In an interview with the game's designer and writer Yuji Horii published in the 1987 GSLA, he discussed the memory limitations that his team faced during the development of the Famicom version of Dragon Quest II, leading them to remove some elements from the final game, including:

• Large, kamishibai-esque pictures meant for cutscenes. Horii noted that one of these images was quietly preserved in the story section of the Dragon Quest II instruction manual, appearing in black and white instead of color.
• An expanded scenario involving a full-size image of Rhone’s landscape, visible from the top of a lighthouse. This image would have featured a single sparkling point of light in the sea, marking the location of the sunken treasure required to get the Echo Flute. However, due to memory constraints, the image had to be cut, and the scenario was subsequently changed.
• A more humorous idea they had to abandon was the "Abunai Mizugi" (Scandalous Swimsuit). This piece of armor, intended to be as strong as the Mink Coat and extremely expensive, would have caused the Princess of Moonbrooke's character sprite to change to reflect her wearing it. While it was cut from the Famicom version of the game, it was included as equippable armor for the Princess in the MSX version. It was slightly modified from the original idea, where every enemy has a 1/8th chance to be stunned by her beauty while she wears it.