“If this fails, I won’t be able to stay in the industry” Dragon Quest III HD-2D’s devs talk about the pressure of remaking a legendary game 

Dragon Quest III HD-2D launches today, bringing back the classic JRPG after 36 years. Developed by Square Enix’s Team Asano and Artdink, the remake revamps the original 1988 NES title, blending 2D pixel art characters with dynamic 3D backgrounds and modern lighting while keeping the essence and story of the original intact. 

But taking the plunge to remake a game that has an almost legendary status, particularly in Japan, was not easy. Team Asano’s producer Masaaki Hayasaka and concept artist Naoki Ikushima recently talked about this in an interview with Famitsu. 

According to Hayasaka, following the success of Octopath Traveler 2, the term HD-2D established itself at Square Enix, and the company soon set its sights on giving Dragon Quest III the same treatment. When approached about this, Team Asano felt the pressure: “Obviously, I was aware of the fact that it’s a legendary title, so the greatest pressure I felt was, ‘If this fails, I won’t be able to stay in the industry. I’ll have to live my life branded as the man who failed to remake a legendary game,” Hayasaka commented humorously. 

To this end, the developers put great care into recreating the original game as faithfully as possible, while consulting series creator Yuji Horii about any changes they intended to make. According to Hayasaka, there was even talk of making a fully 3D remake of Dragon Quest III at first, but this was quickly discarded. “3D would significantly change the experience compared to the original. HD-2D was a better option as it would allow us to balance the nostalgia with the new.” 

On the other hand, one area where the developers were a bit more proactive in making changes was QoL and accessibility-related improvements, such as the game’s new hints. “The hint feature was our idea. While our base concept was to preserve the playing experience of the original as much as possible, we wanted to thoroughly change the parts of the original that were difficult to interact with or made it difficult to play,” Hayasaka noted. 

Dragon Quest III HD-2D Remake launches today for the PC (Microsoft Store), Nintendo Switch, PS5 and Xbox Series X|S. The Steam version will come out a day later, on November 15.