Twenty-seven fighters, and not one of them ever takes a step. A fighter here is a card you lay down.
The official Japanese genre for this one is not RPG. It is card battle, and the label earns its keep. Nobody walks, jumps or throws a punch on screen the way they would in a fighting game; you assemble a deck instead, and each turn you put a card down while the other side puts one down too, and attack and defense change hands. Then count the roster again with that in mind: twenty-seven of them, on a Game Boy Color, and not one needing to be animated across a screen. You commit before you know what is coming back. That is the whole sensation of playing it, and it is a strangely honest one — you cannot react your way out of trouble, you can only choose well and then live with what arrives.
To my eye this may be the most valuable Dragon Ball game ever made, and part of the reason is simply where it sits in the calendar. Banpresto put it into Japanese shops on August 9, 2002, and nothing came after it. Set the educational titles aside and this is the last piece of Game Boy software anybody released here.
By then the machine was finished in every trade sense. The Game Boy Advance had been on sale in Japan since June 2001, more than a year already. Flight-Plan and Banpresto built for the old hardware anyway.
Twenty-seven fighters went aboard it. On a Game Boy Color that number is worth stopping over. Each one carries cards of its own — attack, defence, ability, every card with an energy cost, a power and an effect. Eleven are yours from the first minute; the other sixteen are enemies who open up only when you take the story round a second time.
They could do it because nobody walks. The official Japanese genre is not RPG, it is card battle, and the label earns its keep. Nobody steps, jumps or throws a punch across the screen. You lay a card down, the other side lays one down, and attack and defence change hands. Twenty-seven fighters, and not one of them needing to be animated.
The most telling thing in the cartridge is a gap. The card numbers run to 27 and stop, and 28, 29 and 30 are left blank — not renumbered to hide the seam, just left standing where anyone can see them, in a product that was finished, boxed and sold. No surviving account says what stopped them there. The record around this one is thin; the cartridge is the clearest witness left.
You will also see "over 100 playable characters" repeated online. Chase it and it has no home. The Japanese card list gives 27 — eleven allies, sixteen enemies. An overseas fan database counts 48, which is probably transformations counted as separate fighters. Nothing reaches 100.
The number that is true is smaller than the number that travels. It is almost always the smaller one that took the work.
About this game
Twenty-seven fighters are in here — and “here” means a Game Boy Color cartridge. Flight-Plan built it, Banpresto put it into Japanese shops on August 9, 2002, and in Japan nothing came after it — set the educational titles aside, and this is the last game software released for the Game Boy. Eleven of the twenty-seven can be used from the first minute; the other sixteen are enemies who open up only when you take the story round a second time. The card numbers reach 27 and stop, leaving 28, 29 and 30 blank. That blank is not a piece that fell off. It is the line somebody drew after getting twenty-seven fighters aboard a handheld that was already a generation behind.
Key Features
Card battle, and the official genre label says so. Each turn both sides choose from decks they built — attack cards (ki blasts, physical strikes, signature moves), defense cards, ability cards — and attack and defense trade places turn by turn, every card carrying its own energy cost, power and effect. Twenty-seven characters in all: eleven usable from the start, and sixteen enemies that open only on a second run through the story. Story mode follows the anime. Two players can face each other over a link cable.
Gallery
The Story Behind
By August 9, 2002 the Game Boy Color was, in every trade-press sense, a finished machine: the Game Boy Advance had been on sale in Japan since June 2001, more than a year already. Flight-Plan and Banpresto shipped a Game Boy Color game anyway, and it turned out to be the last one anybody shipped here. So look at what they managed to get aboard the old machine. Twenty-seven fighters, each with cards of their own — attack, defense, ability, every card carrying its own energy cost, power and effect. Eleven ready from the first minute, sixteen more waiting behind a second run through the story, which is a way of making a roster keep opening for far longer than its size suggests. No surviving account says what had to be pared away to fit all of that onto this hardware. What the cartridge itself shows plainly is where the paring stopped: numbers 28, 29 and 30 left empty rather than renumbered to hide the seam, in a product that was finished, boxed and sold. Somebody drew the line at twenty-seven and let the blank numbers stand where anyone could see them. On this machine, at this point in its life, twenty-seven is a great many.
