Dragon Ball Z: Supersonic Warriors

"Finally a game DBZ fans can be proud of!"

I'm not going to spend time with pleasantries, I'm gonna get to the reason you clicked here! First just let me say if you thought Taiketsu was a horrible game DO NOT let that impair your judgment on purchasing this game when it hits the U.S. shores in June. This game is so far from Taiketsu it's not even funny. And in some ways it even runs laps around Budokai 1 & 2.

First things first, I'll explain how the battle system works. It's so simple, yet so ingenious. If anyone has played DBZ Legends before, than you should recognize the way battles are fought. The B button is your weak attacks, and the A button is your strong attacks. The B button is mostly used for quick hits that you can easily string into a combo, and the A button is used primarily for the last hit in a combo. The R button is to power up, and the L button swaps between team mates during battle.

Some advanced techniques.... While holding R to power up, pushing B will release a small ki blast at your opponent. pushing A will do a larger Ki blast, usually a signature move of the character. Example being Gohan's A attack is the Masenko. Holding A will allow you to charge the attack up for more damage. And pressing A+B together will unleash a characters Super move. This of course being moves such as Kamehameha, Final Flash, Special Beam Cannon, etc. Now here is where the game gets cool! Super moves depend on 2 things. 1) Where you are in accordance to your enemy (above, to the side, below them), and whether or not your power is at 100% or not. Being to the side, above, or below may determine what attack they do. Example is Goku, being to the side he will do the Kamehameha, being above and at 100% will unleash the Genki Dama. Try experimenting some :)

Holding R while moving will cause you to dash towards your opponent quickly at the cost of 10% power. And pressing L+R together while at 100% power will power up some characters like Goku who will first go into Kaio Ken, then SSJ.

You start the game with Goku, Gohan, Piccolo, Vegeta, Mirai Trunks, and Frieza available at the start. More await to be unlocked though :)

Now for the break down of the game....

Graphics: 4/5
It would be hard to find a better looking fighting game on GBA. The graphics are great and leap years ahead of Taiketsu. There's no ''sketched in power up lines'' like there was in Taiketsu either. Powering up will yield a full aura just like in DBZ. The game also features a cut scene here and there for some specials. They look ok, nothing too special though. And thankfully not nearly as long as the ones in DBZ Legends. Simply put the characters look good, and so does much else in the game. The only flaw I have with it is that the backgrounds could use a bit of a face lift. But hey, considering the size of a GBA cartridge it still amazes me that it can do what it does. And not to mention, the cries of people saying Budokai was too slow. Well not this game friends. It's fast, as fast as many of you think a DBZ game should be.

Sound: 4/5
The only reason I did not give this a 5 was because it just wasn't quite as good as Legacy of Goku II. It does have a fairly decent soundtrack and all of the trademark character yells and screams are in the game. The sound effects for specials and supers doesn't sound too bad either. I'm almost hoping the US version will keep the Japanese voices for the yells and screams.

Playability: 5/5
This is one game you can definitely pick up and start playing right off the bat. Spend about 10 minutes in training and you will easily have learned most of the attacks and get a good idea of how the game works. Simply put, its easy to play and fun.

Re playability: 3.5/5
Ok, I'm being a bit biased here. It's hard to score this part because if you are a DBZ fan, you are going to play this game again and again for sure. But, even after you have unlocked all the characters you may not have much left to do. And I know not that many people have a link cable for GBA, but if you do, boy are you in for some fun with your friends. So I would score this a 3 for one-player re playability, and a 4 for two player re playability.

Fun Factor: 4/5
If you're not a DBZ fan, then don't bother. It's not like any other fighting game out there. But if you are a DBZ fan, this game will be godsend. It's fast, cool, and will make you say hell yeah when you do a characters super. Simply put, it is probably the best DBZ game available at the moment.

Closing Comments:
I will be surely buying this game when it comes to the US. It's amazing. I said it already and I will say it again, it is simply put, the best DBZ game available at the moment.

Reviewer's Score: 9/10, Originally Posted: 04/04/04