From rudimentary dots to hanging animation: 30 years of evolution in Dragon Ball games
NetEase Love Play Million Contribution Campaign Submission, Author Tobia, please do not reprint without authorization
Before its debut in Japan, Dragon Ball Warrior z had already sold 2 million yuan worldwide.
Developed by Arc System Works, a fighting game manufacturer known for "Guilty Gear", this game, which has attracted the attention of Dragon Ball fans around the world since its debut in June last year, has been attracting the attention of Dragon Ball fans for "completely surpassing the graphics effects of the animation" and "completely restoring the fighting action of the original game", and at the beginning of this month, it set a new record for the fastest sales in the history of the Dragon Ball genre game.
As a fighting game adapted from a popular manga, Dragon Ball Warrior Z not only has an impeccable degree of restoration to the original style of the original art, but also has no compromise on the rigor of the battle system inherited from the ggxx bloodline, and it will become one of the key projects of the famous fighting game competition evo in the future.
Dragon Ball is arguably the most well-known and valuable Japanese manga IP in the world, with more than 100 games being adapted, making it the manga work with the most games being adapted. It took more than 30 years from the humble pixel dot matrix of the fc era to the 2.5d animation rendering that now surpasses the expressiveness of the original. While some low-quality comic games are only for the purpose of making fans money and constantly overdrawing the IP of the work, the "Dragon Ball" game series has come to this day with the development history of the game console.
At the moment when this fantastic work is released, the author takes you to recall the evolution of the picture of the Dragon Ball game, and let's see if Dragon Ball Warrior Z is really above all the previous Dragon Ball games.
Even compared to recently remade animations, Dragon Ball Gladiator z is no less impressive
No matter how classic the work, after more than 20 years of completion, it is often inevitable to become the "tears of the times", the reason why "Dragon Ball" can maintain amazing heat at the moment, of course, is not only the original work of Akira Toriyama, the official continues to use derivative works to grow and transfuse the Dragon Ball universe, the re-creation of fans, a large number of peripheral and adapted games have a role that cannot be ignored. Even as an old dragon ball fan, the author once lost attention to it, but in the end it was pulled back to this big pit by the endless stream of new and ever-changing games.
In the sales of Bandai's IP, Dragon Ball ranked first
The most exciting part of "Dragon Ball" is naturally the blood-boiling battle, especially after the "Dance Technique" became the standard skill of Z warriors during the "Dragon Ball Z" period, ground combat, air combat, melee combat, and long-range free switching battle storyboards make readers enjoy watching, and operating Goku and others in the game to stage smooth battles like comics is what many fans have been expecting. Dragon Ball began serialization in 1984, and the first game adaptation was born in 1986.
The two games "Dragon Ball Great Secret" and "Dragon Ball Dragon Mystery" used the popular scroll shooting style and large map action class respectively, and the picture of Qingqi was still in line with the big adventure plot of The Early Goku, but if you want to show the combat characteristics of Dragon Ball under the limited function of fc, such a style is obviously not OK. So after two years of brewing, the RPG game Dragon Ball: Resurrection of the Great Demon King, which fights with cards, came out.
fc's Dragon Ball Dragon Mystery (1986)
In the card series, the comic strip combat performance is adopted in a creative way, and after using punches, musts, kicks and other cards, there will be a battle storyboard in the original work, and the two characters will make a speedy attack and defense action according to the card at the top of the screen, combos, heavy punches, and containment. For the first time, players feel the charm of Dragon Ball battle from the game, and there is a feeling of reading comics, because this form of expression is very distinctive, bandai has also launched a remake version on the ws handheld, full of feelings.
A remake of FC's Dragon Ball: Resurrection of the Great Demon King (1988) and ws from 2003
In 1990, the comic and animation plots of "Dragon Ball" have reached the Namic nemesis, and the expansion of the world view and the rapid improvement of combat effectiveness have made the fighting pattern of "Dragon Ball" grow from destroying the city with all-out attack to blowing up the earth at will. In order to comply with this evolution of combat forms, the Dragon Ball game has also made great changes, the comic strip form of the previous game has become an animation performance that changes according to the card moves, and the handsome close-up of the character is interspersed with the use of the must-kill skill, although it does not seem like a big deal now, but this set of performances is already a very high-grade level in that 8-bit era. If the graphics of the previous game were intended to restore the manga, then from this game onwards, the goal of the Dragon Ball game has shifted to animation.
