As its name indicates, Dragon Quest VI is the sixth entry in the long-running Dragon Quest series. It is the second title in the series to be released for the Super Famicom (following Dragon Quest V) and the last game in a trilogy of connected stories within the franchise known as the Zenithia Trilogy. After being exclusive to Japan for many years, Dragon Quest VI was released on the DS as part of an effort to bring the series to a wider audience in the wake of the Nintendo DS’ success with RPGs. Additionally, Square’s merger with Enix in the early 2000s would result in several of the company’s formerly Japan-exclusive titles arriving in the West. As a result, the Dragon Quest franchise would undergo a boost in popularity in localized regions.
While Dragon Quest V is the first game in the series to be released for the Super Famicom, it also has a version on the Famicom. Dragon Quest VI is actually the first game in the series whose development was strictly focused on the Super Famicom, resulting in it having vast improvements over Dragon Quest V in terms of its visuals and presentation. Like every other game in the franchise up through its release, Dragon Quest VI features scenario design from series creator Yuji Horii and character design from co-creator and Dragon Ball artist Akira Toriyama.
Though Final Fantasy is the premier JRPG franchise in the West, the release of a new Dragon Quest game in its native Japan is typically a massive cultural event. Dragon Quest VI is no different, selling more than 3 million copies in Japan to be the region’s best-selling game of 1995. Further, the DS remake of Dragon Quest VI would sell over a million copies in its first week.
Dragon Quest VI Premise
Gameplay in Dragon Quest VI is very similar to that of its predecessors, something that the franchise continues to pride itself on. Whereas other RPG franchises typically try to innovate from entry to entry, Dragon Quest is a series known for sticking to tradition and simply iterating on a working design philosophy. Players control a party of heroes that travel throughout a vast overworld map, occasionally stopping within dungeons to explore and defeat a boss. While that’s a great simplification of the central gameplay loop underpinning JRPGs, Dragon Quest essentially amounts to comfort food within the genre. The franchise doesn’t reinvent the wheel, but instead makes it a continually more enjoyable experience.
One aspect that separates Dragon Quest VI from earlier franchise games and sequels is its use of dual worlds. Similar to A Link to the Past‘s Light and Dark Worlds, Dragon Quest VI features a Real World and a Dream World. Gameplay is split between the Real and Dream Worlds, and within the Dream World characters have different abilities and personalities. Regardless of which of the two worlds players inhabit, though, there are still random battles that require turn-based combat and careful strategy.
Like other games in the franchise, combat takes place from a first-person perspective, with players experiencing battles from the point of view of the heroes. This has the added effect of allowing the excellent monster designs of Akira Toriyama to take center stage. However, unlike previous entries, the 6th Dragon Quest is the first in the franchise to animate the monsters when they attack the party.
Dragon Quest VI Main Characters
Although it is technically the final game of a trilogy, Dragon Quest VI features a brand new cast of characters to play as. That said, each of these heroes share loose connections to the main characters of previous games in the Zenithia Trilogy and evan have a manga adaptation that retells their adventure. In addition to the main hero, players will control a diverse cast of companions and encounter several helpful NPCs and dastardly villains. Main characters in Dragon Quest VI include:
- The Hero: The Hero is a nameless protagonist suffering from amnesia. Referred to as either “The Hero” or “The Prince”, he is the true Prince of Somnia but the evil Murdaw is keeping his body trapped within the Dream World.
- Carver: Carver is one of the first party members that accompany the Hero on a journey to defeat Murdow. Though in the Real World he is the humble son of a carpenter, he is a traveling soldier within the Dream World.
- Milly: Milly is the other early companion that joins the Hero to defeat Murdow and is the granddaughter of the dream-seer Madame Luca. She is the party’s resident healer and support character.
- Ashlynn: Ashlynn is a descendant of a powerful witch and the party’s most powerful sorceress. Her invisibility in the real world is what influences her to join the Hero and defeat Murdaw to break the curse.
- Murdaw: Murdaw is the primary villain of Dragon Quest VI, sent by the Archfiend Mortamor to invade the Real World and split peoples’ existence between the world of mortals and the Dream World.
