When many people mention Square (later Square Enix) today, the first thing that comes to mind is Final Fantasy, JRPG, epic soundtracks and other luxurious narrative works. But if you take the time back to 1983 to 1986, that company is actually more like a group of geek studios making “computer text adventure games”: they started as the computer game department under Den-Yu-Sha. In the early days, they made works such as the text adventure “The Death Trap” on the NEC PC-8801, and then began to move to the Famicom market around 1985, first porting Thexder (テグザー/テグザー) will make its own original King’s Knight. This “PC first, then console” route directly affected why they later became so excited about the Famicom Disk System (FDS) that they lost their minds: because it looked too much like the way computers they were familiar with worked!
Thexder（テグザー/テグザー）
What was Square doing first? It’s not a JRPG, it’s a computer text adventure
Squaresoft’s roots lie in the Japanese personal computer market. In 1984, they launched the text adventure game The Death Trap on the NEC PC-8801, and the following year they made a sequel, Will: The Death Trap II. The core of this type of work is not the operation, but the script, different options, and rhythm control. In essence, it is more like an interactive novel.
Hironobu Sakaguchi recently said on social media,I dug out an early Square planning book at home., the content is exactly the idea of these PC adventure games, the platform is PC-8801, the theme is suspense and narrative-oriented, and there is almost no trace of the later “JRPG formula”.
Square’s story genes actually existed before “Final Fantasy”, but at that time it was still wearing the cloak of “text adventure”.
In the PC era, Square had already gathered together the key team members that would come later
During the PC-8801 and PC-9801 periods, a group of people within Square had gradually formed who would later influence the direction of the entire company.
Hironobu Sakaguchi was responsible for planning and narrative direction at this stage, and composer Nobuo Uematsu joined Square in 1985, starting with PC and FDS game soundtracks instead of standing in the spotlight of “Final Fantasy” from the beginning.
As for Tetsuya Nomura, he did not join the company until around 1990 and did not belong to the DOG generation at all.
In other words, Square during the DOG era did not yet have a “star lineup”, only a narrative orientation that was gradually taking shape.
Computers from the PC-8801 era are now being sold to sky-high prices by collectors
Why is FDS so computer-like? In fact, the technical nature is very important
Famicom Disk System uses Mitsumi Quick Disk（Q-Disk） Technology, this is not a standard computer floppy disk, but a disk system that favors “serial access” and is closer to tape thinking. The drive itself has no real “track finding” mechanism.
Therefore, the data configuration of FDS games must match the reading sequence, and the overall development logic is more like a tape system.
More importantly, FDS is not just hardware, but also a BIOS.
Among them, the 2C33 ROM is responsible for the disk reading and writing process, system control and audio source expansion. This system was written by Takao Sawano of Nintendo’s Second Development Department (R&D2), making FDS more like a “home computer-style platform”. It is no wonder that PC-based companies feel familiar with it.
The biggest temptation of FDS is not that “one more slot is trendy”, but that it pushes console games a step closer to “writable media, reusable, and larger capacity for storytelling.” For developers accustomed to PCs, disks can make content more like chapter-loaded adventure games and easier to update and resell (the Disk Writer service itself is an early “physical download”).
Leading the industry in entering the host market and establishing Disk Original Group (DOG)
From 1985 to 1986, Square tried to enter the red and white machine market, but the cassette world was actually very unfriendly to this PC company. The cost of ROM is high, the risk of mass production is concentrated, and the pace must be fast. These are rules that Square is not familiar with and is not good at.
At this point in time, Nintendo launched the Famicom Disk System (FDS for short), the so-called Famicom disk drive.
To many players, it’s just a disk drive; but to Square, it’s a familiar working environment. Disk, writable, low media cost, suitable for long text and archiving, this whole set of logic is highly similar to PC computers.
Disk Original Group（DOG） It was against this background that it was established.
It is not an association of creators, but Square taking the lead and bringing a group of companies that also started with PC games-Microcabin, Thinking Rabbit, XTALSOFT, Carry Lab, HummingBirdSoft, etc.-together into the console channel. Square is responsible for sales and branding, while other companies develop and retain IP independently, and share licensing and exposure.
