Hitting store shelves Saturday, the long-awaited new installment in the "Dragon Quest" series, one of Japan's most successful video games, has industry watchers on the edge of their seats to see if the latest title can live up to its reputation.
The pressure is on "Dragon Quest 9," a role-playing game that runs on the Nintendo DS hand-held console, to become the best-selling title in the series, and observers are eager to see how it stacks up against other recent popular titles.
Square Enix Co., publisher of "Dragon Quest," has not disclosed its sales projections for the latest release, but analysts expect between 3 million and 5 million copies to be sold on the domestic market.