Dragon Ball Z: Battle Strategy - Frieza Saga Edition Game by MGA Entertainment Review + How to Play!
Today, I want to show off a very obscure board game based on Dragon Ball Z. It’s so obscure that it has never been documented much online in full… until now. Now, this game has been talked about previously via a forum board from 2017, a Reddit post from 2019, and a short TikTok video from 2023 showing off the game from user andrew_hedgehog that I randomly stumbled across on Google doing deep research for the game.
The game is called Dragon Ball Z: Battle Strategy - Frieza Saga Edition and it was released by MGA Entertainment in the year 2000. The game requires 3 C batteries to play.
For the Saiyan Force… yes, that’s what the game calls it… we have in order (from most holes to less holes): Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo, Gohan, and Krillin.
And on the Ginyu Force we have: Frieza, Captain Ginyu, Raditz, Jei-. Wait a minute… Raditz? Why Raditz? Didn’t he die earlier in Z’s story? He shouldn’t be a part of the Ginyu Force. I’m not gonna question it further. Anyways, Frieza, Captain Ginyu, Raditz, Jeice, and Burter.
The figures… while some are fine, others look a little bootleg or off like Burter for example.
Just look at those eyes.
About the figures and bases, you don’t have to play this game using them if you own the game incomplete. You can use the red and yellow pegs in place or have the computer give you a pre-programmed pattern. Some of the listings for this game online are incomplete and are missing the bases and figures, but if you prefer to own the game complete, good luck finding one with all of the pieces in or out of the box. And please, don’t spend $900 for a complete in-box game.
My positives for this game is that it plays “Rock the Dragon” when you turn on the game and when the game is over.
I also really love that LCD screen above. The figures and sounds are cool too, although, previously like I said, some of them look a little off and the Super Saiyan mode is fun, again will get to that later. I do have some negatives: there is no one player option. From some videos I’ve seen of some versions of electronic Battleship, there is an option to play against the computer. I was hoping this game would have that, but nope, you have to play with a friend. Another negative I have is the voices… Goku doesn’t sound like Goku and Frieza sounds a bit weird… also Goku mispronounces Saiyan as “Scion” when setting up the locations for your fighters on the Saiyan Force side.
Now, let’s break down each of the modes. There are three modes: Basic, Advanced, and Super Saiyan combat.
Basic plays like classic Battleship where you fire one shot each turn.
Advanced combat plays like salvo mode of Battleship where depending on how many fighters you have left, for example, Krillin was destroyed and the Saiyan Force has 4 fighters remaining, you have 4 turns then it switches to the opponent.
And Super Saiyan combat is the same as advanced combat, except with the addition of Senzu Beans. Basically, on your turn, there’s a chance you may find a Senzu bean on the grid and if you do, either Goku or Frieza will say, “Senzu Bean!”
When you hear Goku or Frieza say “Senzu Bean!”, the LCD screen above will light up a bean. You can have up to 3 Senzu Beans. How does the beans work? If one of your fighters is hurt, you can heal them by pressing the location of the spot of the figure that took damage, then press the place/heal button to heal that area. Here’s a demonstration:
If you can't hear, here's a typed up random example: Goku took damage at 0104. I would enter 01, enter, and 04, then press the place/heal button to heal him using a Senzu Bean.
Don’t worry, as doing this won’t waste a turn.
Once a mode is picked, one person chooses to be a part of the Saiyan Force or the Ginyu Force and then you press Enter/Fire. Only player one can choose between the two.
If you want to be the Saiyan Force, you press enter since it’s already highlighted on the display or the 01 button.
If you want to join the Ginyu force, you press 02.
I didn’t know you could do this until I relooked at the instructions.
You can choose to set up the bases yourself or have the computer pick a pre-programmed pattern by pressing the place/heal button.
You can keep pressing this button until you are satisfied and then, hit enter.
So, we have Goku who has 5 holes on his base and we want to place him… right here - 0104 to 0504. You would press 01 first since that’s the row, then hit enter/fire, 04 which is the column, hit enter, 05, hit enter, and 04, hit enter. The screen will show the placement. If you mess up, you can always press the place/heal button to undo but if you are satisfied with your placement, press enter.
You can set your figures vertically and diagonally.
After finishing setting up, your opponent will do the same thing, either setting up the bases themselves or have the computer pick at random for them. Then once they’re done, the game begins.
The instructions mentions that the computer randomly picks between player one or player two to start first, but I haven’t encountered that while playing the game. Mostly, player one always starts first.
And just like Battleship, you find the location of the opponent’s fighters. I’ll demonstrate what the hit and misses look like.
If you land a miss, you will hear a pause and a “swoosh” sound, along with the LCD display above displaying the miss.
If you land a hit, you will hear an explosion, a scream, and the lights below on the board and the LCD display will flash. The LCD display will show either Goku or Frieza taking damage. Goku or Frieza will mention who got hit.
Another negative I have is that if it’s not your turn and your opponent hits one of your fighters, you’ll have to refer to the LCD screen on what area that fighter got hit at since the game doesn’t tell you the coordinates or location.
Notice that one of the green dots on the screen is gone since that’s where your fighter took damage at. If you destroy all of your opponent’s fighters, you win the game.
Once you’re done with the game, you can press the mode button to pick a new game or if you’re done for real, turn the game off, you can pull out the handle to have the pegs retract from the vertical plate to the horizontal plate, and then, store the pegs, figures, and bases in the drawers.
And that concludes this game review. I tried my best to break down some of the stuff in this game and if you’re a Dragon Ball fan like I am and like Battleship, go try this game and again, good luck hunting for a complete version of this game. I really wanted to document this obscure game that really doesn’t have much info online except for the three that I mentioned at the beginning of this post and some eBay listings. Well, that’s about it. Thank you for reading and take care.
For real though, please don’t pay $900 for this.
Update 3/4: I want to make four additions. There is a volume control button which is a positive! You can play the game with the volume up high, low, or mute (although I don't recommend playing it muted lol). Another addition is that the negative I had with referring to the LCD screen if an opponent hits you; you can have your buddy tell you what location they hit you at. So maybe I'll change that to a neutral. Another addition and maybe a negative is that the figures can get in the way when you're putting your hit marker down on the bases, so you'll have to pop them off, place the hit marker closer to where you put the figure at, and put the figure back on or just play the game without the figures. And my last addition is that the bases can be a bit hard to remove on the horizontal plate; hopefully you got strong fingernails!
Full video version:
Short video version:
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