Dragon Quest Heroes: Torneko’s Mystery Dungeon Classic HD is one of those rare spinoff games from the storied history of Dragon Quest that has remained Japan-exclusive until now.
First released in 1993 on the Super Famicom, Enix’s beloved Dragon Quest spinoff brought an addicting dungeon-crawling experience with a distinctive Dragon Quest coat of paint that introduced players to the concept of the Mystery Dungeon genre. Sadly, the game never saw release outside of Japan, despite the relatively lightweight story and the bulk of the text being reserved mostly for item descriptions and battle encounters.
With its surprise release following a Nintendo Direct, Dragon Quest Heroes: Torneko’s Mystery Dungeon Classic HD finally gives longtime Dragon Quest fans one of the more hardcore experiences tied to the franchise. Sadly, in its current state, Dragon Quest Heroes: Torneko’s Mystery Dungeon Classic HD is a bit of a mixed Goodybag. On the surface, Torneko’s Mystery Dungeon Classic HD is exactly what it sets out to be: an HD widescreen remaster of the Super Famicom title from 1993, with some modest 2D-HD flourishes to boot.
“Sadly, in its current state, Dragon Quest Heroes: Torneko’s Mystery Dungeon Classic HD is a bit of a mixed Goodybag.”
In practice, the game is unfortunately a slower-feeling experience that can feel clunky when compared to its 16-bit counterpart. Additionally, the 3D environments and particle effects add little to the experience and feel much simpler than the level of detail found in other 2D-HD entries. In fact, I’d go as far as to say I prefer the look of the Super Famicom title compared to Dragon Quest Heroes: Torneko’s Mystery Dungeon Classic HD’s presentation.
Shifting gears back to the slower-feeling gameplay loop, Torneko’s Mystery Dungeon Classic HD’s two biggest issues stem from a slower-feeling text crawl when engaging with enemies and turning sometimes feeling sluggish, resulting in double inputs that waste turns and sometimes even lead to enemies getting extra hits in.
To be thorough and for a quick sanity check, I booted up the original 1993 Japanese release of the game on my SuperStation One via component video on my Sony CRT, which confirmed my suspicions, as the game on the SNES or Super Famicom just feels snappier to control, despite a very similar overall feel. Looking past the feel of the game, Dragon Quest Heroes: Torneko’s Mystery Dungeon Classic HD is an otherwise faithful recreation of the once Japanese-exclusive title, including its often unforgiving difficulty and reliance on pure RNG.
“Learning when to engage and when to save up powerful items is the key to success in Dragon Quest Heroes: Torneko’s Mystery Dungeon Classic HD.“
As a fan of the roguelike genre, I welcome the challenge, but for those who are into it more for the Dragon Quest branding, the game may come off as being a bit obtuse and tough. For the uninitiated, Dragon Quest Heroes: Torneko’s Mystery Dungeon Classic HD has a simple premise: with the titular Torneko, a merchant who decides to set up shop with his family, ventures deep into an ever-changing labyrinth in the promise of treasures to fuel his still-budding empire.
Even before getting access to the main dungeon proper, Dragon Quest Heroes: Torneko’s Mystery Dungeon Classic HD opens with the King only granting our hero access to the real dungeon after getting through a shorter, 10-floor “tutorial” labyrinth. I put tutorial in quotations, as despite the initial floors prompting players with basic game mechanic blurbs, the dungeon itself is just as challenging as the proper 30-floor romp that awaits Torneko after its completion.
Tasked with retrieving the King’s old lockbox of treasures, players must guide Torneko 10 floors deep in the randomly generated dungeons, avoiding monsters and traps, while staving off hunger and illness. Dragon Quest Heroes: Torneko’s Mystery Dungeon Classic HD is as old-school as it comes, with gameplay revolving around a grid-based map, with each step moving time forward. If you’re familiar with the genre, this will be nothing new, but for those who are accustomed to more traditional turn-based or first-person dungeon crawlers, the change may take some getting used to, as movement is King in Torneko’s Mystery Dungeon.
Combat is also more of a secondary priority, with the main goal of the game being simply to get as much treasure as possible and exfiltrate the dungeon with your spoils in hand. Weapons and gear are also randomly generated and can be found strewn about each floor. Weapon variety includes swords, clubs, wands and variations of other melee-focused arms, on top of a variety of herbs that go beyond healing, including special attack herbs and scrolls. Magic, which is done via wands and the aforementioned herbs and scrolls, are generally of limited use but packs a punch, making it best reserved for taking out tougher threats, which otherwise can quickly end your run.
Learning when to engage and when to save up powerful items is the key to success in Dragon Quest Heroes: Torneko’s Mystery Dungeon Classic HD. Enemy variety is easily the best part of the game, featuring a wide gamut of Dragon Quest‘s rogues’ gallery of monsters, with many of them featuring unique skills and effects that can ruin your day, but are always fun to discover and overcome.
At the end of the day, if you’re up for the challenge and your special interest Venn diagram happens to include both Dragon Quest and the roguelike genre, you will enjoy your time with this long-lost re-release, as long as you can accustom yourself to the sluggish feel of the gameplay. Hopefully, patches or mods on the PC release will fix the otherwise solid remaster of the 1993 classic.
