Video Game Appearances

The Dragon Balls appear in nearly all the franchise's video games.

The seven Dragon Balls in Dragon Ball Heroes

In Dragon Ball Z: Attack of the Saiyans, Mr. Popo creates his own set of Dragon Balls after Goku's
resurrection and Kami's death. This version of Shenron isn't as powerful and cannot be used to wish
back deceased characters, but has the advantage of being able to be reused constantly after being
regathered and they are also capable of summoning someone as powerful as Legendary Super
Saiyan Broly to Earth (or at the very least create a convincing copy of him, as he can be defeated by
the Z Fighters despite the fact that the game occurs before the Namek Saga and it would be very
unlikely that the Z Fighters would be capable of defeating the real Legendary Super Saiyan at that
point).
In Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai - Another Road, which takes place in Future Trunks' timeline, Future
Janemba takes the Dragon Balls and after he is defeated, Future Babidi steals them.
While Vegito fights against Future Super Buu, Future Babidi invokes Shenron. While he was doing
his wish, he is cut off by Future Mr. Satan who wishes to become the most popular person in the
universe.
In Dragon Ball Online, it is revealed that in Age 787 Dende deactivated the Dragon Balls of Earth
due to Elder Kai's warnings and the Earth being at peace (thus preventing the Dragon Ball from
being overused and thus the appearance of the Shadow Dragons in Age 790 never occurs as it did
in the GT Timeline). Eventually in Age 999 Dende reactivates the Earth's Dragon Balls after Time
Patrol Trunks warns him about the threat posed by Mira, in the hopes that a savior would appear.
However this time Dende creates multiple sets of Dragon Balls, weaker than the originals, hoping
that the young warriors will benefit from competing over them. The presence of multiple sets allows
for warriors of diverse skill levels to have a realistic hope of gathering all seven. Afraid of them being
exploited, Dende limits their power, restricting the wishes that can be made. One of these sets is
apparently provided to Chronoa and the Time Patrol.
In Dragon Ball Xenoverse, Future Trunks asks Shenron for a strong ally with enough power to defeat
time itself. By this wish, Shenron summons the Future Warrior. In center of Toki Toki City's Plaza of
Time there is a Dragon Ball Altar where the Dragon Balls collected by Time Patrollers are kept and
where Shenron is summoned when all seven are collected. A female Time Patroller named Amura
stands next to the Altar and makes various comments about making wishes Shenron such as
wondering if Shenron would get mad if she wished for 100 wishes or wishing for Shenron to be her
friend. Dragon Balls can be obtained during Parallel quests, if obtained the player will receive a
message saying "Key Item obtained" and must complete the quest to collect the Dragon Ball. There
is also an obtainable color customizable outfit for Earthlings and Saiyans called the 4-Star Dragon
Ball Costume which is a luxurious Gi with a design based on the 4-Star Dragon Ball and features a
fake 4-Star Dragon Ball incorporated into the upper body portion of the outfit.
In Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2, Turles attempts to use the Namekian Dragon Balls to wish
for Immortality, but is stopped by his cohort Lord Slug who also desires immortality so he can rule
the universe. Before they can fight over who will get to make a wish, the Future Warrior appears and
they form a temporary truce to deal with the Patroller but are ultimately defeated by the Warrior and
Future Trunks. Interestingly in Parallel Quest 44: "Dragon Balls of the Future", the Dragon Balls
mysteriously reactivate in a parallel version Future Trunks' timeline despite Future Kami's death,
forcing Future Trunks to keep them from Future 17, Future 18, and reactivated Future 16. Exactly
how they were able to reactivate in Trunks' timeline without Kami is never explained, though
presumably it may have something to do with the time fragment that particular parallel timeline is
found in. In The Emperor's Return Saga, it is revealed that Towa altered the history of Age 779 so
that Dragon Balls second wish (which had been taken by the Pilaf Gang in the original history) was
used to revive Cooler who was than transformed into Metal Cooler, thus Metal Cooler participates in
