When you think about Square Enix’s long-lasting series that has been around for multiple decades, you might first think of Final Fantasy. But the legendary studio also has a second series with as much as rich a history:Dragon Quest. With over ten main entries and multiple spin-offs, you have fought many creatures in these games, especially dragons.
Have you ever wondered how many dragons are in this series? We have looked up the answer, but it’s worth mentioning that ‘dragons’ in Dragon Quest refer to a family of monsters that includes the typical designs you would expect (from the late Akira Toriyama, by the way), but also mixes with turtles, snakes, and dinosaurs.
We used theDragon Quest Wikias our main source. Also, it doesn’t matter if a dragon type has slight variations or if it appears in the first game and then repeats in a later one: they were all taken into consideration.
As you could have imagined, the first Dragon Quest is the one with the least number of different dragons. Only four can be found here, and three of them share basically the same design but with different colors. The fourth is the final boss and main antagonist, Dragonlord, which has the shape of a person. Let’s see how this changes with further entries.
Yes, Dragon Quest 2 has almost twice as many dragon types as the previous game. There are a few technicalities that we have to address, as Cobra King and Cobra Kaiser look like, well, cobras, but they are part of this family of monsters. Also, almost every singular type of dragon here has a slight variation. But it still counts!
“Where is Dragon Quest 3?” you might ask. From here on, the increased number of these creatures will never be as progressive as you might have imagined — well, except for the last two games, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.
The sixth main Dragon Quest, Realms of Revelation, features ten types of dragons. Our personal favorites are Axesaurus and Tyrantosaurus, which look like a mix of a dragon and a tyrannosaur… with a huge axe.
Journey of the Cursed King is next on our list, and it has some awesome designs, like Bobonga (a big fat purple fella with a bottomless pot) and Frou-Frou (a blue, more reptilian monster). DQ 8 also features the Dragovians, who are half-human, half-dragons.
Here’s DQ 3: The Seeds of Salvation. Technically, the original version has 12 types of dragons, but since there’s the upgraded Game Boy Advance version with a few extra, and the HD remaster keeps those, we are using those games as a reference.
If you’re curious, two of those additional dragons (Blue Dragon and Dread Dragon) are from the first entry, and the third one is Grand Dragon, a superboss with the form of a hydra.
While DQ 5 has a few weird designs that we would rarely see as a dragon (or any other regular creature, to be honest), such as Lick-o’-flame, it still has the awesome Black Dragon and Dragon Zombie/Drakenstein.
Plus, the small Frizzard and all its variations are so cute thatwe want to carry them in our pockets.
We have arrived at the 20s. The ninth main Dragon Quest enlarges its roster a bit with many variations, like four different Mandrakes, but we can’t complain about some others with funny word plays, like Drakulard, Drakularge, and Drakulord.
If you only want to check one dragon from DQ9, it has to be Barbarus. What a fantastic design of a large black dragon.
Back to the first Dragon Quest games, the fourth entry is one with the largest number of dragon types. It has a few names that will repeat across the series, such as the Green/Jade Dragon, Wyvern, the Red Dragon, Dragooner, and Chillanodon.
Also, some of the beasts here have curious names; we can only laugh at Terminonatator and Woolungasaurus.
Fragments of the Forgotten Past keeps the number going up with 24 dragon types available. Most of them are creatures that you have already seen in previous games, but there are still brand-new names, such as Wingwyrm, Weighvern, and Gold Fryling.
Fans would have to wait more than a decade to have a DQ with more dragons. But it would be worth the wait.
The latest DQ is one with the biggest number of dragons in the series, but it’s still far from the first spot. However, can we give respect to the number? 43! Just by the names, we have some of the sickest dragons in all the series: Abject Terror, Darkest Despair, and Unfathomable Anger.
Many classics return, and we also have variations of old dragons. Our favorite new creature? Tatsunaga, a mix of a wolf with a dragon with red and orange fur.
