There have been Dragon Ball games for almost as long as the franchise has been around — the very first game, Dragon Ball: Shenlong no Nazo, came out on the NES back in 1986, just a year after the original Dragon Ball manga debuted.
In the 1980s, DB games looked like this:
Then in the 90s, there were games like this:
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Then in 2015, we finally got a game that lived up to the franchise: Dragon Ball Xenoverse. And this month, that gets a sequel, shockingly titled Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2. At it’s basis is a one-on-one fighting game, but a fully 3-D one where you fly around in the air. What makes it worth playing is it’s the first game to really let you live out your Super-Saiyan dreams. The Xenoverse series is easily the greatest recreation of those iconic, episodes-long battles across deserts or alien planets. In versus mode, it’s a joy, picking from the likes of Piccolo, Vegeta, and many,many versions of Goku, and blasting tons of projectiles at each other. Is the game as good a fighter as Street Fighter V or the upcoming Tekken 7? Honestly, no. But if you used to rush home to watch Cartoon Network and Toonami back in the day, it is so, so much fun. It’s the best anime simulator ever.
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Like the first game, Xenoverse 2 has a story mode based around time travel. Instrad of being directly based on any of the Dragon Ball shows, it has an original story about the DB timeline being distrupted, and you play as a ‘Time Patroller’ trying to put things back in order. Basically, this is just a reason for you to play through various moments from Dragon Ball history. (Thankfully, they’ve also kept the original subtitled Japanese voiceover in the game, alongside the US dub, for the cut scenes)
What’s new in Xenoverse 2? Well, the thing we’re really excited by is the 6 v 1 boss mode. Basically, this move just ups the anime madness, letting you team up with five other people online, or computer controlled players, to take on a gigantic boss. We got to fight against the great ape, and it was pretty sick.
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Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 is on PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC on October 28.
