This page is for a game based on Dragon Ball Z and assumes that you are familiar with the Dragon Ball franchise. As such, spoilers for DBZ and its predecessor Dragon Ball will be left unmarked. You Have Been Warned!
This is the story of the mysterious Dragon Balls. A story about determination, despair, and hope. This is the story of Goku, the one they call "Kakarot".
Dragon Ball Z: Kakarot is a Wide-Open Sandbox Action-Adventure Role-Playing Game by Bandai Namco Entertainment and CyberConnect2, released on Playstation 4, Xbox One, and PC on January 17, 2020, and Nintendo Switch with its first two DLC packs included on September 24, 2021.
Kakarot follows the story of Dragon Ball Z 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 see 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.
E3 2019 trailer (Saiyan and Namek Sagas)
, Gamescom 2019 trailer (Cell Saga), Tokyo Game Show 2019 trailer (Buu Saga teaser)
Tropes:
- Absurdly High Level Cap: The level for all characters caps at a massive 250! This is far beyond the level needed to finish Buu Saga.
- 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's fight with Golden Frieza will push you to your limit.
- Adaptation Deviation: How the game adapts certain events into the game.
- With Battle of Gods, rather than waking up and finding the Super Saiyan God of prophecy, Beerus, and Whis have Goku and Vegeta train with him to help unlock the transformation with the help of 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 took place during Bulma's birthday party, with Majin Buu being the culprit for refusing to give him any pudding.
- With Resurrection 'F', Frieza was already brought back from the dead via a 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 removes Sorbet from the plot as Frieza rebuilds his army on his own.
- With 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 Hopeless Boss Fight as his enemies decide to bring their full might to bear 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 Beam-O-War before the Androids overpower him.
- In 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 Beam-O-War, resulting in Frieza deciding to stop toying around with the Saiyan and killing him with his Supernova.
- In Battle of Gods and Super, Videl participates in the ritual to make Goku a Super Saiyan God, thanks to her being pregnant with Pan. In the game, Whis just summons Future Trunks.
- Adaptation Distillation: The entirety of 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 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, but the game never shows or explains the circumstances behind the transformation (namely tearing down Fat Buu's pod causes Super Buu to undergo a Death of Personality 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.
- Adaptation Expansion:
- A lot of new material, whether it be in the Z-Encyclopedia or various substories, was all approved of by Toriyama himself.
- Gohan learning to fly from Piccolo is shown, albeit more of a way to teach players how to use their flying mechanics.
- For reasons of this being a game, some aspects were expanded to add more gameplay. Most notably, 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 a split second of real-time. Not only does this serve the function of a Final Boss, but it's retroactive Foreshadowing (since it won't be the only time Goku goes that fast, and, as fans have theorized, the white aura Goku dons during that fight might be Goku tapping into a surface-level facsimile of Ultra Instinct).
- The Trunks: Warrior of Hope DLC includes exploring Future Trunks' version of the Buu Saga, which was merely touched upon in flashbacks in Super.
- The Bardock: Alone Against Fate 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 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.
- Adaptation Explanation Extrication:
- 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 wordlessly, and Vegeta taunts him as if Zarbon could still hear him, leaving some ambiguity as to whether he is dead or not.
- Android 19 just watches as Vegeta's Big Bang attack comes at him instead of trying to absorb the attack. Without the scene of Vegeta ripping his arms off it looks much more nonsensical.
- 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 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 can regenerate because a single nucleus in its head manages to survive. However, the game does not explain how he can 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 Goku and Vegeta's exploration of Super Buu's body is only referenced in the story, we only see Super Buu revert to his Gotenks-absorbed form (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 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 Death of Personality and regression into Kid Buu, making the transformation come out of nowhere.
- Adaptation-Induced Plot Hole:
- 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 doing 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 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 to his normal form.
- Adaptation Name Change: Bulma's mom is called "Bikini" here. She was never given a name in the series proper, but Toriyama previously said in Daizenshuu 7 that her name would be Panchy (after "panty", fitting in with the Theme Naming of the Briefs family being named after underwear).
