Super Dragon Ball Z (PS2) : Review

A review of Super Dragon Ball Z :

Super Dragon Ball Z is a successful arcade game which was then released on Playstation 2 in 2006.
In this competitive fighting game, the fights are strictly one on one.

To the left, a review of Super Dragon Ball Z in video which showcases the game's characters, arenas and game modes.

The gameplay of Super Dragon Ball Z

If visually Super Dragon Ball Z has a classic arcade look, its gameplay has many similarities with Street Fighter II, altought there are several notables differences between the two :
In Super DBZ, it is possible for the characters to perform side steps, transform into Super Saiyans during the fights and also to project the opponents against walls and even throw characters into another part of the arena, far away from the initial zone where the fight started.
When it comes to the special moves, they are done like in Street Fighter II and Mortal Kombat : With a quarter circle and the push of a button (square, cross, circle and triangle), which is quite unusual in a Dragon Ball game.
For the transformations, they give a few bonus and last around 10 seconds only.
Last but not least, just like in Street fighter II, several iconic characters are used as decorations but in Super DBZ, they are in 3D and they are wandering throughout the arenas (Like Baba or Chiaotzu in the yellow clouds bordering the Dragon Road near King Yemma's Palace).

The game modes of Super Dragon Ball Z

The Original mode

In this game mode, the player has to win 7 fights against random opponents and the last match is always against Cell in the Cell Games Ring.
Like in Street Fighter 2, when you start this mode a 2D board map is displayed on the screen with location points on it, each one of them representing one arena.
The game will randomly select one of the locations points and a random opponent will appear.
Once the player will have defeated this first opponent, another location point on the map will be highlighted and another opponent from the roster will be randomly selected by the game, etc...
In this game mode, with each fights the player earns experience points and a dragon ball too.

The Z-Survivor mode

In the Z-Survivor mode, the player will have to fight 7 opponents (or 9 if he is very good) in the Tournament Ring.
And between the matches, his health won't be regenerated, so it is a battle of skills and endurance.
Luck also, because at the end of each fight, a lucky wheel and it can be used to obtain various rewards (like more experience points and B.P., a dragon ball, some attacks and defence bonus and also 20% or 50% health regeneration).
This game mode can be quite hard.

The Duel mode

This is the Classic one on one mode : Two humans players select their characters and battle it out in the arena of their choice.

The training mode

In this game mode, the player can master the playstyle of each characters.
Various options are availables, like setting how the opponent react (idle? blocks ? counter-attack ? ,...).
It is also possible to add obstacles in the training room and use them to your advantage.

The Customization mode

In their default version, each character of Super Dragon Ball Z have moves and skills of their own but it is possible to teach them more of them and even to make them use some of the skills which belong to other characters (like the Kienza, the explosive energy wave, the Kamehameha,...). Have you ever wanted to see Frieza use the Kamehameha ? In Super Dragon Ball Z, you can do that.

Invocating Shenron with the 7 dragon balls

When a Character Card indicates that the 7 dragon balls have been collected, Shenron can be summoned.
In this game mode, several bonus can be unlocked like new skills, 3 bonus characters, one arena,...

The characters of Super Dragon Ball Z

Since Super Dragon Ball Z is originally an arcade game which has been ported to the Playstation 2 console, its roster isn't big but despite this, all the characters are very unique and play very differently which makes it for the lack of numbers.
Also, their ouftits exist in 8 different colors and some characters have a secondary special outfit.
Most of the roster of the game is from the Dragon Ball Z saga but two characters are from Dragon Ball : Teenage Chi-Chi and Demon King Piccolo.

