The More Marvelous Dragon Ball FighterZ
The big question about Dragon Ball FighterZ following two seasons of downloadable content was whether it would receive a third season, or if Arc System Works and Bandai Namco would move on to a sequel. This question was tougher to answer than expected. The first season’s slate of characters were fine outside the more divisive additions (in the west, anyway) of Base Goku and Base Vegeta. But the second season was lacking, with fan favorite characters being skipped over for the even more divisive Kid Goku (GT) — though he’s frequently used in the game thanks to being one of the best characters.
The announcement that Ultra Instinct Goku was on the way greatly increased the chance that a third season would be announced at the Dragon Ball FighterZ World Tour Finals this past weekend. This made the official announcement less surprising, but that doesn’t mean it wasn’t welcome.
UI Goku from the Tournament of Power arc in Dragon Ball Super shows how the development team can somehow still make unique move sets for Gokus despite this being the sixth iteration. I had a little hope that FighterZ would avoid the trap several previous Dragon Ball fighting games fell into by having too many versions of Saiyan characters like Goku and Vegeta, but that was naïve — it was just a “little” here. Fans love the hell out of their Saiyans, and both companies here are happy to oblige them. UI Goku’s key techniques are taken right from the anime and manga, which Goku found the opportunity to use despite being unable to hold this form for long.
The big twist here is how another character is coming before him: Kefla, the fusion of Saiyan female characters of Kale and Caulifla through the Potara earrings. It would be an understatement to say that Kefla is merely popular, something hammered home by the massive cheers she generated after the announcement at the finals, and how her name was trending on Twitter worldwide for a few hours. She also wasn’t around in the series for long, but she left a mark thanks to her appealing personality (or personalities, given the fusion). She sticks out among Dragon Ball’s overwhelmingly male-dominated cast.
From the glimpse at her move set in the trailer, Kefla’s inherited a bunch of techniques from DBS, with the development team recreating her animations. A slightly longer trailer and demonstrations from streamers and tournament players should arrive over the next two weeks, assuming Bandai Namco is following the pattern from previous character releases. There’s no reason to think they won’t, especially given her popularity.
Kefla will arrive on February 26th for season pass purchasers and on the 28th as a separate purchase. UI Goku will arrive in the spring, while three more characters will come shortly afterward. The identities of those characters are anyone’s guess at the moment, and there are many possibilities. Top? Raditz (yes, still)? Ribrianne!? Who knows. Remember that Kid Goku from Dragon Ball GT is available here, as I mentioned above, and Cooler, Janemba, and the old Broly from the Dragon Ball Z movies are also present, so they don’t have to be canonical.
The third season will also come with gameplay changes. The biggest will be “Z-Assist Select,” the option to select from multiple assists for each character. This alone will shuffle the tier lists before getting to the actual balance changes. Super Saiyan Vegeta’s placement on many of them, for instance, was partially due to his ridiculously good projectile spam assist, good for starting combos or locking the opponent into one position. Just think of the possibilities with more characters having assists on par with that one, if the developers are feeling generous. This feature is reminiscent of several Marvel vs. Capcom games that allowed for selecting from three different assists, making the comparison between those games and FighterZ even stronger.
That’s not the only one: Another new feature coming, though whether it will arrive with the above season 3 changes isn’t clear. The development team is working on “adjustments that prevent one sided games” alongside a feature that will give players a fighting chance even if they’re down to one character. There’s no elaboration on what form this could come in, but it brings to mind the X-Factor feature from the Marvel vs. Capcom 3 games upon reading it. Activating it would superpower a character or remaining team, letting them perform devastatingly powerful combos. It was downright frightening when used with the right character. There’s nothing indicating whether this feature will work so similarly here, but it will make for some exciting matches if it’s even close to it.
Expect more trailers and gameplay videos leading up to season 3’s arrival over the next two weeks, including those showing Kefla in further action. The reveal of the three characters shrouded in mystery will come afterward, and ideally none of them will be yet another Goku.
About The Author
Geoff
News Editor | Geoff is some nerd who writes for a blog and thinks he's knowledgeable. He write a lot about video games, but is capable of writing about other subjects, too. Twitter
