Summary
There have been a lot of games featuring the characters of Akira Toriyama’sDragon Ballseries. From beat ‘em ups, toaction RGPs, to trading card games,Dragon BallandDragon Ball Zhave inspired innumerable spin-offs. The quality and depth of these games varies, butDragon Ballfans are lucky enough to have had several games that do Toriyama’s characters and action justice.
Not every game takes the same approach to retelling the various series’ story arcs. Some focus on a single part of the existing story, while some try to cover a full series likeZ.Others have chosen to embellish stories and add their own events, with Toriyama even getting involved in creating unique characters and stories for some games. Out of the manyDragon Ballgames, these are the ones that tell the most complete stories.
The open-world action RPG from Cyberconnect2,Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, re-tells all four ofDragon Ball Z’s major arcs throughout its campaign. The game follows the standard open-world RPG template, placing story missions around the map as well as various side quests and activities like fishing and collecting Z-Orbs. Players mostly play as Goku in the open world, but will also use other characters from the Z-fighter roster in the game’s many battles.
The game is heavier on story than many otherDragon Ballgames, and manages to include more of the moments of downtime and banter that were often found in the series. This means that the story feels more complete here than in many otherDBZgames, and features avariety of DLCthat expands it further. Toriyama contributed a new character design, Bonyu, with a minor storyline of their own for the game, too.
Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zerofrom Spike Chunsoft takes an interesting approach to storytelling, especially for the fighting game genre. The game covers events from bothDragon Ball ZandDragon Ball Super.Although it skips over some events, the episode battles provide great re-tellings whilst also including some interesting “What if?” scenarios.
While the developer attempted similar storytelling styles with their earlierBudokaigames,Sparking! Zerogoes furtherinto the extended storyline of the later series. That and the benefits of modern hardware mean that the re-created scenes have more impact in theSparking! Zerothan theBudokaigames.
Game Boy Advance players will fondly remember the pixel art RPGDragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku 2.This action RPG combat involves both melee attacks and Ki powers. Though it’s relatively simplistic, using a two-button system, there are a variety of Ki powers to unlock.Legacy of Goku 2featured the use ofDragon Ball’s transformationsvia a rage mechanic.
The originalLegacy of Gokucovered the story of the Freiza saga. This sequel picks up where it left off, covering the next arc of the series up to the end of the Cell Games. Focusing on a small portion of the series like this allowsLegacy of Goku 2to tell a detailed and complete version of the story.
2004’sDragon Ball: Advanced Adventuretells the story of the originalDragon Ballseries in the form of a 2D side-scrolling beat ‘em up. The game takes place across various stages, covering the story from Goku’s origins all the way up until the fight withKing Piccolo. The game doesn’t have the most advanced storytelling of theDragon Ballgames, but it does tell the complete story ofDragon Ballthroughout its single-player campaign.
The game was not only a competent 2D brawler, but it also included several unlockable modes after players completed the campaign. After seeing the story through, players can replay as Krillin, or jump into a one-on-one versus mode. There was also a tournament mode that could be played with one or two players, and “Extra Mode,” which was a form of new game plus that allowed players to select any of the nearly 30 unlockable characters.
Dragon Ball Originsis a top-down 3D action RPG in the style of the early 3DZeldagames, released on the Nintendo DS. Origins and its sequel tell the story of the originalDragon Ball series, following Goku and Bulma as they fight the Red Ribbon Army, meet Master Roshi, and eventually reaching the fight with King Piccolo in the second game.
While players have to play both games to really get the complete story, theOriginsgames took an uncommonly deep approach to storytelling. They managed to capture some of themore lighthearted momentsof theDragon Ballseries in a way that previous games hadn’t done at the time.
While theBudokaigames all took a similar approach to retelling the story ofDragon Ball Z,Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3was the refinement of the fighting game series’ mechanics, and had the most content out of any of the games. As such, it ends up feeling the most complete when it comes to retelling the series' story.
The story mode inBudokai 3features two overworld maps, Earth and Namek. Players travel around to various story mission points as one of eleven characters. The story covers all four of the mainDragon Ball Zarcs, as well as touching on some of theDragon Ball Zmovies, and even includes a fewDragon Ball GTmoments and characters. Some of these arcs are hastily retold, but there’s a lot of story forDBZfans to dig into.
Dragon Ball Xenoverseis one of the fewDragon Ballgames to attempt to tell a fully original story. Players can create their own character, taking the role of the Warrior. Due to the actions of the game’s antagonists, Towa and Mira, theDragon Balltimeline is being altered and manipulated, and Trunks has the player character pulled in across time to assist with restoring their universe.
This allows the game to tell an original story, while also revisiting many of the characters, locations, and story arcs ofDragon Ball Zand beyond. The game also features characters and settings fromDragon Ball Z: Battle of the Gods, andfan-favorite movie characters like Bardock and Broly. The time-manipulating shenanigans get a little convoluted, but the game does tell a complete story, and the action gameplay is reminiscent of the 3DDragon Ballfighting games.
Dragon Ball Z: Buu’s Furyis the third game in theLegacy of Gokuseries on the Game Boy Advance. Like the previous two games,Buu’s Furyfocuses on a single series arc, this time covering the Buu saga.Buu’s Furybuilds on the action RPG gameplay ofThe Legacy of Goku 2, with transformations, Ki attacks, and RPG-style character stats and gear upgrades.
The third game in the series doubled down on the RPG elements, letting players assign stat points themselves, as well as featuring more gear and customization. As the game focused on the end of theDragon Ball Zseries, it was also the first of the three games to includeelements like fusionsand the Super Saiyan 3 transformation. Like the previous games, focusing on a small portion of the overall series allowedBuu’s Furyto tell a relatively deep and complete story within its arc.