his brother's training and takes part in Frieza's revenge against Goku and the Z Fighters in Age 779.
"Oh, didn't I tell you? Those Dragon Balls were made by Dende, the Kami of Earth. Although
there are multiple sets, their power is weaker than the others. They were made as some sort of
training reward, but it's ended up just creating a way for endless wishes..."
— Chronoa explaining the Dragon Balls presence in Conton City in Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2
In Xenoverse 2, Dragon Balls are collected in much the same way as they were in Xenoverse by
defeating Time Patroller NPCs in battle, though this is made slightly more easier as Time Patrollers
often appear in teams of three when encountered in Parallel Quests. The Future Warrior may also
occasionally receive a Dragon Ball as login in bonus, though if they have already obtained all seven
when they receive the bonus they will receive a Hercule Badge instead. The Warrior can also obtain
Dragon Balls from defeating Time Patroller NPCs encountered in Conton City, though unlike those
encountered in Parallel Quests, they are guaranteed to drop a Dragon Ball provided the Future
Warrior hasn't collected all seven. However these NPCs can only be fought once per character file,
though it is possible to create a save file and defeat one then delete said save file to get another
Dragon Ball from the same NPC which can be used as an easy way to obtain Dragon Balls as the
inventory is shared across character files. Also in Conton City one can see a giant Shenron-like
dragon that floats in the sky north of Conton City. It is later revealed that this dragon was the dragon
statue found on the Dragon Ball Pedestal in Xenoverse which Chronoa had animated after hearing
rumors doubting the power of gods like herself and Elder Kai, however it grew so large it turn Toki
Toki City into ruins, forcing them to build Conton City over the ruins and the seemingly alive dragon
statue was relocated north of the city. The Dragon Ball Pedestal was eventually restored with a new
dragon statue. During their investigation of the Guru's House time rift anomaly where they aid Nail in
protecting the Namekian Dragon Balls from the Frieza Force. If Future Warrior meets Grand Elder
Guru after having their potential unlocked (Attribute Level Cap unlocked), who will teach the Warrior
how to increase the power of the Dragon Balls in Conton City, unlocking extra wish options the next
time they use the Dragon Balls and each subsequent after that. Chronoa also explains to the 2nd
Future Warrior that the Dragon Balls in Conton City are one of multiple sets created by Dende,
though the ones used in Toki Toki City and Conton City are weaker than the others. She explains
they were originally meant to be a training reward but ended up creating a way for endless wishes
due to the nature of Conton City as a place where multiple timelines intersect (allowing Dragon Balls
to be used multiple times by the Time Patrol without a waiting period of them being inactive). Though
they are weaker, they still possess enough power to grant Xeno Trunks' wish to summon a warrior
strong enough to defend history as shown by the Future Warrior in Xenoverse. Due to how they are
obtained in the Xenoverse series, it is unclear how or where they scatter though since they are
obtained mainly from Time Patrollers they presumably scatter around Toki Toki City/Conton City as it
is unlikely that Chronoa would allow them to scatter through time due to the danger. Chronoa
referring to them as a source of unlimited wishes implies that there is no danger of them cracking
from a buildup of negative energy (indicating they can contain it more effectively or do not produce
enough negative energy to crack them due to being weaker than the Earth's Dragon Balls), as
Chronoa and the Time Patrol are fully aware that overusing the Dragon Balls resulted in the birth of
the Shadow Dragons in the GT Timeline and would likely curb their usage if there was a danger of
them producing Shadow Dragons. Alternatively Chronoa's power over time may allow her to effect
the Dragon Balls in such a way that the negative energy dissipates far more quickly than the Earth's
Dragon Balls. As these Dragon Balls do not seem to go into a period of dormancy where they turn to
stone, it is possible that they do not produce negative energy as part of the reason the Dragon Balls
become inert after being used is to give time for the negative energy to dissipate.