Dragon Ball: Shenron no Nazo

♥	This article is dedicated to Akira Toriyama (April 5, 1955-March 1, 2024 due to acute subdural hematoma), the creator of this amazing franchise alongside Dr.Slump.

Dragon Ball: Shenron no Nazo (ドラゴンボール　神シェン龍ロンの謎なぞ Doragon Bōru Shenron no Nazo, lit. Dragon Ball: Shenlong’s Mystery) is the second video game based on the Dragon Ball series (its predecessor being Dragon Ball: Dragon Daihikyou) and the first Dragon Ball game produced and distributed by Bandai. It is an action game developed by TOSE Software Company. It was released for the Family Computer on November 27, 1986 in Japan.

Dragon Ball: Shenron no Nazo

One of the first Dragon Ball games, but also one of the worst Dragon Ball game of all times.

Genre(s):	Action Adventure
Platform(s):	Nintendo Entertainment System
Release Date:	JP: November 27, 1986 NA: March 1988 EU: 1990
Developer(s):	TOSE Software Co.
Publisher(s):	Bandai
Predecessor:	Dragon Ball: Dragon Daihikyou (by release date)

Plot

The game stars Goku and initially roughly follows the first two volumes of the Dragon Ball manga where he encounters many enemies and allies while collecting the Dragon Balls, culminating in the first wish from Shenron in the Emperor Pilaf Saga (levels 1 to 6).

Why It Can't Find The Dragon Balls

One of the main criticisms about this game is the awful health and time limit system, as your health is basically the timer, which makes the game ridiculously hard, tedious, and extremely frustrating. In fact, this system alone ruins the entire game due to how bad it is, and especially how unbalanced the difficulty of this game is.
- This is especially a problem with the boss fights, which are extremely hard and can kill you extremely easily, due to the fact that they kill your energy bar quickly.
Speaking of the boss fights, they are one of the absolute worst part of the entire game. Not only are they extremely hard to hit due to the incredibly poor hit detection, but they are also extremely annoying with a bigger hit detection than what you got. They can also make you lose a huge amount of health, but as said before, it's also the timer, which is why the bosses of this game are terrible. Also, they can sometimes have a lot of health before dying, so you will most likely die in a boss fight.
While the graphics are good for the time, sometimes there's some levels or background and even some sprites that can either look subpar but also some that are downright horrendous to look at. The color palette can also be poor at times, making the graphics not that colorful in some levels or downright subpar, kind of like Ojamajo Doremi Dokkan: Nijiiro Paradise on the PS1.
Absolutely abysmal and unbearable hit-detection, which is one of the worst you will ever see in a Dragon Ball game, it's it incredibly bad, sometime even if it's look like you will hit the ennemies or even worst, the bosses, they will not getting hit but an even more atrocious problem about this is that sometime you will be hit by ennemies and especially the bosses despite the fact that you clearly hasn't make a contact with them, it so bad that it's ruin the entire game with other horrible flaws of the game.
- This is especially a problem in the later levels of the game, where there's a huge amount of enemies and obstacles that can easily hit you despite the fact that you haven't made a single contact with them. The later bosses can also kill you extremely easily due to that and because of how bad they are.
There is no continue when you die; you can only continue the game in the continue option on the title screen, but the problem is that it's almost pointless since you go back to the beginning of an entire level. Even if you almost beat a level, you will have to start all over again, which makes the game even more frustrating than it already is.
The soundtrack, while not horrible, is terribly repetitive, and there's barely any other music in a level, which means that you will never forget it or have a hard time forgetting it due to how repetitive it is, and not in a good way. It can also be extremely annoying to listen to after a while.
- Also, there are only 9 songs in the entire game, with most of them being jingles or introductions to the stage, making the music selection extremely repetitive, even for the time.
While it was neat at times to get a French translation in a game, the French translation is downright awful and inaccurately translated from the manga, especially the Japanese version of the game, with most of the time awful grammar or even some downright lauchable dialogues, although unfortunately it's the only version outside Japan where it's kept the Dragon Ball universe due to the North American version being replaced by original characters instead. Speaking of that,.
The North American version, known as Dragon Power, removes all references to Dragon Ball and replaces the universe with original characters. The problem is that the anime and even the manga were popular at the time before Dragon Ball Z overshadowed the original, and in 1988, the series was already popular enough, so there was not even any point in changing the characters.
- Speaking of that, the character design was bad and lauchable compared to Dragon Balls, since they aren't that much different but they we're made with different details that look poor, despite that they resemble the original characters from Dragon Ball, making this even more pointless than it already is.
The cover art from Dragon Power is awful and looks like if the live action movie, Dragon Ball Evolution (which was even worse than this game) got a beta, it was also way too realistic and is not a drawing too, making the character of the box art look nothing like he does in the game, if he even appears, since his sprite in the game is completely different than his cover art counterpart.
Poor controls that are extremely stiff and clunky, as you can't control your jumps and you might get cheap deaths due to how bad it is, they can also be unresponsive.
- Speaking of the controls, they are a bit better in the boss fights sections but are still as poor due to the fact that they are still unresponsive, and due to how hard and atrocious the bosses are, it's made this situation much worse.
Like in Doraemon: Nobita to Fukkatsu no Hoshi (another awful game based on an anime), the cutscenes can sometimes be extremely long, way too boring, or even pointless. This is especially a problem with the French version of the game due to being much slower than both the North American and Japanese versions, and they are even longer than they already are, thanks to how bad the text is.
- Though thankfully, you can skip the cutscenes if you press select, but this might be hard to know because you might think that it was mapped on the start button.
You can't even move in eight directions in an action game. True, this was released in 1986, but it'd would have been much better. This is also one of the reasons why the controls in this game are incredibly poor.
The story is very confusing and very unfaithful to the manga and especially the series at the time unless Players read the Monga, with some plot-holes or even fillers comparable to some of the Naruto fillers; in fact, this is one of the worst stories out of any Dragon Ball games you will ever find.
Incredibly unbalanced difficulty is all over the place, and it's another reason why this game is this bad, as the timer is actually your health, as said before, the boss fights are incredibly unbalanced, and the level design is very terrible. In fact, the game is so hard that it's possibly the hardest Dragon Ball game to ever exist, and not in a good way.
Terrible level design that is extremely confusing and makes the game way too annoying to play at times, with awful placements of obstacles and especially the awful enemy placements; the latter will be discussed in WICFTDB#18.
The energy points are very hard to find and can cause you to die very easily; the only times you will find them are when you get to a bonus part or accidentally get some of them.
Another absolutely awful problem is the terrible enemy placements that are often placed in some parts of the stage where you will barely dodge them until you kill them, and due to how awful the hit detection is, it's made this a huge problem.
Sometimes, the music that plays in all the levels is unfitting, especially in the space-themed levels.
Extremely short length; the game can be beaten in only 1 hour or even in less than that if you are very good at this game. There are also little to no replay values.
The Kamehameha look nothing like it in this game, mostly due to how subpar the visuals of this game can be, although most of them are decent for the time.
The French version of the game is way too slow, even for a PAL game.
Overall, it was an incredible bad way to release a Dragon Ball game outside Japan, and the game was negatively received due to how unbalanced and awful the difficulty spike of this game is.

