Raditz, Goku's biggest challenge?

[SparkyPantsMcGee]

Now hear me out, yes obviously the enemies that followed(Freeza, Cell, Buu) were all more powerful than Raditz at their respective points in the series but it seems like Raditz was Goku's biggest challenger and the one to really push his limits. Looking back on it, he's really the only enemy Goku needed help taking down. Yes, Vegeta was with Goku fighting Buu but they were taking turns; whereas with Raditz, both Piccolo and Goku had to attack together. Not to mention Goku was left with no other choice but to sacrifice himself to take down Raditz. In his fight against Vegeta, Freeza and Buu he was able to overcome the challenges put in front of him while still making it out alive. So, is it fair to suggest that Raditz was Goku's biggest challenge?

[Insertclevername]

I can't say I disagree, he was really the only person to make Gokuu seem really weak besides Tao Pai Pai and Piccolo Daimao but those two were overcome by Gokuu getting miraculously stronger in order to beat them.

[Avenged]

I just wish Goku fought Cell to the death...He would have lost but I think that would have been a better reason for Gohan to transform rather than 16.

[SparkyPantsMcGee]

I can't say I disagree, he was really the only person to make Gokuu seem really weak besides Tao Pai Pai and Piccolo Daimao but those two were overcome by Gokuu getting miraculously stronger in order to beat them.

exactly, Raditz seems to be the only time Goku has been pushed to his very limit to the point where he's like "I have no other choice but to sacrifice myself."

[Saiga]

His sacrifice is really cheapened by the fact that it was a result of his own naivety and letting Raditz' tail go. If he hadn't done that, the pair would have won easily.

[Bussani]

Now hear me out, yes obviously the enemies that followed(Freeza, Cell, Buu) were all more powerful than Raditz at their respective points in the series but it seems like Raditz was Goku's biggest challenger and the one to really push his limits. Looking back on it, he's really the only enemy Goku needed help taking down. Yes, Vegeta was with Goku fighting Buu but they were taking turns; whereas with Raditz, both Piccolo and Goku had to attack together. Not to mention Goku was left with no other choice but to sacrifice himself to take down Raditz. In his fight against Vegeta, Freeza and Buu he was able to overcome the challenges put in front of him while still making it out alive. So, is it fair to suggest that Raditz was Goku's biggest challenge?

Hmm...I suppose so. I think the battle with Vegeta was close, and Goku had no hope of winning it alone either, but at least he managed to get a couple of decent hits in that time...even if he had to cripple his own body to do it.

[Insertclevername]

True, but with Raditz, he was basically hopeless alone; whereas with Vegeta (I'm assuming you mean Ozaru), he could somewhat hold his own.

[Gokuden]

Goku vs Raditz straight-up = dead Goku for sure, there was a vast amount of power difference, that even the focused ki of the Kamehameha wave couldn't overcome at a whopping pl of 924.

Goku continuing duel against Cell = dead Goku?

If Goku would have been more prudent with the girth of his Instantaneous Transmission Kamehameha, there would have been no need for his death, or Gohan going SSJ2. But as fate just as so had it, he only blew-off a chunk of Cell just like Bejita.

If Cell were a humanoid without regenerative abilities,this debate would have been a non-factor.

If Vegeta, Goku, and Gohan had teamed-up and disregarded the Game Rules, Cell would have been toast.

The battle didn't continue so, we won't know if Goku could have killed Cell, but what if Gohan had died? Could Goku have gone beserker rage kaioken fpssj or even ssj2?

[Bussani]

True, but with Raditz, he was basically hopeless alone; whereas with Vegeta (I'm assuming you mean Ozaru), he could somewhat hold his own.

Yeah. Maybe I didn't say it clearly, but that's what I meant: he did better against Vegeta than he did against Raditz. Not heaps better, mind you, and he crippled himself pretty good doing it--but still, better.

[Sebastian]

I agree. I'm not sure about the rest of you, but Raditz is the only villain to ever make Goku look pathetically weak in comparison to me.