Tricks & Tales
The figure repeated across the web is “over 100 playable characters.” Chase it and it has no home. The Japanese card list gives 27 — eleven allies, sixteen enemies. An overseas fan database counts 48, which probably comes from treating transformations as separate fighters. Not one source reaches 100. Nobody invented the number to deceive anyone; it simply traveled further and lived longer than the truth did. Flight-Plan, the studio behind the cards, later built Front Mission 5: Scars of the War in 2005.
Collector's Guide
Region & Compatibility
The game was released first in North America (June 2002), then Japan (August 2002), then Europe (November 2002) — an unusual release order for a Japanese franchise title. All versions used the Game Boy Color cartridge format.
Maintenance Tips
Standard Game Boy Color cartridge with battery-backed SRAM for saves, so test the save before you trust it: begin a game, save, switch off, leave it a while, and switch back on. If the file has gone, the cell inside has run down — it is the one part in there that was never built to outlive the plastic around it. Clean the gold edge contacts with isopropyl alcohol on a swab rather than breathing on them; breath puts moisture on metal, and moisture is what eats the contacts. Beyond that there is not much to look after.
Going deeper
Explore the machine this game ran on, and what to check before you buy or care for one:
What to Watch Out For
Before buying, these are the points worth knowing — from someone who handles original Japanese Dragon Ball Z: Legendary Super Warriors copies regularly.
Is this a region-free game? Will a Japanese Game Boy cartridge work on any Game Boy console?
Yes. The original Game Boy, Game Boy Pocket, and Game Boy Color have no hardware region lock — a Japanese cartridge plays on any Game Boy or Game Boy Color console worldwide without modification. The game itself is in Japanese, but the hardware accepts it freely. Game Boy Advance consoles are also backward-compatible with Game Boy and Game Boy Color cartridges and share this region-free status.
How should I clean a Game Boy cartridge?
Apply 90% or higher isopropyl alcohol to a cotton swab and gently wipe the gold-plated edge contacts on the base of the cartridge. Never blow into the cartridge — breath moisture accelerates contact corrosion. If the shell needs to be opened for deeper cleaning, Game Boy cartridges use 3.8mm security game bit screws. The contacts are small; clean with a gentle wiping motion rather than abrasive pressure.
Before You Buy
Things worth knowing before you buy Dragon Ball Z: Legendary Super Warriors
A short checklist for buying a used Game Boy Color cartridge wisely — useful with any seller, anywhere.
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Choose a seller who tests it before shipping
A copy that has actually been powered on and checked is a known quantity. An untested one is a gamble you only settle after it arrives.
Look for a seller who states it was function-tested and says what they confirmed. A serious seller can tell you exactly what was checked.
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Good news — Game Boy Color is region-free
These cartridges are not region-locked, so a Japanese copy plays on any compatible Game Boy worldwide.
Confirm whether the title is Color-only or also works on the original Game Boy.
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If this title saves your progress, check the battery
Cartridges that save use a small coin-cell battery that fades over decades — a dead one wipes your save without warning.
Ask the seller whether the save function was tested. Replacing the battery is possible, but doing so erases any existing save.
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Check that the contacts are clean
Dirty edge contacts are the most common cause of startup and sound trouble in cartridges of this age.
Choose a seller who cleans the contacts before shipping. A note that it was tested and cleaned means the basics were handled.
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Read the seller's reviews and return policy
A 100% positive record across thousands of sales is close to a guarantee — packing, communication and problem-solving all work for everyone. A return policy protects you if something is off.
Read the feedback and confirm a clear return window before you buy.
The last step before buying anywhere is knowing what it's worth.
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