Super Dragonball Z is a fighting game on the PS2 that was developed by people who were part of the original team responsible for Capcom’s Street Fighter II, which explains why the game does not feel like a Dragon Ball game, but more of a 3D fighter that uses Dragon Ball skins. Don’t take that to mean that this is a bad game, though – it’s perfectly playable and enjoyable enough. It’s a very good fighting game, it’s just not a good Dragon Ball game. There is a difference.
Graphics-wise, Super Dragonball Z is a treat. Using the manga as inspiration instead of the anime, the visuals are crisp, bright, and do a good job of bringing the Dragon Ball manga to life. The beam attacks are a disappointment though, as they look like crude mode 7 effects from the SNES era, which is inexcusable considering that the PS2 is perfectly capable of producing decent looking beams using the framebuffer, as proven by other Dragon Ball games like the Budokai and Budokai Tenkaichi series.
The poor effects is also made even worse by the fact that the game pays attention to a lot of extraneous yet welcome details, such as breakable environments, animated backgrounds and even a little bit of attention to terrain as there are areas that are recessed or elevated.
With regard to gameplay, Super Dragonball Z’s fighting game roots shows. You get to control the characters on completely 3D environment (you can go up/down, left/right, forward/backward). The face buttons control light attack, heavy attack, block, and fly/jump, while the shoulder buttons trigger certain actions that would otherwise require button combinations (such as throws or dashes).
Of course, very few fighting games are worth their price if they don’t have special moves, especially when it comes to Dragon Ball. With Super Dragon Ball Z, special attacks use the time-tested Street Fighter moves, such as the ubiquitous down+forward+attack combination. Transformations and desperation moves are also available, but use up Ki (the gauge under the hp bar).
Character-wise, Super Dragon Ball Z’s roster is extremely thin by modern fighting game standards, even if you include all the unlockable characters. The main selling point of the game is with the character card creation and customization, which allows you to take one of the characters and build up his stats by upgrading using the points you accumulate through fighting. The upgrades can be used in things like increased attack, defense, increased HP, and even for buying attacks taken from other characters (for instance, Goku can get Frieza or Krillin’s trademark destructo disc attack). If you train enough, you may get a character powerful enough to beat everyone easily, though the game is balanced enough that you won’t be breezing through the game with one button, even if you have an extremely high level character.
Overall, Super Dragon Ball Z is a quality game, but can be a little bit hard to recommend due to the awkward niche it occupies. Dragon Ball fans may find the game too disappointing as it doesn’t provide a decent videogame adaptation of fights in the Dragon Ball universe, while fighting game fans may consider the character choices and the gameplay a little bit lacking. However, if you’re both a fan of Dragon Ball and enjoy fighting games, you may be able to marry the two sides and enjoy Super Dragon Ball Z, especially if you are willing to invest a lot of time in the character card creation side of things.
