History VideoGame / DragonBallZKakarot

* AdaptationalJerkass: One sidequest has Yamcha caught cheating on Bulma, which in canon was an InformedFlaw at best and OutOfCharacterMoment at worst.

** Since the entirety of [[FantasticVoyagePlot Goku and Vegeta's exploration of Super Buu's body]] is [[AdaptationDistillation only referenced in the story]], we only see Super Buu revert to his Gotenks-absorbed form ([[AdaptationInducedPlotHole even though by this point Gotenks should have already been separated back into Goten and Trunks inside him]]) and then to his normal form as Goku and Vegeta free the absorbed victims offscreen. We then see Goku and Vegeta escape with the absorbed victims (except for Fat Buu) as Super Buu is in the process of turning into Kid Buu. While the narrator does explain what happened inside Super Buu's body, he completely leaves out [[ItMakesSenseInContext Goku and Vegeta's confrontation with Super Buu inside his head]], as well as Vegeta tearing down Fat Buu's pod and causing Super Buu's DeathOfPersonality and regression into Kid Buu, transforming come out of nowhere.

''Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot'' is a WideOpenSandbox ActionAdventure RolePlayingGame by Creator/BandaiNamcoEntertainment and Creator/CyberConnect2, released on Platform/Playstation4, UsefulNotes/XboxOne, and [[UsefulNotes/IBMPersonalComputer PC]] on January 17, 2020, and UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch with its first two DLC packs included on September 24, 2021.

* BaitAndSwtich: A surprisingly mean spirited one from Future Bulma. After a whole sidequest of Future Trunks and Puar attempting to help preserve Yamcha's memory, Bulma comes in and gives the cat much needed reassurance that the man was good and did good and Puar doesn't need to prove that to anyone else.... But then internally thinks to herself about all his flaws, some of which are hypocritical or exaggerated, which dampens the sweet moment signficantly.

* AdaptationalJerkass: One sidequest has Yamcha caught cheating on Bulma, which in canon was an InformedAttribute at best and DubText at worst.

* AdvertisedExtra: Despite being promoted during the marketing of the game as she is designed by Creator/AkiraToriyama, Bonyu doesn't appear in the story mode. [[spoiler:She is an OptionalBoss created by the "female researcher" (Android 21) based on the data of a ship, meaning she doesn't even appear physically.]]

** Explained InUniverse. The original ''Dragon Ball'' had a lot of {{Funny Animal}}s that lived alongside humans (including the King), yet besides named characters like Oolong and Puar they mostly disappeared after the Saiyan Saga (Though the King still appears in the Cell and Buu Sagas). This game reveals that there was a drug called animorphaline that could turn humans into anthropomorphic animals, called Beastmen, which was rather popular when Goku and Bulma were kids, but the fad ended a few years later, and most Beastmen took an antidote to turn back into humans. There's a sidequest where you can help a couple of Beastmen who want to turn back into humans again by gathering the ingredients for the antidote.

*** Also applies to the fight with the Cell Jrs. at the Cell Games. In the manga and anime, Goku was still worn out from his fight with Perfect Cell, and Cell had snatched the bag of Senzu Beans from Krillin before he could be given one, resulting in him not being able to put up much of a fight against the Cell Jrs. Here, while WorfHadTheFlu is still in effect, the battle is significantly less one-sided and more akin to a CurbStompCushion (indeed, he's able to hold his own against multiple Cell Jrs. - albeit with Vegeta and Trunks' help - whereas in canon, he needed Tien and Yamcha of all people to back him up against an assault from just one). Notably, Goku is still standing as he witnesses Gohan reaching Super Saiyan 2 in the game, while in the source material, he was lying beaten on the ground same as the human fighters.

!'''This page is for a game based on ''Anime/DragonBallZ'', and assumes that you are familiar with the ''Franchise/DragonBall'' franchise. As such, spoilers for ''DBZ'' and its predecessor ''Manga/DragonBall'' will be left unmarked. Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned!'''

''Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot'' is a WideOpenSandbox ActionAdventure RolePlayingGame by Creator/BandaiNamcoEntertainment and Creator/CyberConnect2, released on Platform/Playstation4, UsefulNotes/XboxOne, and [[UsefulNotes/IBMPersonalComputer PC]] on January 17, 2020, and on UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch with its first two DLC packs included on September 24, 2021.

''Kakarot'' follows the story of ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' in its entirety, from the Saiyan Saga through the Buu Saga. In addition to following the story and reenacting famous battles through the series, players will also be able to take advantage of wide-open areas to partake in various activities, such as side-quests based on {{filler}} episodes from the anime which also sees the return of many of Goku's oldest friends and foes, fishing, hunting and eating to boost stats. Even though Goku is the titular character, he isn't the only playable one: as players progress through the game, they can party up with, or even take control of, Goku's fellow Z-Fighters, from Piccolo to Vegeta to Gohan.

** The DLC fight with Beerus is a level 250 battle. Even with all 250 levels and Super Saiyan God you will be put to the test.
** The second DLC pack increases the level cap to 300. As with Beerus, the Indomitable Emperor fight with Golden Frieza will push you to your limit.
* AdaptationDeviation: With how the game adapts certain events into the game:
** With ''[[Anime/DragonBallZBattleOfGods Battle of Gods]]'', rather than waking up and find the Super Saiyan God of prophecy, Beerus and Whis has Goku and Vegeta train with him to help unlock the transformation with the help from their sons and Future Trunks. Both Saiyans would get into a sparring match that interrupts a very pissed off Beerus's nap, forcing them to team up and fight back against him. There is no mention of Bulma's birthday, since the main plot of the film [[ABirthdayNotABreak took place during Bulma's birthday party]], with Majin Buu [[NiceJobBreakingItHero being the culprit for refusing to give him any pudding]].
** With ''[[Anime/DragonBallZResurrectionF Resurrection 'F']]'', Frieza was already brought back from the dead via substory where Goku challenges the Emperor outside of West City, and after defeating him, Frieza leaves without incident. This leaves a very sour note on him as he returns with his original army, who were also brought back to life with wishes by the heroes to challenge them, except Raditz and Nappa who don't rejoin the army. The game [[AdaptedOut removes Sorbet from the plot]] as Frieza rebuilt his army on his own.

