Dragon Quest’s Yuji Horii is the first game designer to be named in Japan’s autumn honors, recognized for making games for almost 40 years.
Believe it or not, Dragon Quest has been around since 1986, and one pivotal man has been behind every mainline game since then. Dragon Quest’s Yuji Horii is the first game designer to be named in Japan’s autumn honors, recognized for making games for almost 40 years. At 71 years old, he was awarded the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette, for his work on the iconic role-playing game series. Like many humble creators, Horii thanked his staff who helped him all along the way.
The Order of the Rising Sun is the third-highest order bestowed by the Japanese government, specifically awarded to those who have demonstrated distinguished service to the state in various fields—except military service. The two highest orders include the Order of the Chrysanthemum and the Order of the Paulownia Flowers. Those are typically reserved for heads of state and politicians.
Horii shared (via FNN): “I’ve been making games for a long time, about 40 years now, but it’s not just my own efforts, it’s all thanks to the staff who helped me make it, and the users who have always supported me. I’ve levelled up in many ways, done many things, and all my hard work has paid off.” Horii worked on every mainline game since the 1986 original, and via his company Armor Project, co-owns the franchise alongside Square Enix.
Horii may be best known for his works on Dragon Quest games, but he was also highly acclaimed for the 1995 game Chrono Trigger. The game’s development team included three designers that Square Co., Ltd. dubbed the “Dream Team”: Hironobu Sakaguchi, creator of Square’s Final Fantasy series; Yuji Horii, creator of Enix’s Dragon Quest series; and the late Akira Toriyama, character designer of Dragon Quest and author of the Dragon Ball manga series.
The latest entry, Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake recently released last week for PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, and PC. The previous remake, Dragon Quest 3 HD-2D Remake, was Japan’s best-selling game last year, selling more than 820,000 copies in its first week alone.
