Did they forget Goku has a sharp sense of smell?

[Doctor.]

And by "they", I mean the big Ts: Toriyama, Toyotaro and Toei.

One of Goku's characteristics in early Dragon Ball was his sense of smell. This could have been used for some interesting fights and strategies but it seems like it was forgotten halfway through the series. With Super's knack for bringing back old techniques and have fights be more strategy-oriented (some of the time...), you'd think they'd bring back this trait in order to give Goku a good fight in which his nose would help him somehow defeat the enemy. So did they forget about it? Or is it just one of those cases where it hasn't been appropriate to mention it or there hasn't been a chance where it could be advantageous?

[PerhapsTheOtherOne]

And by "they", I mean the big Ts: Toriyama, Toyotaro and Toei.

One of Goku's characteristics in early Dragon Ball was his sense of smell. This could have been used for some interesting fights and strategies but it seems like it was forgotten halfway through the series. With Super's knack for bringing back old techniques and have fights be more strategy-oriented (some of the time...), you'd think they'd bring back this trait in order to give Goku a good fight in which his nose would help him somehow defeat the enemy. So did they forget about it? Or is it just one of those cases where it hasn't been appropriate to mention it or there hasn't been a chance where it could be advantageous?

Well, they remembered Krillin's LACK of a sense of small, at least

[Gligarman]

In short, probably. In long, it's safe to assume that he senses things with Ki instead.

[Chuquita]

It hasn't been plot relevant is what I think. They could write a situation where Gokû's sharp sense of smell comes into play (actually earlier in this arc would've been the perfect time; create a foe that Gokû can't sense, but can smell) but they just haven't.

[Slangh]

This topic made me think of the fight in which Goku fought Beerus disguised as Monaka. Not only did this make Goku look as dumb as bricks but Goku also should have been able to smell it wasn't Beerus.

[DB▪Magnum-Expert]

It hasn't been plot relevant is what I think. They could write a situation where Gokû's sharp sense of smell comes into play (actually earlier in this arc would've been the perfect time; create a foe that Gokû can't sense, but can smell) but they just haven't.

They honestly had the chance to make something like this relevant (at the same time, they had the chance to make the Tournament 100x much harder, challenging and terrifying), given the fact that Goku and the rest couldn't sense the Ki of anyone from Universe 9 because they're of different norm than our main characters. They'd simply apply this rule to every other universe.

[Michsi]

I think his sense of smell disappeared along with his tail, and I mean that in a thematic sense. He stopped being so feral and monkey-like, so traits that were connected to that side of his character also withered away.

[floofychan333]

Lots of techniques and abilities from the early days, examples being shape shifting and the majority of Piccolo's abilities, have been completely forgotten or made irrelevant.

[Ssjcell]

Goku used his sense of smell against yakon whom I have as stronger than frieza ...goku says he could beat yakon without ssj...Buu arc base Saiyans are far above frieza btw

[Lord Frieza]

If memory serves Goku’s sense of smell was relevant only in the first to arcs and was never really relevant again except for, if I remember correctly, his encounter with Gohan at Baba’s.

The first two arcs are very different from the rest of dragon ball. At that point the series was a lot more comedic and functioned in more of a gag manga style. After that point is when dragon ball started to become a “realistic” series. In fact the that whole part of the series seems to conform to a very different set of rules what with Goku going to the moon, goofy sound affects, characters bouncing of panel edges etc.

His smelling power is just another older element that was dropped.

[Akira7]

This is often the case in a lot of franchises. In Stargate, they discovered highly effective Kull warrior armour can be used by humans, but then it was completely abandoned and did not go anywhere. Various plot lines have to be stopped, else it would be too complicated.