Origin stories in comic books are commonplace.  Not so much in video games.  That did not stop Enix (now Square Enix) from doing just that with <em>Dragon Warrior III</em> on the Nintendo Entertainment System.  Released in 1992, the game was the final part of the trilogy that makes up the Erdrick storyline- it is told backwards for some reason.  <em>Dragon Warrior III</em> was the first in the story and the first DW game was actually the last in the story arc.  I guess it is the Star Wars analogy – start with the part of the story that is most likely to succeed at that time- worry about the rest later.  It seems to have worked though as there were almost 10 games in this series.
http://retrogamingmagazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Dragon_Warrior_III_Square_Enix_RPG_Nintendo_NES.jpg
<h2>Dragon Warrior III was ambitious</h2>
The ideas and experiences given to players that took up the quest was quite broad for the time.  During a time when night and day cycles were rare in console role playing games, <em>Dragon Warrior III</em> had them.  Quests, characters and items were only available for use at certain times of day which helped push that the game world was more of a real one.  This third entry, or the first however you look at it, also featured a huge open world.  The party you lead is also more than just one character, like<em> Dragon Warrior</em>, in that you have many members available to help with fights and quests.

<iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WJSy4g0Daxk" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
<h2>Same game, different name</h2>
The <em>Dragon Warrior</em> games, known as <em>Dragon Quest</em> in Japan, are in the history books for not only being good games, but something else too.  In Japan when a <em>Dragon Quest</em> game was released there was rampant truancy with school age gamers and even fights in the crowds for copies.  We never had this problem in America since <em>Dragon Warrior</em> was simply not that popular here.  For console gamers, role playing games were still an anomaly that a minority enjoyed.

<em>Dragon Warrior III</em> has seen re-release on many platforms over the years.  There is an <a href="https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.square_enix.android_googleplay.dq3_gp">Android</a> and <a href="https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/dragon-quest-iii/id911208088?mt=8">iPhone</a> remake available but nothing for the Nintendo Virtual Console for some reason. You can grab physical copies on <a href="http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?ff3=4&amp;pub=5575120518&amp;toolid=10001&amp;campid=5338550128&amp;customid=&amp;mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fsch%2Fi.html%3F_from%3DR40%26_trksid%3Dp2317.m570.l1313.TR11.TRC1.A0.H0.Xdragon%2Bwarrior%2BIII.TRS0%26_nkw%3Ddragon%2Bwarrior%2BIII%26_sacat%3D0" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">eBay</a><img style="text-decoration: none; border: 0; padding: 0; margin: 0;" src="http://rover.ebay.com/roverimp/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?ff3=4&amp;pub=5575120518&amp;toolid=10001&amp;campid=5338550128&amp;customid=&amp;mpt=[CACHEBUSTER]" /> or <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/search?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=cwilliams0a-20&amp;linkCode=ur2&amp;linkId=34692f91ede218d0c5696a231d9c6755&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;index=videogames&amp;keywords=Dragon Warrior III" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Amazon</a><img style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" src="//ir-na.amazon-adsystem.com/e/ir?t=cwilliams0a-20&amp;l=ur2&amp;o=1" alt="" width="1" height="1" border="0" /> for a few platforms. Dash the Bomber took a look at the <a href="http://rover.ebay.com/rover/1/711-53200-19255-0/1?ff3=4&amp;pub=5575120518&amp;toolid=10001&amp;campid=5338629489&amp;customid=&amp;mpre=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ebay.com%2Fsch%2Fi.html%3F_from%3DR40%26_trksid%3Dm570.l1313%26_nkw%3Ddragon%2Bquest%2BIII%2Bgame%2Bboy%26_sacat%3D0">Nintendo Game Boy Color</a> <a href="http://retrogamingmagazine.com/2016/06/12/today-gaming-history-dragon-quest-iii/">version here</a>.

This article was originally published on <a href="http://retrogamingmagazine.com/2016/06/12/dragon-warrior-iii-gives-erdrick-origin-story-nintendo-nes-today-retro-gaming-june-12th-1992/">Retro Gaming Magazine</a>.