Dragon Ball FighterZ

Dragon Ball FighterZ (pronounced “fighters”) is a 2.5D fighting game co-developed by Arc System Works and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. Based on the Dragon Ball franchise, it was released for the PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One, in most regions in January 2018, and in Japan the following month, and was released worldwide for the Nintendo Switch in September 2018. Versions for PlayStation 5 and Xbox Series X/S were released in February 2024 alongside an update adding rollback netcode for these versions and Windows.

Dragon Ball FighterZ involves the player picking a team of three playable characters and a unique assist for each, then fighting an AI or human opponent with their own team of three characters. The game received positive reviews from critics, with many citing the game as one of the best fighting games released in the eighth generation of video game consoles. The game’s fighting system, character roster, visuals, story mode, and music were all highly praised while its online functionality was criticized. The game was also a commercial success, having sold 10 million copies worldwide as of May 2023. The game’s Story mode takes place sometime between “Universe 6” and “Future Trunks” saga of Dragon Ball Super.

The game’s main antagonist, Android 21 (or later, her evil-half), was a normal female human who eventually became an Android created by the Red Ribbon Army after her son became the model for Android 16. Once she awakens, she repairs 16 and uses the Dragon Balls to resurrect Frieza, Cell, Nappa, and the Ginyu Force, and seals away the powers and souls of all of Earth’s strongest warriors. Wanting to control the hungry monster within her, she and 16 develop a linking system originally created by Dr. Gero in which a human soul (the player) can possess the warriors and provide them strength.

The gameplay is inspired by concepts from several other fighting games. Namely, the control scheme and team mechanics are lifted from the Marvel vs. Capcom series and the overall presentation is reminiscent of other Arc System Works games, such as Guilty Gear Xrd. Players each select three characters to form a team, from an initial roster of characters from the Dragon Ball franchise. One character is controlled and can be switched with one of the other characters at any time. Players can also call one of their other characters to perform an “Assist” move, allowing simultaneous attacks and combos with the entire team.

All three characters on the same team must be defeated for a player to win the game. If neither team has been defeated before the time runs out, the team that has sustained the least damage overall wins. In addition to the unique moves of each character, players have several universal moves available. With the “Vanish Attack”, the player can expend Ki to instantly teleport behind an opponent’s character and strike them in the back. This has multiple uses, from bypassing enemy projectiles to moving quickly around the stage, or extending a combo. The “Dragon Rush” move can break through an opponent’s guard and if successful, offers a choice between an aerial combo or forcing the opponent to switch to a different character.

The “Super Dash” flying attack will home in on the opponent’s lead character and is able to pass through weaker projectiles. Lastly, players can “Ki Charge” to manually increase their Ki gauge, similar to previous Dragon Ball fighting games. The game includes several other features, such as “Shenron System”, that allows players to gather the Dragon Balls one by one as the fight progresses. A random Dragon Ball will be given to a player that successfully performs a light autocombo. Specific Dragon Balls can be obtained by successfully performing a multi hit combo, with the amount of hits determining which ball is given.

Once all seven are assembled and a player performs a light autocombo with maximum Ki, Shenron appears to grant a wish and allows players to choose one among the following benefits: give the fighter a second Sparkling Blast, revive a fallen ally, recover a fighter’s health or regenerate health for the rest of the match. Another feature is the “Dramatic Moments”, special cutscenes that appear at the start and the end of a fight depending on the characters involved and stage, related to events from the Dragon Ball series, which can be applied after using Standing Hard normal attack or Vanish (as of Season 2) as the finisher/combo ender.