Dragon Quest VI is the sixth installment in the Dragon Quest series. It is the penultimate title for the Nintendo Super Famicom as well as the last game in the Zenithia trilogy, and the first game in the series to be developed by Heartbeat, rather than Chunsoft.

Like every other Dragon Quest game, the setting in Dragon Quest VI is very medieval, complete with castles, knights, and magic. The main world is divided into the Lower World and the Upper World, each with a separate but similar map. To get from one world to the other, the party uses special warps (such as in wells) or by ascending/descending colossal stairs on the world map.

Dragon Quest VI opens as the Hero and his party of a mysterious woman and a bulky man approach Murdaw, the demon king's castle. After the woman uses an ocarina to summon a dragon, the party enters the castle and comes face to face with Murdaw. Overpowering the trio, the demon king appears to destroy each member of the party, but suddenly, the Hero wakes up in the mountain town Weaver's Peak. Tania, a young woman from Weaver's Peak, insists that he was having a bad dream and introduces herself as his sister.