Here's a collage I found on Reddit. I decided to play Dragon Quest XI out of boredom. Suddenly, I realized that studying the international market hit me again. Certain games are rereleased for the American audience with some regional differences -- all the while retaining the storyline. One could think about these name changes:
- Rockman was renamed as Megaman (or also spelled as Mega Man but I prefer the one word spelling). It was probably to make it sound more appealing to the ENGLISH SPEAKING audiences. Rockman just felt too strange of a name.
- Street Fighter Zero was renamed into Street Fighter Alpha. It's kinda strange really to call the beginnings with a Zero and still go with 1-2-3. I prefer the name Street Fighter Alpha better.
I assumed that Dragon Quest was renamed Dragon Warrior due to cultural context. I assumed it's because the name Dragon Warrior just sounded more badass and fitting for an American audience. However, this is one thing I discovered through watching a YouTube video below...
I confess I didn't play most of the Dragon Quest games. I dumped Dragon Warrior VII for the PSX due to how PAINFULLY SLOW it is. The first Dragon Quest game I invested in was Dragon Quest VIII for the PS2. Back on topic, the video reveals that there was a tabletop RPG called DragonQuest (one word). It was most likely done to avoid lawsuit at that time. However, Dragon Quest VIII was released in 2003 under the same name. The license for DragonQuest had expired. Square Enix secured the trademark -- hence releasing the game with the same title.
This reminds me of one thing too. Haim Saban actually had an UNFINISHED dubbing project of Dragon Quest III Anime series. The DragonQuest trademark may give an explanation. Saban probably suffered a lawsuit (at that time) and chose the easy way out. I could imagine Toei probably helping Saban. It's possible Toei made a mistake by not telling Saban Entertainment to call it Dragon Warrior. So yeah, that's possibly why the dub never made it beyond 13 episodes.
That means if Haim Saban was keen on producing a Dragon Quest live-action series (and he'd probably go to Squaresoft for the license) -- he would've had to call it Dragon Warrior. It would probably feel more authentic than Toei doing the Anime. It's because Dragon Quest feels very Western despite its being a Japanese production.
IMHO the name Dragon Warrior should've stayed. It sounds more badass to the Western language. If Capcom could continue releasing Rockman as Mega Man for the Americans -- why hasn't the same been done for Dragon Warrior? Leaves room for lots of thought!
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