* AdaptationDistillation: The entirety of [[FantasticVoyagePlot Goku and Vegeta's journey inside Super Buu's body]] is never shown in the game. All that we have to go on is the narrator's explanation on what happened after Super Buu absorbs Vegito into his body, with Super Buu shown reverting back to his normal form after Goku and Vegeta free the absorbed victims offscreen. Goku and Vegeta also end up escaping from Buu's body with the absorbed victims (except for Fat Buu) as he transforms into Kid Buu, with the game never showing or explaining the circumstances behind the transformation (namely tearing down Fat Buu's pod causes Super Buu to undergo a DeathOfPersonality while his body regresses into Kid Buu). Kid Buu still ends up spitting out Fat Buu though when the latter keeps him from attacking Mr. Satan.
* AdaptationExpansion:
** A lot of new material, whether it be in the Z-Encyclopedia or various substories, were all approved of by Toriyama himself.

** For reasons of this being a game, some aspects were expanded to add more gameplay. Most notably, [[spoiler:during the iconic Super Spirit Bomb scene at the end of the Buu Saga, Goku briefly accelerates so fast that time stops around him, and he and Kid Buu have one final slugfest within the span of a split second of real time. Not only does this serve the function of a FinalBoss, it's retroactive {{Foreshadowing}} (since it won't be the only time Goku goes that fast, and, as fans have theorized, [[WildMassGuessing the white aura Goku dons during that fight might be Goku tapping into a surface-level facsimile of Ultra Instinct]])]].

** In ''The 23rd World Tournament'' DLC, the small flashback of Tien's brutal training under Tao is adapted to a full side-story where his training match with Tao is expanded upon. Other minor scenes added were a tournament staff member telling Goku, Yamcha and Krillin that Chiaotzu has recovered in the hospital after losing to Cyborg Tao
* AdaptationExplanationExtrication:
** After Zarbon brings back Vegeta to Frieza's ship to be interrogated, Vegeta just kinda... escapes, with no reason why he was left alone to just heal up to full health. In the source material this was because of Appule getting tricked, and he ''does'' have a model and is in the game, but his scene is cut, strangely enough.
** Speaking of Zarbon, his death is... kind of confusing. Unlike in canon where he's granted a definitive death of having his stomach blasted out and thrown into a lake. He slowly falls down wordlessly, and Vegeta taunts him as if Zarbon could still hear him, leaving some ambiguity as to whether he was dead or not.

** Piccolo's defeat to Cell changes a good amount in the game: In the anime and manga, Piccolo has his neck snapped, has a hole blown through him, and then tossed in the ocean to drown. However, in the game Cell just... punches him really hard, not making it seem any worse than a punch any other fighter would have taken, so Goku's surprise that Piccolo's alive isn't nearly as surprising as it was originally, nor does it make much sense.
** Cell never gets a senzu bean from Goku in the game proper, making it seem weird that Cell goes from being battered and about equal with Goku to fully healed without any explanation.
** Just like the source material, Cell is able to regenerate because a single nucleus in his head managed to survive. However, the game does not explain ''how'' he is able to do it, particularly because the game excised any scenes of him regenerating his lost parts due to Piccolo's cells, causing it to be felt a bit out of the field.
** Since the entirety of [[FantasticVoyagePlot Goku and Vegeta's exploration of Super Buu's body]] is [[AdaptationDistillation only referenced in the story]], we only see Super Buu revert back to his Gotenks-absorbed form ([[AdaptationInducedPlotHole even though by this point Gotenks should have already been separated back into Goten and Trunks inside him]]) and then to his normal form as Goku and Vegeta free the absorbed victims offscreen. We then see Goku and Vegeta escape with the absorbed victims (except for Fat Buu) as Super Buu is in the process of turning into Kid Buu. While the narrator does explain what happened inside Super Buu's body, he completely leaves out [[ItMakesSenseInContext Goku and Vegeta's confrontation with Super Buu inside his head]], as well as Vegeta tearing down Fat Buu's pod and causing Super Buu's DeathOfPersonality and regression into Kid Buu, making the transformation come out of nowhere.
* AdaptationInducedPlotHole:
** Since the game cuts out the scene where Vegeta executes a weakened Recoome and Burter, their fates here are left unaddressed with them supposedly either dying after being defeated by Goku or does so when Frieza destroyed Planet Namek (although if the latter does happen, they would have been transported to Earth along with everyone else before that happened).
** As Goku and Vegeta free Super Buu's absorbed victims offscreen, Super Buu is shown transforming back into his Gotenks-absorbed form before he reverts back to his normal form. At this point, Gotenks should have already been separated back into Goten and Trunks (and indeed, Goku and Vegeta are shown escaping with Goten and Trunks in the game). In canon, Gotenks separated back into Goten and Trunks inside Super Buu ''before'' the latter absorbed Gohan (which led to Buu's form taking on Piccolo's cape because the latter was his strongest absorbed victim at the time) with the boys shown to be separated by the time Goku and Vegeta find them in Super Buu's body. When Goku and Vegeta tear down Gohan, Goten, and Trunks' pods, Super Buu reverts to his Piccolo-absorbed form before Goku detaches Piccolo's pod, leading Super Buu to revert back to his normal form.

** The cinematics tend to make changes to make some of the fights to look like actual fights instead of the [[CurbStompBattle one-sided beatings]] they really were. A specific example is that Frieza actually rushes and has a brief BrawlerLock with Super Saiyan Goku when he transformed.
** Gohan is portrayed as a much more willing combatant against the Saiyans in the game fighting against the Saibamen alongside Yamcha and facing Nappa with Krillin and Tienshinhan, while in the original manga and anime he was too afraid to fight for much of the early portions of the battle. Similarly, he is both willing and capable of fighting Cell when he's a Super Saiyan, in contrast with Gohan's canon reluctance and CurbStompBattle he received.
** Guldo and Recoome perform much better with their opponents, Guldo with Gohan and Krillin and Recoome with Goku respectively during the gameplay. The latter in question manages to have an actual fight with Goku. Downplayed in that Goku is holding back throughout the fight, the moment Goku gets serious, Recoome is one-shotted with an elbow to the gut like in canon.

