Sometimes, Square Enix surprises us! Dragon Quest Heroes: Torneko’s Mystery Dungeon -Classic HD- is a good example. It’s an updated, worldwide release of mystery dungeon style roguelike originally from Chunsoft called Torneko’s Great Adventure that only appeared on the Super Famicom in Japan. While there are a few updates to make it more appealing and on-par with modern Mystery Dungeon roguelikes, like the difficulty slider and 2.5D appearance, it does feel a bit buggy and dated on the Switch 2. Especially when compared to stronger releases on Nintendo platforms like Shiren the Wanderer: The Mystery Dungeon of Serpentcoil Island.
Dragon Quest Heroes: Torneko’s Mystery Dungeon uses the fact that we know he can fight from Dragon Quest IV and him being a merchant to offer an excuse as to why he’d head off on a journey of his own into perilous conditions. He’s heard about a legendary treasure in the Mystery Dungeon. As a business-minded individual, he sees it as an opportunity to acquire stock and turn a profit. So he packs up his wife Tessie and son Tipper, and they head out so he can explore the dungeon, conquer the depths, and get things he can sell. However, as this is a roguelike, only what he can get out by surviving or with special
As this is an early Chunsoft Mystery Dungeon roguelike, it’s a traditional sort of experience. Since this does feature some slight updates, Torneko, monsters, and items are the classic SFC 2D sprites and environments have some 3D elements to them. When Torneko moves, monsters in the dungeon do as well. This also causes his fullness to drop. If he doesn’t eat and starts starving, then his HP will drop. If he runs into a monster, you press the A and X buttons to attack, and it is also possible to happen upon weapons, equipment, or scrolls that reveal things or perform special actions. Traps can also be hidden and not trigger until they’re walked over and tripped, which can be a pain or even absolutely devastating. Your goal is always to make it to the next floor or survive until you can safely exit, though dying does mean basically back to start.
In addition to the adjusted visuals and some new “cutscenes” with a new art style, there are a handful of changes to make things feel a little more contemporary or in line with other Torneko Mystery Dungeon games. There are mini map display and location options, so you don’t have to have that overlapping on the center of the screen. There are different font options. (Both are fine.) There’s an option for easier diagonal movement, which is super handy for people unfamiliar with these older types of Chunsoft roguelikes. A patch even appeared to help make that feel smoother and better, which I appreciated.
Images via Square Enix
The most critical of the Dragon Quest Heroes: Torneko’s Mystery Dungeon -Classic HD- quality of life changes falls in the game balance section. That does affect things like your High Scores, but can make this Nintendo Hard-level title more manageable. Heading into that section lets you adjust the rate of monster appearances, acquired EXP, acquired gold, bread appearance, item appearance, and trap appearance. You can also set if monster dens appear or not. It’s all very handy, but I suggest getting through both the 10-level tutorial dungeon and first few floors of the Mystery Dungeon before really tampering with things. Because I do think a little personal balancing is not only necessary, but helpful for this entry. However, it’s best to get a baseline by getting through some initial challenges to see what you’re capable of.
It also will help you adjust to the fact that Dragon Quest Heroes: Torneko’s Mystery Dungeon -Classic HD- feels a lot slower than recent Shiren the Wanderer games and the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon titles the developer created. To Square Enix’s credit, there have been some adjustments, but I found the information log that offers essentially text-based narration for every action and level-up really slows things down in this entry. I even waited a bit since there have been some fixes, but it does still feel a little laggy.
Dragon Quest Heroes: Torneko’s Mystery Dungeon -Classic HD- offers us a sense of completionism by giving us access to a never-localized spin-off previously lost to time. Us getting it finally years later on multiple platforms is a blessing of sorts. However, this is a fairly basic rerelease and does feel very much like an over 30-year-old game. Some Square Enix patches helped with some bugs to make it feel a bit better, but the niche nature means it is for a very specific audience.
Dragon Quest Heroes: Torneko’s Mystery Dungeon -Classic HD- is available for the Switch, Switch 2, PS5, Xbox Series X, and PC.