[90sDBZ]

Well he seemed more scared against Raditz than against some of the later enemies. But I'd have to say Vegeta was a bigger challenge. He had every bone in his body crushed and was totally helpless without Gohan, Krillin and Yajirobe. Also Frieza was a very tough fight for him too, going on for a long time and making him question if he could actually win.

[DBZAOTA482]

Cell. Why? Because he's the only villain that wanted to kill Goku and succeeded in doing so.

[PhoenixEX]

Cell was probably worse, not even Goku could beat him.
And of course there's Omega Shenron, if we go by the theory that that was Goku's spirt that was "reborn". This one can be debatable though.

[Tanooki Kuribo]

Now that I think about it. Yea, I agree. Raditz is the only enemy Goku fights in DBZ that he was unaware of the challenge ahead of time. Raditz just simply shows up one day, Goku was thrown totally off guard.

Vegeta - Goku knew he had a year to train for this battle.
Freeza - While in the space ship heading to Namek, Goku knew there were people on Namek stronger than Vegeta and training excessively.
Androids - Thanks to Trunks, everyone got in some training.
Cell - Goku had plenty of time to train for this battle, he even went into The Room of Spirit and Time.
Majin Boo - Kaio Shin told of the monster "Majin Boo" before he was even hatched. Sure there wasn't much time to train for this battle, but because of previous evens Goku knew the Earth was now a target for bad guys and never stopped training.

But Raditz? He just shows up out of the clear blue sky. Way to drop the ball Baba!

[shreddinghead]

The fact that Raditz where such a big challenge for Goku, proves Gokus progression through the series fighting stronger villains with a greater ease.

[Jackal puFF]

I wouldn't say Cell was Goku's biggest challenge at all. He wasn't worried or stressed out going to fight him. He had tons of other fighters to fall back on plus Gohan. During Raditz, All he had was Piccolo, who wanted Goku dead..

[UpFromTheSkies]

Didn't Goku sacrifice himself to stop Cell, but failed?

[DBZGTKOSDH]

Didn't Goku sacrifice himself to stop Cell, but failed?

He sacrificed himself to save the Earth from Cell's explosion, and he succeeded.

[DBZAOTA482]

I wouldn't say Cell was Goku's biggest challenge at all. He wasn't worried or stressed out going to fight him. He had tons of other fighters to fall back on plus Gohan. During Raditz, All he had was Piccolo, who wanted Goku dead..

But that doesn't count because his motivation at that point was to defeat/kill Raditz then settle the score with Goku, and Goku basically let Piccolo kill him. He would never be in that predicament if Raditz didn't decide to play dirty and take advantage of his naivety.

[SparkyPantsMcGee]

But that doesn't count because his motivation at that point was to defeat/kill Raditz then settle the score with Goku, and Goku basically let Piccolo kill him. He would never be in that predicament if Raditz didn't decide to play dirty and take advantage of his naivety.

Sure he would of--this also applies to Saiga 's comment as well--Raditz had Piccolo and Goku highly out classed in strength. In Goku's case, Raditz also had him outclassed in brains. Raditz already saw Goku had gone soft, and the Sayians are definitely not above playing dirty. He saw his chance when Goku had his tail, and out smarted his opponent. It might have been low, but it worked. On the other hand, whose to say Raditz wasn't bluffing in the first place? Later on in the series Vegeta and Nappa point out that they train to protect themselves from such an obvious weakness. We don't really know if Raditz knew how to overcome this weakness, but he might have had something up his sleeve if Goku refused to let go. Maybe not, but he still managed to out smart Goku.


In Cells case, the circumstances are a bit different. Cell was actually outclassed by Gohan; even more so when Gohan punched 18 out of him. And after he lost 18, he could have gotten killed by all of the Saiyans(possibly Piccolo since he got to train in the Room of Spirit and TIme too). Goku's sacrifice was kind of a waste here. Unlike Raditz there were an infinite amount of solutions for Goku in the situation; any other planet except Kai's would have been fine. Hell he could have just gone to space and back and have been ok. With Raditz, at that point, there was really no other option than for him to let Piccolo kill him because that was the only attack that could stop Raditz; and holding him down was the only way to ensure he could dodge out of the way.