** Additionally, [[ZigZaggedTrope it's also zig-zagged]]. Krillin and Gohan manage to defeat Guldo without Vegeta coming to their aid, but manage to struggle at worst or fight on even level with Guldo, whereas in the original, they outclassed him until he was forced to use telekinesis to paralyze them in order to have a chance.
** Dodoria actually manages to put up a fight against Vegeta, instead of cowering and putting up almost no resistance and more or less instantly getting killed after he reveals the truth about Planet Vegeta.
** Dr. Gero actually manages to fight against Piccolo, and has some pretty devastating moves to work with. Canonically, Gero wasn't much of a fighter and went more for hit-and-run tactics, not to mention he only lasted as long as he did because Piccolo was toying around with him.
** Strange as it might sound, ''Goku'' got this treatment as well. During the Cell Saga, Goku can fight Semi-Perfect Cell, who in this state actually dwarfs Goku in terms of raw power due to recently getting power ups that put him above 16, 17, and Piccolo, who were all stronger than Goku at this time. Downplayed in that Goku doesn't do any damage to Cell (and even lampshades that he can feel how big the power gap is between them), but the fact he's able to trade blows with him at all plays this trope straight otherwise.

** Golden Frieza in the ''Resurrection F'' movie and its anime adaptation had a huge stamina problem that caused the form to drastically lose in power after a little while of fighting, leaving him weak enough for Goku to kill with a Kamehameha after Whis rewinds time. In ''Kakarot'''s telling of the story though, the weakness doesn't come up and he keeps the form, meaning that Goku has to beat him down one more time before he can kill him with a Kamehameha. Justified as Frieza was revived much sooner in this game than in ''Resurrection F'' so he's had more time to train.

*** In the original ''Resurrection F'' story; Android 18 stayed behind to look after her daughter while Yamcha and Chiaotzu opted out of fighting because they were explicitly considered too weak. Here, they all actually get to fight the Frieza Force alongside the other Z-Fighters.
** Future Gohan was able to counter Android 17 and 18's infinite BeamSpam by using a one-handed Kamehameha after they get the drop on him, and then overwhelm him. In the ''History of Trunks'' television special, he didn't react in time before the spam kills him.
** Both the future Androids and Future Cell puts a better performance against Trunks than they did in the original anime and manga where he outright destroyed them into oblivion and this is after he's fought against Perfect Cell and his Cell Jrs.
** The ''Bardock: Alone Against Fate'' DLC has a couple of fights after Bardock goes through Frieza's men, Dodoria and Frieza himself. Downplayed in that Frieza is obviously holding back throughout the fight to toy around with Bardock. With Frieza only throwing enough power to destroy Planet Vegeta in his final attack in the fight which Bardock overpowers in a BeamOWar. Only then does Frieza hits Bardock with far more power with his Supernova attack as in the original special's ending.

* AdaptationalIntelligence: Zarbon avoids the bout of stupidity of leaving Vegeta somewhere without knowing if he has any Dragon Balls. Instead immediately after the prince's defeat, Zarbon brings him back to be interrogated. In combat, Zarbon's rematch involved using a DeathFromAbove BeamSpam to distract the enemy before swooping in with a much more powerful grab and planting them in the ground, something he never did before.

* AdaptationalModesty: Gohan when he reverts back from being a Great Ape has a pair of shorts on when in the series he was completely naked when he changed back.
* AdaptationalNiceGuy: Vegeta's segments are surprisingly toned down compared to the original story. His atrocities of ''brutally'' killing Zarbon, and killing the already defeated Ginyu Force members are absent or changed from how they were shown in previous adaptations, as are his moments of [[KickTheDog punching Gohan and Dende]]. In addition to that, Vegeta is willing to compliment his opponents (especially grunts) and attempts to encourage his (future) son, both of which were things he had never done before.
** In the ''Bardock: Alone Against Fate'' DLC, Bardock's crew is actually [[EveryoneHasStandards shocked by]] his apathy to his newly born son and being more focused on his missions rather than the welfare of his newborn son. Whereas in the original special, they just shrugged it off and didn't raise the subject matter any further.
** In ''The 23rd World Tournament'' DLC, Chiaotzu actively defends Tien from getting mercilessly beaten by Mercenary Tao during their training under him. In the original anime's flashback, Tao still beats up Tien but Chiaotzu emotionlessly watches on in the background alongside Shen.

** Tien's Tri-Beam attack on Cell is markedly less impressive in the game, whereby all appearances he only gets off a handful of shots before going down compared to the prolonged assault in the manga/anime. Notably, it doesn't leave any damage to the environment like it did in the source material. More definitively proving this trope, he doesn't make a sudden reappearance in the Buu Arc, meaning he died to Buu's Human Extinction Attack.

** Launch, a character from the ''Dragon Ball'' manga before the Saiyans arrived, makes her return in the game.
** Nam from the first TournamentArc appears.
* CastFromHitPoints:

** The Skill "Unbridled Power" is available for all non-supports to learn and its higher forms grants up to a forty percent increase in damage while draining your health and, unlike Kaioken, it can't be activated or deactivated manually making it a literal DeadlyUpgrade if you're not watching your life bar.
* ContinuityCameo: [[spoiler:Android 21 from ''Videogame/DragonballFighterz'' appears in the game identified as "female researcher". She provides the player with the Training Room feature, which let you fight other characters, including newcomer Bonyu.]]

** The Ki Search function shows an orange aura over any combat-capable story character except for the Androids, who have no Ki to sense. This includes [[spoiler:the Female Researcher at Capsule Corp, as a nod to her being Android 21]], the Kais, Whis and Beerus (whose godly Ki can't be sensed by mortals.)

* {{Crossover}}: While its a no brainer that she'd show up once again in a ContinuityNod-laden game like this, [[Manga/DrSlump Arale]] shows up in one substory along with Senbei Norimaki and the Gattchans.
* CrutchCharacter: If jumping into the Battle of Gods DLC early on, Vegeta will be quite a bit stronger than Goku with a level of 20. It'll be easier to fight Whis's earliest level with him, then level up Goku with the Sacred Water. Downplayed as Vegeta doesn't get worse as time goes on.

