Play Dragon Warrior 2 Online

You start as a prince, then recruit your cousins—one’s a fragile mage, the other’s useless in a fight—and slowly turn them into a proper party while sailing between islands and getting wrecked by random battles. The world feels huge for an NES game, even if you’ll get lost in identical caves.

Developer: Enix Corporation

Genre: Role-Playing Game

Released: 1987

File size: 256 bytes

Game Overview

Dragon Warrior II is that classic NES RPG where you start as the prince of Midenhall—just minding your business until an evil wizard wrecks your cousin’s castle. Now you’ve gotta gather your other royal relatives (the prince of Cannock and Moonbrooke’s princess) and actually figure out how to work as a team.

It’s way bigger than the first game—three party members instead of one, and the world actually feels like a world now. You’ll sail between continents, get lost in caves that all look the same, and probably grind way too much because those random battles don’t mess around. The princess starts off hilariously weak, but give her a few levels and she’ll be slinging spells that save your hide.

It’s janky by modern standards, but there’s something charming about how ambitious it was for 1987. Just don’t expect the game to hold your hand—half the fun is scribbling your own maps and figuring out where to go next.