Dragon Ball FighterZ is final🍒ly out and, to no surprise,𝔉 it’s been getting some amazing reviews. ArcSys is no stranger t꧂o making a good fighting game, but the last few Dragon Ball fighte💟rs have been a bit hit or miss. If it weren’t for Xenoverse, Budokai Tenkaichi 3 would have been the last DBZ fighting game woꦕrth making note of. Since then, we got Burst Limit, Raging Blast, and Ultimate Tenkaichi. None of these are bad games, per se, but they didn’tꦰ grab the general audienℱce nearly as powerfully as Budokai and Budokai Tenkaichi did.

FighterZ has managed to reinvigorate the idea of a Dragon Ball fighting game with new life. From the first trailers♑, fans of the series and the genre 𝄹were lavishing the game with praise. No game is perfect, however. While Dragon Ball FighterZ is easily the best DBZ game in ages, it does have some real flaws that detract from its overall quality. It’s an incredible game, one absolutely worth owning and pla🌊ying, but many aspects could have been improved. Whether you’re a fan of Dragon Ball, fighting games, or just someone who clicked on this article because you wanted 🐻to get mad at me for complaining about FighterZ, strap in. We’ve got a lot to talk about.

20 BEST: There’s A New, Original Story

While not all DBZ fighting games are created equal, there is one recurring trend throughout almost all of them: the story. It doe💫sn’t matter if the story’s presented with full cutscenes, text in place of FMVs, or structured like a mission, chances are you’re going to be playing from Raditz to Buu or sometimes Cell if the 🐟dev team were on a budget. FighterZ looks amazing for any number of reasons, but it’s the story that’s particularly deservi🃏𝓡ng of notice.

FighterZ offers a brand new narrative exclusive to itself.

Instead of taking fans on a journey they’ve already experienced hundreds o𝕴f times, this time the game tells its own story. Taking place in the Super era, the story mode takes players on a non-linear adventure across three main arcs. With such a comparatively small roster, too, characters can interact with one another on a more in💧timate level, playing to the series’ strengths. ArcSys certainly could have made a compelling retelling of the original series if they wanted to, but this is a far more welcome alternative.

19 WORST: No Alternate Costumes

As beautiful as FighterZ🃏’s sprites are, it’s hard not to feel theಞ loss of alternate costumes. Dragon Ball Z fighting games have typically done a good job of tossing in a few alts to spice up characters. Goku got his Cell saga jackeღt in Budokai, Future Trunks often gets his Capsu💞le Corp jacket and RIT armor, and Gohan typically gets every one of🍨 his costumes. With FighterZ, what you see is what you get.

To be fair to 🅠ArcSys, alternate costumes would be a serious burden on production. Because the sprites are so detailed and meticulously crafted, adding in alternate costumes could potentially mess up hitboxes or simply eat up budget better spent. We’re all just going to have to settle for alternate colors that vaguely resemble different costumes.

18 BEST: FighterZ Brings The Series To Life Like Nothing Before It

The Budokai Tenkaichi sub♏-serie🐟s gets a lot of love for “being the anime,” so hopefully FighterZ c🃏an get some love for “being the manga.” In the same way 𒊎a match of BT invoked feelings of playing thr🌠ough a💎n actual episode of Dragon Ball Z, FighterZ uses manga references for just about every single attack and movement. You could pic🗹k out just about any character, pause randomly in a match, and be able to find a panel in the manga that inspired whatever pose they’re in. The manga doesn’t get nearly enough credit as it deserves within the fandom so𝓰 it’s wonderful to see ArcSys use the source material as the basis for FighterZ.

Read the manga and marvel at how incredible of a representation FighterZ is.

Previously, Ultimate Tenkaichi did try to emulate a man♌ga-esque experience, but that mostly amounted to mo🌌deling the characters in ways that resembled Toriyama’s Kanzenban art. With FighterZ, ArcSy🎶s has their own style at play, but it’s the the way characters interact that really remind us of the series’ roots.

17 WORST: Auto Combos Are A Pain

It doesn’t matter how in-depth𝄹 a fighting game’s mechanics are, if you give players an incentive to spam, they’re gonna spam. Whether you’re mashing square or mashing triangle, you can trap your opponent into an auto-combo where you they can’t do much in the moment to break out of. In theory, auto-combos will mostly be used by players still learning the controls and mechanics, but we all know that’s not going to happen.

If someone even catches a whiff that they can pummel you without even trying, you better get your A-Game on. Fortunaౠtely, auto-combos don’t do all that much damage and are telegraphed enough where an experienced player can find a way to prevent them. If you want to avoid ♑them altogether, start practicing how to tech out of it.