* DevelopersForesight: The Spirit Bomb can only be used when Goku is in his base form, where his heart remains pure, as opposed to the fight happy Super Saiyan modes. Rather than locking the player out of that move when Goku is in any Super Saiyan form, Goku will temporarily depower in order to use it, before going back into whatever form he was last in.
* DiesDifferentlyInAdaptation:

* DiskOneNuke: The ''Battle of Gods'' DLC becomes this if you bought the DLC, while ''Resurrection 'F''' is a post-story content. Story progress is carried over from the Main story and the DLC, and you can even become Super Saiyan God ''before Raditz''. Whis himself naturally lampshades that this is technically cheating.
* DownloadableContent: A number of DLC packs cover more of the franchise. The first two are included from the start in the Nintendo Switch version:

** DLC pack 4 covers Bardock's story, and his last stand against Frieza.

** Many of Trunks's post game subquests in his DLC reference the series' earlier comedic aspects involving Bulma and Oolong. Specifically, a candy that Bulma used to force Oolong to do her bidding and the underwear that Oolong wished for as the show's first wish.
* FishingMinigame: Players can go fishing to collect ingredients for meals. Goku's technique is even the same one from his childhood, using a prosthetic "tail" as his fishing line.
* HopeSpringsEternal: Even though Bardock tried and failed to defeat Frieza, his final vision before perishing is seeing his young son Kakarot become a Super Saiyan and goes out with a smile.

* JustToyingWithThem: Frieza fighting Bardock in the final battle of the DLC is less of a fight and moreso Frieza just toying around with him while not taking the Saiyan seriously at all. While Bardock ''is'' able to put up more of a fight than in canon and what Frieza expected, in the end Frieza just stops fooling around and easily kills Bardock and destroys Planet Vegeta with Supernova.
* LeaningOnTheFourthWall:

* LighterAndSofter: While we still see moments such as Raditz and Goku being drilled through with Piccolo's Special Beam Cannon in the Saiyan Saga, and Frieza's bisection by his own attack in his saga, much of the more violent moments from the source material has been altered or omitted.

** In the Buu Saga, Gohan can practice playing baseball with Yamcha, who actually is a professional player.

* NewGamePlus: Of a sort. Similar to the ''Xenoverse'' games, there's a chapter select in the menus that allows you to revisit earlier sections of the game to either replay story sequences or complete sidequests you missed the first time through with all your levels and most of your skills intact (depending on the part of the story). The game will also return you to the present when you finish them so you don't have to finish that section of the story.
* NotInFrontOfTheKid: Vegeta confronts the remnants of the Ginyu Force, along with Zarbon, Dodoria and Cui, lead by Jeice to get revenge on him while he's training with Trunks. Vegeta defeats every member and when the others left Jeice, Vegeta decides to let him go, and the latter assumes this trope. Until he irritates Vegeta enough that he (non-lethally) uses Dirty Fireworks on him.

* RelatedInTheAdaptation: Inverted. Multiple games and some guide stated that Future Trunks' sword is the same one [[Anime/DragonBallZWrathOfTheDragon Tapion has]]. ''Kakarot'' just states they are similar-looking ones, which solves the ContinuitySnarl that idea provides.
* {{Retcon}}:
** Unsurprisingly, considering it's [[spoiler:Android 21 we're talking about. Her mere presence goes against what she claimed in ''[=FighterZ=]'' by saying she's less than 10 by showing up at least 12 years in the past and was likely active for some time before then. She also seems to be investigating majin cells, which again goes against what was established of them being part of her since she's been activated and therefore her HorrorHunger necessitated clones to be eaten on a regular basis.]]

** The animal-type Earthlings are retconned from being their own subspecies of Earthling to being humans who have taken a drug to turn themselves into "Beastmen", it's then suggested most beastmen turned back into humans via an antidote, but suggests that King Furry is one of those who used the drug, despite it being suggested that dog type earthlings have been king for a long time considering the linage of photos shown behind him in the anime. Strangely, this is retcon actively goes against ''itself'' during that same sidequest, as Oolong explains that he's not the result of a drug, but he's ''always'' been like this, indicating that beastmen are in fact still their own species.

** Flying is a technique that requires ''ki''. In the game, when one uses the dashing ability, even in the overworld, it drains ki and causes them to need to rest. Flying can also not be used in parts of the game where the character has poor control over ''ki'' (when Piccolo left Gohan to fend for himself) or in the early Namek section (when the Frieza goons had Scouters and could sense everyone else).

* VillainRespect: Frieza is impressed enough by Bardock to fight him personally, though its downplayed in that Frieza is just toying around throughout the entire fight, with Frieza only throwing enough power to destroy Planet Vegeta in his final attack in the fight.

''Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot'' is a WideOpenSandbox ActionAdventure RolePlayingGame by Creator/BandaiNamcoEntertainment and Creator/CyberConnect2, released on UsefulNotes/PlayStation4, UsefulNotes/XboxOne, and [[UsefulNotes/IBMPersonalComputer PC]] on January 17, 2020, and on UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch with its first two DLC packs included on September 24, 2021.

** DLC packs 1 and 2, collectively called "A New Power Awakens", are based on the movies ''Battle of Gods'' and ''Resurrection F'', and unlock Super Saiyan God forms for Goku and Vegeta.

