is a Japanese author, video game designer, writer and director best known as the creator of the Dragon Quest franchise, supervising and writing the scenario for Chrono Trigger, and The Portopia Serial Murder Case, released in 1983 as one of the first visual novel adventure games. (Reprinted at )
Horii is CEO of his own company, Armor Project, a company that has an exclusive production contract with Square Enix, a contract established with Enix before the company merged with Square, and is also one of the companies who co-own the Dragon Quest franchise alongside Square Enix. In 2025, Horii became the first video game creator to receive the Order of the Rising Sun from the Japanese government for his contributions to the arts.
History Horii was born on January 6, 1954, in Awaji Island, Japan. He graduated from Waseda University's Department of Literature. He also worked as a freelance writer for newspapers, comics, and magazines, including the Famicom Shinken video games column that ran in Weekly Shōnen Jump from 1985 to 1988.
He then entered in an Enix-sponsored game programming contest, where he placed with Love Match Tennis, a tennis video game, motivating him to become a video game designer.
Horii then created The Portopia Serial Murder Case by himself, a game that later inspired Hideo Kojima (of Metal Gear fame) to enter the video game industry. It is the first part of the Yuji Horii Mysteries trilogy, along with its successors The Hokkaido Serial Murder Case: The Okhotsk Disappearance (1984) and Karuizawa Yūkai Annai (1985).
After creating several more visual novel adventure games, Horii went on to create Dragon Quest, which is said to have created the blueprint for Japanese console role-playing games, taking inspiration from Portopia, as well as Wizardry and Ultima.
He was a fan of Apple PC role-playing games and was motivated to create Dragon Quest for ordinary gamers, who found such games difficult, and thus he worked on an intuitive control system, influenced by his work on Portopia.
His works also include the Itadaki Street series. Horii was also a supervisor of the Super Nintendo Entertainment System game, Chrono Trigger, which had multiple game endings, with Horii appearing in one of the endings with the game development staff.
He is on the selection committee for the annual Super Dash Novel Rookie of the Year Award.
Ludography YearTitleRole 1983 Love Match TennisDeveloper The Portopia Serial Murder Case1984 The Hokkaido Serial Murder Case: The Okhotsk Disappearance Game design, scenario1985 Karuizawa Yūkai Annai Developer1986 Dragon QuestGame design, scenario 1987 Dragon Quest II1988 Dragon Quest III1990 Dragon Quest IV 1991 Itadaki StreetGame design Famicom Jump II: Saikyō no ShichininScenario supervisor 1992 Dragon Quest VGame design, scenario1994 Itadaki Street 2Game design 1995 Chrono Trigger Supervisor Dragon Quest VIGame design, scenario1998 Itadaki Street: Gorgeous King Dragon Quest MonstersExecutive director, game design, scenario2000 Dragon Quest VII Game design, scenario director2001 Dragon Quest Monsters 2 Executive director, game design, scenario2002 Itadaki Street 3Original planning, supervisorTorneko's Great Adventure 3Supervisor2003 Dragon Quest Monsters: Caravan HeartExecutive producerKenshin Dragon QuestSlime Mori Mori Dragon Quest 2004 Dragon Quest VIIIGame design, scenario Itadaki Street Special Original planning, supervisor2005 Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket SlimeExecutive producer 2006 Itadaki Street PortableOriginal planning, supervisorDragon Quest: Young Yangus and the Mystery DungeonGeneral director Dragon Quest Monsters: JokerGeneral director, game design, scenario2007Itadaki Street DSGame design Dragon Quest SwordsGeneral director, game design, scenario 2009Dragon Quest WarsGeneral director Dragon Quest IXGame design, scenario2010 Dragon Quest Monsters: Joker 2General director 2011 Slime Mori Mori Dragon Quest 3Supervisor Fortune Street Game design2012 Dragon Quest X General director, game design, scenario 2015 Dragon Quest HeroesGeneral director Dragon Quest of the Stars Theatrhythm Dragon Quest2016Dragon Quest BuildersDragon Quest Monsters: Joker 3 Dragon Quest Heroes II2017 Dragon Quest XI Game design, scenario Itadaki Street: Dragon Quest and Final Fantasy 30th Anniversary Original planning, supervisor Dragon Quest RivalsGeneral director2018Dragon Quest Builders 22019 Dragon Quest Walk2022Dragon Quest TreasuresGeneral director, voice of Yuji the King Slime2023Infinity Strash: Dragon Quest The Adventure of DaiGeneral directorDragon Quest Monsters: The Dark Prince2024Dragon Quest III HD-2D RemakeGame design, scenario2025Dragon Quest I & II HD-2D Remake2026Dragon Quest VII ReimaginedGame design, scenario directorTensei Game: Karma x CrossSupervisor2027Next: The Portopia Serial Murder CaseExecutive director, original storyTBA Dragon Quest XIIGame design, scenario
Recognition Horii received an award at the 2009 Computer Entertainment Supplier's Association developers conference and a lifetime achievement award at the 2022 Game Developers Conference for his work on Dragon Quest and Chrono Trigger.
Honors Order of the Rising Sun, 4th Class, Gold Rays with Rosette (2025)
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