Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors

Dragon Quest Swords: The Masked Queen and the Tower of Mirrors is a spin-off of the famous Dragon Quest series that, unlike the mainline entries, relies on Wii Remote motion controls instead of classic turn-based menus. The player becomes a young hero who, together with his friends, sets out on a quest against the mysterious Masked Queen and her mirror forces threatening his home kingdom, and the story, though more linear than the series' main entries, retains the typical Dragon Quest fairy-tale charm, humor, and gentle tone.

Combat works by having the player physically swing the controller to slash, thrust, and block enemy attacks, which appear on screen essentially as in a shooting-gallery track – making for a much more action-oriented and straightforward take on the combat system than the rest of the series offers. Between battles, the player shops for and upgrades equipment, gathers materials for the forge, and progresses through a series of short, self-contained levels resembling a string of missions rather than the open world fans know from the series' classic entries. Visually, the game draws on the proven style of artist Akira Toriyama, transposed into a three-dimensional yet still distinctly fairy-tale environment full of the series' typical monsters.

Upon release, Dragon Quest Swords earned a mixed but largely positive reception – critics praised the inventive use of motion controls and its faithfulness to the series in both visuals and music, while criticizing its linear structure and lower difficulty compared to the classic numbered entries. For Dragon Quest fans, it was an interesting experiment in bringing a popular Japanese RPG to Wii's new audience, and it's still remembered today as one of the few attempts to transpose a major JRPG brand into a motion-controlled action form, accessible even to younger or less experienced players thanks to its shorter playtime and clear progression system. It was precisely this accessibility and the series' gentle humor that made it a good choice even for players who were just getting acquainted with the classic turn-based Dragon Quest titles.