Dragon Ball Z2: Frieza (1991)
Not only that, but the game will also develop a different "if plot" from the original because of the situation of the characters: for example, the plot of sfc "Dragon Ball z: Super Saiyan Legend" is only to defeat Frieza, but if the main line does not let Vegeta die, Vegeta will become a super Saiyan at the end of the game and the player to fight fiercely, fc "Dragon Ball z3: Battle Cyborg" according to the main line is Goku heart disease temporary exit, other friends against artificial people and Saru, but as long as the condition of Goku's heart disease is not triggered, The final battle is Goku vs. Cyborg 16. Although sparrow is small and complete, although the capacity of these works on the fc is touching and the process is not long, it hides a lot of content that can make fans laugh, but unfortunately, this series ultimately failed to talk about the magic man Buou, and the Sharu chapter was hastily ended before it was finished.
fc's final work, Dragon Ball Z: The Saiyan Extinction Plan: Remember these tricks? The "Burst Light" stacked together is the ultimate flash
It was not until the same card game "Dragon Ball Z: The Legend of distant Wukong" on the nds came out in 2007 that the plot of the Saru chapter was finally completed, the overall picture was greatly renovated, and the character close-up could be seen on the card. Although it is the culmination of the series, it has never been able to blow much wind and waves, and it is a pity that this type of game has never had a sequel.
2007 nds' Dragon Ball Z: The Legend of the Distant Goku
However, the wave of "Dragon Ball" card games has not receded, there are arcade games represented by "Dragon Ball Heroes" that need to buy a large number of physical cards to play, including 3Ds transplant works, a total of 10 games of the same type have been produced, and even "Dragon Ball Super Universe 2" has also added a new mode of collecting cards to fight in the recent large-scale update "Hero Arena".
The biggest feature of "Dragon Ball Heroes" is the original character who lets go of himself, have you heard of Super Three Ratitz and Super Four Broly?
The Dragon Ball rpg series was indeed a very successful work, but with the wave of fighting games set off by Capcom's Street Fighter 2 at that time, the player group also began to hope to play more action-oriented games, and Dragon Ball, which was a selling point of battle, certainly did not miss this opportunity.
Dragon Ball z: Fighting the World's First Budokai on fc is the first such martial arts work to test the nature of the water. Having said that, the game has tried its best in every way, the characters have corresponding killer skills, and the dance technique has made its debut in this game.
1992 FC's Dragon Ball Z: Fighting the World's First Budokai
Subsequently, Bandai officially launched the Dragon Ball fighting game program on SFC , the "Super Martial Arts" trilogy.
1993's Dragon Ball z: Super Martial Arts is the first Dragon Ball game to add character voice, and characters can shout out bloody killer names such as かめはめ波 (Turtle Pie Qigong), final flash (Ultimate Flash) and so on. Because of the improvement of SFC graphics technology, the coloring of the characters is no different from the original, the picture is very comfortable, although the operation is not mature, but it is an enlightenment work that laid a solid foundation for the later Dragon Ball 2D fighting game. After improving the place where the previous game was criticized, "Super Martial Arts 2" successfully became the most classic 2D battle Dragon Ball game in the SFC era, and on the 30th anniversary of the birth of SFC, Bandai also listed this game as one of the legendary works.
SFC's Dragon Ball Z: The Legend of Super Martial Arts, 1993
With sub-era consoles such as ps and n64 coming out one by one, 3D fighting games led by VR Warrior are replacing 2D fighting games. Dragon Ball is also beginning to move towards the world of 3D games. In order to test the feasibility of the 3D type, the last home machine 2D work "Dragon Ball z: The Legend of the Great Dragon Ball", there is already a 3D background that changes the angle and the air bomb effect that can clearly see the polygon, and this work officially announces the advent of the Dragon Ball 3D game.
Dragon Ball Z: The Legend of the Great Dragon Ball in 1996
Although the 2D game camp that continues the traditional production of the old style has shifted to the handheld, there is no compromise on the quality of the game, and "Dragon Ball Z: Dance Air Fighting Drama" and "Dragon Ball: Adventure Advanced" have a high degree of completion. The former's story mode has a lot of if plots (Kling saves the planet) that are worth watching, and the high-speed battles interspersed with close-ups are very refreshing. The latter's horizontal version of the level mode is so rich that people can't believe that this is a gba game, and on top of this, there is another fighting mode with a completely different fighting style, in addition to the qigong wave, the fighting mode also comes with the heaven and earth through the fist, the world is amazing, which are very precious moves in the "Dragon Ball" game. The stunning 2D graphics of Dragon Ball: Adventure Advance reached the top level of the GBA platform, and the expressions of each character were extremely expressive, and Goku's fortitude, Jackie Chan's steadiness, and piccolo's fury could be clearly felt from that small screen. However, no matter how good the game is, it has to be admitted that the 2D battle type of Dragon Ball game is the end of the crossbow, after the release of nds's Dragon Ball z: Dancing Sky Battle, Dragon Ball has not produced a 2D battle game for 10 years.
2004 GBA's Dragon Ball: Adventure advance and 2005's Dragon Ball z: Dancing Sky Battle
Back to the end of the 90s, although the platform of the "Dragon Ball" game was very actively transferred to high-performance consoles such as ps and ss, because the transformation was too hasty, the first 3D work "Dragon Ball: final bout" was really a black history of slag to break through the sky. In terms of graphics and fighting style, he tried to follow the "vr warrior" and "Iron Fist", but belonged to Dong Shi Xiaoyi, except for the op and opening animation sung by Shadow Mountain, he could not find a point that could be praised, the operation and balance were poor, and the actions of the characters did not follow the original at all. At that time, the "Dragon Ball" animation gt was about to finish playing, but I did not expect that the popularity of this work was not rubbed, but the name was obtained a lot, which also made this game the last "Dragon Ball" game of the 20th century.
