Sinking 773 Hours Into a Nintendo DS Game? It’s Been Done

Having been an MMO game player for a number of years, registering 1,000 hours to a single title in a year isn’t exactly a foreign thought to me. In fact, I’ve been playing my primary MMO since 2002, Asheron’s Call, and I’m sure my total accrued playtime is at least four times that. Ugh, that’s a little rough to think about… let’s carry on.

I can feel rest-assured that I’m not alone… sinking a huge number of hours into an MMO or an online game – or heck, gaming in general – isn’t surprising for most. But what if the game we’re talking about is a single-player role-playing game? For the Nintendo DS? How does 773 hours into one such title sound? Impossible? Not so.

Steve Tolin, owner of Deep Fried Games, is a major Dragon Quest fan, having played the entire series – every single game – since the original in the 80s (for what it’s worth, I consider Dragon Warrior for the NES to be one of my favorite RPGs of all time). But never has Steve ever played a single-player game so long (note: DQ IX has a multi-player mode, but Steve has never used it), and even as he hit the 300 hour mark of Dragon Quest IX, he had no idea he wasn’t even half-way.

You see, Steve wasn’t simply playing the game over and over again. Rather, all of those 773 hours were spent accomplishing unique content. Sure, there had to have been backtracking and some tedious tasks, but nothing was repeated. He’s very likely to be the first person in North America to 100% the game as well, given the title was released only a year ago.

I’ve sunk many hours into single-player games before, but the ones where I’ve surpassed 100 hours usually have been spread out over the course of a couple of years (there are exceptions of course). But to sink 773 hours in a single year to a game on the Nintendo DS… now that’s a feat. Next time I am looking for a portable game with some staying power, I think I know which one to pick up.