They have given us the greatest gift of all: Slimes
History
| The entity currently known as Enix Corporation was first established in the month of August of 1982 as Eidansya-Bosyu Service Center Corp. Before they even began making games for the soon-to-be legendary Nintendo Famicom, Enix Corp. released thirteen PC games. They began their foray into the console world with a 2D action game called Door Door and an adventure game known as Portpia Renzoku Satsujin Jiken. Before long, their ticket to fame and fortune sailed into port. On May 27th, 1986, the company released the Nintendo Famicom game Dragon Quest to the unknowing Japanese public. A brand new style of game in the action and racing heavy world of console games, Dragon Quest was created by three men who would become legends in their own right. Yuji Hori would become synonymous with his brainchild, the Dragon Quest series, as would Koichi Sugiyama, considered by many to be the "grandfather" of video game music. Adding to the hype surrounding the game was the character designer Akira Toriyama, most famous for his work on the Dragon Ball series of anime. As word of mouth spread and gamers bought the title in droves, the company began work on the sequel. Less than eight months later, they would release the sequel to the original, Dragon Quest II. Fitted with a quest nearly four times as large as the original, a multi-character party, and the ability to fight more than one enemy at a time, Dragon Quest II was another hit. The seminal RPG series would not face any true competition in the newly created genre until Square's Final Fantasy. Although the new kid on the block did exceptionally well, the company countered two and a half months later with the third sequel to their popular series, Dragon Warrior III. Reports of stolen copies of the game, and children skipping school to acquire a copy of the game were common. As such, it was ordained that henceforth all subsequent releases of Dragon Quest games would be done on weekends or holidays. As the Japanese populace continued lining up in greater and greater numbers with each successive sequel, plans were made to get a foothold in the western market with the Dragon Quest series. |  Door Door  Dragon Warrior  Dragon Warrior II |
 Dragon Warrior III  Dragon Warrior IV | In the following year, Eidansya-Bosyu Service Center Corp. merged with three other companies to become Enix Corp. That same year, Enix would release Dragon Warrior, a localized version of the original Dragon Quest, for the Nintendo Entertainment System. Thanks to massive advertising and a cross-promotion with the incredibly popular Nintendo Power magazine, where new subscribers received a free copy of Dragon Warrior, Enix was easily able to establish a fervent following for the series in the United States. As Enix released the long-awaited fourth installment in the Dragon Quest series in the east in 1990, they quickly completed localization of the second game in the series, and released it as Dragon Warrior II in the western markets at the end of year. Six months later, Enix would release Dragon Warrior III for the NES. Finally, in the waning years of the aging Nintendo Entertainment System, Dragon Warrior IV was released at a high price, as it boasted the largest cartridge size available at the time. Unfortunately due to many factors, including a lack of adequate marketing and the dying market of the NES, Dragon Warrior IV was a dismal failure in the US, selling merely 80,000 copies. As a result, Enix closed its American offices, and did not release any future Dragon Warrior games in the west. |
| With the new generation of 16-bit consoles, came a slew of changes for Enix Corp. Beginning with the release of Actraiser for the Super Famicom at the end of 1990, Enix began publishing games for various developers. Companies such as Quintet, tri-Ace, and even the now-venerable Quest, were published under the Enix name. Quest developed Ogre Battle: March of the Black Queen for the Super Famicom. Aside from Actraiser, the developers at Quintet were responsible for such quirky titles as Robotrek and the highly acclaimed Soul Blazer saga. Beginning with Soul Blazer, then continuing on to the sequel, Illusion of Gaia, and finally ending with Terranigma, the series focused on intelligent puzzles and an intricate plot. Unfortunately, Terranigma was never released in the United States, although it was localized into English and released for the PAL territories. Another developer, tri-Ace, began the Star Ocean series on the Super Famicom, releasing the first in the series on July 19, 1996. This game was noted for it's eclectic mix of linearity and non-linearity. Depending on how one progressed through the game, the player would experience a slightly different adventure each time, possibly encountering new playable characters the player may not have encountered the last time they played the game. |  Robotrek  Ogre Battle |
