Square Enix’s enormously popular Dragon Quest franchise has its own spin-off series, Dragon Quest Monsters, which eschewed the usual hero-based RPG elements for something that favored collecting, breeding, and training monsters. Here are all the Dragon Quest Monsters games ranked from worst to best.
7) Dragon Quest Monsters: Caravan Heart
The final Dragon Quest Monsters game released for the Game Boy Advance is 2003’s Dragon Quest Monsters: Caravan Heart, itself a prequel to 2000’s Dragon Quest VII on the original PlayStation. The game follows young Prince Kiefer in training monsters powerful enough to help him gain the magical Orbs of Loto to cure the sick parents of his friends in a traveling caravan. This adventure transports Kiefer to the world of Dragon Quest II, with the prince scrambling to find a way to return home and reunite with his family.
Never officially released in North America, Caravan Heart revolves around the player traversing the world in a caravan, not only training monsters but also overseeing personnel in the caravan, each linked to different classes. Like a sort of fantasy Oregon Trail, players can add wagons to their caravan and must ensure that they are well-stocked with rations as they embark on this epic journey. Though a simple enough game and with some minor gameplay revisions with its caravan mechanic, Caravan Heart feels like a step back in how it doesn’t fully take advantage of the GBA hardware capabilities for its presentation.
6) Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker
Dragon Quest Monsters received its own sub-trilogy, carrying the subtitle Joker, with the first installment of this trilogy released in 2006 for the Nintendo DS. The game follows an original protagonist who aspires to win the upcoming Monster Scouting Tournament by collecting and training the best monsters in the Green Bay Islands, taking on a long list of challengers. However, a legendary beast known as Incarnus surfaces, with the villainous Doctor Snap intending to seize control of it by any means necessary and the fate of the islands hanging in the balance.
The very first 3D game in the series, as well as the first to offer online multiplayer through the DS’ internal Wi-Fi system, Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker marks a major leap forward for the franchise. There are still growing pains apparent, as the gameplay moves from its classic isometric perspective and the comparisons to Pokémon are more readily visible with its premise. Joker opened up the Dragon Quest Monsters series to a whole generation of new players around the world, and many subsequent games would improve upon its foundation.
5) Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince
After a seven-year hiatus, the Dragon Quest Monsters series returned in 2023 with Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince for the Nintendo Switch. The game is a loose prequel to 1990’s Dragon Quest IV, starring that game’s antagonist, Pasaro, before he eventually breaks bad. After his evil father Randolfo curses him with the inability to harm monsters, Pasaro decides to train them to fight for him instead, moving to usurp Randolfo as the new king of the fantasy realm of Nadiria.
Though The Dark Prince serves as a great entry point for players unfamiliar with the Dragon Quest Monsters series, it is surprisingly clumsy in its execution on the Switch. The game feels a generation behind, providing players with a rough and rushed experience that just doesn’t feel optimized at all for the Switch. Though it does offer the franchise some truly solid gameplay, The Dark Prince just doesn’t quite feel worth the wait.
4) Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 3
The only wholly new Dragon Quest Monsters game released for the Nintendo 3DS is 2016’s Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 3. Despite its title, like its predecessors, Joker 3 is a standalone narrative, with the protagonist an amnesiac who struggles to remember his past while being relentlessly pursued by a figure aptly known as the Dark Master. With 500 monsters to choose from, the player sets out to defeat the Dark Master and reclaim his identity while exploring this vast world.
Joker 3 is another installment exclusively released in Japan, including Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 3 Professional, an enhanced edition of the game released in 2017. The sheer breadth of Joker 3, especially with the Professional edition, makes for one of the most impressive scopes in the series. However, there is an issue with difficulty scaling, particularly for those looking to unlock everything in the game, that feels especially grind-y and tedious.
3) Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2
The last Dragon Quest Monsters game to get an official North American release in 12 years is Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2, which got an international release a year after its Japanese launch in 2010. The last installment released for the Nintendo DS, Joker 2 follows a young drifter who dreams of becoming the greatest monster wrangler in the world. This culminates in a massive tournament against rival trainers, with the player taming, raising, and training their own army of monsters.
Joker 2 is a huge improvement over the first installment of the Joker trilogy, deepening and enriching the gameplay and adding to the number of monsters and features over its predecessor. While the franchise formula is starting to become more apparent by Joker 2, the 311 monsters to catch and refined multiplayer mode keep the gameplay fun and engaging. The highlight of the entire Joker trilogy, Joker 2 lives up to the potential of its premise in creating an engrossing road to glory for the player.
2) Dragon Quest Monsters
The very first Dragon Quest Monsters game was released for the original Game Boy in 1998, though it wouldn’t officially make it to international audiences until 2000. The game serves as a prequel to 1995’s Dragon Quest VI, following the childhood adventures of the heroic Terry and his sister Milly, with Monsters opening with Milly kidnapped. Learning that the winner of a local monster training tournament is granted a magical wish, Terry sets out to win the competition and rescue his sister.
A lot of the foundational elements introduced in Dragon Quest Monsters are still prominently used in subsequent sequels and spin-offs that don’t come without an enduring and influential base game. Dragon Quest Monsters still largely holds up 25 years since its initial release and has since been ported to mobile devices and the original PlayStation, along with a faithful remake for the 3DS in 2012. While perhaps not as accessible or intuitive as Pokémon, Dragon Quest Monsters distinguished itself right out of the gate with one of the best games in the whole series.
1) Dragon Quest Monsters 2
2001’s Dragon Quest Monsters 2 takes the solid foundation from the inaugural game and significantly improves upon it in virtually every conceivable way. The game follows protagonists Cobi and Tara as they set out to prevent their island home from sinking by acquiring five magical keys. While the original game has hundreds of monsters to train, the 2014 3DS remake has 800 monsters, offering an epic scope and level of variety to gameplay with a more quest-centric narrative.
Not only by providing a significant expansion in stakes and scale, Dragon Quest Monsters 2 is just a more intuitive and accessible experience that continues to hold up years later. The breeding mechanic, in particular, is refined and expanded upon in the game, really helping the Dragon Quest Monsters series as a whole distinguish itself from Pokémon. A fantastic example of why the Dragon Quest Monsters series has endured for over 20 years, Monsters 2 remains a joy to play.
Published: Dec 18, 2023 09:29 am