The 10 Best Things About Dragon Ball FighterZ (And The 10 Worst)
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There is a lot wrong with Dragon Ball FighterZ, we dig into what works and what doesn’t.
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Dragon Ball FighterZ is finally out and, to no surprise, it’s been getting some amazing reviews. ArcSys is no stranger to making a good fighting game, but the last few Dragon Ball fighters have been a bit hit or miss. If it weren’t for Xenoverse, Budokai Tenkaichi 3 would have been the last DBZ fighting game worth making note of. Since then, we got Burst Limit, Raging Blast, and Ultimate Tenkaichi. None of these are bad games, per se, but they didn’t grab the general audience nearly as powerfully as Budokai and Budokai Tenkaichi did.
FighterZ has managed to reinvigorate the idea of a Dragon Ball fighting game with new life. From the first trailers, fans of the series and the genre were lavishing the game with praise. No game is perfect, however. While Dragon Ball FighterZ is easily the best DBZ game in ages, it does have some real flaws that detract from its overall quality. It’s an incredible game, one absolutely worth owning and playing, but many aspects could have been improved. Whether you’re a fan of Dragon Ball, fighting games, or just someone who clicked on this article because you wanted to get mad at me for complaining about FighterZ, strap in. We’ve got a lot to talk about.
20 BEST: There’s A New, Original Story
While not all DBZ fighting games are created equal, there is one recurring trend throughout almost all of them: the story. It doesn’t matter if the story’s presented with full cutscenes, text in place of FMVs, or structured like a mission, chances are you’re going to be playing from Raditz to Buu or sometimes Cell if the dev team were on a budget. FighterZ looks amazing for any number of reasons, but it’s the story that’s particularly deserving of notice.
FighterZ offers a brand new narrative exclusive to itself.
Instead of taking fans on a journey they’ve already experienced hundreds of times, this time the game tells its own story. Taking place in the Super era, the story mode takes players on a non-linear adventure across three main arcs. With such a comparatively small roster, too, characters can interact with one another on a more intimate level, playing to the series’ strengths. ArcSys certainly could have made a compelling retelling of the original series if they wanted to, but this is a far more welcome alternative.
19 WORST: No Alternate Costumes
As beautiful as FighterZ’s sprites are, it’s hard not to feel the loss of alternate costumes. Dragon Ball Z fighting games have typically done a good job of tossing in a few alts to spice up characters. Goku got his Cell saga jacket in Budokai, Future Trunks often gets his Capsule Corp jacket and RIT armor, and Gohan typically gets every one of his costumes. With FighterZ, what you see is what you get.
To be fair to ArcSys, alternate costumes would be a serious burden on production. Because the sprites are so detailed and meticulously crafted, adding in alternate costumes could potentially mess up hitboxes or simply eat up budget better spent. We’re all just going to have to settle for alternate colors that vaguely resemble different costumes.
18 BEST: FighterZ Brings The Series To Life Like Nothing Before It
The Budokai Tenkaichi sub-series gets a lot of love for “being the anime,” so hopefully FighterZ can get some love for “being the manga.” In the same way a match of BT invoked feelings of playing through an actual episode of Dragon Ball Z, FighterZ uses manga references for just about every single attack and movement. You could pick out just about any character, pause randomly in a match, and be able to find a panel in the manga that inspired whatever pose they’re in. The manga doesn’t get nearly enough credit as it deserves within the fandom so it’s wonderful to see ArcSys use the source material as the basis for FighterZ.
Read the manga and marvel at how incredible of a representation FighterZ is.
Previously, Ultimate Tenkaichi did try to emulate a manga-esque experience, but that mostly amounted to modeling the characters in ways that resembled Toriyama’s Kanzenban art. With FighterZ, ArcSys has their own style at play, but it’s the the way characters interact that really remind us of the series’ roots.
17 WORST: Auto Combos Are A Pain
It doesn’t matter how in-depth a fighting game’s mechanics are, if you give players an incentive to spam, they’re gonna spam. Whether you’re mashing square or mashing triangle, you can trap your opponent into an auto-combo where you they can’t do much in the moment to break out of. In theory, auto-combos will mostly be used by players still learning the controls and mechanics, but we all know that’s not going to happen.
