Cite as
Famitsu.com, Nakamura 30th anniversary
Original
https://www.famitsu.com/news/201406/08054671.html
sha256
8b73bbfbacba4a6ac475545dc1aead81419827ddeea21f160842a5a9acc9298c
Archived
https://web.archive.org/web/20140609010607id_/http://www.famitsu.com/news/201406/08054671.html
Accessed
2026-10-23
Licence
© Enterbrain / Kadokawa; Wayback capture
Credit
Famitsu.com interview with Koichi Nakamura, 8 June 2014.
Notes
Nakamura says Dragon Quest II was the hardest project of Chunsoft's first 30 years: it was the first time he split the main program among three or four people, bugs appeared whose author no one could identify, the release slipped, and the finished game's balance was harsh. He also says the Rhone area was severe, calls Zaki (Defeat) "a demon", and says he found it brutal when he played it himself. The interview is in Japanese; translations in the quote file are ours.

Cited on

Claims (5)

Famicom Tsushin's issue of 6 February 1987 lists Enix's Dragon Quest II as released in Japan on 26 January 1987, a Famicom cartridge at 5,500 yen, and Famitsu's 2014 Chunsoft chronology puts its release in January 1987.chronology at the end of the interviewMagazine
In 2014 Nakamura told Famitsu that making Dragon Quest II was the hardest time in Chunsoft's thirty years: it was the first time he split the main program among three or four people, bugs appeared that no one could trace to an author, the release slipped, and the finished game's balance was harsh, so that he thought of quitting the company.section on Dragon Quest IIsection on Dragon Quest IIsection on Dragon Quest IIsection on Dragon Quest IIsection on Dragon Quest IIInterview
Nakamura said in 2014 that he still wonders how players got through so hard a game, answered the interviewer's remark that the Rondarkia area was severe by calling the spell Zaraki "a demon", and credited the difficulty, talked about among players, with spreading the game. Both manuals describe Zaraki, Defeat in North America, as a spell of death cast on one group.section on Dragon Quest IIsection on Dragon Quest IIsection on Dragon Quest IIInterview
Nakamura told Famitsu in 2014 that the first game had sold slowly but that sales exploded with Dragon Quest II, with long lines from the day of release and a commotion big enough to make the news.section on Dragon Quest IIsection on Dragon Quest IIsection on Dragon Quest IIInterview
Famicom Hisshoubon's issue of 4 March 1988 reports Dragon Quest III's release day in Japan as 10 February 1988, with stock reaching shops around 4 p.m.; Nintendo's 2009 interview page dates the Famicom game to February 1988, and Famitsu's 2014 Chunsoft chronology lists its release, published by Enix, in February 1988.chronology at the end of the interviewMagazine