The last time that a DBZ game was represented in a true (and quality) fighting game was Dragon Ball Z: Hyper Dimension, a title that arrived late in the life of the SNES but never made it out of Japan. That was ten years ago and until the Budokai series came, there was nothing but utter trash. Enter Super Dragon Ball Z. It originally started out as an arcade title in Japan known as Chou Dragon Ball Z and now has progressed to find its way to the PS2. It’s an interesting collaboration between Namco-Bandai and new developer, Craft and Meister (the studio of Noritaka Funamizu, a former producer for various Street Fighter games). That’s all good and well, but how is the game different from the other titles that were subtitled Budokai? Well, it’s definitely not like the last outing, Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi, a game that successfully recreated a true DBZ experience. Instead, Super Dragon Ball Z reverts to the traditional fighting plane, just like the first three Budokai titles.
The gameplay similarities begin and end there. As the game’s pedigree would imply, the system is actually reminiscent of the one used in Street Fighter II. Just one glance at each of the character’s command lists and you have almost identical commands to those found in SFII. Essentially, rather than building up the characters Ki meter simply to pull off as many devastating Ki Blasts as possible, there is a much greater emphasis of stringing smaller moves and combos (dial-a-combo) together. It’s a Dragon Ball Z game that is actually trying to play like a real fighting game. To an extent it succeeds. You really do need to think a lot more about what you’re doing and it’s not as simple as pressing a bunch of buttons together.
DBZ and Street Fighter fused together.
To the credit of what has been done, Super Dragon Ball Z actually plays like a fighting game. Despite move and command sets that are little too similar to each other, the majority of characters play somewhat differently to one another. Goku is one of the more well-rounded characters, Trunks actually gets to use his sword, Vegeta is very good at long range, while Android 16 is slow and good at close range, and although the eighteen fighters on show are quite a small number when compared to the multitudes in previous games, they represent quite a minority. For the first time, Chichi (ala. Mrs Goku) is in the game as she is one of the more unique characters. She has no Ki abilities, so is equipped with a weapon and the Nimbus cloud that allows her to fly. There are five characters that you can unlock, including some of the more unique additions that you'll find and also a character that's been especially created for the game.
The characters all handle sufficiently differently, but their move lists aren’t quite deep or varied enough to hold their own when compared to other proper fighting games. Anyone who has spent considerable time with any fighter, ranging from Virtua Fighter to recent Mortal Kombat games, will get a handle on the game’s mechanics in a flash and be mastering opponents no time. However, the fighting system is solid and the game represents a very different side to DBZ. There are two primary attack buttons, a block and jump/fly button on the face, while three of the shoulder buttons perform dash moves and the remaining one grabs. You’ll be relying a lot more on the combination of these moves rather then just super and ultimate moves. Super moves can be pulled off at any time, but ultimate moves need energy that is gathered in the ultimate move gauge (below the health bar). You also need to take into consideration your stamina. At the bottom of the screen, there is a segmented bar, that controls how many dashes or for how long you can fly. It automatically replenishes when it’s not being brought into service.
At the very least, the game controls reasonably well. In fact, it controls pretty much like Street Fighter. However, there are three main flaws in the fighting system. You’re able to fly at the press of a button but occasionally, the two fighters will be in positions where neither can hit each other, despite being next to one another. Unlike Street Fighter II, the game is played in 3D, open fields. It’s very good because most fixtures in the levels can be destroyed, but sometimes they'll get in the way because they’re not picked up on the camera/screen, or you're in a bad position. The dash mechanics aren’t always up to scratch, because at times you’ll run out of stamina and both players will standing too far away from each other to do anything. In terms of presentation, Super Dragon Ball Z has been inspired much more by the original manga, rather than the anime. Everytime a character is hit, you will see a word appear on the screen to represent this hit. When you finish someone with an ultimate move, an image of the world cracking open appears. It makes for a unique but faithful presentation.
16 does what we've all wanted to do at one stage.
