"Dragon Quest IX" was designed to be the hardest "Dragon Quest" game yet. The rationale is that the developers said, "people can always find out information on the internet — like that's part of the game experience." In addition, the game has only one save slot. Ryutaro Ichimura, producer of "Dragon Quest IX", clarified the reason explaining that there is not enough space on the system given the amount of freedom the game allows. Instead, the extra slot is used for a backup in case of battery failure.