* MarketBasedTitle: The original release and the Platform/GameBoyColor re-release were titled ''Dragon Warrior'' due to Creator/{{TSR}} holding the trademark to ''TabletopGame/DragonQuest''. Since Creator/SquareEnix has subsequently acquired the trademark from them, any future release will bear the ''DQ'' name.
* NoExportForYou: Europe didn't get an official release of the game until the mobile port in 2014, almost '''thirty years''' after its original release in Japan.
* PortOverdosed: The game has been released over and over again since its debut in 1986.
* ReferencedBy:
** ''Webcomic/MyImpossibleSoulmate'': Late in the prologue, Chiaki has an ImagineSpot comparing her, her crush Fumiko, and her boyfriend [[AlphaBitch Kenta Maeda]] to the Hero, Princess Gwaelin and the Dragonlord respectively.
** Being Ichiban's favorite game, this game is referenced quite a bit in ''VideoGame/YakuzaLikeADragon''. Toshihiro Nagoshi, the game's director, even went the extra mile and got permission to mention the game by name.
* RemadeForTheExport: The North American version of the game received a graphical facelift as well as a battery-backed save instead of a 20-character long password system used in the Japanese version.
* UrbanLegendOfZelda: For a long time, a rumor persisted that [[OneWingedAngel the Dragonlord's true form]] was an invention of the North American localization, and that in the Japanese version, the {{final boss}} was [[DragonTheirFeet his pet dragon avenging its master]]. No version of the game ever stated the Dragonlord had a pet, and the original Famicom version even shows a message roughly translating to "The Dragonlord has revealed his true form!"
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The first game would have featured multiple player characters to choose from, but the idea was scrapped due to hardware limitations.
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