Dragon Hopper

In Dragon Hopper, Players control the young dragon prince Dorin as he embarks on a journey through the land of Faeron rescuing fairies and elemental spirits from enemy captivity in order to free his jailed loved ones and defeat a corrupt prime minister.

• Title — Dragon Hopper • Developer — Intelligent Systems • Director — Ryota Kawade • Designer — Ryota Kawade • Composer — Minako Hamano • Publisher — Nintendo • Platforms — Virtual Boy • Released — 4 August 2026 • Genre — Action-adventure • Modes — Single-player

• Illustration — Screenshot of Dragon Hopper. The Virtual Boy uses a red-and-black color scheme for its games. Dragon Hopper is a top-down action-adventure game where players take control of young dragon prince Dorin, the protagonist, who lives in the kingdom of Celestia with his family and girlfriend Diana until all but Dorin are captured by the corrupt prime minister Lexer. Dorin falls into a hole that leads him to the land of Faeron, where he must climb back up to stop Lexer through multi-level maze-like stages of varying themes. Players have the ability to make Dorin jump onto staggered floors floating above the main playfield. Dorin does not get hurt from high falls, though there are obstacles that hurt him if he lands on them. Players explore the levels collecting scattered items, interact with non-player characters, and defeat monsters to progress. Each stage also hosts hidden warps to a magic shop, where players can spend earned Star Coins on new magic spells or enter a bonus room. At the end of each stage, a boss must be fought in order to progress further on the adventure. After doing so, an elemental spirit grants hints and new abilities to Dorin. Through the journey, Dorin is attended by the small fairy Selene, who provides help to the player. With battery-backed memory, a special feature called "Element of Discovery" allows Dorin to wander through each level in search of a star that transports him to the next level.

Dragon Hopper was first revealed alongside Japan System Supply's Bound High! to the attendees of Shoshinkai 1995 and later in video game magazines in 1996, with plans to reach store shelves during summer of the same year. Some publications referred to the game as D-Hopper. The game was showcased along with Bound High! in a playable state at the show floor of E3 1996, with a scheduled release date of 26 August 1996 in both the United States and Japan. It received previews from publications such as Nintendo Power magazine, but was eventually cancelled due to Nintendo discontinuing the Virtual Boy for being a critical and commercial failure. For many years, the only remaining proof of its existence were various screenshots taken by several gaming magazines and gameplay footage, while no prototypes containing a ROM image of the game were found. On 27 January 2026, 30 years after its original intended release window, Nintendo announced that Dragon Hopper would be officially released for the first time on the Nintendo Classics service. Due to trademark conflicts, it was referred to under the name "D-Hopper" in English marketing materials, though the game itself retains its original title. Dragon Hopper was released on 4 August 2026 alongside another previously unreleased Virtual Boy game, Zero Racers.