Yuji Horii - Wii VERSIONS of DQ, Dragon Quest series, the weirdness of DQVI, why it took 15 years to localize, missing jokes, motion controls, 3DS possibilities and more

GamesRadar: How does it feel now that the Dragon Quest series is complete in the US?

Yuji Horii: It took 25 years to complete, so I’m very happy that all the titles are now in the US market.

GR: In the US localization for the most recent Dragon Quest games, I noticed there have been a lot of puns about Slimes and other jokey elements. Is that from a desire to add a more lighthearted feel to the series?

Yuu Miyake: The original Japanese versions have jokes that come mostly from Mr. Horii, but when localizing for overseas players, many of those jokes get lost in translation. Back in the Enix days the translation team wasn’t the best at maintaining that humor, but once Square-Enix’s localizers got the series, they realized that DQ’s humor was a core element of the games. Starting with Dragon Quest VIII they did a really good job at getting that humor across in English.

GR: Yeah, I noticed the Puff-Puff jokes were sometimes missing.

All: (Laughs)

Noriyoshi Fujimoto: One disappointment for me is that the Puff-Puff gags can negatively affect the game’s rating, so we’ve had to get a little more subtle with it when localizing.

GR: Any specific reasons DQVI hasn’t been out in the US until now.

YM: Timing. Games like these with so much text means a lot of localization time. Also, DQVI came out in Japan near the end of the Super Famicom’s lifecycle, so it wasn’t the best time to put it out on the SNES back then.

GR: In the last few years DQ has become really focused on handheld releases. Do you worry you’re leaving consoles behind?

YH: No, the series got its start on consoles, so we aren’t thinking that way, especially since we’re working on Wii versions of Dragon Quest right now.

GR: Does the conservative nature of Dragon Quest fans effect how the DQ team thinks of using motion controls in future games?

YH: It all goes back to ease of control. If it fits with the game, and is easy to play, we’re open to motion controls.

GR: Personally, I’m a big fan of the Rocket Slime games, any current plans for that series?

NF: (Laughs) I worked closely on that series… you ask good questions. We like you. (Laughs) It’s possible, you never know.

GR: When you first saw the 3DS, what aspects of it interested you with regards to the DQ series?

YH: Obviously we can’t be that detailed right now, but the 3DS’s networking features, bigger screen, and smaller pixel size create a lot of possibilities.

GR: Lastly, when looking at what’s been remade so far, Dragon Quest VII would be the next logical release. What do you think of that?

YM: Another good question. (Laughs) When the time comes…