Dragon Quest: Young Yangus and the Mystery Dungeon

Dragon Quest: Young Yangus and the Mystery Dungeon is a turn-based roguelike dungeon crawler from 2006. It was developed by Cavia and published by Square Enix, belonging to both the Mystery Dungeon and Dragon Quest series. The story takes place before the events of Dragon Quest VIII.

In terms of gameplay, the dungeons are randomly generated, and combat is turn-based. Players work through multiple floors of enemies to reach a boss, whose defeat advances the story. Battles begin when players touch an enemy, without a separate battle screen or menu. A new addition is the "tension command," which lets players charge up attack power for stronger hits, but they cannot move while doing so. Later, players can capture monsters using a special jug and use them to attack. Up to three monsters can be kept at once, and they learn special abilities through items and combat. Monsters must reach level four, receive food they like, and be given a weapon before they will help Yangus. As they fight more, they combine strengths with other captured monsters. A farmhouse becomes available late in the game, where monsters can be kept and bred to create new, more powerful ones. The game also includes cinematic, computer-generated scenes in a comic-book style.

The story follows a young Yangus, a main character from Dragon Quest VIII, who is described as a "plump bandit." He gets involved with his father Yampa's gang of thieves after a mysterious jug is brought home. Despite being told not to touch it, Yangus does and gets sucked into the jug, ending up in a world called "Bottle Land." There, he meets Red, a female bandit from Dragon Quest VIII, as well as Morrie, Torneko, and a new character named Poppy. Together, they explore the dungeons of this new land.

A trailer for the game appeared in December 2005. The soundtrack uses music by Koichi Sugiyama from Dragon Quest VIII, arranged by Hayato Matsuo.

In Japan, the game ranked third in sales for the week of April 17 to April 23, 2006. By November 2006, Square Enix reported it had sold over 340,000 copies in Japan, ranking 42nd in sales for the year. Critics praised its "cartoonish 3D graphics," full motion video, original art style, and cell-shaded graphics. IGN described the dungeon movement system as "clumsy." The narration was considered hilarious because the narrator acted out various characters' parts.