Pre-Z Dragon Ball fighting game

[Piccolo Daimao]

Now, I know that some have mentioned that Dragon Ball works better as an adventure or an RPG game rather than a fighting game. This seems to be the case in the eyes of game developers, who tend to make Dragon Ball fighting games centre around Dragon Ball Z (because there's more market in DBZ).

I know that there's little chance of a pre-Z Dragon Ball fighting game getting made, but if it was, it would be interesting to see.

Thoughts?

[B]

Why wouldn't it work? There are three fighting tournaments.

It wouldn't sell, unless it was hyped up like James Cameron's Avatar on crystal meth, but I don't see what would stop a fighting game with Dragon Ball character models from being an enjoyable play.

[Eddie]

I'd actually be very interested in a DB fighting game as long as it had a style of gameplay that hasn't been done with DBZ. I've been relistening to old podcasts lately, & I'm pretty sure Mike and Meri discussed this at one point. I think Mike suggested a Tekken style DB game, as that would work better with DB, before it was all about flying & ki blasts. I'd be happy with anything as long as it had Shen.

[Piccolo Daimao]

Why wouldn't it work? There are three fighting tournaments.

It wouldn't sell, unless it was hyped up like James Cameron's Avatar on crystal meth, but I don't see what would stop a fighting game with Dragon Ball character models from being an enjoyable play.

What I meant by "could it work", could it actually sell and, say, spawn a number of sequels like the Budokai series? Which is probably a no, sadly.

I'd actually be very interested in a DB fighting game as long as it had a style of gameplay that hasn't been done with DBZ. I've been relistening to old podcasts lately, & I'm pretty sure Mike and Meri discussed this at one point. I think Mike suggested a Tekken style DB game, as that would work better with DB, before it was all about flying & ki blasts. I'd be happy with anything as long as it had Shen.

That's a good idea.

[Kiyza]

I'd probably be more apt to buy it than any Dragon Ball Z based fighting game. There's just so much you could do with the original, but it's always overlooked since Z exists. But it would make for a great idea for a game.

To be completely honest, I'd be happy with a Dragon Ball game that pays as much attention to the original as Z. We only got 4 fights in the original Dragon Ball in Sparking! Meteor, despite having enough characters to (almost) do the entire 23rd Tenkaichi Budokai.

What I'd really like in a Dragon Ball game is something like Saiyajin Raishuu, but for the original Dragon Ball, but that's probably because I'm an RPG lover.

[Amigo Ten]

Dragonball Advanced Adventure had a fun fighting game mini mode. You could play as Goku, Krillin, Grandpa Gohan, Cyborg Tao and King Piccolo if I remember right.

[SparkyPantsMcGee]

A pre-Z Dragonball fighting game would be great, but it wouldn't sell well. The general public wouldn't take kindly to a Dragonball fighting game, they want to see super sayians and massive power levels over their chibi counter parts. To be honest, adventure Dragonball games work perfectly because Dragonball focused more on adventure than fighting(tournaments aside) while DBZ focused heavily on fighting. This is why adventure games don't work well for DBZ, while fighting games sell(well sold) like hotcakes.

[Xyex]

A DB era fighting game would be awesome. It'd need a fighting system that merged Tekken with SDBZ. It'd certainly be a more 'standard' style fighting game, and you wouldn't have to worry so much about flight and ki blasts. Tien and Piccolo where the only fliers in DB and you could give them some kind of 'hover' option, maybe with a double jump like in DBA's tournament mode. And all ki attacks could be limited to being finishing moves only.

[Kunzait_83]

b

[IncompetentOverlord]

I, personally, would love to see an original DB fighting game in the style of Capcom's Vs. series, but perhaps with a bit more focus on elegant chains that would more accurately reflect the styles of Muten Roshi,Tao Pai Pai, and Shen. As Kunzait pointed out, the series really doesn't have as much adventure as a lot of people think it does(although I think Red Ribbon is an adventure story right up until Tao arrives). With a Vs. style game, I think it would be easier to capture the more over-the-top and downright silly martial arts moves without interrupting the main flow of action. Actually, this system would probably work well for DBZ as well, as it would probably nail the tempo of the fight(to me, the most important aspect of any Dragonball battle) far better than the Budokai or Sparking! games. I mean, I love both of those series, but they would probably feel more at home in a purely GT game.

[Kunzait_83]

b

[Xyex]

I have to disagree, to an extent, Kunzait.

A kung fu story with lots of traveling doesn’t somehow make it no longer a kung fu story

This is true, sure, but the same can be said in reverse. An adventure story with a lot of kung fu action doesn't somehow make it no longer an adventure story. A lot of adventure stories are of the action/adventure genre, and that is what DB falls into. Sure, the tournaments are out in terms of adventure, they're pure action, but the RRA and the King Piccolo arcs fit the definition of "adventure story" to a T.

In RRA you have Goku going out on an adventure to find the 4-star ball again. Traveling to different locations and going on different little 'mini-adventures' along the way. Muscle Tower, pirate cave, Korin's tower, attacking the RRA main base, etc. Then, in King Piccolo, you have Goku setting out to track down Krillin's killer and, once again, traveling to distant parts of the land to achieve this goal, going on a journey to find the means to defeat Piccolo, and so on. Just because there's a lot of fighting doesn't mean it's not an adventure.

The 'quest' is a staple of an adventure story, usually revolving around the acquiring of some magic artifact (in this case, the Dragonball) or defeating some great evil (King Piccolo, for instance). Sure, he beats up a lot of people along the way, but so does Luffy in his various arcs, and I doubt anyone would not call One Piece an adventure story. The adventure element holds over for the Namek saga in DBZ but that's the last adventure arc. The tournaments in DB, the Saiya-jin saga, and the Androids through Buu sagas are all pure action.

[Kunzait_83]

b

[NECPS]

Dragonball Advance had a good fighting engine to start with.
Simple but a good start. Remembers me of Marvel vs Capcom
when the fighters jump high.


We CAN'T say the same about Revenge of King Piccolo though.
Does anyone knows how to actually CHOOSE your oponent in this lame game?

[SparkyPantsMcGee]

The only thing keeping people from seeing the latter half of original DB in the same light as Z (in terms of both fighting and otherwise) is an unwarranted and inexplicable stigma that most people are happy with accepting at face value without ever questioning it (even well after actually watching or reading that part of the series for some unfathomable reason) while few people ever bother to examine and give it any real scrutiny.

...Which is why a Dragonball fighting game wouldn't work. No one outside of this website would give the game any time of day and it wouldn't sell well based on the "Adventure" stereotype that DB has. I probably should have worded my original post a little better but the point is DB= Adventure while DBZ=fighting to the general public. The general public most likely thinks this because of the games already on store shelves which ironically are produced because of the public's trends. I'm not sure how many Dragonball fighting games are out there already, but their lack of production is probably because of weak demand from the fans(which sucks because I'd really like to play one).