** DLC pack 5 covers the Piccolo Jr. arc of the original ''Manga/DragonBall'' story.

* AdaptationalIntelligence: Zarbon avoids the bout of stupidity of leaving Vegeta somewhere without knowing if he has any Dragon Balls. Instead immediately after the prince's defeat, Zarbon brings him back to be interrogated. In combat, Zarbon's rematch involved using a DeathFromAbove BeamSpam to distract the enemy before swooping in with a much more powerful grab and planting them in the ground, something he never did before.
* AdaptationalJerkass: One sidequest has Yamcha caught cheating on Bulma, which in canon was an InformedAttribute at best and DubText at worst.
* AdaptationalModesty: Gohan when he reverts back from being a Great Ape has a pair of shorts on when in the series he was completely naked when he changed back.
* AdaptationalNiceGuy: Vegeta's segments are surprisingly toned down compared to the original story. His atrocities of ''brutally'' killing Zarbon, and killing the already defeated Ginyu Force members are absent or changed from how they were shown in previous adaptations, as are his moments of [[KickTheDog punching Gohan and Dende]]. In addition to that, Vegeta is willing to compliment his opponents (especially grunts) and attempts to encourage his (future) son, both of which were things he had never done before.
** In the ''Bardock: Alone Against Fate'' DLC, Bardock’s crew is actually [[EveryoneHasStandards shocked by]] his apathy to his newly born son and being more focused on his missions rather than the welfare of his newborn son. Whereas in the original special, they just shrugged it off and didn’t raise the subject matter any further.
** In ''The 23rd World Tournament'' DLC, Chiaotzu actively defends Tien from getting mercilessly beaten by Mercenary Tao during their training under him. In the original anime's flashback, Tao still beats up Tien but Chiaotzu emotionlessly watches on in the background alongside Shen.
* AdaptationalWimp:
** One of the sidequests loosely adapts the filler episode where Goku and Piccolo attend driving school. The female instructor is as nervous as the male one here, as opposed to being a complete speed demon in the original episode.
** Tien's Tri-Beam attack on Cell is markedly less impressive in the game, whereby all appearances he only gets off a handful of shots before going down compared to the prolonged assault in the manga/anime. Notably, it doesn't leave any damage to the environment like it did in the source material. More definitively proving this trope, he doesn't make a sudden reappearance in the Buu Arc, meaning he died to Buu's Human Extinction Attack.
** Like in canon, Vegeta and Cui are stated to have been approximately equal in power before Vegeta's return from Earth. When they fight during the Prince Vegeta DLC however, the young Vegeta defeats Cui with little to no trouble, despite being at a handicap due to already fighting a group of Saibamen minutes beforehand.
* AdaptationInducedPlotHole: Since the game cuts out the scene where Vegeta executes a weakened Recoome and Burter, their fates here are left unaddressed with them supposedly either dying after being defeated by Goku or does so when Frieza destroyed Planet Namek (although if the latter does happen, they would have been transported to Earth along with everyone else before that happened).

* AdaptationalBadass:
** The cinematics tend to make changes to make some of the fights to look like actual fights instead of the [[CurbStompBattle one-sided beatings]] they really were. A specific example is that Frieza actually rushes and has a brief BrawlerLock with Super Saiyan Goku when he transformed.
** Gohan is portrayed as a much more willing combatant against the Saiyans in the game fighting against the Saibamen alongside Yamcha and facing Nappa with Krillin and Tienshinhan, while in the original manga and anime he was too afraid to fight for much of the early portions of the battle. Similarly, he is both willing and capable of fighting Cell when he's a Super Saiyan, in contrast with Gohan's canon reluctance and CurbStompBattle he received.
** Guldo and Recoome perform much better with their opponents, Guldo with Gohan and Krillin and Recoome with Goku respectively during the gameplay. The latter in question manages to have an actual fight with Goku. Downplayed in that Goku is holding back throughout the fight, the moment Goku gets serious, Recoome is one-shotted with an elbow to the gut like in canon.
*** [[AdaptationalWimp At the same time though, Guldo, while he does have a much better grasp of telekinesis, utilizing them for various attacks when in canon he would use it as a last resort; outside of a cutscene, he does not use his time stopping power, especially in combat]].
** Additionally, [[ZigZaggedTrope it's also zig-zagged]]. Krillin and Gohan manage to defeat Guldo without Vegeta coming to their aid, but manage to struggle at worst or fight on even level with Guldo, whereas in the original, they outclassed him until he was forced to use telekinesis to paralyze them in order to have a chance.
** Dodoria actually manages to put up a fight against Vegeta, instead of cowering and putting up almost no resistance and more or less instantly getting killed after he reveals the truth about Planet Vegeta.
** Dr. Gero actually manages to fight against Piccolo, and has some pretty devastating moves to work with. Canonically, Gero wasn't much of a fighter and went more for hit-and-run tactics, not to mention he only lasted as long as he did because Piccolo was toying around with him.
** Strange as it might sound, ''Goku'' got this treatment as well. During the Cell Saga, Goku can fight Semi-Perfect Cell, who in this state actually dwarfs Goku in terms of raw power due to recently getting power ups that put him above 16, 17, and Piccolo, who were all stronger than Goku at this time. Downplayed in that Goku doesn't do any damage to Cell (and even lampshades that he can feel how big the power gap is between them), but the fact he's able to trade blows with him at all plays this trope straight otherwise.
*** Also applies to the fight with the Cell Jrs. at the Cell Games. In the manga and anime, Goku was still worn out from his fight with Perfect Cell, and Cell had snatched the bag of Senzu Beans from Krillin before he could be given one, resulting in him not being able to put up much of a fight against the Cell Jrs. Here, while WorfHadTheFlu is still in effect, the battle is significantly less one-sided and more akin to a CurbStompCushion (indeed, he’s able to hold his own against multiple Cell Jrs. - albeit with Vegeta and Trunks’ help - whereas in canon, he needed Tien and Yamcha of all people to back him up against an assault from just one). Notably, Goku is still standing as he witnesses Gohan reaching Super Saiyan 2 in the game, while in the source material, he was lying beaten on the ground same as the human fighters.
** Golden Frieza in the ''Resurrection F'' movie and its anime adaptation had a huge stamina problem that caused the form to drastically lose in power after a little while of fighting, leaving him weak enough for Goku to kill with a Kamehameha after Whis rewinds time. In ''Kakarot'''s telling of the story though, the weakness doesn't come up and he keeps the form, meaning that Goku has to beat him down one more time before he can kill him with a Kamehameha. Justified as Frieza was revived much sooner in this game than in ''Resurrection F'' so he's had more time to train.
*** Gohan also had a huge stamina problem in the ''Resurrection F'' movie and its anime adaptation, but from a ''lack'' of training in the roughly five years between between the Buu Saga and the movie, barely able to maintain Super Saiyan. But since the game's version takes place not long after the Buu Saga, Gohan still has his full power, being stronger than Super Saiyan 3 Goku.
*** In the original ''Resurrection F'' story; Android 18 stayed behind to look after her daughter while Yamcha and Chiaotzu opted out of fighting because they were explicitly considered too weak. Here, they all actually get to fight the Frieza Force alongside the other Z-Fighters.
** Future Gohan was able to counter Android 17 and 18's infinite BeamSpam by using a one-handed Kamehameha after they get the drop on him, and then overwhelm him. In the ''History of Trunks'' television special, he didn't react in time before the spam kills him.
** Both the future Androids and Future Cell puts a better performance against Trunks than they did in the original anime and manga where he outright destroyed them into oblivion and this is after he's fought against Perfect Cell and his Cell Jrs.
** The ''Bardock: Alone Against Fate'' DLC has a couple of fights after Bardock goes through Frieza's men, Dodoria and Frieza himself. Downplayed in that Frieza is obviously holding back throughout the fight to toy around with Bardock. With Frieza only throwing enough power to destroy Planet Vegeta in his final attack in the fight which Bardock overpowers in a BeamOWar. Only then does Frieza hits Bardock with far more power with his Supernova attack as in the original special’s ending.

