It’s difficult to exaggerate how popularDragon Ball Zand the franchise as a whole really is, as the series has stayed relevant for decades. The intense action of the anime and manga naturally led to their adaptation to various video games going back as far asUltimate Battle 22on the original PlayStation. The series continued officially with the release ofDragon Ball Superseveral years ago, but since then, the sequel series hasn’t received nearly as much attention in the realm of video games.
With the recent announcement thatDBZ: Kakarotwon’t be adventuring beyond the stories ofDBZ, many fans are wondering whyDragon Ball Superhas received so little love compared toDBZ.DBSisn’t every fans favorite part of the franchise, but it isn’t nearly as controversial in the fanbase as the spin-off seriesDragon Ball GT. So it seems like a pointed decision to focus on the story arcs and characters withinDBZspecifically, not that there are too few to focus on within that series, but many fans are somewhat battle fatigued from seeing the same stories rehashed repeatedly over the history ofDragon Ballgames.
RELATED:10 Things We Want to See in Dragon Ball Super’s Sequel Series
Focusing on Dragon Ball Z Over Dragon Ball Super
It’s worth pointing out the exception’s to the rule here, as some games have a broader representation of theDragon Ballseries as a whole. The popularDragon Ball FighterZfighting game series pulls characters (and character forms) from a much wider pool than story games likeKakarot. Characters fromDBSare represented fairly heavily with popular fighters like Beerus,Goku Black, Hit, and Kefla.
The fast-paced brawler also features transformations (aDragon Ballstaple) from the newer series including Super Saiyan Blue forms for Goku and Vegeta. The game even features severalDBGTcharacters like Super Saiyan 4 Gogetaand theGTversion of Kid Goku. It’s also worth noting that theXenoverseseries has characters from across theDragon Ballpantheon, but that game’s format includes more playable characters than most traditional fighting games.
So the likely reason behind ignoringDBSto a certain point may seem fairly obvious, to capitalize on nostalgia. The storylines inDBZare well known and well loved, so it seems like a safer bet to focus on those narratives in story-driven games likeKakarot. Some of the story arcs inDBShave been panned by some fans for being stilted or not being original enough. Others meanwhile, like the return to Future Trunks' dimension and the Tournament of Power arcs were generally hailed for being true to form. The new series added some veryinteresting new villains toDBSand its alternate universe provided for even more Saiyans.
The seemingly pointed move to focusing onDBZover newer parts of the franchise is a safe bet generally. More fans recognize and appreciate those parts of the overall story than any of the newer series (or evenolder like the originalDragon Ball). But with many other fans feeling like story-centric games set in theDBZuniverse have become a little stale, it might be time to start looking towardsDragon Ball Superand beyond for more content to adapt into the video game format.
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot’sthird story DLC is set to release later this year.
MORE:Early Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot Leak Was Right, But Not How Many Expected