Games in the Dragon Quest Series
The Dragon Quest series actually arrived before Final Fantasy as the very first game to establish the characteristics of the JRPG. Since the first game’s release in 1986, it continues to be one of the premier JRPG franchises along Final Fantasy, both of which are under the umbrella of Square Enix since the two companies’ merger in the early 2000s. The last game in the series to release is Dragon Quest XI, though Dragon Quest XII is currently in development and hopefully will release in 2024 or 2025. Main games in the Dragon Quest series include:
- Dragon Quest (1986)
- Dragon Quest II (1987)
- Dragon Quest III (1988)
- Dragon Quest IV (1990)
- Dragon Quest V (1992)
- Dragon Quest VI (1995)
- Dragon Quest VII (2000)
- Dragon Quest VIII (2004)
- Dragon Quest IX (2009)
- Dragon Quest X (2012)
- Dragon Quest XI (2017)
- Dragon Quest XII (In Development)
Dragon Quest VI Cheats and Cheat Codes
Easy Level Grinding
After making it to the Spiegelspire, Dragon Quest VI does away with its level cap. Essentially, players can come back to this area and grind to their heart’s content to craft an incredibly OP party before the endgame. In terms of your party composition, one of the more ideal is:
- Hero (Mage Class)
- Carver (Priest Class)
- Milly (Mage Class)
- Ashlynn (Priest Class)
Have three characters cast the Boom spell to quickly take out all enemies, and then have the remaining character use the Whistle ability as battles end to quickly stack Exp and master advanced classes.
Secret Party Members
Once Terry rejoins the party, players can return to Arkbolt to recruit the dragon Lizzie to the party. Additionally, Amos becomes available after first arriving at the town of Scrimsley and finishing his side quest.
Pro Action Replay Codes
Though Dragon Quest VI doesn’t support any official cheat codes that affect gameplay, it does feature a host of available Pro Action Replay codes for the DS version. To use these codes, players simply need to have access to a DS Pro Action Replay or enter them into an emulator’s “Cheat” function.
NOTE: Codes that require pressing L+R or Select are best active one at a time. In other words, after activating a code and pressing the necessary buttons to trigger its effect, save the game and reload with different codes active until you have a save file with all the effects having taken place.
| Effect | Code |
|---|---|
| Max Gold (Press L+R) | 94000130 000000FF 020DD524 000F423F D2000000 00000000 |
| Max Gold in Bank (Press L+R) | 94000130 000000FF 020DD528 000F423F D2000000 00000000 |
| Max Casino Coins (Press Select) | 94000130 FFFB0000 020DD52C 0098967F D2000000 00000000 |
| Mini Medals x200 (Press Select) | 94000130 FFFB0000 220DD534 000000C8 D2000000 00000000 |
| No Random Battles (Hold Select and move to disable) | 5208F068 020A29E4 1208F06C 00001C49 1209047A 00002100 D0000000 00000000 5208F068 020A29E4 94000130 FFFB0000 1208F06C 00002110 1209047A 000046C0 D2000000 00000000 |
| Max/Full HP All Characters | 1205941A 000046C0 12059432 000046C0 1205944A 000046C0 |
| Max/Full MP All Characters | 120594AE 000046C0 120594D2 000046C0 120594F6 000046C0 |
| Can Learn All Vocations | 5218A024 20D5D109 1218A024 000046C0 D2000000 00000000 |
| Max Stat When Using Seed | 52059360 DB00428A 12059366 00008081 12059396 00008281 120593C6 000080C1 120593F6 000082C1 12059436 00008142 120594D6 00008202 D2000000 00000000 |
| Infinite Treasure Box | 52065D84 1C021899 12065D8A 00002100 D2000000 00000000 |
| Remove Equipment Restrictions | 5204ACC4 020D5EDC 0204ACC8 2401B510 0204AD08 56092021 0204AD0C D90C2905 0204AD10 BD102000 D2000000 00000000 |
| Show Full Map | 52065c9c d11a4211 12065c9e 000046c0 12065cba 000046c0 d2000000 00000000 |
| Gain Vocation Points Each Level | 5205ce40 2801f96b 1205ce78 000046c0 d2000000 00000000 |
| All Items x99 (Press Select) | 94000130 FFFB0000 D5000000 00630001 C0000000 00000100 D6000000 020DD548 D4000000 00000001 D2000000 00000000 |
