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Japanese convenience store registers now playing Dragon Quest level-up music for shoppers【Video】

Casey Baseel May 9, 2017
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Iconic video game fanfare rewards purchasers of Dragon Quest Critical Hit-Flavor fried chicken.

While every convenience store in Japan has an awesome array of munchies for sale, those with a hankering for fried chicken know to head for Lawson. The chain is famous for its Karaage-kun line of Japanese-style fried chicken morsels, which are made all the more tempting by Lawson’s frequent introduction of special limited-time flavors.

Last year, for example, Lawson teamed up with long-running video game series Dragon Quest to fill would-be heroes’ stomachs with Heal Magic-Flavored Karaage-kun (which was seasoned with garlic and mayonnaise). And what does any adventurer do when his HP is topped up again? Leap back into the monster-slaying fray, of course, which is why right now Lawson is selling Dragon Quest Critical Hit Flavor Karaage-kun.

While some would argue that’s an overly fancy name for salt and pepper, it does promise to land a solid hit to your taste buds. In keeping with the attack-oriented theming, Lawson assumes that getting your hands on some Critical Hit Karaage-kun will ensure victory over whatever monsters you do battle with. Victory, as we all know, leads to experience points, and experience points lead to leveling up, so when the cashier rings up your Dragon Quest Karaage-kun…

https://twitter.com/hiroyo635032372/status/861500273277100033

…the register will play the familiar level-up musical fanfare, which has been a Dragon Quest tradition since the very first game in the series was released in 1986!

As further incentive to trek your way to Lawson, while supplies last you can also get a special Karaage-kun cup lid shaped like the lovable Slime that’s been providing Dragon Quest players with gold and experience during the games’ early portions for more than 30 years.

LAWSON限定のからあげくん「かいしんのいちげき味」ゲット！
スライムにかいしんのいちげき。。。ドラクエ5なら仲間ゲットやね☆ pic.twitter.com/uidHYEQygk

— shunsuke_m (@courageetespoir) May 8, 2017

スライムがあらわれた🌟#からあげくん #LAWSON #ドラゴンクエスト pic.twitter.com/Hfmqi2FmkT

— パイナポー (@painapooh) May 6, 2017

The chicken pieces themselves, thankfully, aren’t blue, but the orthodox golden brown for breaded foodstuffs.

【食レポ】 #ローソンの #でからあげクン #ドラゴンクエスト #かいしんのいちげき味の感想#ドラクエ https://t.co/PwfzImNgL4 pic.twitter.com/qRKBgVBZuC

— 電子小説家・公認会話士 (@kounin_kaiwashi) May 6, 2017

They are, however, 40 percent bigger than the size of ordinary Karaage-kun, and if you’re lucky, you’ll get one bearing the crest of the Dragon Quest franchise’s legendary hero Loto, also called Roto or Erdrick, depending on which the localizers decided to go with for that particular installment.

でからあげクンかいしんのいちげき味、食しました
ロトの紋章入ってた(*´꒳`*)
幸せだぜ(*´Д｀*) pic.twitter.com/MQr52ATrZC

— イルソル@LasoCasa専属神父 (@irsol_DQX) May 6, 2017

The Critical Hit Karaage-kun, priced at 268 yen (US$2.40) will be on sale for a limited, though undisclosed, period of time. The Lawson registers will only be playing the level-up fanfare until May 22, though, after which who knows how long you’ll have to wait until the next time Japanese convenience stores decide to reward us with classic RPG music.

Source: Lawson, Hachima Kiko
Images: Lawson

Follow Casey on Twitter, where he regrets never defeating the last boss in the first Dragon Quest.