Dragon Quest Wars

 is a turn-based strategy video game developed by Intelligent Systems and published by Square Enix for the Nintendo DSi via the systems's DSiWare download service. It is part of the "Dragon Quest" series and features monsters from the series. It supports up to four player multiplayer, both local and online. "Dragon Quest Wars" was announced on May 18, 2009, and was released in Japan on June 24, 2009, in North America on September 28, 2009, and in the PAL regions on October 9, 2009.
Gameplay.
"Dragon Quest Wars" allows up to four players to battle one another with four monster units each on a four-sided battlefield made up a squares. Battles during the game are limited to five to ten turns. Players move units by touching and dragging them using the DS stylus. Commands are issued to units also by touching and dragging them onto a unit from the bottom of the screen. These commands are color-coded and include red (physical attacks), green (recovery), blue (defence), and yellow (magic). Each monster unit has between one and three hearts. These hearts deplete as monsters are attacked, and when they reach 0, the monster walks off the field. A player can win a battle either when all enemy units are defeated or if one of their units crosses into an enemy's base. "Dragon Quest Wars" also features "survival matches", which require the player to set all of their moves within a time limit before the battle begins. The game has six playable units: Slimes, Hammerhood, Dracky, Golem, Chimera, and Healslime. All are recurring monsters in the "Dragon Quest series.
Development.
A trademark for "Dragon Quest Wars" was filed by Square Enix on April 28, 2009. The game was developed by Intelligent Systems as part of a collaboration between Nintendo and Square Enix for Intelligent Systems to design six video games for Square Enix on the DSiWare service. As with most other games in the "Dragon Quest" franchise, development on "Dragon Wars" was supervised by Yūji Horii, while Akira Toriyama and Koichi Sugiyama fulfilled their respective duties as character designer and composer. Producer Taichi Inuzuka states that has long been his hope to create simulation game (strategy game) with "Dragon Quest". The developers wanted to design a game to "convey the fun of simulation games and to provide a gateway to users who’ve never played simulation games." Intelligent Systems previously developed popular simulation titles for Nintendo including the "Wars" and "Fire Emblem" series.
Reception.
1UP.com editor Justin Epperson described "Dragon Quest Wars" as a board game, going so far as to say he wishes it were a board game so it would be more entertaining. He added however that it was definitely worth the price. Wiiloveit.com offered a high recommendation with a 24/30, praising the "surprising amount of strategy", as well as the "robust" online mode which "[brought] the title to life". "Dragon Quest Wars" was nominated for Game of the Year by Nintendo Power, as well as DSiWare Game of the Year.