| Complete Bestiary (Press Select) | 94000130 FFFb0000 020E1D24 FFFFFFFF 020E1D28 FFFFFFFF 020E1D2C FFFFFFFF 020E1D30 FFFFFFFF 020E1D34 FFFFFFFF 020E1D38 FFFFFFFF 220E1D3C 0000001F D2000000 00000000 |
| All Dreamscapes (Press Select) | 94000130 FFFB0000 D5000000 00000001 C0000000 00000040 D6000000 020E38E8 D2000000 00000000 |
| 1 Hit Kills in Battle | 1205AF00 00002101 1205AF04 00002101 |
| Enemies Have no MP | 1205AF08 00002100 1205AF0C 00002100 |
| Always 100% Steal | 5208E7CC F777213C 1208F7E8 00002000 1208F7FC 00000018 D0000000 00000000 |
| Always Critical Hit | 5204B61C 27002040 1204B61C 00002001 D0000000 00000000 |
| Always Preemptive Attack | 5208E7CC F777213C 1208F7E8 00002000 1208F7FC 00000018 D0000000 00000000 |
| Always Item Drops | 52057A28 E032006A 02057A1C 00120012 02057A20 00120012 02057A24 00120012 02057A28 E0320012 D0000000 00000000 |
| Infinite HP in Battle | E20004F4 00000038 4C0B0000 D90442A0 58811C92 85811E92 1859E001 5E828581 5E41212E DC002A00 428A2200 1C0ADB00 4B028582 4770469E 020DDA8F 0205C165 5205B804 02059531 0205B80C FE73F7A4 D2000000 00000000 |
| Gold x2 | 5205B0F8 86685E10 0205C118 47700040 D0000000 00000000 |
| Gold x4 | 5205B0F8 86685E10 0205C118 47700080 D0000000 00000000 |
| Gold x8 | 5205B0F8 86685E10 0205C118 477000C0 D0000000 00000000 |
| Gold x16 | 5205B0F8 86685E10 0205C118 47700100 D0000000 00000000 |
| Gold x128 | 5205B0F8 86685E10 0205C118 477001C0 D0000000 00000000 |
| Vocation Point x2 | 1205CE70 00001C80 1205CE8A 00001C80 |
| Vocation Point x3 | 1205CE70 00001CC0 1205CE8A 00001CC0 |
| Vocation Point x4 | 1205CE70 00001D00 1205CE8A 00001D00 |
| Vocation Point x5 | 1205CE70 00001D40 1205CE8A 00001D40 |
| Vocation Point x6 | 1205CE70 00001D80 1205CE8A 00001D80 |
| Experience x2 | 1205AF2C 00002127 0205AF30 74E95C41 0205AF34 00498941 |
| Experience x4 | 1205AF2C 00002127 0205AF30 74E95C41 0205AF34 00898941 |
| Experience x8 | 1205AF2C 00002127 0205AF30 74E95C41 0205AF34 00C98941 |
| Experience x16 | 1205AF2C 00002127 0205AF30 74E95C41 0205AF34 01098941 |
| Experience x32 | 1205AF2C 00002127 0205AF30 74E95C41 0205AF34 01498941 |
| Experience x64 | 1205AF2C 00002127 0205AF30 74E95C41 0205AF34 01898941 |
| Experience x128 | 1205AF2C 00002127 0205AF30 74E95C41 0205AF34 01C98941 |
| Experience x256 | 1205AF2C 00002127 0205AF30 74E95C41 0205AF34 02098941 |
| Experience x512 | 1205AF2C 00002127 0205AF30 74E95C41 0205AF34 02498941 |
| HP Max for All Characters (Press Select) | 94000130 FFFB0000 C0000000 00000007 020DDABC 03E703E7 120DDAC0 000003E7 DC000000 000005AC D2000000 00000000 |
| MP Max for All Characters (Press Select) | 94000130 FFFB0000 C0000000 00000007 120DDAC2 000003E7 020DDAC4 03E703E7 DC000000 000005AC D2000000 00000000 |
| All Stats 500 for All Characters (Press Select) | 94000130 FFFB0000 C0000000 00000007 020DDAB8 01F401F4 020DDAC8 01F401F4 120DDACC 000001F4 DC000000 000005AC D2000000 00000000 |
| All Skills & Magic for All Characters (Press Select) | 94000130 FFFB0000 C0000000 00000007 020DDB14 FFFFFFFE 020DDB18 FFFFFFFF 020DDB1C FFFFFE01 020DDB20 FFFFFFFF 020DDB24 FFFFFFFF 220DDB28 0000001F 220DDB45 000000F8 120DDB46 0000FFFF 220DDB48 00000001 DC000000 000005AC D2000000 00000000 |
| All Vocations Max for All Characters (Press Select) | 94000130 FFFB0000 C0000000 00000007 120DDBC6 000003E7 020DDBC8 03E703E7 020DDBCC 03E703E7 020DDBD0 03E703E7 020DDBD4 03E703E7 020DDBD8 03E703E7 020DDBDC 03E703E7 020DDBE0 03E703E7 020DDBE4 03E703E7 120DDBE8 000003E7 DC000000 000005AC D2000000 00000000 |
Dragon Quest VI Cheats FAQ
Does letter case matter when typing Pro Action Replay cheats?
No – code selection will automatically default to upper case and there is no option for lower case, meaning it does not matter which one gets used.
How long does it take to beat Dragon Quest VI?
Dragon Quest VI is actually fairly reasonable for a game in the series, only taking around 47 hours to beat the main story. Even a completionist run isn’t too long, lasting roughly 70 hours.