** Since the entirety of [[FantasticVoyagePlot Goku and Vegeta's exploration of Super Buu's body]] is AdaptedOut, we only see Super Buu revert back to his Gotenks-absorbed form ([[AdaptationInducedPlotHole even though by this point Gotenks should have already been separated back into Goten and Trunks inside him]]) and then to his normal form as Goku and Vegeta free the absorbed victims offscreen. We then see Goku and Vegeta escape with the absorbed victims (except for Fat Buu) as Super Buu is in the process of turning into Kid Buu. While the narrator does explain what happened inside Super Buu's body, he completely leaves out [[ItMakesSenseInContext Goku and Vegeta's confrontation with Super Buu inside his head]], as well as Vegeta tearing down Fat Buu's pod and causing Super Buu's DeathOfPersonality and regression into Kid Buu, making the transformation come out of nowhere.

* AdaptedOut:
** The entirety of [[FantasticVoyagePlot Goku and Vegeta's journey inside Super Buu's body]] is never shown in the game. All that we have to go on is the narrator's explanation on what happened after Super Buu absorbs Vegito into his body, with Super Buu shown reverting back to his normal form after Goku and Vegeta free the absorbed victims offscreen. Goku and Vegeta also end up escaping from Buu's body with the absorbed victims (except for Fat Buu) as he transforms into Kid Buu, with the game never showing or explaining the circumstances behind the transformation (namely tearing down Fat Buu's pod causes Super Buu to undergo a DeathOfPersonality while his body regresses into Kid Buu). Kid Buu still ends up spitting out Fat Buu though when the latter keeps him from attacking Mr. Satan.
** The second DLC, which adapts ''Resurrection F'', excludes Sorbet. Justified as Frieza was revived much sooner in this game than in ''Resurrection F.''

** The [[DownloadableContent DLC]] fight with Beerus is a level 250 battle. Even with all 250 levels and Super Saiyan God you will be put to the test.
** The second [[DownloadableContent DLC]] pack increases the level cap to 300. As with Beerus, the Indomitable Emperor fight with Golden Frieza will push you to your limit.

** In ''[[Anime/DragonBallZBardockTheFatherOfGoku Bardock - Alone Against Fate]]'', Bardock's confrontation with Frieza is expanded on. In the original special, Frieza barely acknowledges Bardock, simply letting him finish his speech before obliterating him alongside Planet Vegeta. Here, Bardock and Frieza directly fight against each other, Bardock even having a moment where he overpowers Frieza's attack in a BeamOWar, resulting in Frieza deciding to stop toying around with the Saiyan and killing him with his ''Supernova''.

** The ''Bardock: Alone Against Fate'' [[DownloadableContent DLC]] has a couple of fights after Bardock goes through Frieza's men, Dodoria and Frieza himself. Downplayed in that Frieza is obviously holding back throughout the fight to toy around with Bardock. With Frieza only throwing enough power to destroy Planet Vegeta in his final attack in the fight which Bardock overpowers in a BeamOWar. Only then does Frieza hits Bardock with far more power with his ''Supernova'' attack as in the original special’s ending.

** The ''Trunks: Warrior of Hope'' [[DownloadableContent DLC]] includes exploring Future Trunks' version of the Buu Saga, which was merely touched upon in flashbacks in ''Super''.
** The ''Bardock: Alone Against Fate'' [[DownloadableContent DLC]] starts with an extra mission, and subsequent downtime on Planet Vegeta, before the attack on Kanassa in the original special. The premonitions Bardock experiences are also changed: before, they got as far as Goku challenging Frieza (in his first form), as Goku hadn't met Frieza yet when the original special was made. The game's versions provide additional details, such as Frieza's final form and Goku's Super Saiyan transformation. It also lets you play through the events of ''Bardock – The Father of Goku'' from a young Prince Vegeta’s perspective, which includes a fight against Cui.
** In ''The 23rd World Tournament'' [[DownloadableContent DLC]], the small flashback of Tien's brutal training under Tao is adapted to a full side-story where his training match with Tao is expanded upon. Other minor scenes added were a tournament staff member telling Goku, Yamcha and Krillin that Chiaotzu has recovered in the hospital after losing to Cyborg Tao

** In the ''Bardock: Alone Against Fate'' [[DownloadableContent DLC]], Bardock’s crew is actually [[EveryoneHasStandards shocked by]] his apathy to his newly born son and being more focused on his missions rather than the welfare of his newborn son. Whereas in the original special, they just shrugged it off and didn’t raise the subject matter any further.
** In ''The 23rd World Tournament'' [[DownloadableContent DLC]], Chiaotzu actively defends Tien from getting mercilessly beaten by Mercenary Tao during their training under him. In the original anime's flashback, Tao still beats up Tien but Chiaotzu emotionlessly watches on in the background alongside Shen.

** Like in canon, Vegeta and Cui are stated to have been approximately equal in power before Vegeta's return from Earth. When they fight during the Prince Vegeta [[DownloadableContent DLC]] however, the young Vegeta defeats Cui with little to no trouble, despite being at a handicap due to already fighting a group of Saibamen minutes beforehand.

