Slime (Dragon Quest)

The Slime is the mascot of the Dragon Quest console role-playing game franchise. Designed by Akira Toriyama of Dragon Ball fame, the basic slime resembles a water drop with two large eyes and a big smile. It made its first appearance in Dragon Warrior as the weakest enemy in the game, and usually the first the player encounters and it continues its history as a weak enemy in the series. It can be often seen representing the Enix side of the Square-Enix merger. Its counterpart is the chocobo, which represents Square. The two creatures decorate the front of the official Square-Enix store, as well as its shopping bags.

The Slime is also the protagonist of its own spinoff games, Slime MoriMori Dragon Quest, a Japanese Game Boy Advance title. It was followed by Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime, which was released worldwide, for the Nintendo DS. These games follow a nation of slimes who are intelligent, and civilized, but also cute and somewhat comical.

The Slime shares its name with characters from other games, including many other RPGs, such as an enemy monster from Namco's The Tower of Druaga, which was released two years prior to the first Dragon Quest game.

Creation
The blue Slime has been typically the weakest character in each installment of the Dragon Quest games, beginning in 1986 with Dragon Warrior, the first game in the series. The Slime would then appear in Dragon Warrior II a year later and would continue to be featured in each installment.

Types of slimes
There are many different types of slime found throughout the series, including slimes in different colors, bubble slimes which look like pools of slime, nautical slimes (wearing conch shells), metal slimes (with extremely high defense, give out very high amounts of experience when defeated, but tend to flee from battle and usually very hard to find), healslimes (who have tentacles and use magic, which can be summoned to help other monsters which the player is fighting), and king slimes (very large slimes wearing crowns, which come in regular, heal, spotted, and metal versions). In some Dragon Quest titles, slimes also appear as friendly NPCs and peaceful inhabitants of cities. Friendly slimes would usually greet players with the phrase "I'm not a bad slime!". Slimes, like many monsters in the Dragon Quest series, have a certain verbal tic, "slurp". Slimes also replace certain words or syllables with the word "goo" (i.e. "human" is "gooman"), or other words relating to slime or goo, when they speak.

Promotion and reception
The Dragon Quest Slime has received positive reception from critics and fans. It has been called the "most prolific" of all the "memorable" monsters from the series and is one of the most recognizable characters in gaming. The Slime has also been called cute and charming by several critics, especially when reviewing Rocket Slime. GamesRadar listed it as the most lovable blob in video games. They called the species the "equivalent of training wheels", due to how easy they are to defeat typically, but also saying that their weird smile makes players think twice about killing them. They also listed him as a character they wished they knew less about. They stated that while they started out as nothing more than things for players to kill and not feel guilty about, the playable role of a Slime in the Dragon Quest Heroes series made them realize they were more than just generic enemies.

In the January 2010 issue of Nintendo Power, the editors listed the Slime among its Favorite Punching Bags, a list including Goombas and Octoroks. They wrote that "The Slimes are just so cute and friendly-looking, it's almost hard to slay them. But you know, a hero's gotta do what a hero's gotta do."

As the most recognizable symbol of the best-selling video game series in Japan, the slime has been featured prominently in Dragon Quest-related merchandise. It now has their own section called 'Smile Slime' on the Square Enix JP shopping website. Slime merchandise includes plush toys, pencil cases, keychains, game controllers and a stylus.