Dragon Warrior I & II / III

Before JRPGs were big business with cinematic scenes, there were games like these — the building blocks of the system from which the whole genre grew. Dragon Warrior I & II / III are ports of the founding installments of a series whose originals appeared on the NES/Famicom between 1986 and 1988 and became a literal national phenomenon in Japan under the name Dragon Quest.

One of the most famous gaming legends of all circulates about just how enormous that cult was. Upon its release, the third game caused such queues and such a stir that an urban myth arose about a law that supposedly banned releasing Dragon Quest on a weekday so that children wouldn't skip school and people wouldn't skip work. The truth is a bit more prosaic — the publisher Enix itself voluntarily moved the release of its games to weekends to avoid chaos. Even so, the story perfectly captures the force the series was in Japan.

The Game Boy Color versions, which the studio Tose worked on, took these classics and dressed them in color. They added not only visual improvements but also a range of quality-of-life tweaks that make the ancient mechanics play considerably more pleasantly than on the original hardware. But the core we love these games for remains: pure, classic grind.

Because that's exactly what Dragon Warrior is about. You wander the world, fight monsters, collect experience and gold, gradually grow stronger, and move further along. No needless fuss, no distractions — just that meditative, addictive loop of battle and growth that can swallow entire evenings. It's the RPG in its most essential, most distilled form.

That's precisely why these ports are ideal for relaxing play on the go. You don't need to follow an intricate story or remember dozens of characters; just immerse yourself in the rhythm and let it carry you. For fans of retro RPGs it's a mandatory visit to the roots of the genre — and for anyone who enjoys that calm, repetitive rhythm of the grind, a small handheld treasure.

Why play: Colorful ports of the founding JRPGs with tweaks for more comfortable play — pure, meditative grind and a return to the roots of the whole genre.