Sega Saturn’s Unreleased Dragon Quest Demo Confirmed by Former Sega Employee

Ex-Sega Staffer Confirms “Secret” Dragon Quest Demo For Saturn

Yuji Naka, a former Sega employee, mentioned some time ago that Sega had created a demo of Enix’s Dragon Quest for the Sega Saturn console. Now, another former Sega staffer, Yumiko Miyabe, who served as art director on the Space Channel 5 series and worked on games like NiGHTS, Clockwork Knight, and Panzer Dragoon Saga, has confirmed its existence on social media.

Yumiko Miyabe (ex-Sega, Space Channel 5 series art director) confirmed she worked on Sega's secret Dragon Quest Saturn pitch🇯🇵it was a secret project at the time but she feels ok mentioning it now bc it had already been revealed—specifically, Yuji Naka revealed it several yrs ago https://t.co/S22L9DldNk

— GSK | https://cohost.org/gosokkyu (@gosokkyu) March 9, 2024

According to Google Translate, Miyabe said:

“At the time, it was said to be a top secret within the company, but when I googled it, it was already an article, so I thought I’d write about it just for today. A team of several people made a demo of Dragon Quest for the Sega Saturn version, and I also worked on it.”

It is assumed that the demo was intended to prove to Enix the Saturn’s suitability for hosting an epic RPG like Dragon Quest. However, it appears that the gamble didn’t quite pay off. Despite this, Enix did support the Saturn with four titles during its lifespan: Nanatsu Kaze no Shima Monogatari (1997), Ninpen Manmaru (1997), Riven: The Sequel to Myst (1998), and Nihon Daihyou Team no Kantoku ni Narou! Sekaihatsu, Soccer RPG (1998).

The main artist of the Dragon Quest series, Akira Toriyama, sadly passed away last week.

This revelation sheds light on a previously unknown piece of gaming history, as Sega attempted to secure a major RPG franchise for its Saturn console in competition with Sony’s PlayStation. The fact that Final Fantasy and Dragon Quest were both on PlayStation played a significant role in Sony’s success, particularly in the Japanese market.