Dragon Ball: Shenron no Nazo

This is the first Dragon Ball game for the Famicom/NES. It is an action game in an overhead perspective similar to Ganbare Goemon: Karakuri Douchuu or The Legend of Zelda. Sometimes when entering special rooms the screen changes to a side-view perspective, mostly having you fight a boss or making your way through a little platform-style passage. The game is not as bad as its reputation has it. Surely it is really annoying that your power not only decreases by being hit from enemies, but also decreases automatically when just running around (like some sort of time limit), which makes the game pretty nasty. Bandai changed some elements for the US version, which was titled "Dragon Power". Some sprites and all of the character's names as well as some of the jokes were altered. The storyline stays similar (you are in search of the seven Dragon Balls), but features horrible dialog in the US version which most often makes no sense at all. On the other hand the game does feature extremely many dialog-scenes between the levels and even inside a level. At time of its release this might be the story-wise biggest non Adventure/RPG game for the Famicom/NES.

teran01 # 2010-06-06 18:04:46

The U.S. release has pretty much nothing left of the Dragon Ball in it and is only a generic "Kung Fu" game. Dragon Ball came to the U.S. 10 years later and was only then recognized, partially explaining why the U.S. publisher would want to rape the game so.

Sanguine # 2008-06-16 09:35:12

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ドラゴンボール 神龍の謎 BA-DRA published in Japan by Bandai Nov 27, 1986. JAN:4 902425 069814
Dragon Power NES-DP-USA published in the USA and Canada NTSC by Bandai in March of 1988. UPC:0-45557-87310-3
Dragon Ball NES-B8-EEC published in Europe PAL Region B by Bandai. UPC:0-45557-87310-3
Dragon Ball: Le Secret Du Dragon NES-B8-FRA published in France PAL Region B by Bandai in 1988. UPC:0-45557-87310-3

The NES-B8-FRA and NES-B8-EEC version seem precisely the same game in different packaging (box, cart, and some chips on the circuit board of the cart are different). Despite the different chip manufacturers, the function and data in those chips are identical. Both versions have French text in the game and seem to show no variation in any detail.

zerothis # 2013-05-19 01:48:36

The American version of the first Dragon Ball game in the world. As always, the Americans have censored a lot of things. Is the only DB translated and released in the USA.

# 2006

The original Japanese title means 'Mystery of Shenron'. Shenron (a.k.a. Shen Long) is a mythological Chinese dragon spirit who features prominently in the anime series.

(Jacquismo) - # 2006