Collection essentials #387: Torneko: The Last Hope (PS1)

Here’s a case of “How the heck did this actually get released in America?” This game features retro-looking 2D graphics at a time when the next generation of consoles featuring impressive 3D graphics was bursting onto the scene. It’s based on the Dragon Warrior series which wasn’t especially popular in America, and a new mainline entry hadn’t even come out there in years. It’s a dungeon-crawling roguelike, which was not a popular or well-known genre at all back then in the States. And yet, here we are. According to the internet, it happened because the translation team wanted to make it happen and worked on it for less pay than normal. 


The main character of this game is Torneko, a shopkeeper who was one of the protagonists from Dragon Quest IV. This game is part of the “Mystery Dungeon” series, and the first game also featured Torneko. I previously covered the second game, Mystery Dungeon 2: Shiren the Wanderer, which had nothing to do with Torneko or Dragon Quest, but they decided to bring that back for this entry. For info on how gameplay works and why this style of game is fun, I recommend going back and reading my post about Mystery Dungeon 2.


The gameplay basics are pretty much the same here, and they’re still really good. Although the basics are pretty much the same, there are certainly items and enemies that are different, which makes both games worth playing. I tend to think I prefer Mystery Dungeon 2, though it was my first game in the series so perhaps I’m biased a little. This game, if I’m not mistaken, does feature more “postgame” content and optional dungeons to take on after you conquer the main game. I haven’t done much of that stuff.


I believe that this was the last console game on a physical disc or cartridge that I beat before moving out of my parents’ house, back in 2016. So this game is kind of associated with a significant time of transition in my life for that reason!


If you enjoy roguelikes and a good challenge, this game is definitely worth playing. Sadly it’s not available on modern platformers, but you can get a similar experience with a modern “Shiren the Wanderer” game and then go back to check this game out if you enjoy one of those. 

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