If someone even catches a whiff that they can pummel you without even trying, you better get your A-Game on. Fortunately, auto-combos don’t do all that much damage and are telegraphed enough where an experienced player can find a way to prevent them. If you want to avoid them altogether, start practicing how to tech out of it.
16 BEST: You Can Tech Out Of Potential Combos
Auto-combos are obnoxious, but they’re not impossible to handle. With some basic training, you too can learn how to stop button mashers dead in their tracks. If you see an auto combo coming your way, hold down any attack button and get ready to move your character. If your opponent messes up their auto combo, this’ll allow you to rush in and either do some damage or get some much needed distance between the two of you. Using your special while pressing back will also allow you to deflect your opponent.
If you manage to get knocked on the ground, simply hold down.
If you’re on the ground, you can’t get trapped in an auto combo. If you’re struggling to get your techs working, do what any sophisticated fighting game vet would do: crouch block. Blocking in FighterZ is very handy. When you block an auto combo, you’re basically negating any potential damage done to you. Simply block, and slam your opponent into the ground once you find your opening.
15 WORST: Get Ready For Disappointment If The DLC “Leaks” Are True
Leaked on the Dragon Ball FighterZ subreddit two months ago by user DasVergeben, it was announced that three characters were developed alongside Goku Black but intentionally held back for DLC purposes. This is not a new practice in video game development, and one that is unfortunately likely to happen with fighting games. What’s worse, should the leaks be true, the three characters held onto really aren’t the types that should be repurposed into DLC, instead more serving a base roster or as unlockable content.
Base Goku, Base Vegeta, and Broly are the three leaked characters.
Of those three, only Broly is worth having as DLC and, even then, he would have made sense as an unlockable character. Base Goku and Base Vegeta, however, have no real right being DLC. The base game already has three Gokus and two Vegetas, there’s no real need for another set. Further supporting the leak is the fact that none of these character have lobby avatars, implying they could be added in later. Hopefully this is all just coincidence, but crazier things have been leaked.
14 BEST: Android 21
A brand new villain and she’s a woman? Yes, please. The only things Dragon Ball’s needed more than female representation is antagonistic female representation. Android 21 is the first female villain in the series since Towa was designed all the way back when Dragon Ball Online was relevant. Part Android, part Majin, and intent on terrorizes our heroes, Android 21 is a fascinating and welcome inclusion for the Dragon Ball franchise. It certainly helps that her moveset seems to be an amalgamation of most of the characters’ attacks in the game without resorting to a loss of self-actualized character identity. Unfortunately, as good as her design and concept are, there is one big hiccup. At least for the English dub.
13 WORST: The Dragon Ball Mechanic Is A Disaster Waiting To Happen
Remember Dragon Rush from Budokai 3? Remember how basically everyone complains about Dragon Rush from Budokai 3 to this day? That could easily happen with the in-game Dragon Ball mechanic. During a match, you’ll notice Dragon Balls filling up at the bottom of the screen. As you do combos, the balls will fill up. Once you get all seven, you can trigger Shenlong so long as your super meter is maxed out.
Upon summoning, Shenlong can grant one of four wishes.
They are full health restoration for whatever character you’re currently playing as, the revival of a teammate, giving you another full super meter, or restoring your 5% of your health along with automatically restoring your super meter. Most of these are total gamebreakers and effectively sway a match in your favor. Since Balls can also be gained by auto combos, there’s potential for some very messy, and very annoying, matches.
12 BEST: Low Skill Floor, High Skill Ceiling
One of FighterZ’s best aspects is that’s it’s easy to pick up, but difficult to master. Due to the newcomer friendly control scheme and the similarities within the roster, anyone can play FighterZ for the first time and quickly start doing well. At the same time, however the core mechanics are complex and require practice and patience to truly understand. If you’re a more casual fighting game fan, you aren’t going to punished by any means for not investing time into studying the game, but hardcore fans will be rewarded for their time. It’s a compromise that allows everyone to get what they want. DBZ fans get the best game in the franchise in years, and fighting game fans get an engaging fighter with a fun skin.
11 WORST: No GT Characters
Dragon Ball GT is not a good anime. Turning Goku into a kid again was stupid, Trunks has absolutely no personality, Gohan and Vegeta are sidelines for no reason, and the entire back half runs on an absence of logic and understanding for what Dragon Ball’s core philosophy was. That said, the character designs are truly inspired at times and GT does bust out some of the more interesting concepts throughout the entire franchise.
