Yuji Horii’s Hopes For Dragon Quest IX In The West

Yuji Horii understands that Japan’s portable gaming population is more dense than in any other part of the world. Ergo, he also fully understands that while Dragon Quest IX will probably benefit from Nintendo’s backing overseas, some of the game’s more prolific features, such as the Tag Mode, which relies on interaction with other local DS systems, will likely go under-appreciated.

But that’s okay, according to Horii. Despite the lack of Wi-Fi multiplayer, there are other ways in which Dragon Quest IX can be used as a means of communication — specifically, with the help of Twitter.

“I don’t think the game population is as dense over there as it is in Japan, so I’m not sure if exchanges can happen as much,” Horii theorized, realistically, during a session of Iwata Asks.

“But on the other hand, Twitter is really popular and I think Twitter and Dragon Quest can co-exist. You can use Twitter and say, ‘I’m around here right now, so if anyone’s playing, assemble here and let’s exchange stuff!’ That could happen, or they could use Twitter and get a multiplayer game going.”