Dragon Ball: Shenron no Nazo Overall Review: Perfect Atmosphere, Brutal Balance! The Truth About the Legendary Famicom Game, from Someone Who Actually Cleared It – Riri Ititama / Vtuber

2026年2月24日2026年11月3日

This time, I’m bringing you my overall review of the Famicom game Dragon Ball: Shenron no Nazo! 🎮

The play diary ran for 3 episodes and safely reached its conclusion… or rather, I made it reach its conclusion! (All hail the save feature.)

As a kid, I ran out of steam at the Pilaf gang part of this game and gave up — it’s my old nemesis. Now that I’ve played it all the way through, let me honestly sum up the answer to “So, what was this game actually like?"

Let me give you the conclusion first: perfect atmosphere, brutal balance, lol.

 📘 Game Info

🌟 What Kind of Game Is It?

As its name suggests, Dragon Ball: Shenron no Nazo is the very first Dragon Ball video game: an action game where you control Goku on an adventure to find the Dragon Balls.

The story follows the early part of the original manga, but it’s packed with original developments you won’t find there — a space stage, a jungle, and the final stage, “Konpei Tower."

Master Roshi, Krillin, the Ox-King, Emperor Pilaf — familiar faces appear one after another in this melting pot of a fan-service action game… whose difficulty, however, turned out to be the stuff of legends. That’s the story here, lol.

📚 The Play Diary: The Journey Across All 3 Episodes

First, a quick look back at the record of Riri’s long battle. For the detailed screams, please check each episode’s diary, lol.

• Episode 1: It all started with a power problem right at the beginning of the stream! Tormented by desert Yamcha’s “Wolf Fang Fist," I beat Monster Carrot — touch him and you’re turned into a carrot for an instant game over — using the Power Pole. I made it to the fateful Pilaf gang chapter, but strong enemies and cake luck stood in my way, and I had to stop partway through, frustrated…
• Episode 2: Restarting from the beginning, it took me a whole 2 hours just to get back to Pilaf’s Castle!? The “a girl’s panties" commotion after summoning Shenron, and total panic on a mysterious space stage.
• Episode 3 (Finale): The cake that never appears, the mysterious original boss “Binbo," and breaking through Konpei Tower’s final boss to finally clear the game! …Only for the wish to turn out to be a shocking 4-choice menu, with Emperor Pilaf’s meta remarks bringing down the curtain.

👍 The Good Points: It All Comes Down to the “Dragon Ball Atmosphere"!

Honestly? The good points basically all boil down to this, lol.

But it’s a genuinely strong point of this game.

It really feels like you’re controlling Goku.

The Kamehameha, the Power Pole — every time you gain a new technique or item along the way, that feeling of “Goku is getting stronger" grows, and it honestly makes me happy.

The original-story references are packed in thick.

A vacationing Master Roshi and his “Puff-Puff," wishes to Shenron like “I want a girl’s panties" and “I want a Puff-Puff" — it’s silly, but it’s completely in the spirit of Dragon Ball.

The stage variety is rich, too.

Space, a jungle, a tower — its freedom from obsessing over recreating the original story became a real sense of excitement: “Where are we going next?"

I feel like I understand why the kids of that era got hooked, game balance aside.

That’s just how seriously this game took its atmosphere.

👎 The Tough Points: Balance, Balance, and More Balance!

“Energy (HP)" and the “timer (time limit)" are the same gauge.

This is the number one thing I want to say in this review! Get hit, or just take your time exploring — the same life gets shaved away either way!?

Recovery items are left to luck.

Whether the lifeline cake appears is random. And when it doesn’t appear, it really, truly doesn’t. Please, at least make them fixed placements… (once again)

Impossible to clear without saves (my personal opinion — but I’ll state it firmly).

On the original hardware, under the “one hour of games a day" rule of the time, I genuinely wonder how many kids ever managed to clear this, lol.

The anticlimactic ending.

After all that suffering to summon Shenron, the wish turns out to be a 4-choice menu of recycled events.

And if you choose “continue the game," you’re thrown into a second loop with no ending at all.

“Completely blunt" — that is exactly what this is.

🎯 Overall Verdict

Recommended (for people who just want to play it normally): ★★☆☆☆

Recommended (for Dragon Ball fans, as a joke / memorial playthrough): ★★★★☆

If you ask me “Is it a fun game?" my honest answer is “Hmm…" — but if you ask “Is it a game worth talking about?" the answer is an instant YES.

Everything, unfairness included, becomes material to talk about — and the sense of achievement, plus that “It’s over…!" feeling of liberation when I cleared it, was absolutely real.

If you’re going to take on the challenge, I strongly, strongly recommend playing in an environment with a save feature, lol.

💬 Riri’s Impressions

And so, that was my overall review of Dragon Ball: Shenron no Nazo!

I joked that the only good point is “the Dragon Ball atmosphere," but looking back and writing it all out, I think that atmosphere is precisely why I stuck with this game to the very end, despite its brutal balance.

Clearing — as an adult, borrowing the power of saves and everyone’s support — a game where I once ran out of steam at the Pilaf gang as a kid.

That, too, was a fine way to lay it to rest.

Thank you so much to everyone who cheered me on 💖

I hope you’ll join me again for the next nemesis game, lol.

●For readers in Japan, the complete Dragon Ball manga set (all 42 volumes) is here♪

A Request from Riri

The whole 3-episode adventure is also available in the YouTube archives! From the frustration of waiting for cake to appear, to that completely blunt ending, I’d love for you to experience the screams I couldn’t fit into the blog together with me in the videos 🎮✨

If you enjoyed it, I’d really appreciate a like 👍, a channel subscription 🔔, and comments on the archives 💬!

I’m always waiting for your impressions and encouraging comments. Everyone’s support becomes a great power for my next adventure 💖