- Adaptational Badass:
- The cinematics tend to make changes to make some of the fights look like actual fights instead of the one-sided beatings they were. A specific example is that Frieza rushes and has a brief Brawler Lock 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 the Curb-Stomp Battle 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, 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 an even level with Guldo, whereas in the original, they outclassed him until he was forced to use telekinesis to paralyze them to have a chance.
- Dodoria 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 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 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 Worf Had the Flu is still in effect, the battle is significantly less one-sided and more akin to a Curb Stomp Cushion (indeed, he's able to hold his own against multiple Cell Jrs. - albeit with Vegeta and Trunks' help - whereas in the anime, 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 like 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 power after a little while of fighting, leaving him weak enough for Goku to kill him 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 get to fight the Frieza Force alongside the other Z-Fighters.
- Future Gohan was able to counter Android 17 and 18's infinite Beam Spam by using a one-handed Kamehameha after they got the drop on him and then overwhelmed 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 put up 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 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 Beam-O-War. Only then does Frieza hit Bardock with far more power with his Supernova attack as in the original special's ending.
- The "Goku's Next Journey" DLC has a full boss battle against Wild Tiger, with Pan's match against him lasting longer.
- Vegeta gets thrown a pretty big bone in his favor in "Goku's Last Journey" as he challenges Goku to one more battle to see who really is stronger between them both, and despite the fact that Vegeta should be at an immense disadvantagenote , he manages to keep Goku on the defensive and scrape a tie between them, which means Goku would be significantly weaker than Vegeta should they have fought on equal levels. In the anime however, Vegeta simply accepted that Goku was stronger than him.
- Adaptational Intelligence: 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 Death from Above Beam Spam to distract the enemy before swooping in with a much more powerful grab and planting them in the ground, something he's never done before.
- Adaptational Jerkass: One sidequest has Yamcha caught cheating on Bulma, which in canon was an Informed Flaw at best and Out-of-Character Moment at worst. It's even worse here in that he's cheating with multiple women rather than one.
- Adaptational Modesty: Gohan when he reverts from being a Great Ape has a pair of shorts on when in the series he was completely naked when he changed back.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: 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 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 shocked by his apathy to his newborn 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.
- Adaptational Wimp:
- 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, in 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.
- Goku of all people gets hit with this pretty hard in "Goku's Last Journey" as Vegeta challenges him to one more battle to see who really is stronger between them both, and despite the fact that Vegeta should be at an immense disadvantagenote , he manages to keep Goku on the defensive and scrape a tie between them, which means Goku would be significantly weaker than Vegeta should they have fought on equal levels. In the anime however, Vegeta simply accepted that Goku was stronger than him.
- Adapted Out: The second DLC, which adapts Resurrection F, excludes Sorbet. Justified as Frieza was revived much sooner in this game than in Resurrection F.
- Advertised Extra: Despite being promoted during the marketing of the game as she is designed by Akira Toriyama, Bonyu doesn't appear in the story mode. She is an Optional Boss created by the "female researcher" (
possibly Android 21) based on the data of a ship, meaning she doesn't even appear physically. - And Now for Someone Completely Different: While Goku is the main playable for the majority of the game, at other points the player will also take control of other characters like Gohan, Piccolo, Vegeta, and Trunks to further the story.
- Anti-Grinding: Downplayed. Minor enemies give much less experience than sidequests and the main story, but they can be handy if you're close to reaching a desired level, or short on Z Orbs.
- Autobots, Rock Out!: At the climax of the boss battle with Kid Buu, the anime's theme song "CHA-LA Head CHA-LA" kicks in.
- Bait-and-Switch: 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.
- Boring, but Practical: The Solar Flare support technique is much more simple compared to the flashy energy beams that other characters use, but it's a useful move that instantly stuns any foe in range, giving you an opening to attack them, or breathing room to heal and charge your ki back up.
- Bowdlerise:
- There is censorship regarding nudity in the game. For example, when Gohan transforms into a Great Ape and then loses the transformation in the Saiyan Saga, he ends up naked due to the giant form destroying the clothes. Here, Gohan somehow keeps his pants.
