Controls
Keyboard
- ← ↑ → ↓ or W A S D: move
- Z: strike with the pole
- X: talk and read signs
- M: map · P: pause
- Enter: choose in the menu and advance dialogue
Touch
- D-pad bottom left: move
- Hit: strike with the pole
- Talk: speak to people and read signs
- Map: show or hide the map
- Tap the screen to choose and advance dialogue
Free 16-bit style adventure: guide young Goku through a village, a forest, a desert and Pilaf's castle to gather the seven Dragon Balls and summon Shenron.
A small top-down adventure in the spirit of the 8- and 16-bit classics: you guide young Goku through five areas, talk to the locals, fight wolves, bandits and robots with his extending Power Pole, and collect the seven Dragon Balls. Once you have them all, Shenron rises into the night sky to grant a wish.
Controls
- Computer: arrow keys or WASD to move, Z to strike with the Power Pole, X to talk to characters and read signs, M to show or hide the map, P to pause. Enter picks menu options and advances dialogue.
- Phones and tablets: a d-pad and three buttons, Hit, Talk and Map, sit in the lower part of the game screen. Tap the screen to advance dialogue.
The game saves automatically every time you change area and whenever you find a Dragon Ball or a key: pick Continue on the title screen to pick up where you left off.
The five areas
- Village: this is where you meet Bulma, who lends you her Dragon Radar. From then on, the green circle at the top blinks in the direction of the nearest ball.
- Forest: a maze of trees full of wolves. A terrified Oolong hands you the key to a locked pen.
- Roshi's Beach: south of the forest lives Master Roshi, who gives Goku a Dragon Ball and an extra heart.
- Desert: the turf of Yamcha and Puar, patrolled by bandits. Talk to Yamcha to get the castle key.
- Pilaf's Castle: guard robots, locked doors and, in the throne room, the emperor's mightiest robot.
Tips
- You start with four hearts, and get a fifth after meeting Master Roshi. Defeated enemies sometimes drop a heart: grab it when you are in trouble.
- The Power Pole only hits in the direction you are facing. Let enemies come close, strike at the right moment, then back off.
- Pilaf's robot charges at you every few seconds: sidestep and attack when it slows down.
- Your score rewards defeated enemies, Dragon Balls found and speed, with a bonus for finishing quickly. Your best score is saved on this device.
The real story behind the game
The game is a loose retelling of the first adventure of the Dragon Ball series. In the manga and anime, Bulma, a teenage inventor, has built a radar that tracks the Dragon Balls, and on Mount Paozu she meets a boy with a tail who keeps his late grandfather's ball. Along the way they are joined by Oolong, the shape-shifting pig, the desert bandit Yamcha with his inseparable Puar, and Master Roshi, who gives Goku the Flying Nimbus for rescuing his turtle.
The villain is Emperor Pilaf, who dreams of wishing for world domination. The ending is one of the most disarming in the series: just as Pilaf is about to speak, Oolong beats him to it and asks Shenron for a pair of panties. To relive the whole story episode by episode, read our guide to the Emperor Pilaf saga.
Did you know? Goku's staff, the Nyoibō, was a gift from Grandpa Gohan: in the game it extends in front of him just like in the original story.
All the graphics in this game are drawn in code, pixel by pixel, by the DragonBallStars.net team: it contains no official images, music or sprites.