Dragon Ball Z Super Gokuden: Kakusei-Hen

"Wow. Even better than the first Gokuden."

This is the second Gokuden for the Super Famicom. It starts right where the last one left off. If you played the first Gokuden, you should have a good idea what to expect here. Basically, the best way to describe this game is as an RPG. However, there is no free movement in this game. What you do most of the time is you just sit back and read the dialogues of the characters' conversation. The only real time you have much control is during a battle. This game covers a lot of events. It goes from Goku's battles with Piccolo in the original Dragon Ball to the end of the Furiza saga. You control either Son Goku or Son Gohan, depending on what part of the storyline you are at. On to the review!

Graphics: 9.5/10
These graphics are astounding. Everything is very bright and crisp. Characters look exactly like they should look. The graphics in this game are just perfect. Anyone should be happy with these.

Music/Sound: 10/10
This is another perfect area of this game. The music in this game is EXTREMELY good, just like the last Gokuden. There are fast and exciting tunes that pump you up. Then there are frantic tunes that really set the mood for decisive boss battles. The sound is great as well. You can just hear yourself smashing your opponent with punches and kicks, or blasting them with a Kamehameha or Masenko.

Control: 10/10
Controls are all easy and simple to use. You will have no problems at all with these. The gamemakers even simplified the combat system from the previous Gokuden. The buttons are very simple. Y= Punch. B= Kick. X= Dash Attack. A= Ki Attack. Basically, as you get stronger, you learn new moves for each of those categories. Holding the L and R buttons powers up your characters Ki.

Gameplay: 10/10
This game is very FUN to play. You might be saying to yourself: ''Reading dialogues is boring.'' However, in this game periodically, there are choices that come up for you to choose. If you are familiar with the anime, you can make the right choices. If not, you can change the storyline. For example, on Namek, you can have Gohan kill Dodoria and Zarbon.
Then of course, there are the battles. These battles are very fun. The battle is summed as best as being a game of rock-paper-scissors. For each turn, you and your opponent choose an attack. Some attacks beat others. For example, a Dash attack can beat a Punch attack. For a few seconds before your opponent unleases their attack, the name of it appears at the top of the screen so you have an instant to decide what you will do. There is a huge number of different attacks that you can learn so the battles never get boring.

Replayability: 8/10
These game has several different endings depending on the choices you make. However, there is only one true ending where you defeat Furiza. All the other endings are ''Game Over'' type endings based on bad choices. For example, if Gohan and Kuririn choose to wait too long before using the Dragonballs, Furiza comes and kills you.
This game is good for a couple of playthroughs.

Overall: 10/10
This game is a must-have for the Dragon Ball fanatic. It lets you watch the story unfold before you. It should take about 6 hours to finish this game. This game is not that rare and it should be relatively easy to find an import copy of this game. So get it now.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 04/02/01, Updated 04/02/01