Dragon Quest creator explains why Dragon Quest 9 was a Nintendo DS exclusive ~ Amazing News 2020

Dragon Quest creator explains why Dragon Quest 9 was a Nintendo DS exclusive

By Sickr on August 19, 2026

Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies was a surprising game especially since it was made an exclusive for the popular Nintendo DS system. Yuji Horii, the creator of the Dragon Quest franchise, recently sat down with Famitsu to talk about why he decided that the Nintendo DS was the perfect fit for Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies.

With the rich 3DCG in ‘DQVIII,’ it seemed like the series was continuing its natural evolution, but then I was surprised when it switched to the Nintendo DS with ‘Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies’ (released July 11, 2009).

Horii: We created ” DQIX ” for the Nintendo DS because it allowed us to immediately implement local network gameplay. Back then, there weren’t many network games, and they were quite inaccessible. But with the Nintendo DS, you could connect with people as soon as you turned it on.

I thought this was an amazing system, and I wanted to use this network functionality to create a “Dragon Quest” game.

Horii: I thought this would be a fun game and that everyone would be surprised, so I announced it, but then I got a lot of flak, with people saying, “What? It’s for the Nintendo DS?” I was a little discouraged at the time (laughs).