FighterZ could have made some good use of GT’s cast, especially in a setting that invokes an all new storyline. Super Saiyan 4 Goku and Vegeta would have been excellent additions, playing off their Blue counterparts well. Super 17, for as dumb as he is, could have led to an interesting moveset thanks to his lanky proportions. Even Baby could have worked, taking over characters’ bodies mid-fight. DBZ and Super definitely deserve first dibs, but GT has a lot to offer when it comes to roster potential.
10 BEST: Goku Blue And Vegeta Blue Are Pre-Order Bonuses Done Right
Pre-order bonuses are tricky to get right. Of course, by “tricky to get right,” I mean developers almost never get it right due to the frequency of pre-order bonuses either becoming paid DLC or straight up unavailable for unpopular games. Miraculously, FighterZ has handled its pre-order bonuses with the utmost grace, ensuring that players can still access Goku Blue and Vegeta Blue even if they didn’t pre-order.
To unlock Goku Blue and Vegeta Blue in-game, you either need to complete two of the three Arcade courses on Hard with an A rank, or save up 800,000 Zeni for both. Both seem rather difficulty and time consuming to pull off, but these are meant to be ultimate versions of the series’ two flagship characters. If you live in Japan, you can also choose not to redeem your V-Jump pre-order bonus of Android 21 and instead unlock her normally. It’s a situation where everybody wins.
9 WORST: There Are No OG Dragon Ball Characters
Always the Dragon Ball, never the Dragon Ball Z, or so the saying goes. Time and time again in the franchise’s decades long history, the original Dragon Ball’s cast has been mostly ignored in favor of their Z-era counterparts. It makes sense to an extent. Most fighting games in the series, especially as of late, have been power simulators so it makes sense to only include the incarnations of a character that can pull off bombastic feats. FighterZ is different, though.
Touted as a traditional Dragon Ball fighting game, FighterZ utilizes many characters with no regard for power level. Yamcha, Tien, and Nappa have no place fighting Beerus, but that doesn’t matter because this isn’t that kind of game. At the same time, though, these are still powerful DBZ characters. Eighter, TaoPaiPai, Roshi, and Kid Goku would have fit right, adding charm and unique movesets to the roster. Hopefully the DLC will remedy this and add in some OG DB.
8 BEST: Lobby Avatars Are Absolutely Adorable
While you may not be able to change your favorite character’s costume for battle, you can change their outfit during the lobby. In fact, you can do more than change their outfit, you can make your avatar unplayable characters if you want! ArcSys may not have been able to give us costumes, but they went whole hog with the avatars.
Want to be Gohan in his Piccolo gi? Go for it!
As you run around the lobby, circling prospective opponents, experiment with all the visual flairs at your disposal. Partial to Goku’s DB color scheme? You’ve got it. Want to forgo the actual playable characters in favor of Mr. Satan? This is the game for you. They’re cute, charming, and represent the series wonderfully. Bravo, ArcSys.
7 WORST: The Localization Is Sloppy
Dragon Ball has been a victim of bad localization jobs from the moment it left Japan. Funimation completely botched the anime, Viz stopped caring about the manga somewhere around the end of the Cell saga, and now FighterZ has taken some very interesting liberties with the script seemingly in an attempt to inject “personality” into the characters. For whatever reason, Dragon Ball keeps getting stuck with localizations teams clearly lacking the confidence to present the series accurately to a Western audience.
The biggest offender has to be Goku’s win quote against Gohan where he claims he’s “finally” proud of his son. In the original Japanese, he simply claims he’s proud. Adding the “finally” is a cheap shot that makes the line “funny” at the expense of the characters. The idea of Goku neglecting Gohan is a fan notion, and giving it legs through an official localization is a shame that does more harm than good. Here’s hoping someday Dragon Ball can get the proper translation it deserves.
