Dragon Ballis one of the biggest anime and manga franchises ever. Since the first manga came out in 1984, the series has grown into an unstoppable force, supplying fans with endless chapters, TV shows, films, and games to consume. At the same time, the series' overarching storyline and lore have become a bit of a headache, with endless debates as to what entries are considered canon.
This debate is worsened by the fact there are over 150Dragon Ballgames out there. Many are devoted to retelling elements of the franchise’s long history, including some ofthe anime’s longest arcs. Others tell their own unique stories. These stories aren’t always good and often rely heavily on fan service, but they’re unique nonetheless. Still, the games below have decent stories or feature interesting interpretations of the source material. Some even went on to influence the franchise in important ways.
8Dragon Ball Z: Plan To Eradicate The Saiyans
The First Original Story
Dragon Ball Z: Plan to Eradicate the Saiyanswas the first game in the franchise to feature its own unique storyline. By today’s standards, the story might not be much to boast about, but for the time, it was impressive. It was atleast good enough to get its own two-part OVA series (which also acted as a game guide).
A simple card battler, the game rarely ranks highly amongthe Dragon Ball games, but it does have a compelling villain. Dr. Raichi is the last surviving member of the Tuffles, a race that was wiped out by the Saiyans. Determined to take revenge, he sets a trap on Earth for Goku, Gohan, Vegeta, Trunks, and Piccolo by threatening to destroy all life using a substance called Destron Gas. When they show up to stop him, he reveals his real plan. He has built a machine, Hatchihyack, which can bring back copies of deceased enemies called Ghost Warriors. It’s a cool setup, and the plot features fun twists and turns. It’s also one of the fewDragon Ball Zgames with a unique story that doesn’t feature time travel.
7Dragon Ball Online
216 Years In The Future
Time jumps are a great way for franchises to tell a new story in an established world, especially if the storytellers want to sidestep issues surrounding canon. That’s exactly what NTL did withDragon Ball Online,an MMORPG set 216 yearsafter the end of the originalDragon Ballmanga. Interestingly, its story ignored anything that wasn’t in the original manga. It featured a new villain, Mira, who leads the remnants of Frieza Force.
Unfortunately,Dragon Ball Onlinewas a bit of a flop. It was shut down after three years, and never made its way out of Asia. Its missions relied heavily on sending players back in time to revisit iconic locations and events in an effort to stop Mira from obtaining Goku’s DNA. If it sounds familiar, that’s because large portions of the game were repurposed to make theDragon Ball Z: Xenoversegames.
Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai Another Roadmight be a mouthful, but it has a fascinating time-travel story. InAnother Road,Trunks returns from the future to seek help from Goku and friends to combat a new threat. Majin Buu, revived in Trunks' timeline by Babidi and Dabura, is wreaking havoc. Alongside the Z fighters, Trunks battles through various enemies, including the resurrected Androids, Cell, and Majin Buu.
SinceDragon Ball Supercame out eight years later and is considered canon,Another Roadis an alternate timeline now. Players get to see a different version of the iconic Majin Buu conflict, and the story is full of events that never made it intoDragon Ball Super. Even cooler, the game’s ending could change depending on certain choices and whether the player won or lost certain battles. While it’s not one ofthe best anime fighting games of all time, it was still a lot of fun.
Unlike mostDragon Ballgames,Dragon Ball Fusionsputs no effort into fitting into either the manga or anime. Instead, it gives the player a customizable protagonist, Tekka, and plops them in what would make fora great anime tournament arc.
The game begins with Tekka and their friend/rival Pinish using the Dragon Balls to summon Sheron so they can wish for the greatest martial arts tournament ever. This comes in the form of a Timespace Rift, which lets the writers pick and choose from differentDragon Balltimelines and universes. This way, the player can build up their party and battle multiple famousDragon Ballcharacters. It’s not particularly deep, but it’s charming enough to keep players going. It focuses on Goten, Trunks, Kid Goku, and Pan, making it feel like it’s aimed more at children than adult fans.
Dragon Ball FighterZis widely regarded as one ofthe best Dragon Ball Z games of all time. Unfortunately, that’s in spite of, not because of, its story. As is so often the case with fighting games,FighterZdoes the bare minimum in giving an excuse forDragon Ball’smost popular characters to beat the snot out of each other.
Told from the perspectives of Goku, Frieza, Android 18, and Android 21, the story revolves around a new enemy who has risen up to take out the Z Fighters. This is the underwritten Android 21, an all-new character created for the game.FighterZalso brought back Android 16, who unites the Z Fighters after being mysteriously revived. There’s a central mystery, but it isn’t that engaging. Really, this story just serves as a way to link one fight to the next. It attempted to break the fourth wall by showing the players themselves as a mystery character who possesses Goku and friends. This could have been a nice twist, but fell flat.
Dragon Ball Legendsmight tell an original story, but it feels copy-pasted fromDragon Ball Fusions. It also has a brand-new protagonist, this time an amnesiac Saiyan called Shallot who comes from the past. Its story is also a glorified tournament arc, literally called the “Tournament of Time.” It’s another excuse to drag characters and locations from differentDragon Balltimelines and make them duke it out.
Most of the game’s missions consist of the player being sent back in time to fetch or be trained by iconicDragon Ballcharacters. However, despite the déjà vu, the game’s writing is actually strong. Shallot’s backstory was expanded over the years, and the game does a great job of fleshing out minor villains. The game manages to make the player care about the characters despite the repetitive story.
Comic book fans will be familiar with the What If genre. Writers take famous characters and tweak their backstories or situations to see how things could have been different. What if Uncle Ben had never died? What if Anakin had never fallen to the dark side? That’s exactly what bothSupersonic Warriorgames do. The result is the ultimate fan service.
The first game features the best writing, but is much more grounded in the series' story and doesn’t take many risks. It takes popular characters and makes them the stars ofDragon Ball Z. There’s a story arc where Piccolo, not Goku, is the main character; an arc where Gohan finishes as the Buu arc’s lead; and one where Krillin gets to have the day. The sequel has far worse writing, but opts for more out-there scenarios. The stories don’t always make sense, but they are fun nonetheless.
As mentioned earlier, theXenoversegames borrow a lot of content from the now-defunctDragon Ball Online. The games task the players with creating their own “Future Warrior” and joining Time Patrol Trunks in stopping yet another time-travel plot. The likes of Towa and Mira, as well as some new faces, are trying to warpDragon Ballhistory, and it’s up to the heroes to stop them.
To be fair to theXenoversegames, they don’t just retread old ground. Both games find exciting new ways to retell stories fans know and love, while adding fascinating new wrinkles. At this point,Xenoversehas its own lore, thanks to the way it’s taken beloved characters fromDragon Ball Onlineand breathed new life into them. When they’re not getting bogged down in boring time travel shenanigans, both games have interesting stories to tell, even if they’re just an excuse for players to recreate and relive some ofthe anime’s longest fights.