The 18 playable characters

- Goku (Base form, Super Saiyan).
- Teen Gohan (Base form, SSJ2).
- Mystic Gohan (in Godly ouftit and with the Legendary Sword).
- Vegeta (Base form, Super Saiyan).
- Majin Vegeta.
- Future Trunks (with a Sword: Either normal, Japanese or a laser Sword).
- Kurilin.
- Chi-chi (In blue fighting outfit)
- Videl.
- Piccolo.
- Demon King Piccolo.
- Frieza Final Form.
- Cyborg Frieza (Can be equipped with heavy weapons).
- Android 16
- Android 17
- Andoid 18
- Perfect Cell.
- Fat Majin Buu.

The 12 non-playable characters :

Even thought Super Dragon Ball Z lacks a geniune story mode, there are quite a lots of important Dragon Ball Z characters fully modelized in 3D and dispatched in the arenas.

- The Tournament Ring announcer : He is near the Tournament Ring.
- Puar (Yamcha's pet): This character is near the entrance of the Tournament Ring.
- Dende : He wanders on the Planet Namek and if the fighters get too close to him, he flees farther away.
- Mister Popo : He flies on a carpet around Kami's Lookout.
- Sourman : This funny character hides inside a phone booth in the Eastern Capital.
- King Kai: Destroy his sport car on the arena King Kai's planet to see him.
- Bubbles : King Kai's pet monkey wanders freely around the arena King Kai's planet. He flees if the fighters get too close to him.
- Mister Satan : He is around the Cell Games Ring, taunting the fighters but he is less sure of himself when they get close to him :).
- Chaozu : He wanders on Snake Road, not far from King Yemma's Palace.
- Baba : She is traveling on her Cristal Ball in the inferior level of the arena Yemma's Palace.
- Oolong: He appears in a funny Easter Egg cutscene with Krillin.
- The small Indien from Dragon Ball : He is on the plains which is below Kami's Lookout.

The 11 arenas of Super Dragon Ball Z

- The Tournament Ring (Note that in Super DBZ, there is no ring out rules).

- Kami's Lookout / Plains below it.

- King Kai Planet.

- Eastern Capital (This map exists in 2 versions : Day and Evening).

- Plains with rocky pits (This map exists in 2 version : Day and Night).

- Cell Games Ring.

- Planet Namek.

- Snake Road near King Yemma's Palace (Otherworld) / Lower layer of clouds.

- Gravity Room (this arena is used only in the training mode).

Others infos about Super Dragon Ball Z

The european version of Super Dragon Ball Z has the japanese voices.
The King Kai planet arena is a fully round map : It is maybe the first time in a Dragon Ball game where the fighters fight it out on a fully spheric area (and it is also a very beautiful arena).

The way to invocate Shenron in Super Dragon Ball Z is quite unique compared to the other game because each character is seen invocating the Giant Dragon personally.

But although being a fantastic game with an unique gameplay and characters customization, Super Dragon Ball Z isn't perfect and lacks the possibility to make duel matches against the console. It is only possible to fight another human player in this game mode.
The good news is that, thanks to the PCSX2 emulator, it is now possible to have online matches against others players.
The game still has a little community of players and there are even tournaments organized from times to times.
The discord dedicated to the game Super Dragonball Z (You can find players there and also help and tutorials to create combos).

Also, in the original version of the game the texts are only available in english.

Where to get Super Dragon Ball Z (PS2)

The Playstation 2 version of Super Dragon Ball Z can still be bought news or used online.

The cheat codes for Super Dragon Ball Z

For the players who play Super Dragon Ball Z on PC or on Androids with the PCSX2 and AETHERSX2 emulators, there exists various codes which can make the game more interesting to play, like the codes which :
- Unlock all the hidden characters.
- Give infinite 7 dragon balls to the characters cards.
- Have a full experience bar.
- Have no screen shaking (Super DBZ wasn't made for larger screens).
- Have as much B.P. as you want.
- Have more super moves and skills than it is normally possible.
- Create a custom opponents list in the Z-Survivor mode.
- Makes it possible to play the main games mode in the King Kai Arena and the Training Capsule Room.
- Replaces the player 2 by the character you want and he is controlled by the console (basically, this code adds the possibility to have duel fights with the characters you want against the console.