Dragon Ball video games are incredibly plentiful, but Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot has proven to be one of the most comprehensive and passionate love letters to Akira Toriyama’s celebrated shonen series. Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is an open-world action RPG that covers the entirety of Dragon Ball Z in intense detail. Several modern Dragon Ball games have effectively simulated the experience of actually being in the Dragon Ball anime, but Kakarot really goes above and beyond in this regard. Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot was released back in 2020, but it still has an active player base, largely due to periodic DLC releases, the last of which was put out in February 2024.
These DLC expansions add a lot to the Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot experience. However, it finally feels like the game has reached the end of its new content and that it’s time for it to start thinking about a successor. Audiences might be eager for a Kakarot sequel that tackles Dragon Ball Super or even Dragon Ball GT. That being said, the smartest approach that a new game in the Kakarot series could take would actually be to turn the clock backward and celebrate the original Dragon Ball with a prequel game, such as “Dragon Ball: Goku.”
Dragon Ball: Goku Is The Logical Place For The Series To Go Next
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot Already Adapted Major Super Milestones
One of the biggest reasons that a new Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot game should return to the original series rather than explore Dragon Ball Super is that the latter already has considerable representation in Kakarot. Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot's first two DLC stories, A New Power Awakens - Part 1 and Part 2 adapt Dragon Ball Super's initial story arcs with Beerus and Golden Frieza. Not only do these DLC expansions cover these story arc's events, but they also bring Super Saiyan God and Super Saiyan Blue power into the mix, which are the Dragon Ball Super anime's most prevalent transformations.
To go one step further, Kakarot's Trunks: The Warrior of Hope DLC also features additional material from Dragon Ball Super's manga where Future Trunks faces off against Future Babidi and Future Dabura. Any Dragon Ball Super sequel would have to skip over these events, which would be doing the title a disservice. Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot does feature a bit of the original Dragon Ball in its 23rd World Tournament DLC, but it's far less intrusive than the amount of Dragon Ball Super material it touches on. If anything, The 23rd World Tournament DLC was Kakarot's attempt to test the waters and see if audiences would be interested in an original Dragon Ball prequel game. Such a release could smoothly lead into this concluding story arc in Kakarot.
Admittedly, Dragon Ball Super's manga has far surpassed the anime's events and could easily sustain its own video game. However, the majority of Dragon Ball fans are anime watchers who aren't up-to-date on the manga. A "Dragon Ball Super: Kakarot" game could potentially alienate fans who are anime-only viewers. Dragon Ball GT, while a much more controversial follow-up to Dragon Ball Z, is also considerably shorter than both the original series and Dragon Ball Super and would struggle to sustain a full game. The smartest approach here is to adapt Dragon Ball's story, which is lengthy, something that all audiences are familiar with and is long overdue for an update. A "Dragon Ball: Goku" game could connect crucial dots between properties and retell Dragon Ball's story with powerful hindsight that was initially absent in Akira Toriyama's creation.
The Original Dragon Ball Has A Well-Defined World That's Easier To Explore
Dragon Ball’s Smaller Scope & Land Travel Fits Kakarot’s Formula
A major element of what makes Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot such a fun experience is that players are just dropped in Dragon Ball Z’s world and get a chance to explore and interact with it beyond all the big story-centric events. Each Dragon Ball series features a rich world, but Dragon Ball Super and Dragon Ball GT are surprisingly distant when it comes to their environments. Dragon Ball GT spends a considerable amount of time hopping around between planets across the galaxy.
Alternatively, Dragon Ball Super spends a heavy amount of time in different universes and timelines, rather than a more stripped-down on-the-ground narrative. So much of Dragon Ball Super gets reduced to the multiversal Tournament of Power, which would make for a great fighting game, but not an action RPG that’s reminiscent of Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot. The anime’s storytelling structure just doesn’t fit the game’s framework.
However, the original Dragon Ball is perfect for this type of approach, and it’d be able to follow in Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot’s footsteps easily. For one, Goku and the majority of Dragon Ball’s characters can’t even fly yet in the original series, which would emphasize ground transportation and an approach that’s complementary to the anime. So much of the original Dragon Ball involves Goku and friends traveling to new areas on Bulma’s motorcycle or Goku’s Flying Nimbus.
It’s not hard to picture many of Dragon Ball’s major and episodic locations, like Skull Valley, Aru Village, Pilaf’s Castle, Mount Paozu, and Korin Tower as important pit stops that players visit on their travels. There are plenty of Dragon Ball games that are different genres than Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot – like Dragon Ball FighterZ or Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 – that benefit from touching upon Dragon Ball Super and Dragon Ball GT’s more powerful characters and iconography. However, it’s antithetical to the gameplay that Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot has established.
