Japan Gaming Guide

Dragon Ball Zenkai Battle Royale was released in Japanese arcades in February. The game features four-player simultaneous combat in an open arena and plays a lot like the extremely popular Gundam arcade games recently released. The roster features ten initially selectable combatants, with slots for an additional five more. Player data is saved by purchasing the Bana Passport card, which also allows unlockable characters and costumes.

Gameplay is fast and simple, focused mostly on lining up good shots and moving around the arena effectively. The control setup of five buttons and a joystick leaves little room for attack variety and combos, but makes it easy to jump right in and get fighting. Each character has a long-range and a melee attack, as well as a few special moves executed by pressing multiple buttons. Rounding out the offense is throws and holds, the latter allows other players to damage the held player. Blocking and dodging are the means of defense, with counters possible after a successful block. There are no teams, and victory goes to the players with the highest hit points when a knockout occurs.

The game’s visuals are, like its fighting, pretty simple. Not straying far from the source material, characters and arenas are bright and colorful. Unfortunately, this is contrasted with a general lack of detail and bland backgrounds. The special effects are faithful to the series and pretty much all the trademark attacks are present. A host of visual information is present in the heads-up-display, which can be a distraction. In terms of music and sound, there isn’t anything particularly noteworthy, besides the requisite theme song.

For more information, pictures, and videos, visit the game’s website (Japanese).

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.