 Dragon Quest VI  E.V.O.: Quest for Eden | Even as the corporation used it's marketing muscle to publish outside games, their internal development teams were set to work on many games for the new console. Continuing its legacy, Enix produced two more Dragon Quest games, Dragon Quest V and VI, released in 1992 and 1995 respectively. Further cashing in on their core franchise, Enix developed enhanced versions of the original Dragon Quest trilogy on the Super Famicom, releasing the first two games in a combo cartridge, and the third as a standalone title. In fact, the Dragon Quest brand had become so well loved in Japan that Enix quickly formed a division of Enix Corp, devoted solely to the creation and distribution of toys and paraphernalia relating to Dragon Quest. This division soon grew to encompass brands outside of the beloved franchise. Enix also took the chance to branch out to other games, creating new RPG worlds for their fans, with games such as Brain Lord, The 7th Saga series, and Paladin's Quest. Enix's internal development team even tried some new concepts with games such as E.V.O.: Search for Eden; a side-scrolling Action-RPG that placed the player in the shoes of an animal trying to survive in the world, as the player guided it through it's various stages of evolution. |
| Although Enix published only a couple of games for the black & white Game Boy, they have recently joined the portable fray with the Game Boy Color, releasing a new series of games steeped in the Dragon Quest mythos, Dragon Quest Monsters. A competitor to Nintendo's own Pokémon series, Dragon Warrior Monsters, as it is known in the western markets, challenges players to collect the monsters of Dragon Quest and train them to battle. Following the massive success of the Dragon Quest Monsters games, Enix decided to port the original trilogy of the Dragon Quest series once more, this time to the Game Boy Color. Dragon Quest I & II was released throughout the world, receiving high praise, and selling well throughout the world. A remake of Dragon Warrior III for the Game Boy Color is currently scheduled to arrive in the west sometime this year. |  Dragon Warrior I & II |
 Mischief Makers  Dragon Quest VII | Like most major third-party developers, Enix moved its major focus away from Nintendo when the Big N decided to stick with the cartridge format for its new Nintendo 64 console. While at first, Enix pledged support for Nintendo's console, announcing Dragon Quest VII as a future 64DD title, this sadly never came to pass, as Nintendo failed to keep its promises concerning the ill-fated 64DD. Enix attempted to penetrate the market of the N64 by releasing two titles, Yuke Yuke Troublemakers, also known as Mischief Makers outside of Japan, and Wonder Project J2. Unfortunately, both of these games did not do as well as was expected. Thus, Enix moved over to the Sony camp, where they branched out to non-RPG franchises such as the Bust-A-Move series (not to be confused with the Taito puzzler of the same name). Known as Bust-A-Groove in the United States, this well-received series of games was Enix's answer to the dancing craze sweeping Japan. Although Enix's output of video games had decreased with the 32/64-bit generation, their standards for quality remained high. Valkyrie Profile and Star Ocean: The Second Story, developed by tri-Ace, were both highly innovative examples of what Enix's stable of developers was capable of. Still, Japan awaited the coming of the next chapter of the Dragon Quest saga. After whetting their fans' appetites with a side story to the Dragon Quest saga, Torneko: The Last Hope, Dragon Quest VII was released in Japan in August 2000. After a five-year wait since the release of Dragon Quest VI, it has since sold over four million copies in Japan, shattering Playstation game sales records, and will be released in the west this fall. |
Future Prognosis
| While they experienced a few slow years, Enix has proven they are as popular as ever. Coming off the explosive sales of Dragon Quest VII, the increasing popularity of Dragon Quest Monsters, and the growing brand name they are creating in the Star Ocean series, Enix has the chance to become bigger than ever. If Enix can reclaim the clout it had as a top publisher, and woo some top-quality talent to develop under their brand, they could very well become bigger than they have ever been. |  Dragon Quest Monsters 2 |
Current Relationship with Nintendo
| Unlike Nintendo's relationship with Square, Nintendo seems to get along with Enix just fine. After releasing two "test" games for the Nintendo 64, Enix decided to switch over to the Sony camp. Fortunately, with the recent success of the Dragon Quest Monsters series, their friendly relationship with Nintendo seems to have been renewed. |  Bust A Groove 2 |
What Should Nintendo Do About Them?
| If you, fair reader, have read this far, the answer should be quite obvious. Nintendo should pursue Enix, and woo them into developing for the Gamecube at all costs. If Nintendo can convince Enix to develop the next Dragon Quest for their system, it would bring in a huge number of Japanese players who swallowed up the last installment in the series, not to mention the rather large cult following the series enjoys throughout the rest of the gaming world. At this point in the company's life, Enix has the opportunity to grow dramatically, feeding off the success of their staple series, and the growth of their two new franchises, Bust-A-Groove and Star Ocean. Nintendo would do well to cash in while they have the chance. |  Nintendo Gamecube |
Thanks to BayouTapeworm of #planetchat for the great headline for the article!