Redeeming Qualities

The graphics for the time are very good, with well-made sprite work, and the graphics are quite colorful for most parts, although, as said in the previous pointers, the graphics tend to be subpar at times.
- The background is also well made for most parts, although unfortunately some of them are mediocre or downright subpar.
Despite the music being mediocre, it can be alright or be funny to listen to. The best music of the game is possibly the title screen music, which contains an amazing rendition of the theme song from the series, especially in the Japanese version.
The cover art from the French and Japanese versions is very well made and is possibly the best part of the entire game.
While the French translation is awful, it's one of, if not the first, NES games to have a French translation, which was neat for the time, and is probably the first game to ever had a official French translation.
It is the first Dragon Balls game released in both the United States and in France.

Reception

The game received mixed to extremely negative reviews by both players and critics, most of them criticized the extremely unbalanced difficulty, the repetitive soundtrack and some even went to said that this game is one of, if not the worst Dragon Ball game ever made, with some of them saying that it's a bit better than Dragon Ball Z: Taiketsu on the Game Boy Advance.

Joueur du Grenier criticized the repetitive soundtrack, the atrocious hit-detection and how the Kamehameha was represented, he was also annoyed with the very slow cutscenes pacing.

The game had a score of 2.58 on Gamefaqs^[1]

Trivia

"Dragon Power" is also the name of the Japanese ending theme for Dragon Ball Z: Bio-Broly.
This is the first Dragon Ball game to be released in Europe, it was followed by the Butōden series.
The game was released the same day the episode "Horrifying Buyon" aired in Japan.

Videos

References

↑ https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/nes/587245-dragon-power

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[1] ttps://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/nes/587245-dragon-power

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