Dragon Quest Monsters: Terry no Wonderland (Dragon Warrior Monsters Japanese Original) - Authentic Enix Game Boy Cartridge, Tested
The 1998 original that started Square Enix's monster-breeding series: 2.35 million sold in Japan, Toriyama monsters, Sugiyama music. Japanese needed: a fair amount for towns and breeding.
$25.00
How I grade condition: every grade is tested and plays; grades differ only in looks.
Want to see the exact copy you'd get, inside and out? Ask me for photos, board included.
Where Dragon Quest Monsters started
This is the first Dragon Quest Monsters, Terry no Wonderland, Enix, 1998: the game English-speaking players got as Dragon Warrior Monsters. Recruiting the monsters you beat started in Dragon Quest V; this cart made it a game of its own, starring a young Terry from Dragon Quest VI. Yuji Horii on design, Akira Toriyama drawing the monsters, Koichi Sugiyama on music.
It sold 2.35 million copies in Japan, the fourth best-selling game there in 1998, and Famitsu gave it 35 out of 40.
The breeding is the point
It drew Pokémon comparisons at the time, and breeding was the difference reviewers kept coming back to: put two monsters together and get a new one, often a stronger species that inherits their skills. With a second copy and a link cable you can breed with a friend’s monster (you both get an egg) or fight in the arena, where the winner takes a monster from the loser.
About the Japanese
Battles are menus you learn fast. The town, the hints and the breeding info are Japanese text, so this is for players who read kana, collectors of the originals, or fans who already know the English game by heart. It runs in color on a Game Boy Color and gets a border on a Super Game Boy.
The copy photographed is a gray shell; the game was printed in gray and later in black.
Still going
Tose, the same developer, made Dragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince for Switch in 2023, and Square Enix ported this exact game to Switch in Japan in 2019. If you played The Dark Prince, this is where it starts.
Its sequel, Dragon Quest Monsters 2, breeds and battles with this cart over a link cable, and the Game Boy Head-to-Head Bundle has the two Game Boys and the cable to do it. More Pokémon-era monster raising: Medarot and Devil Children.
Specifications
| Authenticity | Authentic original Enix cartridge (DMG-ADQJ-JPN) - not a reproduction |
|---|---|
| Condition | Graded on my condition scale - every copy is opened, cleaned, and tested by playing before it ships. |
| Gameplay | Monster-raising RPG, 1 player; 2 players over a link cable (breeding and arena battles), one cart per Game Boy |
| Includes | Loose cartridge only (no box or manual) |
| Language | Japanese, moderate to heavy: battles can be learned by feel, but town hints and breeding info are Japanese text |
| Region | Japanese release. Region-free, dual-mode: plays on any Game Boy, in color on a Game Boy Color, with a border on a Super Game Boy |
| Save | Battery save. Tested, and replaced if it reads under 3.0 V |
| Title Full | Dragon Quest Monsters: Terry no Wonderland / ドラゴンクエストモンスターズ テリーのワンダーランド (Game Boy, Enix, Japan, 1998) |
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