Dragon Quest 3 HD-2Dhas managed to become the best-selling game in Japan within its first week of sale, with almost a million copies in the hands of fans.
Dragon Quest is still a niche franchise in the West, but it’s big business in Japan. The series is a cultural phenomenon, and new games are shipped near the weekend to prevent people from calling in sick.
Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake: Mini Medals Locations
A guide showing the locations of all Mini Medals in the game.
2024 is coming to a close and the year has seen some huge releases. This doesn’t matter in Japan, as a remake of a game from 1988 is thebest-selling gameof the year. According to Genki_JPN on Twitter/X, the game sold 821,770 copies across Switch and PlayStation 5 systems.
The bulk of these sales were on the Nintendo Switch, with 641,195 copies on the platform. This makes sense, considering the Dragon Quest franchise’s long history on Nintendo systems.
How Dragon Quest 3’s Remake Beat Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth
One of the most shocking aspects of Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D’s success is that it outsoldFinal Fantasy 7 Rebirth, despite the latter belonging to such a huge franchise.
There’s a simple explanation as to why Erdrick has toppled Cloud:platform availability. Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth is currently only available on PlayStation 5 and is a direct sequel to another game.
Meanwhile,Dragon Quest 3 HD-2Dis also on the Nintendo Switch, which is the third best-selling system of all time and has a massive active audience, especially in Japan.
10 Best Dragon Quest Monster Designs, Ranked
What would Dragon Quest be without monsters like Slimes and Golems?
Hopefully, Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D’s success will prove to Square Enix that it needs to invest heavily in multiplatform strategies in the future.
The other takeaway that Square Enix will hopefully take away from Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D’s sales is that there’s an audience hungry for moreHD-2D remasters.
Square Enix has confirmed that similar remakes of the first two Dragon Quest games are coming. Hopefully, Dragon Quest 4-6 will also get the same treatment in the future.
Square Enix has many 2D classics that could benefit from HD-2D remasters, notably the firstsix Final Fantasy games, Chrono Trigger, and Final Fantasy Tactics.
Erdrick sweeping sales at the end of 2024 could well kick off a renaissance of revived classics, all thanks to the power of the Dragon Quest name.