** The second [[DownloadableContent DLC]], which adapts ''Resurrection F'', excludes Sorbet. Justified as Frieza was revived much sooner in this game than in ''Resurrection F.''
* AdvertisedExtra: Despite being promoted during the marketing of the game as she is designed by Creator/AkiraToriyama, Bonyu doesn't appear in the story mode. [[spoiler:She is a BonusBoss created by the "female researcher" (Android 21) based on the data of a ship, meaning she doesn't even appear physically.]]

* TheCameo: [[spoiler:Android 21 from ''Videogame/DragonBallFighterZ'' appears in the game identified as "female researcher". She provides the player with the Training Room feature, which let you fight other characters, including newcomer Bonyu.]]

* ContinuityNod:

* CrutchCharacter: If jumping into the Battle of Gods [[DownloadableContent DLC]] early on, Vegeta will be quite a bit stronger than Goku with a level of 20. It'll be easier to fight Whis's earliest level with him, then level up Goku with the Sacred Water. Downplayed as Vegeta doesn't get worse as time goes on.

* DiskOneNuke: The ''Battle of Gods'' [[DownloadableContent DLC]] becomes this if you bought the [[DownloadableContent DLC]] while ''Resurrection 'F''' is a post-story content. Story progress is carried over from the Main story and the [[DownloadableContent DLC]], and you can even become Super Saiyan God ''before Raditz''. Whis himself naturally lampshades that this is technically cheating.
* DownloadableContent: A number of [[DownloadableContent DLC]] packs cover more of the franchise. The first two are included from the start in the Nintendo Switch version:
** [[DownloadableContent DLC]] packs 1 and 2, collectively called "A New Power Awakens", are based on the movies ''Battle of Gods'' and ''Resurrection F'', and unlock Super Saiyan God forms for Goku and Vegeta.
** [[DownloadableContent DLC]] pack 3 focuses on Future Trunks' story, and his efforts to save his timeline, first from the Future Androids, then from Future Babidi and Future Dabura.
** [[DownloadableContent DLC]] pack 4 covers Bardock's story, and his last stand against Frieza.
** [[DownloadableContent DLC]] pack 5 covers the Piccolo Jr. arc of the original ''Manga/DragonBall'' story.

** Many of Trunks's post game subquests in his [[DownloadableContent DLC]] reference the series' earlier comedic aspects involving Bulma and Oolong. Specifically, a candy that Bulma used to force Oolong to do her bidding and the underwear that Oolong wished for as the show's first wish.

* HopeSpot: In the ''Bardock: Alone Against Fate'' [[DownloadableContent DLC]], Bardock faces Frieza in the final battle. He manages to punch Frieza away, then during a BeamOWar, remembers his fallen comrades and explodes with rage, allowing him to overpower it. Unfortunately, Frieza decides to stop screwing around and destroys him and Planet Vegeta with ''Supernova''.

* JustToyingWithThem: Frieza fighting Bardock in the final battle of the [[DownloadableContent DLC]] is less of a fight and moreso Frieza just toying around with him while not taking the Saiyan seriously at all. While Bardock ''is'' able to put up more of a fight than in canon and what Frieza expected, in the end Frieza just stops fooling around and easily kills Bardock and destroys Planet Vegeta with ''Supernova''.

** In the [[DownloadableContent DLC]] (which rewrites the Battle of Gods story), Whis points out that his coming to get Goku and Vegeta to meet Beerus first was "cheating," and that he's aware they weren't supposed to meet that way - but encourages whoever is listening "not to think about it." This is said to Goku and Vegeta, who have no idea what he's talking about, but much like his fourth wall break in ''VideoGame/DragonBallFighterZ'' is directed at the player.

* LikeASonToMe: In the third [[DownloadableContent DLC]], Future Chi-Chi tells Trunks that she sees him as her second son, even before her original son's death.

** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_KdH0R0mVbI?t=4s This trailer]] replicates the original (Japanese) OnTheNext segments, including the title card, Creator/MasakoNozawa's narration, and a softer version of "Cha-La Head Cha-La" as background music.

** Vegetto's fusion and debut cutscene makes two references: The first being the blue and orange tornado effect for the fusion itself, which comes right out of [[Anime/DragonBallSuperBroly Gogeta's fusion in DBS Broly]]. His following speech and immediate transformation into Super Vegeto mirrors his introduction against [[Anime/DragonBallSuper Fused Zamasu in the Super anime]].

* OptionalBoss: [[spoiler:[[VideoGame/DragonBallXenoverse Mira]] is an additional boss that can be fought in the game.]]

** Unsurprisingly, considering it's [[spoiler: Android 21 we're talking about. Her mere presence goes against what she claimed in ''FighterZ'' by saying she's less than 10 by showing up at least 12 years in the past and was likely active for some time before then. She also seems to be investigating majin cells, which again goes against what was established of them being part of her since she's been activated and therefore her HorrorHunger necessitated clones to be eaten on a regular basis.]]

* ShaggyDogStory: In The ''Bardock: Alone Against Fate'' [[DownloadableContent DLC]], you'll meet a Saiyan named Spini in a side quest who wants to get stronger so he can be worthy of Fasha. Upon hearing this, Fasha seems interested. However, it'll be all for nothing as she'll die during Dodoria's attack and Spini is likely killed as well when Frieza destroys Planet Vegeta.

* SparedByTheAdaptation: In the intermissions between the Frieza and Cell sagas, and the post game, there are subquests that revive dead enemies. They aren't re-killed, with Frieza's minions and Frieza himself coming back in the second [[DownloadableContent DLC]] based on ''Resurrection F''.

** The animal-type Earthlings are retconned from being their own subspecies of Earthling to being humans who have taken a drug to turn themselves into "Beastmen", it's then suggested most beastmen turned back into humans via an antidote, but suggests that King Furry is one of those who used the drug, despite it being suggested that dog type earthlings have been king for a long time considering the linage of photos shown behind him in the anime.

** With ''[[Anime/DragonBallZTheHistoryOfTrunks Trunks: The Warrior of Hope]]'', Future Gohan's demise at the hands of Androids 17 & 18 is expanded upon. After their boss fight, Gohan finds himself in a HopelessBossFight as his enemies decide to bring their full might to beat while he is left with barely enough energy to fly. When the Androids rain energy bolts on him after knocking him down to earth, Gohan musters what power he still has to fire a final Kamehameha, engaging in a brief BeamOWar before the Androids overpower him.

