters stronger. Either way, something's going to die.

If you're Joker, however, you want to make sure that it's the enemy who dies, and not your monsters. Treat them well and buy them stuff, and combine them to make stronger monsters while commanding their every move. The funny thing is, you can even get your monsters to fight their own kind.

This gameplay video from TGS 2006 shows off even more Joker action, letting you see your slime fighting one of his brothers. One thing you'll notice at the very beginning is that the bottom screen for the DS will serve as your minimap and user interface, so that while the action happens on the top screen, you can easily switch into micromanagement mode just by looking down. In any case, enjoy the video, and watch out for them blobs!

Man, those French people get around. They've managed to take a lot of nice videos for different games at TGS 2006, and while each one tends to be short, they certainly are nice teasers for the real thing.

One of these trailers is for Square Enix's Dragon Quest Monsters - Joker, one of their spin-off games of the series for the DS. While you may not like the comparison, Dragon Ball + Pokemon do happen to come to mind, but with the flair that made Dragon Quest: Journey of the Cursed King such a popular game for the PS2. Of course, collecting and powering up monsters is actually fun once you can decimate your enemies with them, so the potential for sadistic experience gained through wholesale slaughter is always a crowd-pleaser.

This short clip from TGS doesn't show a whole lot of the gameplay itself, but from the giant screens, it certainly looks less like a DS game and more like a PS2 game (as absurd as that sounds).

Of course, that may just all be an optical illusion forced upon us by Akira Toriyama. In any case, watch the video, have fun with the pretty pictures, and start that petition for an American and European release for the game. Enjoy!

Download: [Dragon Quest Monsters - Joker TGS Video]

Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker makes an appearance on the Chinese edition of the Famitsu magazine. Here in the second episode of the series, you will find a boy growing up and moving across a universe where there are various types of creatures lurking about. Armed with capabilities, the hero could raise, control, and even collect these creatures.

Created for the DS, the game is set around a tournament referred to as the Joker GP. Speculations have been rich among fans that Dhoulmagus of Dragon Quest VIII could be central to the game. Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker will also feature Wi-Fi play through the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection service.

Based on the scan, the game will be released in Japan on December 28 for 5040 Yen (about $43).

 

So, you're on your way to be a Monster Hunter right? But honestly, you've got quite a number of monsters in your list and you just don't know where to start! So, for budding Monster Hunters like you, Famitsu releases the different monster races that you will find in the Grand Pool archipelago.

There are 7 monster races in the archipelago of Grand Pool. These are the Slime race, Dragon race, Material race, Demonic race, Nature race, Zombie race, and Demon Animal race. Each one of these races have their own specific quality. Of course, they give us the dibs on what these qualities are.

The Slime race is the most popular among them, particularly because they are as good as mascots for Dragon Quest. They are highly bobbly creatures that can be easily found and defeated in the whole archipelago. The Dragon race is a strong creature whose breath can kill anyone. Most emit fire from their mouths, however, they are also known to cause snow storms by their breaths. The Material race are actually common things like kettles and pots that have been bewitched by demons.

On the other hand, the Nature race are demons who have transformed into trees or bugs and often uses the environment to hide themselves. The Zombie race are the immortal of the lot. You may not be able to kill them entirely because they are already dead to begin with, however, you could control them to your whim. The last two are the Demonic Animals and the the Demons who come from the nether world. A Demonic animal is a bewitched animal while the Demons come from the underworld to mess up the lives of people in Grand Pool.

The Famitsu update also gives us a Monster deity through Spedio (still unofficial name until the English release is out) however, they didn't say whether the monster god merits as another monster race.

Above is the tentative box art for Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker. A pretty good looking box in my opinion and it may just end up looking similar when finalized. However, the most interesting point is the Nintendo WiFi Connection logo at the top. Is Square Enix planning a WiFi component for its upcoming game? We wouldn't be surprised considering Final Fantasy III has one too.

Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker would have some very obvious implementations of the WiFi Connection. If it does have an online component, we're guessing that players will be able to trade and battle monsters with other players. This would be similar to Pokemon Diamond and Pokemon Pearl, which will both be online as well. Hopefully, we will get more info that we could share to you soon.

The release date and price for Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker has been set. Square Enix announced today that the game would retail for 4800 Yen (~$40 US) on December 28th. Christmas isn't as big in Japan as it is in other parts of the world so that may be why Square Enix isn't too afraid of launching after the 25th.

Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker  is the newest Dragon Quest Monsters game in a franchise that is very similar to Pokemon. Basically, you'll be training monsters to fight for you instead of fighting yourself. The game features the wonderful artwork of Akira Toriyama, so better expect huge sales from this game. As for timing, it's coming out months after Pokemon Diamond and Pokemon Pearl's release so it should be fine. For more updates on this nifty game, just stay tuned here at QJ.