REVIEW: ‘Dragon Quest Heroes: Torneko’s Mystery Dungeon -Classic HD-‘ Is Dated And Repetitive

Before Shiren was wandering, before Pokémon were exploring, and before the modern explosion of roguelike video games, there was Torneko. Torneko, the plucky merchant that could from Dragon Quest IV, is the father of mystery dungeon games. Dragon Quest Heroes: Torneko’s Mystery Dungeon -Classic HD- is a remaster of the very first mystery dungeon game, and it feels every bit of its 33-year age.

Chunsoft developed the original game, Torneko’s Great Adventure, for Japan’s Super Famicom System. The remaster was developed and published by Square Enix as Dragon Quest Heroes: Torneko’s Mystery Dungeon -Classic HD-. This marks the first time it’s been available in the United States. While the graphics are technically HD, classic fans can rejoice that Dragon Quest Heroes: Torneko’s Mystery Dungeon -Classic HD- still carries the 16-bit aesthetic into 2026.

Set after the events of Dragon Quest IV, Dragon Quest Heroes: Torneko’s Mystery Dungeon -Classic HD- follows the merchant Torneko as he moves his family and turns his business into a thriving enterprise. The plan is simple: raid the mystery dungeon and loot its items and gold to build a store.

Before the king grants Torneko access to the mystery dungeon, he requires a test to prove he’s ready for it. The minor mystery dungeon is only ten floors, but if Torneko can bring the king’s treasure back from the lowest level, the king will give his blessing.

After completing the minor mystery dungeon, it’s time to go on the main mystery dungeon. The main mystery dungeon is exactly the same as the minor mystery dungeon except it goes down 30 floors instead of 10. As you kill and rob the monsters inside, Torneko’s wife Tessie will start expanding the business. Eventually, she’ll move from growing it to multiplying it.

Every few floors, the music, colors, and monsters evolve. Because it’s a mystery dungeon, a Japanese RPG offshoot of the roguelike genre, everything is fully randomized. This means on some runs, you’ll find gear and cash very quickly. Other times, you’ll be bombarded by enemies for 2 straight minutes while you’re still on the first floor.

Dragon Quest Heroes: Torneko’s Mystery Dungeon -Classic HD- is aggressively difficult.

It feels like the intention is for Dragon Quest Heroes: Torneko’s Mystery Dungeon -Classic HD- to get harder as you dig deeper into the dungeon, but the execution isn’t really doing that. Yes, the monsters get tougher, the cash drops get more valuable, but there’s no guarantee you’ll see a cash drop, and there’s no guarantee you’ll get shields and weapons to be able to deal with a sudden or not-so-sudden influx of monsters.

Dragon Quest Heroes: Torneko’s Mystery Dungeon -Classic HD- is aggressively difficult. That’s not terribly surprising considering its age, but one thing it does well is offering customizable difficulty. This isn’t simply selecting easy, medium, or hard. Instead, if you want to play at a lower difficulty, you can go into the balance settings and change how often enemies spawn, how much XP you gain from defeating them, and more.

It’s always good when a video game is more accessible to more players, and someone who enjoys a mystery dungeon game shouldn’t be barred just because they don’t have the high level of skill required to play. Unfortunately, Dragon Quest Heroes: Torneko’s Mystery Dungeon -Classic HD- falls somewhat short by barring balance-adjusted games from the high scores list.

It certainly wouldn’t make sense to compare a balance-adjusted run against one that isn’t balance-adjusted, but that could be solved by giving those runs their own leaderboard. Even simply adding an adjusted leaderboard that takes into account all possible adjustments while leaving the main leaderboard intact would be an improvement.

The game feels best in short bursts.

Playing Dragon Quest Heroes: Torneko’s Mystery Dungeon -Classic HD- on the Nintendo Switch 2 is a natural fit. In fact, the handheld option feels like the way it was meant to be played in the first place. It’s especially better in handheld because Dragon Quest Heroes: Torneko’s Mystery Dungeon -Classic HD- works best when played in short bursts. A 5-10 minute session is often long enough to get a run or two in; perfect for playing in a doctor’s office waiting room or for a few minutes before bed.

The worst thing about Dragon Quest Heroes: Torneko’s Mystery Dungeon -Classic HD- is how repetitive it is. There’s only one thing for Torneko to do: go plunder the mystery dungeon. Unfortunately, once you’ve seen one level, you’ve seen them all. The vibe changes, the music changes, the monsters change and get more difficult. The main gameplay loop, however, stays exactly the same. Even the song gets a new arrangement every few floors, but remains the same song.

The only real variety in Dragon Quest Heroes: Torneko’s Mystery Dungeon -Classic HD- is whether or not you’re lucky enough to find gold or weapons. That leads to the uncomfortable truth that Dragon Quest Heroes: Torneko’s Mystery Dungeon -Classic HD- is a 33-year-old game that feels like a 33-year-old game.

The story is so secondary to the grind that it feels superfluous.

One place that really shines is the upgrade in music quality. Torneko’s Great Adventure was a product of its time. While elements of Dragon Quest Heroes: Torneko’s Mystery Dungeon -Classic HD- certainly continues to feel that age, the music has all been remastered using a full orchestra. There are only so many styles and tempos you can play the same song, but Dragon Quest Heroes: Torneko’s Mystery Dungeon -Classic HD- has found all of them, and they’ve never sounded better.

If the endless grind of loot, plunder, steal, kill, rinse, and repeat doesn’t drive you insane, there’s a story happening in the background about Torneko’s capitalist enterprise. If you’re lucky enough to bring some cash back, Torneko’s can turn the dungeon’s spoils, which can be anything from a wooden club or hallucinogenic flower to mythical weaponry, into a thriving business.

The story in Dragon Quest Heroes: Torneko’s Mystery Dungeon -Classic HD- is so secondary to the grind, however, that it just doesn’t matter. The story could disappear, and it wouldn’t really change the game all that significantly. It ends up feeling like the paper-thin narrative only exists to give Torneko a reason to keep returning to the dungeon, but it’s fully unnecessary. While it doesn’t need to be a giant epic, the story should at least add value to the gameplay.

Dragon Quest Heroes: Torneko’s Mystery Dungeon -Classic HD-  feels old and gets stale quickly.

The brutal truth is that modern games in the genre do so much more to keep players invested and coming back. Dragon Quest Heroes: Torneko’s Mystery Dungeon -Classic HD- stays true to the original game, but we don’t need it in 2026. Square Enix chose to preserve the 1993 design without addressing what makes the experience less compelling by modern genre standards.

There are ways that Square Enix could have improved upon the original. Perhaps they could have added a roguelite option, refined the story, or added a mode where Torneko gets jacked equipment for a series of monster dens. Honestly, the options are nearly limitless. Instead, Dragon Quest Heroes: Torneko’s Mystery Dungeon -Classic HD- is a video game relic with a fresh coat of paint dropped into 2026.

Overall, fans of the original Torneko’s Great Adventure will certainly be delighted to see this faithful remaster of the very first game in the mystery dungeon genre. Still, Dragon Quest Heroes: Torneko’s Mystery Dungeon -Classic HD-  feels old and gets stale quickly. While it may have been a building block into the modern mystery dungeon and roguelike genres, Dragon Quest Heroes: Torneko’s Mystery Dungeon -Classic HD- would have been better left in 1993.

Dragon Quest Heroes: Torneko’s Mystery Dungeon -Classic HD- is available now on Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC.