Dragon Ball 10 Ways The Hyperbolic Time Chamber Changed The Series Forever

Dragon Ball's Hyperbolic Time Chamber played a large role in training Goku & his allies. Here's how it changed the series forever.

During the Dragon Ball era, Goku discovered a new way to become stronger: the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, originally referred to as the Room of Spirit and Time in translations, which referenced its otherworldly power. It was a revolutionary new training method--a literal pocket dimension that had no end to it. Time passed differently--a day in the real world was a year inside the chamber. While there, the chamber increased gravity by 10 times and could experience extreme weather conditions.

During that time, Goku was so challenged by the Time Chamber that he couldn't stay for more than a month. But the Androids and Cell forced them to consider things they'd never tried before. This led to both Vegeta and Trunks as well as Goku and his son Gohan entering the Time Chamber, training in the hopes of defeating their enemies.

10 It Vastly Shortened Training Arcs In Dragon Ball Z

Up until this point in the series, training arcs had taken up a fairly lengthy part of the series’ storyline. Gohan and Piccolo’s training during the Saiyan Saga, Goku’s training on his way to Namek—all of these took several episodes of time, even though that wasn’t the only thing they focused on. With the introduction of the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, they could cut down on the lengthy training arcs and skip to the heroes being stronger.

9 Introduced Ascended Super Saiyan To The Canon

Both Goku and Vegeta realized there was a power level that existed beyond Super Saiyan in the aftermath of the fight against the Androids. However, neither of them realized exactly what that was. In Vegeta’s case, he went into the Hyperbolic Time Chamber and trained on his own, gaining a new level of power known as Super Saiyan Second Stage in the Japanese manga, and Ascended Super Saiyan among the English fanbase for some time. This new power was something both Vegeta and Trunks were able to pull off, shifting the balance of power.

8 Goku & Gohan Introduced Perfected Super Saiyan

Though Vegeta and Trunks reached their Ascended Super Saiyan form, that wasn’t Goku’s ultimate goal. The first thing Goku did after training in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber was show off his new Super Saiyan form to Gohan.

Gohan believed this made him vastly stronger than Cell, but Goku revealed the form had power but less speed. Instead, he showed Gohan a better way—the ability to go into Super Saiyan and remain there, learning to draw on greater power by not wasting so much stamina accessing the form to begin with.

7 Gohan Was Finally Able To Go Super Saiyan.

Once Trunks went Super Saiyan, it was no longer obvious that the form was purely exclusive to Goku. With that in mind, it was hard for fans not to want Gohan to transform and reach Super Saiyan as well. When Vegeta displayed the ability during the fight against the Androids, Gohan felt like he was being left behind. But after some harsh training with Goku, Gohan was finally able to reach Super Saiyan, spurred on by the desire to finally protect his friends.

6 Allowed Goten & Trunks To Learn How To Do The Fusion Dance

During the Buu Saga, Goku introduced the Fusion Dance, a technique that he’d learned while training in the afterlife. However, it wasn’t an ability he was actually capable of doing because of the specific rules around it, meaning people who were too physically different weren’t capable of fusing. This was needed so Goten and Trunks were going to be capable of fighting against Majin Buu, but the time it took to learn was something that they didn’t have. It was only because of the Hyperbolic Time Chamber that Gotenks was able to make his first appearance.

5 Made It Possible For The Z Fighters To Defeat The Androids

When Trunks came back to the past, he made it clear that the Z Fighters not only weren’t capable of beating the people who’d destroyed his future but that they would die in the attempt. Well, despite three years of training, Trunks was still partially correct—they were embarrassed by Android 17 & 18. They likely would never have been able to defeat the Androids if not for their time training in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, where all of the Saiyans gained strength far surpassing the Androids.

4 Introduced The Only Place Where Angels Can Show Their Full Power

Time Chambers apparently exist in greater numbers than most people think. During the Galactic Patrol Prisoner arc, Goku is introduced to a different Hyperbolic Time Chamber by Merus, a new cast member. Merus reveals himself to be an angel and invites Goku into the Galactic Patrol’s Hyperbolic Time Chamber, which allows three days to pass for every one day inside. Inside this location Merus was essentially locked off from the rest of reality and was able to display his full power while fighting Goku, something Angels aren’t normally able to do.

3 The Chamber Finally Allowed Gohan To Reach His Full Potential

For much of Dragon Ball Z, there was a question about what sort of hidden power was lurking inside of Gohan. Though Elder Guru released some of Gohan’s hidden potential, that power still didn’t seem to be enough to battle against Recoome, let alone some of the enemies who were to come. But during the Cell Saga, after mastering Super Saiyan full power, Gohan was prepared to reach the next level of Super Saiyan. It was a power that only he could reach at the time, and in doing so he was able to defeat Cell once and for all, taking Goku’s place as the protector of Earth.

2 After Training, Vegeta Gets A Chance To Shine Against The Main Enemy

Vegeta experienced some small victories once he was defeated by Goku—he was single-handedly responsible for defeating Frieza’s most powerful troops, but there are some asterisks by those wins. His record against main villains like Frieza or the androids was less impressive.

But with the Hyperbolic Time Chamber, both against Cell and against Goku Black, he was able to do far more than people normally expected of him. He beat both Cell and Goku Black pretty soundly, and only plot stopped him from getting the victories he’d earned in both of those cases.

1 Made Every Other Kind Of Training Pointless Going Forward For The Remainder Of Z

Up until this point in the series, everyone had found multiple different ways of training. But the Hyperbolic Time Chamber created such unique conditions that couldn’t be found anywhere else--a heavier gravity, a setting that would constantly change its environment, and compressed time allowing one to gain incredible strength in a single day. Without the limitation that a user could only be inside of it for 48 hours total, it would’ve surpassed all the other training going forward, but it made everything they’d done up to that point in the Cell Saga obsolete, and it would be revisited multiple times until Whis decided to train Goku and Vegeta both.