Out of all the classic Dragon Quest games, one stands out for not having a re-release on modern hardware. To this day, Dragon Quest 9 remains a Nintendo DS exclusive title. However, the team behind the game has made comments suggesting that a Dragon Quest 9 remake is possible.
To celebrate Dragon Quest 9‘s 10th anniversary, GameTV recently hosted a live stream featuring a number of the series’ key staff. During the stream, discussion turned to the possibility of a re-release or remake of the game.
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Series executive producer Yuu Miyake confirmed that the team has been considering a proper Dragon Quest 9 remake for some time now. He also admitted that one of the reasons a re-release of the game hasn’t happened was due to its portable nature, and its use of Nintendo DS features such as StreetPass Communications. Miyake then stated that one of the reasons he’d like to do a remake was to make a version where players could simply experience the game’s story without having to use those features.
Of course, a remake would also come with updated visuals. Indeed, Level-5 president and Dragon Quest 9 co-director Akihiro Hino mentioned a Dragon Quest 9 remake with visuals similar to Dragon Quest 11 would be great. Level-5 helped develop the original Dragon Quest 9, after all. For the remake, Miyake stated that he would like Level-5 to handle its development as well.
As for what system a Dragon Quest 9 remake would appear on, the team members present agreed that the Nintendo Switch would be the best fit for it. Aside from being portable, they also talked about possibly replicating the original’s use of StreetPass using the Switch’s online features.
In addition to this, Hino mentioned that Level-5 had a good engine for the Switch. With this, they could expedite the project by porting Dragon Quest 9‘s code into it. That said, a remake would still take a while to develop as the team would likely add new content to it.
Of course, all of this is just the developers talking. Miyake made sure to clarify that a remake of Dragon Quest 9 is not in the works. That said, from the discussion during the live stream, the team does seem highly interested in making it happen.
