“Now, the time for heroes has come again” …those very Heroes who used to stay up past their bedtimes and come to dinner late when on a quest!

Dragon Quest XI is the upcoming eleventh installment in the main series of Square Enix’s beloved series of Dragon Quest games. This newest chapter is currently slated for a July 29th release date in Japan for the Nintendo 3DS and the PlayStation 4, with an undetermined release date for the Nintendo Switch as well.

Since the franchise is one of the most influential role-playing game series ever, it’s only natural to expect that the months leading up to a new release come with lots of hype. A few days ago Japanese Twitter user @gurandodaiti tweeted a commercial for Dragon Quest XI which seems to have struck a particular chord with longtime fans. Watch the video below then scroll down for our brief summary while taking your own trip down memory lane.

▼ “I think this Dragon Quest commercial is wonderful and very tastefully made.”

https://twitter.com/gurandodaiti/status/871359197639659520

The commercial begins by displaying the title screens of all main installments of Dragon Quest so far, from 1986’s Dragon Quest to 2012’s most recent Dragon Quest X. Immerse yourself in the familiar background music as the various narrators announce, “Even if the times are different, back then, we were heroes.” 

Now we see a series of people from different walks of life reminiscing about how much they just want to race home to play the game. How nice would it be to use a Zoom (aka Return) spell to get there faster…wait, did that boy just do that??

We next see some familiar scenes which are sure to drum up childhood memories, such as a boy playing while huddled under a blanket in the dark, various people daydreaming in class and at work, a girl studying with a handwritten sign over her desk which reads “No playing Dragon Quest until I pass my university entrance exams!”, kids crowding around a playing guide at school, a boy telling his mother “Just five more minutes!” before coming to the dinner table, and a girl unplugging the wrong cord by accident and cutting the power to her brother’s game, then being met by his incredulous face (that last one hits close to home!). Two voices read, “Heroes must never lose hope…but it’s OK for them to sometimes cry.”

The clip ends with the heart-pounding climax of “Now, the time for heroes has come again” along with a few visuals of the upcoming game. The final shot shows a teacher in any empty classroom reading his student’s game guide, with the overlaid text of “A Dragon Quest-filled summer is coming.”

Hmm, we think we know what a large percentage of Japanese children and adults will be doing this summer vacation!

Source, images: Twitter/@gurandodaiti