Dragon Quest V: Hand of the Heavenly Bride is a role-playing video game and the fifth installment in the Dragon Quest video game series, second of the Zenithian Trilogy. Originally developed by Chunsoft and published by Enix Corporation, Dragon Quest V was the first title in the series to be released for the Super Famicom video game console in Japan in September 1992. Dragon Quest V was the first game in the series to not be released outside Japan due to programming issues at the time. It later had an enhanced remake only in Japan for the PlayStation 2 in 2004; which was developed by ArtePiazza and Matrix Software. Another remake was made for the Nintendo DS, which was released in Japan in July 2008 and worldwide in February 2009, marking the first time the game had officially released in English. In addition, ports for Android and iOS were released in Japan in December 2014, and worldwide the following month.
The game takes place over roughly thirty years of the main character's life, from when he is born through to when he gets married and has a family. The title introduced a gameplay dynamic in which monsters from random encounters may offer to join the player's party. This concept was used in later Dragon Quest games, as well as in the Dragon Quest Monsters series as the primary way to form a party. The game's monster-collecting concept had been used before in the Megami Tensei series and appeared in many later franchises such as Pokémon, Digimon and Dokapon. In turn, the concept of collecting everything in a game, in the form of achievements or similar rewards, has since become a common trend in video games. Dragon Quest V has also been credited as the first known video game to feature a playable pregnancy, a concept that has since appeared in later games such as Story of Seasons, The Sims 2 and Fable II. In 2019, an animated film adaptation, Dragon Quest: Your Story, was released in Japan. The film was later released digitally for other regions through Netflix.
Dragon Quest V uses basic role-playing video game mechanics seen in the rest of the series, which includes leveling up by gaining experience points through battle, first person turn-based battles, and equipping weapons and armor. Something new to the Dragon Quest series is the ability to tame monsters into the player's party. The monsters can be used in battle and level-up like the human characters. Monsters sometimes request to join the Hero after battles if the party is strong enough. There are a total of 40 monsters that are capable of joining the Hero's party in the Super Famicom version, with 71 in the PlayStation 2 remake. Dragon Quest V was met with critical acclaim. Famitsu's panel of four reviewers gave the original Super Famicom version ratings of 9, 10, 9 and 8 out of 10, adding up to 36 out of 40 overall. This made it one of their three highest-rated games of 1992, along with Shin Megami Tensei and World of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck. Dragon Quest V was also one of only eleven games to have received a Famitsu score of 36/40 or above up until 1992. The PS2 remake received a score of 34 out of 40 from Famitsu, while they gave the DS remake a score of 36 out of 40, with all four reviewers giving it 9 out of 10.