Dragon Quest creator and JRPG icon Yuji Horii becomes the first game designer to receive Order of the Rising sun award: "It's thanks to all the staff that helped create the games with me"

Dragon Quest creator Yuji Horii is being honored with an award from the Japanese government, officially becoming the first game designer to be given it.

As reported by The Japan Times, Horii has been selected to receive the Order of the Rising Sun, Gold Rays with Rosette. The Order of the Rising Sun was first established all the way back in 1875, and is awarded to individuals for their service to the country in different ways, including the promotion of culture.

In a comment (via FNN, translated by Genki on Twitter), Horii is incredibly humble about the award, crediting both his fellow staff and fans. "It's thanks to all the staff that helped create the games with me, and to all the users who have always supported us," he says.

Despite his modesty, though, this is definitely a big deal. Again, he's the first game designer to have received the award at all, although others involved in the games industry have also been given the honor in the past – specifically, the late Namco founder Masaya Nakamura, and late composer and conductor Koichi Sugiyama, who is coincidentally best known for his work on the Dragon Quest series.

It definitely makes sense that notable individuals behind the Dragon Quest series get some recognition like this. After all, the series led the charge of JRPGs as we know them today – the genre would no doubt be very different had Dragon Quest never existed. And, of course, the series is still going strong – Dragon Quest 1 & 2 HD-2D Remake launched just last week, and we've also got Dragon Quest 7 Reimagined to look forward to next February, which should hopefully tide us over until Dragon Quest 12 eventually releases.

Square Enix says no spoilers for the remakes of 38-year-old NES JRPGs Dragon Quest 1 and 2, please – there's a "big surprise" in store.