Dragon Ball: Goku Would Actually Celebrate Goku, Not Other Characters
Other Dragon Ball Series Stray From Goku & Would Be Too Muddled
A rather surprising detail about Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is that Goku becomes a bit of an afterthought during the game’s later story sagas and DLC expansions. Players begin Kakarot as adult Goku, but the game expands to more than a dozen playable characters that feature the likes of Vegeta, Piccolo, Bardock, Future Trunks, and fused characters like Gotenks and Vegito. The majority of the game is actually played as Gohan – who’s available in his kid, teen, and adult forms. There’s nothing wrong with an expanded roster, but it almost feels a little disingenuous for a game that’s specifically named after Goku. A “Dragon Ball: Goku” type prequel would put Goku in the spotlight instead of forcing him to split his time with over a dozen powerful characters.
The original Dragon Ball is very much Goku’s story and there are rarely moments when its protagonist isn’t present, unlike in Dragon Ball Z. Anyone who felt cheated by the amount of Goku content that’s available in Kakarot would immediately be satisfied with an original Dragon Ball prequel’s roster. A game like this could exclusively feature Goku as its only playable character. However, there would also be opportunities to make Krillin, Yamcha, Tien, and even Bulma playable if the game wanted to feature a little more variety.
Goku himself is a more compelling character in the original Dragon Ball since he matures from a 12-year-old boy into an adult. Audiences could experience different versions of Goku as he ages through the series, whereas he’s an adult through all of Dragon Ball Z and his growth is instead dictated by his various Super Saiyan transformations. A Dragon Ball Super-centric sequel would face the same hurdles as Kakarot, since it would need to split its focus between Vegeta, Future Trunks, Vegito, Gogeta, Android 17, Gohan, and Piccolo.
The Original Dragon Ball Features A Better Sense Of Growth In Goku's Skills
Goku Is Not Yet The Super Powered Saiyan Who’s As Strong As The Gods
A pitfall of the later Dragon Ball series, whether it’s Dragon Ball Super, Dragon Ball GT, or even Dragon Ball Z’s later sagas is that new Super Saiyan transformations become synonymous with progress. New transformations are certainly exciting, but they’re visual spectacles that don't necessarily facilitate action RPGs like Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot. The original Dragon Ball is such a grounded shonen series in comparison to its successors. There are barely any transformations outside of Goku’s Great Ape form, and even that is something that’s treated more like a burden than a blessing. An action RPG that’s based upon the original Dragon Ball can really lean into the different martial arts skills that Goku learns and the rudimentary ki abilities that he masters along the way.
A lot of the original Dragon Ball boils down to Goku’s different martial arts masters and the challenging tournaments that he endures. It’s easy to translate these elements in a video game that has graduated skills and power. It’d be a lot of fun to begin a game where Goku barely has any powers at his disposal and is dependent upon his Power Pole before he slowly masters the Kamehameha, After-Image Technique, and eventually flight. A Dragon Ball game could devise clever scenarios where Goku needs to apply these powers in order to persevere, rather than the player simply spamming them to succeed. A video game that’s based on the original Dragon Ball could even feature Goku’s risky experiment with the Ultra Divine Water and the considerable power boost that it gives him.
Dragon Ball Has Great Variety In Its Story Arcs & Villains
The Original Dragon Ball Has A Narrative That Best Suits A Kakarot Follow-Up
A Dragon Ball video game is pointless if it doesn’t feature a strong story. Flashy transformations and arduous boss battles can only go so far. Dragon Ball Super and Dragon Ball GT have mixed receptions when it comes to their storylines and villains, but they’re fairly repetitive in nature and are often reliant upon nostalgia. Something like Dragon Ball Super’s Goku Black Saga is captivating, but once the mystery is revealed, it’s really just one big battle. The same can be said for Dragon Ball GT’s Super 17 and Shadow Dragon Sagas. They’re incredibly reliant upon perpetual combat, rather than unique story elements and contrasting villains.
The original Dragon Ball gains the advantage here and there’s true variety between its various story arcs and villains, all of which create higher stakes and tension in the process. Dragon Ball covers so much ground that’s ripe for a video game expansion between Goku and Krillin’s training under Master Roshi, the Red Ribbon Army Saga, King Piccolo’s reign of terror, and Piccolo Jr.’s revenge. Even the original Dragon Ball’s various martial arts tournaments have distinct energies that don’t feel like they’re repeating themselves. Fortuneteller Baba’s Tournament is completely different from the 21st or 22nd World Martial Arts Tournaments.
Additionally, the original Dragon Ball is incredibly reliant on the characters hunting down the Dragon Balls. It’s easy to picture a video game that requires players to explore its wide world to track down these Dragon Balls, while also engaging in random battles with Red Ribbon soldiers or King Piccolo’s Dark Vassals who are out in the wild.
Dragon Ball’s filler episodes would even function as satisfying challenges that wouldn’t be difficult to fit into the game’s narrative, whether it’s a showdown with InoShikaCho, Mr. Popo’s Goku doll, a trip to the Demon Realm to rescue Princess Misa, or Goku’s Mount Paozu adventures with Chi-Chi. This is all to say that the original Dragon Ball is a natural fit for a new game in the Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot series where all of its content complements the grander image, nothing would need to be removed or truncated, and it’d be the perfect celebration of Akira Toriyama’s legacy.