16 BEST: You Can Tech Out Of Potential Combos

Auto-combos are obnoxious, but they’re not impossible to handle. With some basic training, you too can learn how to stop button mashers dead in their tracks. If you see an auto combo coming your way, hold down any attack button and get r🌞eady to move your character. If your opponent messes up their auto combo, this’ll allow you to rush in and either do some damage or get some much needed distance between the two of you. Using your special while pressing back will also allow you to deflect your opponent.

If you manage to get knocked on the ground, simply hold down.

If you’re on the ground, you can’t get trapped in an auto combꦫo. If you’re struggling to get your techs working, do what any sophisticated fighting game v💧et would do: crouch block. Blocking in FighterZ is very handy. When you block an auto combo, you’re basical🌠ly negating any potential damage done to you. Simply block, and slam your opponent into the g🐼round once you find your opening.

15 WORST: Get Ready For Disappointment If The DLC “Leaks” Are True

Leaked on the Dragon Ball FighterZ subreddit two months ago by user DasVergeben, it was announced that three characters were developed alongside Goku Black but intentionally held back for DLC purposes. This is not a new practice in video game d🏅evelopment, and one that is unfortunately likely to happen with fighting games. What’s worse, should the leaks be true, the three characters held onto really aren’t the types that should be repurposed into DLC, insteܫad more serving a base roster or as unlockable content.

Base Goku, Base Vegeta, and Broly are the three leaked characters.

Of those three, only Broly is worth having as DLC and, even then,💛 he would have made sense as an unlockable character. Base Goku and Base Vegeta, however, have no real right being DLC. The base game already has three Gokus and two Vegetas, there’s no real need for another set. Further supporting the leak is the fact that none of these character have lobby avatars, implying they could be added in later. Hopefully this is all just coincidence, but crazier things have been leaked.

14 BEST: Android 21

A brand new villain and she’s a woman? Yes, please. The only things Dragon Ball’s needed more than female representation is antagonistic female representation. Android 21 is the ♐fir🐠st female villain in the series since Towa was designed all the way back when Dragon Ball Online was relevant. Parꦯt Android, part Majin, and intent on terrorizes our heroes, Android 21 is a fascinating anꦅd welcome inclusion for the Dragon Ball franchise. It certainly helps that her moveset seems to be an amalgamation of most of the characters’ attacks in the game without resorting to a loss of self-actualized character id🦹ent❀ity. Unfortunately, as good as her design and concept are, there is one big hiccup. At least for the English dub.

13 WORST: The Dragon Ball Mechanic Is A Disaster Waiting To Happen

Remember Dragon Rush from Budokai 3? Remember how basically everyone complains about D▨ragon Ruꦑsh from Budokai 3 to this day? That could easily happen with the in-game Dragon Ball mechanic. During a match, you’ll notice Dragon Balls filling up at the bottom of the screen. As you do combos, the balls will fill up. Once you get all sevꦍen, you can trigge🦹r Shenlong so long as your super meter is maxed out.

Upon summoning, Shenlong can grant one of four wishes.

They are full health restoration for whatever character you’re currently playing as, the revival of a teammate, giving you another full super meter, or restoring your 5% of your health along with automatically restoring your super meter. Most of these are total gamebreakers and effectively sway a match in your favor. Since Balls can also be ga🐷ined by auto combos, there’s potential for some very messy, and very annoying, matches.

12 BEST: Low Skill Floor, High Skill Ceiling

One of FighterZ’s best aspects is that’s it’s easy to pick up, but difficult to master. Due ⛎to the newcomer friendly control scheme and the similarities within the rosterಌ, anyone can play FighterZ for the first time and quickly start doing w🐎ell. At the same time, however the core mechanics are complex and require practice and patience to tr🐭uly understand. If you’re a more casual fighting game fan, you aren’t going to punished by any means for not investing time into studying the game, but hardcore fans will be rewarded for their time. It’s 🏅a compromise that allows everyone to get what they want. DBZ fans get the best🌱 game in the franchise in years, and fighting game🌺 fans get an engaging fighter with a fun skin.

11 WORST: No GT Characters

Dragon Ball GT is not a good anime. Turning Goku into a kid again was stupid, Trunks has absolutely no personality, Gohan and Vegeta are sidelines for no reason, and the entire b🌠ack half runs on an absence of logic and understanding for what Dragon Ball’s core philosophy was. That said, the character designs are truly inspired ဣat times and GT does bust out some of the more interesting concepts throughout the entire 🦄franchise.

FighterZ could have made some good use of GT’s cast, especially in a setting that invokes an all new storyline. Super Saiyan 4 Goku and Vegeta would haꦕve been excellent additions, playing off their Blue counterparts well. Super 17, for as dumb as he is, could have led to an interesting moveset thanks to his lanky proportions. Even Baby could have worked, taking over characters’ bodies mid-fight. DBZ and Super definitely deserve first dibs, but GT has a lot to offer when it comes to ro🗹ster potential.