Dragon Quest IX: Defenders of the Sky

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Dragon Quest IX Hoshizora no Mamoribito

Developer(s)	Level-5
Publisher(s)	Square Enix
Designer(s)	Yuuji Horii (Scenario and game design) Akira Toriyama (Character and monster design) Koichi Sugiyama (Music composer) Akihiro Hino (Producer)
Release date(s)	TBA 2007
Genre(s)	Role-playing game
Mode(s)	Single Player, Online Multiplayer
Platform(s)	Nintendo DS

Dragon Quest IX Hoshizora no Mamoribito (ドラゴンクエストIX: 星空の守り人, Doragon Kuesuto Nain Hoshizora no Mamoribito^?, lit. "Dragon Quest IX: Defenders of the Starry Sky") is the ninth installment in the acclaimed Dragon Quest series, developed by Level-5 and published by Square Enix.

On August 19, 2006, series composer Koichi Sugiyama confirmed that Dragon Quest IX is in development. He is quoted by Japanese video game magazine Famitsu as saying "I'm not sure when Dragon Quest IX will be released, but it seems that progress is continually being made. I'm personally excited."^[1]

On December 12, 2006, during a press conference celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Dragon Quest franchise, Square Enix announced that Dragon Quest IX will be released exclusively[1] for the Nintendo DS handheld gaming system, making it the first original numbered Dragon Quest title to appear on a handheld. Dragon Quest IX will feature an action-oriented battle system (possibly real-time combat) and cooperative multiplayer for up to four players via Wi-Fi, as opposed to the traditional turn-based design of earlier Dragon Quest games.^[2] Wired gaming columnist Chris Kohler has suggested that this could have profound implications for Sony and Nintendo both, given the enormous popularity of the Dragon Quest series. [2]