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But what about handhelds for those players who prefer to play as Goku away from home? Since a handheld Dragon Ball game may not be on the horizon anytime soon, we’ve decided to recognize some of the best portable Dragon Ball games, along with some that shouldn’t have been greenlit in the first place.
10 Best: Dragon Ball Z: Attack Of The Saiyans
Attack Of The Saiyans is an old-school RPG, reminiscent of Pokemon or early Final Fantasy games. Players take control of Goku, Piccolo, Gohan, Yamcha, Tien, and Krillin during turn-based battles as they strive to level up their party members in preparation for their battles against Raditz, Nappa, and Vegeta.
This game covers the Dragon Ball story from the 23rd World Martial Arts Tournament all the way to Goku’s fight with Vegeta, so, unfortunately, players won’t be able to go Super Saiyan in this game (despite Super Saiyan Broly making an appearance).
9 Worst: Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku
Though The Legacy of Goku trilogy was successful as a series, its first game wasn’t received as well as the others. Players were excited to get their hands on an action RPG revolving around Goku’s battles against the Saiyans on Earth and Frieza on Namek, but unfortunately, this game didn’t deliver.
The combat is dull and repetitive, while the game limits itself by only allowing the player to experience the events of the series through Goku, despite him being either dead or hospitalized for much of it.
8 Best: Dragon Ball: Fusions
Much of Dragon Ball Fusions’s success can be attributed to its unique premise that involves players being able to take almost any character from across the franchise and fuse them to create a brand new character, despite the fact that many of these fusions could never happen in the series. Not only are classic fusions like Gogeta, Vegito, and Gotenks present in this game, but characters were given the chance to see what would happen if dream duos like Goku and Bardock, Kid Buu and Janemba, and Cooler and Frieza fused.
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Not only does this game present an original story and introduce fresh characters, but it also features unique turn-based battles with cinematic attacks that provide an incentive to see every move that exists in the game executed. While its biggest complaint is its repetitiveness, we’re glad we finally got a title that gave us so many amazing fusions that we hope make their way into the Dragon Ball canon someday.
7 Worst: Dragon Ball Z: Taiketsu
Dragon Ball Z: Taiketsu was an early Dragon Ball game released for the Game Boy Advance in 2003. Unfortunately, it only gave players the option of taking control of 15 characters, despite the potential for many more.
The game is unpolished, with poorly designed character sprites and stiff fighting animations. The combat isn’t fulfilling at all, and we can’t believe people actually paid money for this abomination of a game.
6 Best: Dragon Ball Z: Extreme Butoden
Extreme Butoden is a 2D fighter that comes the closest to replicating FighterZ’s experience, giving 3DS players a chance to fight as many of their favorite Dragon Ball characters all the way up to Super. The game includes beam struggles that every Dragon Ball fan hopes is a part of every Dragon Ball game, as well as tons of assist characters to give you an edge in battle in a pinch, from Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta to Bulma!
5 Worst: Dragon Ball Z: Battle For Namek
While Dragon Ball Z: Battle For Namek is a portable Dragon Ball game, it isn’t on something like a PSP or Nintendo DS as fans would expect. Battle For Namek was a production of Micro-Games America Entertainment, a company that had a reputation for manufacturing portable handhelds that usually became an addictive, guilty pleasure.
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Battle For Namek allowed players to take control of Goku as they attempted to collect the Dragon Balls while avoiding Frieza and the Ginyu Force. While we’re sure this game could entertain a 5-year-old for a few minutes, it’s best as a collector’s item, and would do no good to alleviate the boredom of anyone who can actually read this article.
4 Best: Dragon Ball Z: Tenkaichi Tag Team
With Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3 being one of the biggest Dragon Ball videogame successes we’ve ever seen, fans waited for the day they’d get a portable version of this three-dimensional fighter. Coming out 5 years after Budokai Tenkaichi 3, Tenkaichi Tag Team boasted a roster of essential characters and movie villains while featuring gameplay nearly identical to its predecessor. Players had the opportunity to create their own duos to fight against another duo just as powerful in real-time combat!
Want to see Super Saiyan Goku and Gohan fight against Vegeta and Trunks? You could do it here! How about Yamcha and Tien going up against Piccolo and Krillin for a friendly training session? That’s an option as well!
Though it definitely doesn’t come close to Budokai Tenkaichi 3 in terms of presentation, the full depth of its combat, and limited character roster, we appreciate this game for giving us a fresh take on one of the best combat systems in a Dragon Ball game known to date.
3 Worst: Dragonball Evolution
With the insanely poor reception that Dragonball Evolution received (with a 2.5 IMDb rating), it’s no wonder why a fighting game based on this movie is one of the worst Dragon Ball games we’ve ever laid eyes on. Players complained about the poor AI and unbalanced characters, and while it did allow us to finally take control of Bulma on the battlefield, the fact that the source material was so lacking in the first place means that this game was doomed before its conception.
2 Best: The Legacy Of Goku II
The Legacy of Goku may have started it all, but The Legacy of Goku II perfected the Dragon Ball RPG formula and arguably remains the best in the trilogy, surpassing Buu’s Fury. Players take control of Goku, Gohan, Piccolo, Vegeta, and Future Trunks during their fight against Cell and the Androids, and are able to fly around the world map and interact with citizens of the Dragon Ball world as they embark on side quests and level up with every battle.
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They could even scan everything in sight with their scouters, a detail that just made this world come together better than it did in the first game.
1 Worst: Dragon Ball Z: Harukanaru Densetsu
While this card-based battle game did well in Japan, it didn’t translate to American audiences. The card-based battle system wasn’t enough of a challenge for players to actually incorporate unique strategies during gameplay, and we’d honestly just pick up a Yu-Gi-Oh! game if we really want to play against other opponents in a turn-based card game.
If players actually manage to lose a battle, they’ll have to start an entire half-hour mission from the start. We appreciate the attempt to shake things up, but the tried and true formula that allows us to charge our ki, release Kamehamehas, and turn into Super Saiyans at will is what we’ll always prefer out of a Dragon Ball game.
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