Even though the fighting system ends up being a little lightweight, the most disappointing aspect of the games is the lack of modes. Super Dragon Ball Z is essentially a port of its arcade counterpart where the two main modes are a traditional, randomised Arcade mode that has you fighting Cell at the end (a very powerful Freiza is usually the sub-boss) and a Survival mode, where you fight on just the one health bar. Aside from that, you have a Training and Versus mode. The Arcade mode is rather shallow and players will probably get tired of it quite quickly. The Survival mode is actually more substantial and enjoyable. The primary additions to the original arcade counterpart are character customising and Dragon Summoning.
The character customising essentially has you creating a “Character Card”. With this card, you play through Arcade and Survival modes and accrue experience, battle power and even the wonderful dragon balls. When enough experience is gained, you can learn more skills, including new moves or stat improvements. As you gain battle power, you become more powerful and early stage opponents become easier to face. Once you have gained all seven dragon balls, you can summon Shenron to grant you a wish. At first you’re only able to wish for stat upgrades and changes but as you make more wishes, you’ll be able to wish for the unlocking of other characters and DBZ central goodies. The addition of the character customising is certainly a welcome one but it doesn’t quite come off as most would’ve liked. Once you’ve finished upgrading moves (something that doesn’t take very long), you can only do things like change colours. You have a choice to start a clean slate with the moves but you get all your experience back.
The biggest complaint that has been made about the game is that it gives the impression that it doesn’t know what it wants to be. It isn’t deep enough to appease the fans of the more sophisticated fighting games, and it doesn’t have the stupendous over-the-top production and bombastic fun of the other Dragon Ball Z games. Is it stuck in between? Does it struggle for identity? Or is it just an introductory fighter for the kiddies? We’re willing to vouch for the latter. Actually, the most disappointing aspect of the game is the total lack of meat. It's completely possible to get your jollies out of the single player modes within a few days and then you’re left with the sole multiplayer mode. There are no stories, no challenge modes, a comparatively small roster, no allusions back to any of the source materials, no online and simply not enough to substantiate the lengthy play that you could’ve had in previous titles. It’s not as if there isn’t enough material to go off, it’s just a lack of effort from the developers. The game is budget-priced - presumably to compensate for the lack of content - but that doesn’t mean that it couldn’t have been better.
Ultimate Gohan is not just ultimate in name.
As mentioned, Super Dragon Ball Z takes a different presentational approach. It takes its cue from the manga rather than the anime. So you’ll be seeing words and effects flying across the screen as the opponents lay hits on one another. It comes off rather nicely, because it looks good without being annoying. Visually, the game isn’t far off Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3 in terms of style and quality. The cel-shaded models are some of the best representations of the characters to date and the environments are adequately destructible and good looking. The only issue with the environments is that some buildings and fixtures look a bit like they’ve been built out of paper. While the manga presentation is nice, there is a distinct lack of Dragon Ball Z flair that you’d normally associate with these games and at times, the game may feel remnant - especially when you see some of the in-game font that looks like it's out of the 80s.
As has been the case with most aspects of the game, the sound aspect has been somewhat simplified in comparison to previous titles, but is solid nonetheless. As PAL gamers, we've been spared the ignominy of being forced to listen to those awful and juvenile American dubbings - here, it’s the Japanese soundtrack all the way. There isn’t that much dialogue, as it’s confined to before and after battle taunts, but in the very least the dialogue has avoided the trap of being too juvenile as well. The music is very good. A lot of the tunes sound like they've been commissioned especially for the game but they provide the appropriate setting and atmosphere. The sound effects aren’t as over-the-top as in previous titles, but they pack enough of a punch to get the feeling right.
Super Dragon Ball Z has the workings and foundations of a very solid fighter. The underlying fighting mechanics are solid and retain some faith from the series. If you’re after raw unabashed fighting that involves a few key and unique DBZ characters, you’re going to find it here and it's somewhat enjoyable, especially between two players of comparative skill. Unfortunately, that’s about all that you’ll find. It’s true that the game is somewhat struggling to find an audience, with it being too shallow for serious fighting fans and not bombastic enough for hardcore DBZ fans. It actually seems like a good introductory fighter for the kiddies… Still, the biggest disappointment is that there is simply not enough DBZ to sustain the game for a longer period of time, even if it does have a budget price tag.
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