Though it’s not really my strongest pedigree, I somehow have ended up with most of the Dragon Ball related titles on both the Wii and DS. Sure, I did used to watch the show in my younger years and I do know most of the characters but I wouldn’t say that I’m the biggest expert of the franchise (for instance, I’ve never read the Manga and I haven’t played every Dragon Ball title). Nevertheless, I have become the Dragon Ball guy of Nintendo’s systems whether I like it or not.
Over the years I’ve actually played quite a few Dragon Ball titles from the classic SNES Japanese fighters to the more modern fighting games. Though I initially enjoyed the more recent 3D fighters, I must say that the series has had little change over the years in that almost all we’ve experienced is purely fighting games. There have been some variations over the years such as last year’s Dragon Ball: Origins featuring a stylus controlled hybrid of action, adventure, and even a little bit of RPG elements along the way. This game had a welcomed reception from critics alike as it was a successful title in the Dragon Ball universe that didn’t involve the traditional style of fighting.
Another title that I reviewed back in my days at Gamerz-Edge was also a welcomed addition to the Dragon Ball universe in a form other than fighting: Dragon Ball GT: Transformation contained a solid beat-em-up action/arcade style of gameplay featuring beautiful graphics on the GBA and a strong multiplayer mode (provided you had a friend with the same game). These type of games have helped to broaden the appeal of Dragon Ball games beyond the small subset of anime fans that enjoy the series.
After receiving Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo and not having heard anything about the game, I immediately thought that it would be just another 3D fighting game on the Wii based around Dragon Ball rather than the typical Dragon Ball Z (as we had still yet to see a non-fighting console Dragon Ball game hit the market). To my surprise, and delight, the game features a classic arcade style of gameplay to go with the typical cel-shaded style of graphics that brings anime games to life.
First Impressions
One of the first things any gamer notices when turning on a game is the music and title screen sequence. Thus, in terms of first impressions, it is important for games to feature a strong score as well as nice looking graphics. Revenge of King Piccolo begins with a fully orchestrated, Japanese dubbed titles song and is coupled with some nice graphics to boot. Cel-shading has done wonders for anime and continues to be the best mode of presentation on current gen systems.
The music continues to be good throughout the game, featuring a decent score of arcade-style music, some reminiscent to the classic Ninja Turtles arcade games, while at other times featuring driving rock (when in boss battles). Voiceovers are strong as usual, with voice acting that sounds like it’s straight out of the cartoons (though having the characters talk to you for each part of the menu you highlight is a little over the top in my opinion). Graphics aren’t incredible but do look good on the Wii and feel like the anime has been taken into a third dimension.
In terms of gameplay modes, this game features one adventure mode as its main staple and a smaller World Tournament mode for extra gameplay. In adventure mode, gamers play through a brief timeline of the events in the Dragon Ball series, leading up to just prior to the Dragon Ball Z series. Much of the story is skipped or read to the gamer through brief summaries of the minor events while the major events are played through by the gamer. Starting from the first time Goku meets the Red Ribbon Army, the game continues through to the battles with King Piccolo. But, unlike the typical fighting game where gamers would only fight in classic fighting game battles, the action/platforming makes for a better storytelling medium.
Redefining a Series
Gameplay actually contains many elements from some of the better classic games out there. The game is in the 2.5D style of gaming where the player’s overall movement is within a plane but he/she can move to a small extent in the z-direction to add 3D depth. This works well for action/arcade games such as this one because you need all directions when fighting baddies but don’t want too much freedom that would make the game too overwhelming.
Combat is easy to pick up like any arcade game, where most of the combat involves the mashing of a single button; the A can be combined with any direction and hit multiple times in succession to create different combos of attacks. B jumps and Z is used to lock on and zoom to the locked target. This makes for some fast paced battles as well as extra combos. Other battle techniques include the C button to pop up a shield just like the one in Super Smash Bros., and the D-Pad to fire a Kamehameha energy blast. These blasts can only be fired, however, if your Ki meter has one of up to three bars filled. These bars can be filled by collecting items and/or attacking enemies. Advanced attacks such as dodges, counters, and the ground pound add to the variety of attacks you’ll use within the game.
Though combat can get a little stale from time to time, the addition of different types of bad guys and strong boss battles make for just the right amount of variation to keep the experience fresh. Speaking of the boss battles, they reminded me of battles with Dr. Robotnik from any of the 2D Sonic the Hedgehog games on the market, even the more recent Sonic Rush titles on the DS as well as classic battles with arcade bosses. These baddies can be attacked in small spurts but always gain a time of brief invincibility after being attacked too quickly. There are also different phases of the battle and enemies can go into the foreground or background to change up the battle.
One of the other portions of the game that was taken from successful titles are the platforming elements of the game. In Dragon Ball, the heroes haven’t yet learned to fly so you’ll be hopping around the environment from ledge to ledge. Using the lock-on feature, you can also lock on to different areas that Goku will immediately jump towards (very similar to locking on to things in 3D Sonic titles. As you play through the game, there will be individual chapters to the story and within each chapter there are eight hidden treasure chests throughout the world. This reminded me of The Great Cave Offensive from Kirby Superstar as well as the adventure mode from Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Finding these treasures requires some skilled platforming and/or reflexes at times as well as be extra perceptive at times.
As you play, you’ll also receive Zenny, the game’s currency, from fighting battles and from destroying pots and boxes along the way. Zenny can be used at the shop on the title screen to buy upgrades for Goku in the main game as well as buy character trophies, songs, and story sequences to watch. There is a lot of content to purchase but the only useful items are the upgrades for Goku (the rest is just for your own pleasure).
Important Issues
As was mentioned before, World Tournament mode is really more of an extra than a separate game mode. In this portion of the game, players can battle against the computer or other humans using any of the characters in the game that they’ve encountered. However, unlike the polished fighting gameplay we’ve seen from Dragon Ball games in the past, this one features the combat from the adventure mode, which is really more suited for arcade style fighting against hordes of enemies and doesn’t work as well in this mode.
Aside from this mode, however, there is nothing more to the game. This is probably the biggest issue with Dragon Ball: Revenge of Piccolo because the game can be finished within 10 hours of gameplay and most gamers will do nothing beyond the main game experience and will have little reason to replay the experience. At an MSRP of $39.99, this game is on the upper end of Wii game prices so this doesn’t help the game’s overall value.
Summary
Overall, Dragon Ball: Revenge of Piccolo is a welcomed change to the typical console fighting game that has been linked to the Dragon Ball series so many times before. Featuring solid, classic 2.5D gameplay, the game’s mix of arcade and platforming gameplay feels very refreshing for the Dragon Ball series. Taking a few elements from games such as Sonic and Kirby and remaining a classic arcade game, this game has an enjoyable amount of gameplay. I only wish they had gone all out arcade and allowed for co-op multiplayer and overall the experience is too short lived for the price tag.