Summary
Dragon Ballis, without a doubt, one of the most popular anime to ever come out of Japan, point blank. Its hundreds of action-packed episodes spread over 5 different serieshave done an incredible jobof bringing the wonders of the shonen anime genre all over the world for almost 40 years, and that’s to say nothing of the excellent manga it’s based on.
Naturally, this uber-popular franchise has spawned a plethora of video games spanning across gaming history, with many of them getting lost in instant transmission. Below are just a few of the games fans might have missed within the storied history of the Z Fighters.
10Dragon Ball: Daimaō Fukkatsu
Sales According to VGChartz: 1.25M
Daimaō Fukkatsuretells the story of the search and inevitable defeat of King Piccolo, but with a unique twist. The game is the first in what would eventually be a number ofDBZgames to utilize a card-based battle system.
Every action taken, from attacking, to healing, to even moving across each stage’s board, requires the strategic use of a card. All of this is realized beautifully on the limited hardware ofthe Famicom system.
Dragon-Brawl!
The Ultimate Test of PowerMaster the unique fighting styles of 18 mighty Dragon Ball Z warriors in an awesome fighting engine designed by Noritaka Funamizu, producer of Street Fighter Il. Behold devastating details of manga-based graphics, artfully created in the style of Dragon Ball creator, Akira Toriyama.Steal your enemy’s special moves and use them as your own.Introducing for the first time anywhere, an all new character to unlock, CyborgFrieza.Unleash lightning quick combos and brutal finishing moves.
Unlike theTenkaichigames, the first of which came out around the same time,Super Dragon Ball Zstops just short of that series' more immersive presentation. Nevertheless, it carved out its own place as one of the most beloved fighters based on the anime.
Robust is an understatement for this game, with tons of character customization options, including alternate costumesserving as throwbacksspanning the entirety of bothDragon Ball ZandDragon Ball. In fact, every feature of the game seems to serve the purpose of keeping the controller in the player’s hands so they can unlock more stuff.
8Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout
Sales According to VGChartz: 0.27M
Some cool character and transformation designs aside,Dragon Ball GTis by far the least liked series in theDragon Ball-verse, to the point that fans argue about its status in the canon to this day. And frankly, the PlayStation game,Final Bout,is no better.
Bad animations accompany some poor character models, while disastrous controls make it hard for players to make any use of them. Thankfully, it being one of the United States' first tastes of a video game in theDBZuniverse didn’t deal any lasting damage to the series' reputation.
7Dragon Ball: Revenge Of King Piccolo
Sales According to VGChartz: 0.20M
At the end of the 2000’s, developer Media.Vision decided to revisit the story ofDragon Ball, which, byRevenge of King Piccolo’srelease, was overtwo decades old. Of course, the lighter tone of the original series is a perfect fit for a game released on one of Nintendo’s most family-friendly consoles.
Easy, 2D platforming sections break up the game’s 3D brawls, transitioning between each other surprisingly smoothly. What’s more, boss battles turn into 1-on-1 bouts reminiscent of the fighting games that the franchise has become famous for in the years since
Dragon Ball: Advanced Adventure
IN THE BEGINNING…Join Goku in his very first epic adventure as he defends the earth from the relentless Red Ribbon Army.Start down his path to power, and help turn an ordinary boy into the ultimate champion.
Side-scrolling, fighting and flying action!
Face the ultimate challenge in the World Tournament.
Goku’s epic adventure throughout the well-trodden story ofDragon Ballis given new life on the Game Boy Advance. The heart-pumping, beat-em-up action against an entertainingswath of varying enemiespractically begs for players to explore stages to find the secrets hidden within.
Advanced Adventure’scharming and unassuming pixel art does wonders for bringing players into the colorful world of the anime, and the abundance of post-game content follows up to make sure fans stay busy with the game for a long time after the credits roll.
Sales According to VGChartz: N/A
Dragon Ball Z: Shin Budokai - Another Road
To know the road ahead, ask those coming back. Experience the never-before-told story of future Trunks as he battles through time to save mankind from a horrific fate.• Face off against friends in amazing head-to-head Wireless clashes.• Customize your characters for more intense DBZ battles.
Despite being a PSP game,Another Roadis a full-featured title with a number of interesting modes, like Challenge and Survival Modes. This is on top of telling a totally original story involving the future versions of manyfan-favorite characters.
Story progression is malleable, as winning and losing battles can send players in completely different directions. However, everything inevitably culminates in another harrowing battle with Buu that will, no doubt, satisfy fans.
4Dragon Ball: Dragon Daihikyō
Taking a page from one of gaming’s all-time classics,Galaga,Dragon Daihkyōauto-scrolls through stages from a top-down perspective.Movement atop the nimbus cloudthrough environments is extremely rudimentary, but that can only be expected from a game released back when Glam Metal ruled the scene.
Combat is as simple as it comes as well, with Goku only having a few attacks to keep enemies at bay. That being said, power-ups arrive in steady supply, with just about everything fans ofDragon Ballknow, like Capsule Corps and Master Roshi, playing their helpful parts.
3Dragon Ball: Zenkai Battle
Arcades in Japan are well known for having some fully-featured games that attendees can sink their teeth intoover multiple visits.Zenkai Battletakes this approach and runs with it, shoving the powerfully popular fighting system of theTenkaichiseries into a cabinet.
Featuring 44 characters from Mr. Satan to Majin Buu, fighters can duke it out on a selection of 8 stages. While that stage list might be a bit small, they are nonetheless excellently detailed arenas considering they’re in an arcade game.
2Dragon Ball Z: Idainaru Son Goku Densetsu
Many gamers praiseMortal Kombatfor just about perfecting story modes in fighting games, but way back in ‘94Dragon Ball Z: Idainaru Son Goku Densetsuhad its own fascinating take on the genre. Framing the game as Goku’s exploits being reminisced upon by the children he left behind after the Cell Games is, frankly, both profound and ingenious.
It did some pretty cool things with gameplay as well, playing with perspective in a fight by having the camera stay stationary while players could traverse the battlefield in a faux-3D space. Some might say that the way the story is told is a bit intrusive, with cutscenes being doled out in the middle of the action. Then again, a faithful retelling of the franchise’s most iconic battles is often what players are after.
1Dragon Ball Z 2: Super Battle
Not unlike other 2D fighters of the era,Dragon Ball Z 2: Super Battleis definitely not a game to be scoffed at. With 10 playable characters and just as many stages spanning a sizable chunk of the series, there is a lot forDBZfans to be happy about with this entry.
The combat is as deep as players could ask for in a 90s fighting game as well, as each character comes with their own fighting style and quirks in line with what fighting game fans have come to expect. For instance, Dr. Gero, Android 20, goes to battle with Android 19 at his side at all times, utilizing him in some of his attacks.
