DQ9 EncyclopediaThe essentials
- Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies (French: Les Sentinelles du firmament; ドラゴンクエストIX 星空の守り人), Nintendo DS, 1 to 4 players side by side.
- Developed by Level-5; published by Square Enix in Japan, by Nintendo elsewhere. Released 11 July 2009 in Japan, 11 July 2010 in North America, 23 July 2010 in Europe.
- Yuji Horii (scenario and game design), Akira Toriyama (characters and monsters), Koichi Sugiyama (music), Akihiro Hino (director).
- One adventure per cartridge. The ROM keeps a full debug menu.
The game
| Titles | Dragon Quest IX: Sentinels of the Starry Skies · Les Sentinelles du firmament · ドラゴンクエストIX 星空の守り人 (“the protectors of the starry sky”) |
|---|---|
| Console | Nintendo DS; 2-gigabit cartridge (256 MiB). Game code YDQJ in Japan, YDQE in America (the American ROM also holds French, German, Spanish and Italian). |
| Development | Level-5 (its tools left “lv5” folders in the ROM), with Square Enix. |
| Publishing | Square Enix in Japan (maker code “GD” in the Japanese ROM), Nintendo elsewhere (“01” in the American ROM). |
| Release | Japan 11 July 2009; North America 11 July 2010; Europe 23 July 2010; Australia 19 August 2010 (dates: Fandom). |
| Players | 1 to 4, consoles side by side (multiplayer). Wi-Fi services (shop, quests, special guests) shut down by Nintendo on 20 May 2014, revived by fan servers (online content). |
| Versions | Differences between the Japanese, American and European versions: Game versions. |
The team (the game's credits)
- Scenario & game design: Yuji Horii
- Character & monster design: Akira Toriyama
- Music: Koichi Sugiyama
- Director: Akihiro Hino
- Scenario staff: Jin Fujisawa, Atsushi Narita, Amo Kamimura, Shigeki Nakadera
The last Wi-Fi quest (no. 184) ends with a word from Yuji Horii, thanking players for playing along for so long.
One adventure only
The save (64 KiB) has two slots: the adventure log (confession at a church) and the quick save, deleted as soon as you resume from it. Fandom calls the second a backup in case of battery failure: that is not accurate.
Hidden content: the debug menu
The ROM keeps the texts of a full debug menu, translated into English (Fandom describes it as unused):
- Battles: surprise attack, critical hit and flee rates, enemies run, Coups de Grâce ready, enemy at 1 HP, guaranteed drop (“Item Drop 100%”), experience ×10 (“EXP 10 times”).
- Story: jump to any chapter, story flags, Zoom towns.
- Quests: all completed, reset, downloaded quests.
- Inn and alchemy: inn level, 100% alchemy success, every recipe.
- World: time of day, monster and item respawns, sea encounters, encounters off.
- Characters: items at will, accolades, Battle Records, monster editing.
- Tools: memory, CPU, coordinates, encounter tiles, sound test, model viewer (characters, NPCs, monsters).
The chapters carry their working names there:
| Letter | Working name (American ROM) | Japanese version |
|---|---|---|
| A | Opening | オープニング |
| B | Erinn's Inn | リッカのやどや |
| C | The Wight Knight | しっこくのきし |
| D | Town of disease | びょうまのまち |
| E | Angel world feedback | てんしかいきかん |
| F | Dama Temple | ダーマしんでん |
| G | Sea | ぬしさまの海 |
| R | Sculptor disappeared | きえたちょうこく家 |
| I | Mystery Makina | れいじょうマキナのなぞ |
| J | Monster of grassland | そうげんのかいぶつ |
| S | Queen of the Desert | さばくの女王 |
| T | School ghost story | がっこうのかいだん |
| K | Fruit-deprived | うばわれたかじつ |
| L | Magic Castle | まていこくとうじょう |
| M | Reach God's Country | かみのくにとうたつ |
| N | Dark Emperor subdue | あんこくこうていとうばつ |
| O | Last Battle | さいしゅうけっせん |
| P | Ending | エンディング |
| Q | After clearing scenario | クリアごシナリオ |