Game Concept - Dragonball manga game.

[Luke Groundwalker]

You know I get that Z is the most popular portion of the series as a money-maker, but I'm not going to exclude it. Basically I'm getting really tired of seeing the same storyline over and over again. Every DBZ game storyline starts with Saiyan saga and ends sometime after that. Isn't this getting old? And yeah I do realize Super DBZ was based off the manga, but I'm proposing something different here.

Storyline and Roster: The story literally starts out the beginning of the series, introducing the search for the Dragonballs till the end of the Boo arc. Playable characters are...

Characters with other forms mentioned in italics.

Search for Dragonballs arc
Goku (Child) - Oozaru
Kuririn (Child)
Bulma
Yamcha
Lunch
Namu
Muten Roshi - Maximum Power

Red Ribbon Army arc
Sergeant Metallic
Ninja Murasaki
Buyon
Android 8
General Blue
Tao Pai Pai
Devilman
Mummy-kun
Grandpa Gohan
Emperor Pilaf (Machine) - Combined Form
Mai (Machine) - Combined Form
Shu (Machine) - Combined Form
Tenshinhan - Four-Arm Form
Chaotzu

Piccolo arc
Yajirobe
Tambourine
Drum
Cymbal
King Piccolo
Mr. Popo
Kami
Goku (Adult) - SSJ1, SSJ1G2, SSJ1G3, SSJ2, SSJ3, SSJGod, Vegito -> SSJ1
Kuririn (Adult)
Piccolo (Jr)
Chi Chi

Saiyan arc
Gohan (Child) - Oozaru
King Kai
Raditz
Nappa
Vegeta - Oozaru, SSJ1, SSJ1G2, SSJ1G3, SSJ2, Vegito -> SSJ1

Freeza arc
Cui
Dodoria
Zarbon - Monster Form
Nail
Jeice
Burter
Recoom
Guldo
Captain Ginyu
Freeza - Second Form, Third Form, Final Form, 100% Form

Android arc
Trunks (Future) - SSJ1, SSJ1G2, SSJ1G3
Gohan (Future) - SSJ1
Android 16
Android 17
Android 18
Android 19
Android 20 (Dr. Gero)
Cell - Semi-Perfect, Perfect, Super Perfect
Mr. Satan
Gohan (Teen) - SSJ1, SSJ2

Boo arc
Gohan (Adult) - SSJ1, SSJ2, Mystic
Videl
Trunks (Child) - SSJ1, Gotenks -> SSJ1, SSJ3
Goten (Child) - SSJ1, Gotenks -> SSJ1, SSJ3
Supreme Kai - Kibito Kai
Kibito - Kibito Kai
Yamu
Spopovich
Dabura
Pui Pui
Yakon
Majin Boo
Super Boo Gotenks Absorbed, Gohan Absorbed
Kid Boo
Oob

After that, the below characters are "Secret Characters" that you have to unlock through unconventional means.

Special characters
Arale
Bardock - SSJ1
Gine
Chilled
Abo and Kado - Aki
Neko Majin Z - Super Neko Majin
Beerus
Jaco

A total of 80 characters, without transformations taking spots.

Like in other Dragonball games, every form of every character, as well as their costumes, can be picked before you enter the battle. But you may also transform into said characters as well. Meaning if you want to start out as Kid Boo you can, even though he's just a transformation on this roster.

Gameplay: You ever play Jump Ultimate Stars or One Piece: Gigant Battle? Basically think that, but with Dragonball. It's an 2D arena Smash Bros.-like game. In the story mode characters are restricted in ability based off their appearance in the original story. Like if you play as Vegeta in the Saiyan arc, you won't be able to turn SSJ for example. However in multiplayer mode and normal matches you can. There'll also be a branching mission-mode similar to those games, in which you have to complete a series of missions or conditions for each stage you go to, to reap all of it's rewards, like unlocked characters and other secrets.

Lack of anime elements: The game will NOT cover any elements from the original anime, including the movies outside of Battle of Gods in which Beerus is included. Yes this'll be a game without Cooler and Broly to stay true to the source material.

Balance of the game: One of the core problems with the crossover of the entire series is how balanced everything would be. But I find this argument rather silly. For example, why is it ok for Boo and Freeza to be on par in the games, yet King Piccolo and Freeza can't be? It doesn't make sense to me considering the distance between someone like Boo and Freeza in power level is MUCH MUCH higher than the distance between King Piccolo and Freeza.

But I do recognize that there's a problem giving a complete fleshed out moveset to every character, which is why I proposed the gameplay system to be based off the Jump Ultimate Stars games. This allows to keep characters on the same level of simplicity, and tiers will be based off the fan-base rather than a clear indication of, "This character is more powerful and THIS character." which we already know in the manga. This is what really hurt a lot of the Dragonball games, by adding more health bars and making certain characters faster and more powerful than others. This game does not have that and puts everyone on an even playing field, but all the characters have anime-esque moves based off their manga appearances.

Meaning, you could very well choose Ninja Murasaki and beat the ever living shit out of Kid Boo or SSJ God Goku without any sense of imbalance.

Flying doesn't exist in the game, however characters have special moves that sometimes lead to them go into the air in the middle of the move's animation. All characters have these moves and they do damage based off the amount of energy you build up in a shown meter under the health bar. This bar can be built up by hitting your opponent with attacks, getting hit yourself, or charging your ki. Every character in the game is able to charge their ki in a variety of ways. In the case of Androids they charge a surge of electricity around them. Characters without ki like Bulma, Lunch, and Chichi charge their "will" which is basically ki but it's more WOMEN POWER oriented and more about them getting overly angry.

