In Japan, one of the biggest games of the year came early - the release of Dragon Quest III on Wednesday, February 10th, 1988.
Due to the extironary number of students and office workers who skipped their usual duties to stand hours in lines in game stores across the country, there is a common rumor that the Japanese government banned the release of RPGs on weekdays. In actuality, this was a self-imposed guideline Enix themselves introduced, starting with Dragon Quest IV.
When Dragon Quest III eventually came to the NES in 1991, not many cared, and it was an unprofitable failure for Enix in the west. Still, they persisted, and even brought over Dragon Quest IV the following year, which did even more poorly.
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