Slime (Dragon Quest)
The Slime is the mascot of the Dragon Quest console role-playing game franchise. The basic slime looks like a water drop with a big smile and eyes, similar in shape to an onion or Hershey's Kiss. Slimes are the weakest enemy in the game, and the first the player encounters. There are many different types of slime found throughout the series, including slimes in different colors, nautical slimes (wearing conch shells), metal slimes (with extremely high defense), and cureslimes (who have tentacles and use magic). In some Dragon Quest titles, slimes also appear as friendly NPCs and peaceful inhabitants of cities. There are many different types of slime found throughout the series:
- Slime (スライム, suraimu) — A typical weak blue slime.
- Red Slime (レッドスライム, reddo suraimu) — A common red slime.
- She-Slime (スライムベス, suraimu-besu) — A slightly stronger version of the normal slime.
- Metal Slime (メタルスライム, metaru-suraimu) — Made of metal, the Metal Slime offers great rewards to anyone who can manage to destroy it, but it is extremely hard to hit, takes very little damage if hit, and usually runs away, more often than not at the first opportunity. This slime is also sometimes known as Metaly.
- Dark Slime (スライムダーク, suraimu-dāku) — A strong, black version of the normal slime. Can use an attack called "Slime Spank".
- Babble/Bubble Slime (バブルスライム, baburu-suraimu) — A green melted slime that is poisonous.
- Metal Babble/Metabble/Liquid Metal Slime (はぐれメタル, hagure-metaru) — Similar to the Metal Slime, the Metal Babble is cowardly, fast, and hard to defeat, but yields a great amount of experience. This slime is sometimes known as Metabble. In the North American version of Dragon Quest VIII, it is known as the "liquid metal slime".
- Healer/Healslime (ホイミスライム, hoimi-suraimu) — A floating slime resembling a jellyfish, with the power to heal its allies. Advanced versions are known as the behoimi (English name: Cureslime), behoma (or CureAll Slime), and behomazun slimes, after the healing spells they use. The healer slime is often palette-swapped to represent a jellyfish enemy.
- Marine Slime (マリンスライム, marin-suraimu) — This slime of the seas inhabits a conch shell.
- Slime Knight (スライムナイト, suraimu-naito) — A knight with a slime as its mount.
- Metal Slime Knight A knight riding a metal slime.
- King Slime (キングスライム, kingu-suraimu) — A huge, fat slime with a crown on its head. Sometimes normal slimes will join up to become a King Slime.
- Metal King Slime (メタルキング, metaru-kingu) — Similar to the King Slime, but made of metal. Cowardly and hard to defeat, it yields a huge amount of experience.
- King Cureslime Similar to the King Slime, but green. Can cast OmniHeal to heal its allies in one go.
- Gold Slime (ゴルデンスライム, goruden-suraimu) — A slime shaped like a huge jewel.
- Platinum King (プラチナキング, purachina-kingu) — A jewelled slime composed of platinum. The stuff of legends.
- Spot Slime (ぶちスライム, buchi-suraimu) — A common yellow slime with brown spots. Slightly larger than a normal slime.
- Spot King Similar to the king slime, but coloured like the spot slime.
- Dragon Slime — A winged reptilian slime with the ability to breathe fire.
- Snail Slime — A slow-moving slime inhabiting a conch shell.
- Ultrus Dragon Quest VIII only. Made of three team slimes.
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. Slime merchandise includes:
- Plush toys
- Pencil cases
- Cell phone charms
- A Sony PlayStation 2 game controller in the shape of a slime [1] (the controls are located on the bottom surface)
The slime is also the protagonist of its own spinoff games, the first one being Slime MoriMori Dragon Quest, a Japanese-only Game Boy Advance title. It was followed by Dragon Quest Heroes: Rocket Slime, which was released worldwide, for the Nintendo DS.