Developed by Chunsoft in 1985 and released by Enix in 1986, Dragon Quest was a landmark moment in role-playing video game history.

Dragon WARRIOR is the American release of Dragon Quest, translated into English and tweaked here and there (I say “tweaked here and there” but the US version had battery back-up saves and the Japanese version used password saves, so there was a big difference there), and released by Nintendo in 1989. These grabs are from that release.

Both American and Japanese versions of this game share the same kind of prototype, clunky, RPG menu/interface, turn-based combat, and simplistic story and plot, but in spite of the naivety of the game mechanics, Dragon Warrior (or Dragon Quest, or whatever you prefer to call it), set the standard (and template) for all other RPGs to come and is a clearly an important game in the annals of video gaming history.

More: Dragon Quest on Wikipedia