The rosters would also begin to showcase characters from the various movies and specials. The first Budokai game follows the series up until the defeat of Cell, while the later games in the series would go on to the Majin Buu Saga and into GT. It would be the only Dragon Ball fighting game released worldwide until the release of Dragon Ball Z: Budokai in 2002.

To cap it off, the final boss (Golden Oozaru Baby Vegeta) represented the end of GT's first major arc. All of the characters in the game were based on their GT versions, while Frieza, Cell, and Kid Buu represented the Z Era. This game primarily took place in the era of Dragon Ball GT despite how this series hadn't aired in North America. The first DB-based fighting game to be released worldwide, however, was Dragon Ball GT: Final Bout in 1997. The Dragon Ball Z: Budokai and Budokai Tenkaichi series followed this formula, taking players from the start of Dragon Ball Z up through a predetermined part of the series. Most of the Dragon Ball Z fighting games would find themselves based in the main timeline of the franchise while accommodating characters from the movies and GT. Related: Dragon Ball Super Finally Redeemed Gohan: What It Means For His Futureĭragon Ball Super and Dragon Ball GT added further to the series' lengthy history, and the many fighting games set in the Dragon Ball Z universe make use of the extensive timeline for their rosters and their narratives. The original thirteen movies of Dragon Ball Z also exist in their own timelines, as their events cannot be reconciled with the occurrences of the original anime and manga, yet the powers and ages of the characters allow for an approximate placement. During the Android Saga, the character Trunks is introduced, having come from the future to save the past from falling, creating a split in the timeline of the series. The Dragon Ball Z universe has its own journey through time to navigate. Dragon Ball Z fighting games are no exception.

Numerous movies, OVAs, and video games have taken liberties with this growing timeline of Dragon Ball history, placing themselves either in the midst of things or in a separate timeline entirely with events that have no way of happening in the main storyline. Dragon Ball Z's timeline continues to expand, having taken fans of the Akira Toriyama title through the life of Goku from his days as a little boy traveling with Bulma to his adulthood.

All dragon ball z fighting games