The essence of DOG is an attempt by “PC guys to collectively shift positions.”
What are DOG’s representative works? Not a hit, but very characterful
The following list of products sold under the official name of DOG has a total of 11 models; there is also one product that has been canceled (that one is the highlight).
Game list
- Suishō no Dragon(Suishou no Dragon) (Crystal Dragon), Square, command adventure + reenactment + Sunrise to participate in the animation sense, and has an English translation version to play.
- The 3-D Battles of WorldRunner(3D World Runner), Square, a 3D action game with stunning graphics, supports 3D glasses accessories for Famicom.
- Apple Town Monogatari(Apple Town Story), Square, “Little Computer People” transplanted from the computer platform, it is more similar to the gameplay of “Tamakoji”, but this time the objects are people, and there are more instructions.
- Cleopatra no Mahō(クレオパトラの魔宝) (Cleopatra), Square, a text adventure game that mixes RPG gameplay, and has an English translation available.
- Mystery Quest(ハオ君の不思思なな游), Carry Lab, PC-88 An action game ported to the computer, with so-so music and graphics.
- Kalin no Tsurugi(Sword of Kalin), XTALSOFT, an action RPG similar to Zelda.
- Moon Ball Magic(ムーンボールマジック), System Sacom, the kind of pinball game that foreigners love most.
- Jikai Shōnen Mettomag(Magnetic World Boy Mittmag), Thinking Rabbit, is an outdated version of the puzzle game that plays magnetism.
- Deep Dungeon: Madō Senki(Deep Dungeon), HummingBirdSoft, a hard-core RPG game with dungeon gameplay, and an English translation version is available.
- Yūki no Monshō: Deep Dungeon II(Deep Dungeon 2), HummingBirdSoft, sequel.
- Akū Senki Raijin(Microcabin), Microcabin, an action shooting game that can land on a platform and fly at any time.
You will find something very realistic and very FDS: some works are so cheap in the Japanese second-hand market that “everyone still has one at home”. Because of the popularity of FDS, second-hand circulation, and the relative fragility of the disk itself and the threshold for collection, it is difficult for it to be promoted like cassettes. This is not because it is worthless, but because it was too “once a mass media”.
The Canceled DOG Myth: “Den of Mana” Originally Belonged to FDS
The most critical and least clearly explained section is the later canceled work Seiken Densetsu: The Emergence of Excalibur (Holy Sword Densetsu).
Originally slated for release in 1987, this piece evenPlanned as the first of a five-part series, but was eventually canceled due to the rapid cooling of the FDS market.
However, the name and trademark “Seiken Densetsu” did not disappear, but was reused in the Game Boy work Seiken Densetsu: Final Fantasy Gaiden in 1991, which was the starting point of the subsequent Mana series.
Why did DOG disband? It’s not a failure, it’s the stage being taken away
DOG naturally disbanded around 1988 for a very simple reason.
The maturity of high-capacity cassette and battery archiving technologies has directly eliminated the core advantages of FDS. When cassettes can achieve long-term processes, can be archived, and mass production costs are reduced, FDS will lose its strategic value.
Rather than rejecting DOG, the market simply no longer needs it.
“Final Fantasy” wasn’t a flash of inspiration, it was forced.
Square suffered successive setbacks during the FDS period, and financial pressure gradually increased before finally launching “Final Fantasy” in 1987.
This work was a cartridge project from the beginning, not an FDS game, which symbolizes that Square has officially given up the fantasy of “making a console as a computer” and instead learned to tell stories in the language of the console.
“Final Fantasy” is not a miracle, it was forced out by the face of the company’s survival.
DOG did not leave behind a myth, but it left behind a profound cultural heritage
DOG isn’t Square’s highlight moment, but it’s a key piece of the puzzle in understanding why the company survives.
Without that history of using the Famicom Disk System as a computer, there would not have been such a decisive turn.
Square was not born for consoles, it was just developed step by step by the market.