Support Character: Like in Jump Ultimate Stars, this'll have an array of support characters as well you can pretty much summon to the battlefield by using a good portion of your ki meter. The characters are...

Raditz (Child)
Vegeta (Child)
King Vegeta
Galactic King
Tights
Omori
Bear Thief
Umigame
Oolong
Pu'ar
Chichi (Child)
Ox King
Boss Rabbit
Bacterian
Ran Fan
Giran
Commander Red
Staff Officer Black
Colonel Silver
General White
Murasaki Brothers
Pirate Robot
Bora
Karin
Urenei Baba
Invisibleman
Draculaman
King Chappa
Man-Wolf
Panput
Crane Master
Piano
Mutaito
King of the World
King Enma
Bubbles
Saibamen
Dende (Child)
Moori
Appule
Grand Elder
King Cold
Cell Jr.
Bulma (Future)
Dende (Adult)
Babidi
Jewel
Killa
Pintar
Mighty Mask
Idasa and Ikose
Pan
Nareg
Captain Chicken
Otokosuki
Nok
Wild Tiger
Tarble
Whis

The idea is, they come in. Sometimes they heal your health, sometimes they attack the opponent, or do damage in unusual ways. Either way, this allows you access to the entire cast of the series, even the ones with no fighting prowess whatsoever.
_______________________________

Anyway that's my base idea. My dream Dragonball game more or less. Critique and criticsize, but this is what I'd love to see out of a Dragonball game. If there's a sequel to this game I would probably ditch the manga-exclusivity and start adding anime characters. Either that or do a Toriyama crossover game with his other series like Dr. Slump and his various one-shots.

[BlackMagick]

I think that's a pretty solid idea. I'd love to play a Super Smash Bros-esque DBZ game. Great ideas for the mechanics and I agree; it should be completely balanced. If I wanted to beat a Cell player, I should be able to beat him just as easily with Bulma as I would with say, Gohan. As far as the roster is concerned though, I'd make a few changes. Anything that I left out of your roster, I believe, should remain as you imagined it.

Search for Dragonballs arc
Goku (Child) - Agreed. I don't think Oozaru should be a playable transformation, however.
Kuririn (Child) I think having him as an alternate costume would suffice.
Yamcha (Teen) -Should be an alternate costume for Adult Yamcha.


Red Ribbon Army arc
Emperor Pilaf - Pilaf mech playable? I know they did that in Tenkaichi 3, I believe but, personally, I saw it as uninteresting. Maybe Pilaf should be a combo character with Mai and Shu, much like Ice Climbers from Smash Bros.
Mai - Same as above.
Shu - Same as above.
Tenshinhan (Teen) - Same as Yamcha. He could very easily be a costume for Adult Tenshinhan.


Piccolo arc
Perfect

Saiyan arc
Vegeta - I like everything but playable Oozaru.

Freeza arc
Nail -Definitely needs to be in, but I think he should have a distinct fighting style from Piccolo to encourage his usage as opposed to Piccolo.
Freeza - The cyborg alt would be cool, but how would that work if Freeza can transform into all forms? Would he start in a weaker form as a non-cyborg and transform into final form cyborg or would he get cyborg alts for all forms?

Android arc
Perfect

Boo arc
Babidi - Playable? Sure, he was playable in Tenkaichi 3, but I don't think he's a suitable fighter.
Boo (Good) - Majin Boo, Super Boo, and Kid Boo should all be their own characters. Of course Super would get his Absorption transformations, right?
Boo (Evil) - Grey Skinny Boo doesn't seem like he should be his own character, in my opinion.

[Luke Groundwalker]

I thought about what you said a lot, and I have to agree on Ten, Yamcha, and Babidi's inclusion on this roster with you. Now I'm envisoning Babidi as more of a character that appears in the background whenever you play as characters like Dabura or Pui Pui, commanding them like if he were the Pokemon Trainer in Smash Bros.

Changes to the roster -

Removed: Tenshinhan (Teen and Adult), Yamcha (Teen and Adult), Babidi, Boo (Good), Boo (Evil)
Added: Tenshinhan, Yamcha, Abo and Kado, Chilled, Majin Boo, Super Boo, and Kid Boo

Also I will disagree on Kuririn's inclusion. I feel his child form is way too different to be considered the same as his adult form, even though his adult form is still short.

I also want to include support characters.

Btw I formated the OP so it's easier to read, specifically the roster. A lot of the text reasoning for the character's inclusion is unnecessary, I feel. I replaced it with forms (if a character has them.

Edit: I also updated the OP with a Support Character system and list.

[Cetra]

Battle of Gods is an anime, so it is with anime elements.

[CordonBloo]

I'd love a game based on the manga. So far we've had Super Dragon Ball Z and Dragon Ball Online, and as far as I'm aware... That's all.

I'm still holding out hope for Xenoverse...

[Luke Groundwalker]

Battle of Gods is an anime, so it is with anime elements.

This is true, but mainly my intent with the manga focus is to adapt the source material before anything else. Honestly I feel like it's a shame that, from a consistency standpoint, that things like all the movie characters get in before characters like King Piccolo or other important characters from the early years of Dragonball.

After you adapt the source material, then you can focus on extra things, like filler characters, movie characters, GT characters, etc.

Of course it doesn't make sense in the perspective of making money I will admit that, hence why this is merely a fantasy of mine, lol.

As for Battle of Gods, it went in before the other movies mainly due to Toriyama's involvement with it. Same with the other stuff as well.