Dragon Quest IX
| Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies | |
|---|---|
North American boxart
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| Developer(s) |
Level-5 Square Enix |
| Publisher(s) |
Nintendo
|
| Director(s) |
Akihiro Hino Jin Fujisawa |
| Producer(s) | Ryutaro Ichimura |
| Designer(s) |
Yuji Horii Akihiro Hino |
| Artist(s) | Akira Toriyama |
| Writer(s) | Yuji Horii Fuminori Ishikawa Takeshi Uchikawa Kenjiro Mori Misato Zenba |
| Composer(s) | Koichi Sugiyama |
| Series | Dragon Quest |
| Platform(s) | Nintendo DS |
| Release | |
| Genre(s) | Role-playing |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
| Aggregate scores | |
|---|---|
| Aggregator | Score |
| GameRankings | 87.86% |
| Metacritic | 87/100 |
| Review scores | |
| Publication | Score |
| Famitsu | 40 / 40 |
| Game Informer | 8/10 |
| IGN | 8/10 |
| ONM | 90% |
| Awards | |
|---|---|
| Publication | Award |
| Gamasutra | #1 Handheld game of 2010 |
| Nintendo Power | Best DS Game of the Year (2010) Best RPG (2010) |
Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies is a role-playing video game for the Nintendo DS. It was developed by Level-5, and published in 2009 by Square Enix in Japan; it was published by Nintendo in North America and PAL regions a year later, in 2010, making it the second numbered installment of the series to be released within Europe and Australia, after Dragon Quest VIII: Journey of the Cursed King.
Dragon Quest IX introduced local multiplayer functionality to the series, as well as limited compatibility with Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection. It was also the first to be initially released for a handheld game console, and the first to feature spawning of enemies, rather than random encounters. The game retains many of the series' traditional role-playing elements, however, such as turn-based combat and a level system based on gaining experience points. The game was designed to be the most difficult title in the series.
Dragon Quest IX achieved record-breaking sales within Japan, and has set a Guinness World Record for its anonymous communication mode. Critically, the game has been well-received both inside and outside Japan, with a Famitsu score of 40/40, a GameRankings score of 88%, and a Metacritic score of 87.
Dragon Quest IX continues the Dragon Quest tradition of turn-based combat and is considered harder than the other Dragon Quest games before it. The game allows players to have a cooperative wireless multi-player experience with up to four players; it does not, however, feature multi-player capabilities via Nintendo Wi-Fi. Multiplayer play requires a game cartridge for each player. The game includes only one save slot, whereas most have at least three.
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