Summary
- Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot offers a complete retelling with added downtime elements, making the story feel richer.
- Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero covers DBZ and DBS events, including "What if" scenarios for a unique storytelling approach.
- Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3 stands out for its extensive content, covering diverse arcs, movies, and even GT moments.
There have been a lot of games featuring the characters of Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball series. From beat 'em ups, to action RGPs, to trading card games, Dragon Ball and Dragon Ball Z have inspired innumerable spin-offs. The quality and depth of these games varies, but Dragon Ball fans 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 like Z. 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 many Dragon Ball games, these are the ones that tell the most complete stories.
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8 Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot
Goku's Open World RPG
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot
- Released
- January 16, 2020
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- T for Teen: Mild Language, Suggestive Themes, Violence
- Developer(s)
- CyberConnect2
- Publisher(s)
- Bandai Namco Entertainment
The open-world action RPG from Cyberconnect2, Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot, re-tells all four of Dragon 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 other Dragon Ball games, 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 other DBZ games, and features a variety of DLC that expands it further. Toriyama contributed a new character design, Bonyu, with a minor storyline of their own for the game, too.
7 Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero
Recaps And What Ifs
Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero
- Released
- October 11, 2024
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- T For Teen Due To Mild Language, Mild Suggestive Themes, Violence
- Developer(s)
- Spike Chunsoft
- Publisher(s)
- Namco Bandai
- Genre(s)
- Fighting, Action
- OpenCritic Rating
- Strong
Dragon Ball: Sparking! Zero from Spike Chunsoft takes an interesting approach to storytelling, especially for the fighting game genre. The game covers events from both Dragon Ball Z and Dragon 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 earlier Budokai games, Sparking! Zero goes further into the extended storyline of the later series. That and the benefits of modern hardware mean that the re-created scenes have more impact in the Sparking! Zero than the Budokai games.
6 Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy Of Goku 2
Dragon Ball Meets Zelda
Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku II
- Released
- June 17, 2003
WHERE TO PLAY
Game Boy Advance players will fondly remember the pixel art RPG Dragon 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 2 featured the use of Dragon Ball's transformations via a rage mechanic.
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The original Legacy of Goku covered 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 allows Legacy of Goku 2 to tell a detailed and complete version of the story.
5 Dragon Ball: Advanced Adventure
GameBoy Advance RPG
Dragon Ball: Advanced Adventure
- Released
- June 6, 2006
WHERE TO PLAY
2004's Dragon Ball: Advanced Adventure tells the story of the original Dragon Ball series 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 with King Piccolo. The game doesn't have the most advanced storytelling of the Dragon Ball games, but it does tell the complete story of Dragon Ball throughout 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.
4 Dragon Ball Origins
Original Series Retelling
Dragon Ball: Origins
- Released
- November 4, 2008
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- t // Cartoon Violence, Partial Nudity, Suggestive Themes
- Publisher(s)
- Bandai, Atari
- Genre(s)
- Action-Adventure
Dragon Ball Origins is a top-down 3D action RPG in the style of the early 3D Zelda games, released on the Nintendo DS. Origins and its sequel tell the story of the original Dragon 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, the Origins games took an uncommonly deep approach to storytelling. They managed to capture some of the more lighthearted moments of the Dragon Ball series in a way that previous games hadn't done at the time.
3 Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3
Dragon Ball Z Retold
Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3
- Released
- November 16, 2004
WHERE TO PLAY
While the Budokai games all took a similar approach to retelling the story of Dragon Ball Z, Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3 was 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 in Budokai 3 features 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 main Dragon Ball Z arcs, as well as touching on some of the Dragon Ball Z movies, and even includes a few Dragon Ball GT moments and characters. Some of these arcs are hastily retold, but there's a lot of story for DBZ fans to dig into.
2 Dragon Ball Xenoverse
An Original Storyline
Dragon Ball Xenoverse
- Released
- February 24, 2015
WHERE TO PLAY
- ESRB
- T For Teen due to Cartoon Violence, Mild Blood, Mild Language, Mild Suggestive Themes
- Developer(s)
- Dimps
- Publisher(s)
- Bandai Namco Entertainment
Dragon Ball Xenoverse is one of the few Dragon Ball games 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, the Dragon Ball timeline 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 of Dragon Ball Z and beyond. The game also features characters and settings from Dragon Ball Z: Battle of the Gods, and fan-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 3D Dragon Ball fighting games.
1 Dragon Ball Z: Buu's Fury
The Buu Saga
Dragon Ball Z: Buu's Fury
- Released
- September 14, 2004
WHERE TO PLAY
Dragon Ball Z: Buu's Fury is the third game in the Legacy of Goku series on the Game Boy Advance. Like the previous two games, Buu's Fury focuses on a single series arc, this time covering the Buu saga. Buu's Fury builds on the action RPG gameplay of The 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 the Dragon Ball Z series, it was also the first of the three games to include elements like fusions and the Super Saiyan 3 transformation. Like the previous games, focusing on a small portion of the overall series allowed Buu's Fury to tell a relatively deep and complete story within its arc.
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