🍖[Dragon Ball: Shenron no Nazo #01] Taking on the Absurdly Unfair First Dragon Ball Game! Everything Depends on Meat & Cake’s Whims!? [Riri Ititama / VTuber]🍰

2026年1月27日2026年11月3日

 

This time, I’m bringing you part 1 of my play diary for the very first Dragon Ball game, the Famicom title Dragon Ball: Shenron no Nazo! 🎮

Let me be blunt about just how insane this game is: it’s a completely unfair, merciless death game!

Everything comes down to luck!

It’s a total luck-based game!!

Will the day ever come when I actually manage to clear this thing…!? 💦

Back when I was a kid, I ran out of steam at the Pilaf gang part of this game and gave up — it left me with a bitter memory. This time, with the Famicom Mini’s quick-save feature on my side, I’m here to take my revenge!

📘 Game Info

🌟 Synopsis

The Dragon Balls — seven mysterious orbs said to grant a wish when all of them are gathered.

Bulma, a girl from West City, set off on a grand adventure to find them, together with Goku, a tailed boy she met deep in the mountains.

Now then, what on earth is going to happen next…?

⚡ Happening: A Power Problem Right at the Start of the Stream!?

I’d fired up the game full of motivation, all ready to go — and right at the start, the console’s power suddenly cut out…! ⚡

“What!? No way!" “The power’s gone!?" I genuinely panicked live on stream~ 💦

I managed to pull through by hurriedly drawing power from my laptop, but I never expected a real-life survival situation before the game even started (lol).

🍖 Everything Depends on “Meat" and “Cake"!?

The first two stages or so? Those you can get through normally.

(Provided, of course, that the “meat" and “cake" that restore your HP actually drop along the way — that’s an absolute requirement!)

You see, in this game your HP steadily drains away just from time passing, so if no recovery items show up, you slowly march straight toward death.

And on top of that, meat only restores a tiny little bit. Cake is the real lifeline — but whether it appears at all is pure luck…

Screaming “Give me meat!" and “Cake, please show up!" at the screen — this difficulty is honestly unhinged, isn’t it?

🐷 Oolong’s Village and the Legendary “Panties Hell"

The real game began when I reached the village and was asked to get rid of Oolong.

Every capsule I opened gave me nothing but panty-type items I didn’t want… I need meat! Meat is really, truly important!!

My HP dropped to just a sliver at one point, and I was already relying on quick saves this early on. Little did I know I’d be at the mercy of luck like this for the entire run…

🌵 Desert Yamcha Is Way Too Much Trouble!

And then came the desert stage.

The Yamcha waiting for me there was honestly far too much trouble!

You have to search every corner of the field’s rooms to find your stolen Dragon Ball, and on top of that, Yamcha makes you fight him twice.

And then out it comes, his special move, the “Wolf Fang Fist"!

Get hit by that even once and it tears off a huge chunk of your HP — it’s scary on a level where you can’t laugh it off.

Zero mercy, I tell you!

The conclusion I arrived at: “Take him down without taking damage." It became a long war of attrition, counting my attacks while repeating quick saves and retries over and over.

And my words after finally winning that long battle? “Yamcha was actually kind of a good guy, wasn’t he." The greatest respect you can pay a strong opponent, lol.

🔥 Mount Frypan and the Ox-King’s Castle

Next stop: Mount Frypan. Raging flames block the way, and I can’t move forward!

The one to consult about putting out the fire is, of course, Master Roshi. …And the bargaining chip is the usual “Puff-Puff." Honestly, what a lecherous old man!

I also wandered back and forth hunting for the key to the Ox-King’s castle, and when I finally found it, I couldn’t help cheering. That “I don’t have the key!" and “What do I do about the fire!?" back-and-forth quietly eats away at your HP (= your time), which is another scary thing about this game.

🥕 Touch Him and It’s Over: The Boss “Monster Carrot"

Next to stand in my way was the rabbit boss, “Monster Carrot."

Bulma has been turned into a carrot, and to change her back, I have to gather carrots.

And this boss? The moment he touches you, you get turned into a carrot too — and that’s an instant, merciless game over.

There’s a limit to how cruel a first-encounter kill can be!

Thankfully, a “Power Pole" for ranged attacks was lying in the corner of the battlefield, which saved me…

Without that Power Pole, this would be completely unwinnable, so in that one spot, I could feel the developers’ tiny bit of conscience, lol.

🏰 The Fateful Pilaf Gang! Will I Get My Revenge from Back Then?

And at last, the Pilaf gang chapter!

The truth is, I actually made it this far once when I was a kid. But back then, the Famicom had nothing as convenient as save features or passwords, right? So when you ran out of steam, that was it — I tearfully gave up without ever getting further. It’s a bitter memory.

I challenged it again to take my revenge from back then… but it was just so, so hard!!

I’d been thinking “This is probably the last part, right?" — only to learn there were still more stages ahead, and despair. What IS this game!?

The enemies along the way are absurdly tough, Mai and Shu attack relentlessly, and I lost count of how many times I screamed “What is this brutal balance!?"…!

I’ll say it as many times as it takes: if cake and meat don’t drop along the way, you honestly can’t even get past the Pilaf gang’s wall!

Toward the end, facing a strong enemy, I finally figured out how to fire the Kamehameha. It turns out the turtle shells were the Kamehameha’s ammo count! So that’s what those shells were for…

But actually landing the shots was hard, and my remaining time was nearly gone. In the end, I decided to call it a day here. “Frustrating. So frustrating." — my honest feelings.

💡 Strategy Points for This Time

• Your HP is a time limit! Secure “meat" and “cake" at all costs! It drains both over time and when you take damage, so how the recovery items from defeated enemies and jars on the map (especially meat and cake) drop can change the difficulty dramatically!
• Yamcha has to be fought “no damage"! One hit from the Wolf Fang Fist is fatal. Count your attacks and chip away at him little by little with quick saves and retries!
• Beat Monster Carrot from a distance with the Power Pole! A dangerous boss who turns you into a carrot (instant death) if he touches you! Pick up the Power Pole lying on the ground and attack safely while keeping your distance — that’s the iron rule!
• Make full use of modern civilization: the quick-save feature! Pushing through with no continues is just far too brutal. Slip in frequent suspend saves on the Famicom Mini and bend luck to your side as you go!

 

💬 Riri’s Impressions

This time, I was thoroughly tossed around by the Famicom era’s special brand of unfair difficulty and waves of pure luck!

But being able to challenge Pilaf’s Castle again — the place where I once swallowed my tears because there was no save feature — borrowing the power of suspend saves that only exist in this day and age… it felt strangely emotional, somehow.

Honestly? Without these quick saves, I really think I would have thrown in the towel. That’s how severe this game is.

In the end, this is a world where everything depends on whether meat and cake show up!

Modern games, comfy as they are, could never give you this kind of harshness — but maybe that’s also the fiery charm of retro games… perhaps? (lol)

Next time, I’ll improve my daily conduct even further to draw luck to its absolute limit, and give the Pilaf gang the thorough thrashing they deserve!

I will get my revenge and seize a complete clear, so please look forward to the next update ✨

●For readers in Japan, the original manga Vol. 1 is here♪

A Request from Riri

My real screams that I couldn’t fit into the blog, and the desperate battles where I frantically cried “Give me meat and caaake!!" — I’d love for you to experience them together with me in the YouTube archive! ✨

👇Watch the video here👇

 A like and a channel subscription would make me very happy, too.

I’m always waiting for your impressions and encouraging comments 💖