Dragon Ball is a powerful brand and one that has acted as the biggest magnet for many kids, attracting them to the world of manga and anime. I write about it with such confidence, because I am one of them myself. I fell in love while the series was broadcast on Polish television, and then it just went away. And although in retrospect the Dragon Ball series has a lot of flaws, it emotionally defends itself against any criticism.
Importantly, its popularity also translated into attempts to expand other branches of pop culture. And while, for example, live-action productions may not be mentioned, there is absolutely nothing to be ashamed of in video games. Going further, there were so many works based on the brand created by Akira Toriyama that in practice it would be difficult to count them all from memory and not to make a mistake by at least a few, forgetting about some.
The fact is that although we all know productions such as Legecy of Goku, Kakarot, Xenoverse or Budokai Tenkaichi (well, most of us for sure), there are many titles that many fans may not have heard of. As I was working on this list, I was surprised to find a few that I simply didn’t know well . This is very good though – there will be plenty to catch up with. In the meantime, I encourage you to read!
Dragon Ball: Dragon Daihikyou (1986)
We usually hear a lot about the first games – in this case it was different. It is true that the game, whose title in the English version was “Dragon Ball: The Great Unexplored Dragon Region”, is still known only to a small group of fans. What’s more, it’s the only Japanese Dragon Ball title not made by Bandai! Today, of course, it’s a total archaism, but take a look at the materials for yourself!
Dragon Ball: Daimao Fukkatsu (1988)
Another very interesting title – this time something like an alternative story, the action of which takes place during the King Piccolo Saga. However, everything starts with a big difference, because in the original Krillin died during the tournament, and in the game released on the Famicom, he is mysteriously murdered on the island of the Genius Turtle. Our task is, first of all, to find out how this happened.
Dragon Ball Z: Kyoshu! Saiyans (1990)
And again Famicom – this time a production that is based on similar assumptions, but offers us the beginning of Dragon Ball Z (to fight Vegeta transformed from Oozaru). Exactly as it was in the case of its predecessor, we are dealing here with a position that mixes RPG rules with gameplay based on a card game, in which specific options allow us to push the plot forward.
Dragon Ball Z: Super Saiya Densetsu (1992)
And this title is also the first, but in its own category – productions from the Dragon Ball universe released on the SNES. The story is very much based on manga and anime, not deviating from what we were dealing with in the original, and in fact is an improved version of the two previous titles that I mentioned in this list. Once again the cards, although graphically it is much better.
Dragon Ball Z: Buyū Retsuden (1994)
Okay, but since Dragon Ball, you can’t forget about fighting games – it’s the essence of the series itself. And one that I personally haven’t heard of before is a Mega Drive/Genesis game released in 1994. In the title, we had eleven playable characters (both heroes and antagonists) covering the Frieza and Cella sagas. I guess you can safely call it the progenitor of Budokai Tenkaichi (although it’s closer to mugens).
Dragon Ball Z: Idainaru Son Goku Densetsu (1996)
Next game on the list, but we’re still not beyond Cell Saga. Nevertheless, in the case of this fighting game, we start the plot from the very beginning of Dragon Ball and take part in the events up to the tournament organized by the villain mentioned in the first sentence. I don’t think there’s any point in adding anything here. The selection of duels is definitely interesting and I simply recommend watching the material below.
Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout (1997)
Dragon Ball GT has a lot of fans and quite a number of followers. There is no shortage of people praising the innovativeness of the series, and there are also many who criticize too much departure from the atmosphere of the story about the Dragon Balls and deny with their hands and feet that it is not canon. Perhaps because of this, so few games are based on this part of the series. However, there are exceptions – and the biggest one is, of course, Final Bout. Although, unfortunately, we cannot talk about positive reception.
Dragon Ball Z: Legendary Super Warriors (2002)
A very interesting and definitely worth mentioning title that was released on GBC. The production allowed us to follow the entire plot of Dragon Ball Z (from the very beginning, until Buu Saga) adding to it a few bonuses (such as Future Trunks’ timeline). Interestingly, we were dealing here with a turn-based card game, and thanks to over a hundred different card options, the gameplay could be quite different. Have you heard of this title?
Dragon Ball Origins (2008)
We jump a few years ahead and our eyes reveal an interesting title released exclusively on the Nintendo DS. Although the production was loud at the time, its popularity cannot be compared with other titles released at a similar time. It’s a pity, because despite many flaws, the approach was very interesting – even the fact that the controls were mainly based on the touch screen!
Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo (2009)
At the very end of our list, a game that debuted “only” fourteen years ago and was released exclusively on Wii. This time we didn’t get a fighting game, but an action-adventure game during which we could feel a lot of nostalgia, because the plot included the story from the original Dragon Ball series. So there was no shortage of tender scenes, forgotten heroes and that characteristic humor.
Source: Kajetan Wesierski