Skip to main content

'Dragon Ball FighterZ' will come out swinging on January 26

DRAGON BALL FighterZ - Gohan Character Trailer | X1, PS4, PC
Dragon Ball FighterZ, the new 2D fighting game from Bandai Namco and Arc System Works, is shaping up to be one of the best licensed video games we’ve ever seen, and fans won’t have to wait much longer to get their hands on it. The game is out on January 26 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC, and a newly announced season pass will add even more fighters to its roster.

“The FighterZ Pass is a direct ticket to an even more explosive fighting experience,” with no [fewer] than eight additional mighty characters,” said Bandai Namco in the announcement. “These new fighters will also come with their respective stamp, lobby avatars, and alternative colors.”

Previously confirmed fighters for the game include Android 18, Perfect Cell, Future Trunks, Vegeta, Gohan, Frieza, Buu, Captain Ginyu, and the new Android 21, in addition to many others — forms of Goku and Vegeta introduced in the Dragon Ball Super anime series will also be included.

The pass will set you back $35, and as USGamer pointed out, it’s also available as part of the “Ultimate Edition” of the game for $110. This version isn’t an especially good deal, costing more than the game and season pass purchased separately, with a few early character unlocks, lobby avatars, and stamps.

The previously announced “CollectorZ” version of Dragon Ball FighterZ will not come with the season pass, however. That version of the game includes a Goku statue, steelbook, “art boards,” and a “CollectorZ” box for $140.

Along with the announcements, Bandai Namco also showed off the game’s fantastic box art. It depicts Goku as he’s drawn in the manga, with pencil-like colors and smudging that tug at our nostalgic heart strings.

Dragon Ball FighterZ is slavishly devoted to authenticity, with characters’ moves lifted directly from the anime, and the game’s animation style perfectly replicates the look of the show. It’s actually not the first time Arc System Works has used the license, either. The developer worked on both Dragon Ball Z: Supersonic Warriors on Game Boy Advance and its Nintendo DS sequel. The 2D fighting games were quite underrated, and incorporated a large roster of characters and moves, as well as great audio.

Editors' Recommendations

Gabe Gurwin
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Gabe Gurwin has been playing games since 1997, beginning with the N64 and the Super Nintendo. He began his journalism career…
Volgarr the Viking 2 will take you back to your Ghosts ‘n Goblins days
A viking slashes a tree in Volgarr the Viking 2.

Developer Digital Eclipse is working on a surprising project: Volgarr the Viking 2. The 2D retro sequel will launch on August 6 for PlayStation 4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Nintendo Switch, and PC.

The news is an out of left field reveal. The first Volgarr the Viking game released in 2013 and was made as an ode to 1080s classics like Ghosts 'n Goblins. Despite being a small release, it sold over 1 million copies over the past decade. As revealed during today's Guerrilla Collective stream, the series is coming back with a new sequel by Digital Eclipse, the team behind this year's Llamasoft: The Jeff Minter Story.

Read more
3 Days of Play PS Plus games to try this weekend (June 7-9)
Key art for Streets of Rage 4.

June 2024 is shaping up to be a pretty great month for PlayStation players. Not only are we coming off an entertaining State of Play showcase, but a new Days of Play initiative surrounding all the video game showcases this month is bringing a lot of new PS Plus additions with it. Many of those games hit PS Plus this week, and three in particular stand out to us.

For owners of Sony's oft-neglected PlayStation VR2, the first game is one of its rare exclusives that take full advantage of the headset's eye-tracking by seeing how often players blink. The next is a new PS Plus Essential game that's a revival of Sega's classic beat-'em-up series for the modern gaming era. Finally, the last title is an atmospheric and eerie fishing game that should entice fans of Lovecraftian horror.
Before Your Eyes

Read more
3 first-party Xbox Game Pass games to try this weekend (June 7-9)
Gears 5 Kait Hero Close Up

Microsoft will hold an Xbox Games Showcase and Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Direct. this Sunday. These shows will provide a much better idea of what to expect from Xbox over the course of the next year or two. That's really needed right now, as Microsoft has struggled to keep online discussions around Xbox positive as it went multiplatform with some games, laid off thousands of developers, and outright shut down the developers of Hi-Fi Rush and Redfall. Based on leaks and my personal expectations for the showcase, there are three games you can play on Xbox Game Pass this weekend to prepare for the event.

The first is the latest first-person shooter in a long-running series by id Software that might be getting a medieval-set spinoff. After that, we have the fifth entry in a sci-fi Xbox series that still looks fantastic on Xbox Series X/S even though it came out in 2019. Finally, you can prepare for Avowed with the latest RPG from Obsidian Entertainment, a satirical sci-fi game where player choice is critical.
Doom Eternal

Read more