Dragon Ball: Final bout (1997)
The Original Japanese name of dragon ball z: Budokai in 2003 ps2 is directly "Dragon Ball z", which represents the beginning of a new era
After that, Bandai didn't release a new Dragon Ball for a long time, giving the impression that the series was over. However, dragon ball z: Budokai, which appeared on ps2 six years later, changed all that, and the series not only came back from the dead, but also completed a successful transformation. "Budokai" with the support of ps2 function has reached an unprecedented level of graphics, 3D modeling 2D fighting mode, excellent combat system, story mode and a large number of original cutscenes restored. "Budokai" has been widely acclaimed around the world and has launched the first shot of the new era. The second and third works are the first to use the later king road - 2D animation rendering effect.
2005 ps2 "Dragon Ball z: Budokai 3", animation rendering technology is coming!
In 2007, the original battle that fans wanted to experience 20 years ago was finally realized in Dragon Ball z: Electric Flint. It's a real feast, and as a Dragon Ball fan I can't think of a reason not to play this series: ranged waves, melee fights, ground battles, underwater battles, space battles, the number of available people has reached 161 scary people, and the same characters will have different fighting styles according to different periods: Frieza's Goku and Sarut Goku are completely different characters, and the feeling of playing is very different, and some killer skills will even switch the map to the state before the explosion when it hits the earth or Namco. Whether it is detail or playability, Dragon Ball z: Electric Flint 3 has reached an impeccable point, and even the "Dragon Ball z: Rage Burst" of ps3 can only win in terms of picture quality.
2007 ps2 "Dragon Ball Z: Electric Light Flint 3", 2010 ps3 "Dragon Ball z: Rage 2"
The previous hit "Dragon Ball: Super Universe" has given people the highest level of game graphics in Dragon Ball. Whether it's the killer special effects that are gorgeous enough to overflow the screen or the exquisite scenes or character modeling, these without exception make people feel the evolution of dragon ball games in the next generation of game consoles, but what really surprises me in this game is the nuanced character expressions - using 3D modeling to reproduce the exaggerated expressions in the original game is the goal of the comic game, "Dragon Ball: Super Universe" has exceeded 8 million sales in just two parts, making it the highest-grossing comic game in Bandai. But the haphazardly customized individual characters and the massive brushing RPG elements feel like they're meant to cater to the masses outside of fans.
The expressiveness of "Super Universe" is almost impeccable, but there is still a gap between the characters' looks and the original
If I had to choose one of the best 2D games in the history of games, I would vote for Teacuphead. It seamlessly combines video games with the rubber tube animations of the last century, without even a trace of incongruity during the game, and its admirable control of 2D games and animation details, it makes us sure that the performance of 2D games is not drowned by the torrent of 3D. Arc system work's Dragon Ball Warrior z is exactly that, when I thought that the free play of 3D scenes like "Super Universe" was the most suitable type for Dragon Ball, arc boldly returned the Dragon Ball game to the 2D fighting field, and used incredible animation rendering technology to show us what is the most ideal Dragon Ball comic game.
Animation on the left and game screen on the right
Whether "Dragon Ball Warrior z" surpasses the expressiveness of animation is not to be said, in my opinion, it is more difficult to restore the action storyboard than to surpass the "picture quality" of the original work - after all, the Dragon Ball game in the early days of ps3 has not lost animation in expressiveness. However, every frame of the character's combat action in Dragon Ball Warrior Z can be known, and its every punch and kick can be found in the original storyboard, and its degree of reduction has reached the level of horror, and such a picture is far more impressive to fans than the gorgeous special effects stacked with particles and light effects.
In addition to the combat, the plot of "Dragon Ball" is also a highlight of it, so does "Dragon Ball Warrior z" follow the original plot? Judging from the available information, this game takes the original plot route, and it is believed that many fans who have a special love for various classic shots of the original work will be disappointed, but the official has even taken this into account, they split the shots in these original works and very cleverly divided them into battle opening animations, must kills and ko animations.
For example, in the Arena of Saru Game, goku is used against Saru, and before the battle begins, Goku's first fury will be triggered to transform into the opening animation of Super Two; if Namikaku defeats Frieza with Goku, the ending animation will become the classic plot of Frieza sneaking up on Goku from behind and being bombarded by Goku's blow; if the young Goku and Goku are selected as a team, their final performance will become goku, Goten, and Goku father and son's combined turtle qigong. These special plots that were not added and harmless, but the official was worried about the fans' feelings and put them into a well-made animation in the game.
Defeating Yamucha with Naha on Earth will cause a tragic shot of Yamucha being blown to death, full of malice
We can't say for sure if Dragon Ball Warrior z is the ultimate form of the comic book fighting game, but the miracle of fan fanatical performance and sales in the week it came out can be sure that this is the game that we Dragon Ball fans have been dreaming of for 32 years. If so, would it be a luxury to have one for each of Naruto's one pieces?