5) Dragon Ball FighterZ
The worldwide appeal of Akira Toriyama’s legendary Dragon Ball series is not to be understated. This is, after all, a Japanese multimedia franchise that managed to, especially in the 90s and noughties, infiltrate Western pop culture on a massive scale, thanks, largely, to the localization of Toei Animation’s famed Dragon Ball Z anime series. For a niche foreign genre that, even now, still has a hefty amount of stigma attached to it, that’s no mean feat.
In the years since its initial airing, Goku and the rest of the Z fighters have been on hiatus, one that many had assumed to be permanent, given that the majority of Toriyama’s source material had already been adapted for television, but oh no, they’re back, guys and girls, and better than ever.
Not that they’d ever left the realm of video games, of course. Bandai Namco has rolled out a number of titles based on the whimsical universe over the last several years, so why is it, exactly, that Dragon Ball FighterZ is receiving so much more attention than the likes of, say, last year’s Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2? The answer’s quite simple, really.
I mean, you only need to look at the blinding visual flourish that near spills through the screen, to know that Arc System Works is going all out in attempting to do Toriyama’s universe justice. The visual level of authenticity goes hand in hand with Dragon Ball‘s combat, of course, and so far, the developer looks to have nailed both. Everything, from lightning-fast fisticuffs to Super Saiyan transformations and Kamehamehas, looks wonderfully animated for the 2D beat ’em up, boasting a level of polish one would expect from the folks responsible for the Guilty Gear and BlazBlue series.
Ultimately, this looks every bit to be a confident and faithful adaptation of the Dragon Ball universe, and we can’t wait to see other iconic characters added to the roster in the months leading up to release.