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Dragon Ball Z: Taiketsu

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Dragon Ball Z: Taiketsu
USA
Taiketsu (USA)
Dragon Ball Z: Taiketsu Title Screen

Dragon Ball Z: Taiketsu
Release Date 24 November 2003
Genre Fighting
Developer Webfoot Technologies
Publisher Atari
Music Composer(s) Yannis Brown
Rating ESRB Teen
v · d · e

Dragon Ball Z: Taiketsu is a 2D, sprite-based fighting game developed by Webfoot Technologies and published by Atari for the Nintendo Game Boy Advance, originally released 24 November 2003 exclusively in America.

Taiketsu, widely regarded as one of the worst Dragon Ball video games[1], was Webfoot's third game for the franchise, following Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku the prior year and Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku II earlier that same year (all on the Nintendo Game Boy Advance).

Despite its English-only release, the game's title is a Japanese word: 対決 (taiketsu), meaning "confrontation" or "showdown".

Gameplay

Goku fighting against Piccolo in Tournament Mode

Taiketsu plays akin to a traditional 2D fighting game. Players are able to mix a combination of directional weak and heavy attacks to fight their opponent. Players can also activate special attacks by inputting specific button sequences. Some special attacks will also trigger a transformation sequence.

Due to the Game Boy Advance only having two face buttons and two shoulder buttons, Taiketsu functions as a four-button fighter rather than the six-buttons standard used in series such as Street Fighter; weak punch and kick attacks are mapped to the face buttons, while heavy attacks are mapped to the left and right shoulder buttons.

Game Modes

Single Player

  • Tournament: Arcade Mode consisting of six fights against a random order of characters, as well as a final fight against a rival. Completing Tournament Mode for each character will show a short story at the end.
  • Endurance: Face an endless amount of fighters without health restoring between matches.
  • Time Challenge: Defeat as many fighters as possible before time runs out.
  • Sparring: Practice moves in training mode.

Multiplayer

Using the Game Boy Advance link cable, players are able to spar against other players who own a copy of the game and their own system.

Story

While Taiketsu does not have a dedicated story mode, completing Tournament mode will show a short ending story for each respective character.

Characters

Sprite Name Form Notes Status
Son Goku
(as "Goku")
TBD TBD Immediately selectable
Son Gohan
(as "Gohan")
TBD TBD Immediately selectable
Piccolo TBD TBD Immediately selectable
Kuririn
(as "Krillin")
TBD TBD Immediately selectable
No. 18
(as "Android 18")
TBD TBD Immediately selectable
Trunks
(as "Future Trunks")
TBD TBD Immediately selectable
Vegeta TBD TBD Immediately selectable
Freeza
(as "Frieza")
TBD TBD Unlockable
No. 16
(as "Android 16")
TBD TBD Unlockable
Cell TBD TBD Unlockable
Gotenks TBD TBD Unlockable
Boo
(as "Majin Buu")
TBD TBD Unlockable
Broli
(as "Broly")
TBD TBD Unlockable
Nappa TBD TBD Unlockable
Raditz TBD TBD Unlockable

Stages

Kame House
Kami's Lookout
Snake Way
Inside Majin Buu
Hell
Planet Namek
Pendulum Room
Satan City
Wasteland
New Planet Vegeta

Codes & Secrets

TBD

Merchandise

Prima's Official Strategy Guide

An official strategy guide for Dragon Ball Z: Taiketsu was released by Prima Games in November 2003[2]. The strategy guide also included a bonus DVD featuring the FUNimation English dub of Dragon Ball GT episode 41 along with a promotional video for the Nintendo Game Boy Advance video game Dragon Ball Z: The Legacy of Goku II, released earlier that year.

Releases

"Rising Sun" opening splash screen on Dragon Ball Z: Taiketsu ROM distribution

Domestic Release

Dragon Ball Z: Taiketsu was originally released 24 November 2003 exclusively in America. The game received no re-releases and no official international distribution or localization.

Unofficial Releases

A ROM of Taiketsu was distributed on the Internet by scene group "Rising Run" (as supplied by "Team RS") 26 November 2003.

Domestic Media Coverage

TBD

Commercials & Trailers

Legacy

Despite releasing to immediate negative reception, the game was a commercial success, managing to sell over 620,000 copies and earn $14 million by August 2006.[3]

Additional Notes

Dragon Ball Z: Taiketsu was developed during a period when Atari/Infogrames held the sub-license to create and further subcontract game development outside of Japan. During this time, Webfoot worked on all of the American-made portable games, while Avalanche Software worked on Dragon Ball Z: Sagas (the only American-made console game for the franchise).

Game Credits

Webfoot Technologies

  • Producer, Art, and Design: Dana Dominiak
  • Game Programming Design & Tools: Patrick Alphonso
  • Additional Programming: Cliff Davies
  • Level Art, Special Effects Art, Text, Design, Character Models: Gerry Swanson
  • Character Sprites, Character Models: Kostandin Igor Ruiz
  • Animation, Design, Character Models: Andrew Myers
  • Character Models and Design: Jim Grant
  • Design, Sound Effects: Paul Carmody
  • Special Effects Art & Animations: Mandi Paugh
  • Additional Art: Greg Davis, Victoria Munoz Martin, Tarin Kim
  • Music, Sound Effects: Yannis Brown
  • Animation Director: Devon Brown
  • Lead Animator: Nick Schreiber
  • Animators: Rick Daniels, Karen Sanok, Gavin, McNeal, Allen Borza
  • Animation: Shadows in Darkness, Inc.
  • Director Software Engineering, Project Support: Pascal Pochol
  • General Counsel & COO, Project Manager: Debra Osborn

Atari

  • Director of Product Development: Peter Armstrong
  • Senior Producer: Michael Cucchiarella
  • Associate Producers: Steve Charbonneau, Amy Jordan, Chris Lundeen
  • Senior Brand Manager: Matt Collins
  • Director of Marketing: Laura Campos
  • Director of Creative Services: Steve Martin
  • Director of Editorial & Documentation Services: Elizabeth Mackney
  • Art Director: Kristin Meier
  • Graphic Designer: Morgan Tomaiolo
  • Documentation Spec.: Chris Dawley, Randi Kravitz
  • Copywriter: Paul Collin
  • Director of Publishing Support: Michael Gilmartin
  • I.T. Manager/Western Region: Ken Ford
  • Manager of Technical Support: Michael Vetsch
  • QA Testing Supervisor: Dave Strang
  • Lead Testers: Dan Burkhead, Jason Anderson
  • Testers: David Degnan, John Seefurth, Jon Hockaday, Jason Cordero, Jason Kausch, Jason Pope

References

  1. [citation needed]
  2. Dragon Ball Z: Taiketsu (Prima's Official Strategy Guide). USA: Prima Games, 18 November 2003.
  3. "THE CENTURY'S TOP 50 HANDHELD GAMES" (02 August 2006). Next-Gen. Retrieved: 02 April 2019.