Key Takeaways
- Some Dragon Ball games never made it to the US, like Dragon Daihikyō for Super Cassette Vision.
- Saiyajin Zetsumetsu Keikaku for Playdia offers a choose-your-own-adventure style gameplay.
- Shin Butōden for Sega Saturn provides detailed sprites and fun modes like Mr. Satan betting.
Dragon Ball is one of, if not the most popular anime in the world. So it goes without saying that most of the games released since the series’ inception have shared in that popularity, allowing fans to take part in the intense action of a fight between other-worldly beings firsthand.
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However, the series has been running for a long time, having gained fans across the globe a little later in its lifetime. As such, there are a good number of games that never left Japan, or simply never made it to the United States. What follows is just a handful of those games.
5 Dragon Ball: Dragon Daihikyō
- Platform(s): Epoch Super Cassette Vision
- Released: September 27, 1986
- Developer(s): Epoch Co.
- Genre(s): Shoot’em Up
Dragon Daihikyō is a rather simplistic top-down shoot-em-up game. Players would fly through the sky on their Nimbus cloud in search of the legendary dragon balls, keeping enemies at bay with their power pole while trying to satiate Goku’s canonically bottomless stomach to keep his power up.
This game was one of a small number that were released for Epoch’s Super Cassette Vision. It was a system that had a wildly short lifespan of 3 years, meaning that many of its games, including Dragon Daihikyō would do little but fade into obscurity.
4 Dragon Ball Z: Saiyajin Zetsumetsu Keikaku
- Platform(s): Playdia
- Released: December 16, 1994
- Developer(s): Bandai
- Genre(s): Action
This game was released in two parts; Earth Chapter and Space Chapter respectively. Both were based on the OVA of the same name that was released earlier that same year, and featured animations directly from it. Players interact with the game like a choose-your-own-adventure story, whether that be by selecting dialogue options or completing various quick-time events.
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Frankly, the Playdia was a flop. Coupling this with the fact that Shin Saiyajin Zenmetsu Keikaku was already released in a more simple, televised format, meant that there really was no reason for gamers to spend their hard-earned cash on either the console or the game. That being said, if fans had yet to experience this story within the DBZ mythos, it certainly wasn’t a bad way to do it.
3 Dragon Ball Z: Idainaru Son Goku Densetsu
- Platform(s): TurboGrafx-16
- Released: November 11, 1994
- Developer(s): B.B. Studio
- Genre(s): Fighting
The TurboGrafx-16 was by far one of the less popular consoles of its time, particularly because it was going up against the likes of the Super Nintendo and the Sega Genesis. This means that many likely missed one of the more comprehensive Dragon Ball games that were released for the system, Idainaru Son Goku Densetsu.
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Densetsu functions as a “greatest hits” of Goku’s big battles, spanning across the Dragon Ball series, having players experience everything from his battle with Mercenary Tao, all the way to his demise at the hands…or rather the big bloated body of Cell. Plus, players are able to relive these legendary bouts with as many cinematic bells and whistles the system can throw their way.
2 Dragon Ball Z: Shin Butōden
- Platform(s): Sega Saturn
- Released: November 17, 1995
- Developer(s): Tose
- Genre(s): Fighting
As far as sequels of anime-based fighting games go, Shin Butōden is as straightforward as it gets. Being the last in a series of fairly popular games, it borrows assets and cutscenes from them, while also rehashing part of the classic DBZ story.
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Of course, for many, this isn’t a bad thing, especially when the game, and in particular, the sprites, manage to present characters from the entirety of DBZ in awesome detail. There are also a wealth of modes to enjoy, including a Mr. Satan mode, seeing players place bets on CPU Vs. CPU matches, and uses various button inputs to ensure their side’s victory.
1 Dragon Ball
- Platform(s): WonderSwan Color
- Released: November 2003
- Developer(s): Bandai
- Genre(s): RPG, Card Game
With the simple title of Dragon Ball, the expectation was probably that this game would be an epic retelling of the beloved Dragon Ball story. Well, it’s definitely a retelling, but with gameplay that may not have been what people expected, especially after years of more traditional fighting games.
But that’s because this game is a remake of Dragon Ball 3: Gokuden, and as such, is a card game through and through. From moving about the world (presented as a game board), to dispatching foes, everything is done by way of the player’s shuffled deck of cards. Of course, this type of game allows for some incredible detail in just about every screen that players are greeted by.
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