Dragon Quest IX, the highly anticipated ninth installment in the Dragon Quest series of role-playing games, will launch in Japan next March, according to the game's publisher Square Enix.

Confirmation of the game's Japanese release date, which arrives via Kotaku, follows Square Enix President Yoichi Wada's recent comment that DQ IX would arrive “during the New Year's period.”

First announced in late 2006, Dragon Quest IX is currently being developed for the Nintendo DS by independent developer Level-5, a company known for its work on the Professor Layton and Dark Cloud series, among others.