Video Games (Top 7 Saturdays)

Top 7 Saturdays No. 4

Video Games

Dragon Ball has a lot of video games. Almost too many video games. They could give long standing video game franchises a run for their money, as far as number of released titles go. Suffice it to say, I've not played all of them. "But," you raise the query, your voice trembling, "how does that qualify you to rank the seven best ones if you've not even played them all?" To which I'll ask you kindly to never doubt me again. I have lived and breathed Dragon Ball games (or as I call them, Games With Goku On The Cover) since they started regularly coming Stateside via Infograms.

Here's my very real Legacy of Goku poster, which came with the game when I bought it in 2002. Next to Paul, Ringo, John, and George.

Do you have such a poster? Would you admit to having such a poster? Nevermind where the cartridge is... I uh... misplaced it years ago and don't actually give a shit about finding it. (It's not a good game.)

No. 7 - Dragon Ball Z: Buu's Fury

"Buu's Fury" is the third and final installment of the Legacy of Goku series, and the only entry on this list that was made by an American developer. Quickly, for those who don't know, in the early 2000s, when Dragon Ball Z was hot shit on Toonami in the US, Infograms bought the rights to make and distribute Dragon Ball licensed games. Not only did this include releasing Bandai-Namco's "Dragon Ball Z: Budokai", but it also meant making their own games, which included the three-part Legacy of Goku series. (And some other truly abysmal titles.) Also, they bought Atari and started using that name instead of Infograms, some time between the release of Legacy 1 and Buu's Fury. (I can't remember. Google it yourself.) Anyway, Buu's Fury is an action-RPG in the style of Legend of Zelda, only you play as Gohan, Goku, Vegeta, Goten, and Trunks. Different story parts will have you swapping between characters, including sections where you play as Gotenks, Vegetto, and even Gogeta. The story covers everything from DBZ episodes 200-291, and includes battles with Broly and Janemba as well. The dialogue is taken directly from the dub, as is the feeling of the music, but don't hold that against it. It's a fun, solid game.

No. 6 - Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 2

Budokai was a lot of fun for me and my friends when it first came out in the December of 2002. But there was a lot missing. The graphics were limited, it only had characters up to the Cell Saga, and the combat was decidedly unpolished. A year would pass by, and enter: Budokai 2. This game is awesome. Combos feel good, Finishers feel even better. It has the first roster in a Dragon Ball Z fighting game that feels like they're actually trying to scratch the surface of memorable characters. Fun, breakable stages. An incredibly silly but addictive story mode. And much needed cel-shading upgrade for the character models. I love this game. It's just about perfect. Except, well...

No. 5 - Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3

Movie villains. Kid Goku. Bardock. Zanzoken. Lightning-quick dodging. Kamehameha's no longer gated between several button combos. Better graphics. Better fighting. An RPG story mode. If only it didn't have FUCKING GARBAGE DRAGONRUSH, DBZ: B3 would be the perfect game. As it stands, B3 is nearly everything great about 2, upped to the next level. I will say, though, in comparison, B2 had more fun looking stages (Muscle Tower, Majin Temple) and the rapid-fire combos were a lot of fun (even if they broke your joysticks), but B3, despite these things and the pile of dogshit that is Dragonrush, is just a better game. If you're a fan of Dragon Ball and of video games, play it. But you probably already have, because it's the Gold Standard for many fans.

No. 4 - Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo

The title for this game is kind of misleading. In Japan, it's called Dragon Ball: Tenka-ichi Daiboken, which gives you a better idea for what you're in for. In RoKP, you play as Goku in his very own platforming beat-em-up, which starts you off fighting Colonel Silver and his Dragon Ball-hunting, monkey-shooting minions, and leads you all the way up to Goku's legendary encounter with the Demon King himself, Piccolo Daimao. Tons of unlockables in the main story mode. A secondary fighting game mode, with a host of playable characters (Murasaki, Mummy-kun, Drum?!), which will get kind of boring quickly (since it isn't a very robust fighter) but is a neat extra feature none-the-less. This game is pretty near perfect. The only reason it isn't is the difficulty. The game itself isn't too difficult to get through (well, the final fight with Piccolo is a bitch, but for a final boss that's okay), but getting 100% is such a huge ramp up in difficult that it doesn't feel worth it. Or I should say, I can't do it so I'm throwing a fit. Sue me.

No. 3 - Dragon Ball: Advanced Adventure

A few years before the Wii saw Goku's platforming beat-em-up, with tons of unlockables, and even a mini-fighting game feature, Gameboy Advance saw the same thing... but better. Like, so much better. More even difficulty, for one (the initial game is harder, getting 100% is easier), the story covers the whole of Dragon Ball from Pilaf to Daimao, instead of skipping ahead. The enemies are far more diverse. The stages are more fun. Goku's platforming and fighting skills are less reliant on environment. Upgradable Kamehameha and Nyoibo attacks. The fighting game mode is still simple, but based on landing lightning-quick combos that will make you sweat. An unlockable version of the entire game only you're playing as Kuririn (!!!!!!!) and a mode where you can fuck around playing as the enemies. This game is stacked full of stuff to do, and endless fun to be had. So what the flying Kinto Un are you waiting for?

No. 2 - Dragon Ball Xenoverse

Dragon Ball Xenoverse was a long time coming. People had been wanting to play as their own Dragon Ball character since, well... forever. Dragon Ball Z: Ultimate Tenka-ichi tried to add this feature, but did so in such a lackluster way that it seemed like we'd never see it done properly... Except in Dragon Ball Xenoverse, that's the whole point of the game. Create a unique character based on one of the iconic DB races (Human, Saiyan, Namekian, "Freeza", and "Majin"). Outfit them with hundreds of unlockable pieces of equipment. Learn and unlock dozens and dozens of skills, including everything from the Warp Kamehameha to Coola's Supernova attack. Train under your favorite characters to learn their unique movesets (Goku, Vegeta, Piccolo, Freeza, Ginyu... and so many more). Play through the hands down best story mode a Dragon Ball fighting game has ever had, where your character teams up with Future Trunks (now known as Time Patroller Trunks) and the Kaioshin of Time to put right troubles in the time streams of the multi-verse, while unraveling the plot of the villains responsible. And do it all online with your friends. The only major draw back of this game is that, while there's an impressive 50+ roster of unlockable characters, you have none of the cool customization options with them as far as movesets and stats that you have with your character, making them basically a useless feature. And while playing as a DB OC is a lot of fun, the best DB fighting game around should really focus on our favorite characters, and a whole mess of them at that... right?

No. 1 - Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3

Right. DBZ: BT3 has 161 characters and transformations to unlock and play. While you can't customize their movesets, their stats are yours for the tweaking. The story mode is fairly straight forward, and it has a handful of fun tournament modes, a challenge mode, survival mode, etc etc etc whatever. But the real fun of this game is that it plays like the TV show looks. Launch at your opponent and engage in a fierce melee, grab hold and toss them into the air, Zanzoken behind them and smashed them into the ground, then unleash a barrage of ki at them. This game's fighting engine, beyond any other feature this game has, is the true selling point. It's fucking solid. And with the massive roster and impressive stages, you can reenact nearly every iconic fight from Dragon Ball, Dragon Ball Z, and Dragon Ball GT, including the movies. Or you can engage in your own What Ifs. (Like I dunno Piccolo vs Vegeta) DBZ:BT3 is the best Dragon Ball game, period. And not for anything that game does... but for what you can do with it.