Dragon Ball Z: Supersonic Warriors

"The closest you can get to DBZ"

Dragon Ball Z games on the Game Boy Advance were just as I expected, nowhere near Dragon Ball Z gameplay wise. They were merely fighting games with the name Dragon Ball Z smacked on the front cover. When I saw another Dragon Ball Z being made, man, I suspected failure. It's made by an unknown company. No chance. What a mistake I made. This turned out to be one of my favorite Game Boy Advance games.

Graphics 10/10: This game has amazing graphics. You can tell which characters are which, the fighting attacks are just like on the show, the fighting interaction releases waves of blows just like when characters block each other on the television show. So in other words, Supersonic Warriors manages to capture the fighting of the Dragon Ball Z series. The graphics make this game easier to play and more enjoyable.

Gameplay 9.6/10: The gameplay is the best part of the game. The game is extremely fast paced, and at the same time, you can actually tell what you are doing. The gameplay is extremely similar to that of the series. Each character has his own special set of attacks, such as Goku with his Kamehameha and Spirit Bomb. The most amazing part of the gameplay is the fact that this it is not a button masher like most other fighting games. Believe it or not, once you actually know what you are doing, you can actually have amazing fights. Especially when two people link up to fight.

One important feature in the show that does not show up in the game, however, is the energy wave interaction. We always see two guys duking it out with two energy waves, trying to overcome the other person. But in Supersonic Warriors, if two people manage to shoot energy waves at the same time, it simply hits and disappears. Kind of disappointing, but i'm not complaining because of all the other great gameplay in this game.

Another great feature in this game different from most other DBZ games is you can fly at will. Not some cheap energy consuming limited flying like some others. Just like in the show, you can stay in mid-air as long as you want. This is important for two fast players trying to hit each other with energy waves. you couldn't really do anything if you were on ground.

Some other fighting features is the reflecting energy bullets, which is used in the show all the time, blasting enemies into mountains, physical duke outs, and team battles to name a few. Team battles are were you have a 2 vs 2 or 3 vs 3 match. Not at the same time, but when one character dies, another takes over. Which is great as you can switch right before you are about to get Kamehameha-ed which is extremely cheap but useful.

Characters 10/10: Just about every fighting character in the DBZ series is here. From Goku to Super Saiyan 3 Gotenks, you can even play as the bad guys. Cell, Majin Buu, etc... At first you start off with a limited amount of characters, but as you play more, beat story mode, beat Z battle mode, you will eventually be able to buy more characters from the store to play as. There is 15 characters total, each having 3 different levels. In a Saiyans case, Normal, Super Saiyan, and Super Saiyan 2. Gotenks has the look of a Super Saiyan 3 however.

Replay Value 10/10: Who gets tired of beating each other up? It will take an extremely long time to get bored of this game. Especially if you have a friend with this game, you can as good as double or triple the Replay Value. You can each keep practicing at the game and get better and you can duke out a team battle against each other. The replay value mainly lies within the Gameplay itself, if you are a true DBZ fan, you will not want to put down this game. Literally.

Multi-Player 9.5/10: There is only one choice of multi-player, sadly, but it is still good. It's team battle, you can choose up to 3 characters, then you have a fight with them, obviously. It would be cool if you could team up and fight some other guy in a team match, but a simple team battle is good enough. If you choose a level 2 or 3 character, then the amount of characters you will be able to choose for the fight will decrease.

Sound 9.9/10: The fighting music matches the gameplay and is nice as well. The theme music and intermission music doesn't match the background much at all, but you probably won't be hanging around the main menu for long, so you don't have to deal with the music much. But the fighting music itself is very good. The sound is extremely accurate, when you Kamehameha you hear the character say it, when your shooting energy bullets it makes that shooting sound, and when you hit someone you hear them grunting which is similar to the series. There is absolutely no problem in sound.

Overall 9.8/10: I see absolutely no way a DBZ fan can pass this game up. If you like the DBZ series, I totally 100% recommend you buy this game no hesitation. There is no better DBZ game out there at the moment, if you want a game that has the same fighting as the series, this is as close as you can get to it.

Reviewer's Score: 10/10, Originally Posted: 05/30/04