Dragon Quest: Shōnen Yangus to Fushigi no Dungeon (ドラゴンクェスト 少年ヤンガスと不思議のダンジョン lit. "Dragon Quest: Young Yangus and the Mysterious Dungeon") is a prequel/spin-off to Dragon Quest VIII, starring the character Yangus as a child.
Characters:
Yangus, the protagonist. He is a 12 year old boy who would become the ex-thief character from Dragon Quest VIII.
Gerda, known in non-Japanese language versions as Red. In Dragon Quest VIII it is stated that she and Yangus had a relationship, which is explored in this game.
Poppy, a young kid who helps Yangus in his adventure, taking care of captured monsters. He is local to Pottal Land, the world where the story is developed.
Morrie, the monster master from Dragon Quest VIII. He introduces Yangus to monster breeding.
Torneko, the merchant from Dragon Warrior IV. He trains Yangus at the beginning of the game, and then opens a shop in Pottal Land.
Yanpa, Yangus's father and leader of a group of thieves. He owns the magic pot that is home to the world of Pottal Land.
Source: Wikipedia, "Dragon Quest Yangus", available under the CC-BY-SA License.
This game is in the Mysterious Dungeon series that centers around exploring a dungeon with randomly generated layouts and fighting other characters therein in a turn-based manner. Every time the player performs an action such as attacking or walking, the opponents also take action. Escape from the dungeon is usually only allowed in certain places, or through the use of certain items. Additionally, when the player loses the game the player loses all money plus half the player's items in the more forgiving variants, or loses everything and has to start from scratch in others.
Source: Wikipedia, "Mystery Dungeon", available under the CC-BY-SA License.