*** Gohan also had a huge stamina problem in the ''Resurrection F'' movie and its anime adaptation, but from a ''lack'' of training in the roughly five years between between the Buu Saga and the movie, Pan has already been born, barely able to maintain Super Saiyan. But since the game's version takes place not long after the Buu Saga, Gohan still has his full power, being stronger than Super Saiyan 3 Goku.

** Speaking of Zarbon, his death is... kind of confusing. Unlike in canon where he's granted a definitive death of having his stomach blasted out and sent in to a pool. He slowly falls down wordlessly, and Vegeta taunts him as if Zarbon could still hear him, leaving some ambiguity to if he was dead or not.

** Piccolo's defeat to Cell changes a good amount in the game: In the anime and manga, Piccolo has his neck snapped, has a hole blown through him, and then tossed in the water to drown. However, in the game Cell just... punches him really hard, not making it seem any worse than a punch any other fighter would have taken, so Goku's surprise that Piccolo's alive isn't nearly as surprising as it was originally, nor does it make much sense.

** [[DownloadableContent DLC]] pack 5 will cover the Piccolo Jr. arc of the original ''Manga/DragonBall'' story.

* AdaptationalIntelligence: Zarbon avoids the bout of stupidity of leaving Vegeta somewhere without knowing if he has any dragon ball. Instead immediately after the prince's defeat, Zarbon brings him back to be interrogated. In combat, Zarbon's rematch involved using a DeathFromAbove BeamSpam to distract the enemy before swooping in with a much more powerful grab and planting them in the ground, something he never did before.

** Since the entirety of [[FantasticVoyagePlot Goku and Vegeta's exploration of Super Buu's body]] is AdaptedOut, we only see Super Buu revert back to his Gotenks-absorbed form ([[AdaptationInducedPlotHole even though by this point Gotenks should have separated back into Goten and Trunks inside him]]) and then to his normal form as Goku and Vegeta free the absorbed victims offscreen. We then see Goku and Vegeta escape with the absorbed victims (except for Fat Buu) as Super Buu is in the process of turning into Kid Buu. While the narrator does explain what happened inside Super Buu's body, he completely leaves out Goku and Vegeta's confrontation with Super Buu inside his head, as well as Vegeta tearing down Fat Buu's pod and causing Super Buu's DeathOfPersonality and regression into Kid Buu, making the transformation come out of nowhere.

*** Also applies to the fight with the Cell Jrs. at the Cell Games. In the manga and anime, Goku was still worn out from his fight with Perfect Cell, and Cell had snatched the bag of Senzu Beans from Krillin before he could be given one, resulting in him not being able to put up much of a fight against the Cell Jrs. Here, while WorfHadTheFlu is still in effect, the battle is significantly less one-sided and more akin to a CurbStompCushion (indeed, he’s able to hold his own against multiple Cell Jrs. - albeit with Vegeta and Trunks’ help - whereas in canon, he needed Tien and Yamcha of all people to back him up against an assault from just one). Notably, Goku is shown to still be standing as he witnesses Gohan reaching Super Saiyan 2 in the game, while in the source material, he was lying beaten on the ground.

** In the original ''Resurrection F'' story; Android 18 stayed behind to look after her daughter while Yamcha and Chiaotzu opted out of fighting because they were explicitly considered too weak. Here, they all actually get to fight the Frieza Force alongside the other Z-Fighters.

** Gero actually manages to fight against Piccolo, and has some pretty devastating moves to work with, canonically, he wasn't much of a fighter and went more for hit-and-run tactics, not to mention it only lasted as long as it did because Piccolo was toying around with him.
** Strange as it might sound, ''Goku'' got this treatment as well. During the Cell saga, Goku can fight Semi-Perfect Cell, who in this state actually dwarfs Goku in terms of raw power due to recently getting power ups that put him above 16, 17, and Piccolo, who were all actually stronger than Goku at this time. Downplayed in that Goku doesn't do any damage (and lampshades he feels how big the power gap is between them), but the fact he's able to trade blows at all plays this trope otherwise straight.
*** Also applies to the fight with the Cell Jrs. at the Cell Games. In the manga and anime, Goku was still worn out from his fight with Cell, and Cell had snatched the bag of Senzu Beans from Krillin before he could be given one, resulting in him not being able to put up much of a fight against the Cell Jrs. Here, while WorfHadTheFlu is still in effect, the battle is significantly less one-sided and more akin to a CurbStompCushion (indeed, he’s able to hold his own against multiple Cell Jrs. - albeit with Vegeta and Trunks’ help - whereas in canon, he needed Tien and Yamcha of all people to back him up against an assault from just one). Notably, Goku is shown to still be standing as he witnesses Gohan’s transformation into a Super Saiyan 2 in the game, while in the source material, he was lying beaten on the ground.

*** Also applies to the fight with the Cell Jrs. at the Cell Games. In the manga and anime, Goku was still worn out from his fight with Cell, and Cell had snatched the bag of Senzu Beans from Krillin before he could be given one, resulting in him not being able to put up much of a fight against the Cell Jrs. Here, while WorfHadTheFlu is still in effect, the battle is significantly less one-sided and more akin to a CurbStompCushion (indeed, he’s able to hold his own against multiple Cell Jrs - albeit with Vegeta and Trunks’ help - whereas in canon, he needed Tien and Yamcha of all people to back him up against an assault from just one). Notably, Goku is shown to still be standing as he witnesses Gohan’s transformation into a Super Saiyan 2 in the game, while in the source material, he was lying beaten on the ground.

*** Also applies to the fight with the Cell Jrs. at the Cell Games. In the manga and anime, Goku was still worn out from his fight with Cell, and Cell had snatched the bag of Senzu Beans from Krillin before he could be given one, resulting in him not being able to put up much of a fight against the Cell Jrs. Here, while WorfHadTheFlu is still in effect, the battle is significantly less one-sided and more akin to a CurbStompCushion. Notably, Goku is shown standing as he witnesses Gohan’s transformation into a Super Saiyan 2 in the game, while in the source material, he was lying beaten on the ground.