6 BEST: FighterZ Is A Proper Dragon Ball Fighting Game
With the exception of Hyper Dimension and Super Dragon Ball Z, there hasn’t really been a proper Dragon Ball fighting game. The Super Butouden series wasn’t exactly the most in-depth, Budokai was more focused on capsule customization, and Budokai Tenkaichi is a simulator more than anything else. FighterZ is an actual, bonafide fighting game. That can be disappointing for some fans more interested in the franchise than the genre, but it still carries that Dragon Ball flair. There are actual combos to pull off, but those combos feel and look right out of the series. Along with actually requiring skill to pull off, FighterZ is shaping up to be the best DBZ fighting game out there.
5 WORST: There Are Only Two Playable Women
Dragon Ball’s never been particularly great with its female representation, but it has managed from time to time to introduce compelling women. Unfortunately, FighterZ only utilizes two of them and one of those two was designed specifically for the game. Android 18 is the only playable female character in the roster from the original series, and she shares her slot with Android 17. A bit messed up, isn’t it?
There are plenty of great women who could have rounded out the cast. Chichi from the 23rd Budokai would have been a fun choice, Videl is an easy addition since she can actually fly, and Pan from GT straight up uses Ki. Let’s not forget Caulifla, Kale, or Kefla from Super, either. Hopefully we’ll see some of the ladies as DLC, but the initial roster’s a bit disappointing in this respect.
4 BEST: The DLC Potential Is Amazing
Speaking of roster potential, the DLC potential for FighterZ is downright awesome. With a confirmed eight characters being added to the roster as DLC, there’s a lot to dip into within the Dragon Ball franchise. We could get our original Dragon Ball or GT characters here, but we could also get some movie villains. Janemba would be an amazing fit thanks to his interdimensional breaking, and who wouldn’t want to see Gogeta in a proper fighting game? Super’s very own Jiren would be an incredible, and overwhelming, inclusion to the roster. This is a franchise that has been going on for three decades with more main characters than some series have regular characters. As incredibly as the DLC can be, though, there is potential for disaster…
3 WORST: Android 21’s Dub Voice
Android 21’s dub voice is horrendous. It’s not just a matter of poor delivery either, her voice simply doesn’t fit the character when compared to the original Japanese. Android 21’s voice is high in both dubs, but there’s an elegance and reserved quality to her voice in the Japanese version that’s missing in the English. Her dub voice invokes an almost manic and hyper quality you’d find more in a child than in a women.
Dragon Ball is no stranger to bad dubs, with the original DBZ dub being one of the worst dubs ever, but Funimation has improved their dubbing of the series. Kai is legitimately an impressive dub, Battle of Gods and Resurrection F were handled near perfectly, and Super has been good if a bit on the problematic side when it concerns voice direction and script. There’s really no excuse at this point for 21 so off, but it makes sense with the botched localization.
2 BEST: The Roster
At 24 playable characters, Dragon Ball FighterZ has one of the smallest roster in the franchise. Who care about size when you have quality, though? Dragon Ball games with large rosters tend to suffer from a need for pre-established character types. Not everyone can be unique when your roster has over 100 characters, but 24? You’ve got good potential for individuality. It’s not just the unique play styles that make this a great roster, however. It’s the choices.
FighterZ keeps characters limited to the DBZ and Super eras, but the actual selections are worthy of praise.
Everyone expects the most popular, most powerful, or most relevant characters in a fighting game, but FighterZ simply goes for the most interesting and contextually important. Nappa isn’t the most relevant character, but he is responsible for the death of three Z-Fighters. Ginyu wasn’t around for long, but his ability to switch bodies naturally lends himself as a unique fighter. Yamcha and Tien are hardly the strongest characters, but they’ve been with the series for so long.
1 WORST: The Community Is Already Toxic
A fighting game community isn’t an appropriate place for healthy discussion and friendly rapport? You don’t say. FighterZ hasn’t even been out for a week yet and the community is already showing signs of toxicity. Newcomers are discouraged from asking questions, criticism of the game is met with intense distaste and backlash (just look at how people reacted to the IGN review,) and there’s already a sense of elitism emanating from some players.
In a way, it makes sense. The fighting game community is as intense as the Dragon Ball fanbase. Combined, you get a lot of vitriol coming from all sides. Hopefully, this is just a fluke and the toxicity will die down as more people buy the game, but it’s not looking good so far. Especially since this is a fighting game geared towards casuals and hardcore fans alike. No novice deserved to be shamed over their lack of knowledge.
Link Source : https://www.thegamer.com/best-things-about-dragon-ball-fighterz-worst/