- During the battle against the Ginyu Force, Guldo is defeated traditionally by Gohan and Krillin instead of being decapitated by Vegeta, and Goku manages to arrive on the scene before Recoome can snap Gohan's neck.
- Averted in the case of Frieza's defeat. Most video game adaptations leave out the part where Frieza is blindsided and sliced in half by his own Death Saucer in favor of having him simply defeated and blasted by Goku for his trouble. Here, Frieza being bisected is shown in full detail, albeit bloodlessly.
- Strangely this is not the case with Babidi, who gets sliced in half in much the same way as Frieza by Piccolo in the manga/anime. In the game, however, he seems to just be slashed, bloodlessly, in the stomach.
- Also Averted with Future Gohan's missing arm. While most games before Kakarot would have him retain both arms but keep the scar, here, he loses it like in the TV special.
- The Bus Came Back: Some of the sidequests involve callbacks to before Raditz:
- Android 8 from the early Dragon Ball, also known as Eighter, is one of the sidequest NPCs.
- Launch, a character from the Dragon Ball manga before the Saiyans arrived, makes her return in this game.
- Nam from the first Tournament Arc appears.
- Cast from Hit Points:
- True to form, Goku's Kaioken is this. It eats your life bar gradually. With "Auto Kaioken," you no longer take damage when in Kaioken.
- The Skill "Unbridled Power" is available for all non-supports to learn and its higher forms grant 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 Deadly Upgrade if you're not watching your life bar.
- Continuity Cameo: Android 21 from Dragon Ball FighterZ appears in the game identified as a "female researcher". She provides the player with the Training Room feature, which lets you fight other characters, including newcomer Bonyu.
- Continuity Nod:
- If Piccolo is in your party, he won't eat any foodnote and will instead have a glass of water in front of him, since Namekians don't need to eat but do need to hydrate. The same will apply to Android 18.
- 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 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.)
- Trunks has a special Soul Emblem bonus with Mai where he feels awkward around her, referencing her future self from Dragon Ball Super.
- Crossover: While it is a no-brainer that she'd show up once again in a Continuity Nod-laden game like this, Arale shows up in one substory along with Senbei Norimaki and the Gattchans.
- Crutch Character: 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, and then level up Goku with the Sacred Water. Downplayed as Vegeta doesn't get worse as time goes on.
- Damsel in Distress: An NPC character named Kooky Cook is this due to Chi-Chi (and Gohan) rescuing her whenever the former gets attacked by wolves and beasts while getting ingredients.
- A Day in the Limelight: At different points in the game, the player takes control of characters other than Goku. During the Android Saga, for instance, players take control of Vegeta during the early part of the saga and as Gohan at key points, including the climactic final battle with Cell.
- Deliberately Monochrome: Flashback cutscenes are black and white to further contrast them with the "real" present.
- Death by Adaptation: During Frieza's Revenge, Whis and Beerus only save Goku from the destruction of Earth. They still come back when Whis reverses time so it's a minor change.
- Developer's Foresight: 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 to use it, before going back into whatever form he was last in.
- Dies Differently in Adaptation:
- While Dr. Gero is still killed by Android 17 like in canon, 17 simply blows him up with a ki blast instead of kicking off his head and stomping on it.
- In canon, Spopovich is killed by Babidi using a spell on him. Here he's blown to smitherens by Pui Pui alongside Yamu on Babidi's orders.
- Van Zant and Smitty (who are only known as the Evildoer and the Evildoer's Accomplice respectively in this game) are still killed as a result of their actions creating Evil Buu/Super Buu, but they're killed only when Super Buu blasts them. In canon, Evil Buu kills Van Zant with a blast powerful enough to destroy the hill he's on at point-blank range, while Smitty is killed by Super Buu via the latter liquifying his body and forcing himself down Smitty's throat, expanding inside of him until he explodes.
- Disk One Nuke: The Battle of Gods DLC becomes this if you bought the DLC, while Resurrection 'F' is 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.
- Downloadable Content: Several DLC packs cover more of the franchise. The first two are included from the start in the Nintendo Switch version:
- 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 and Blue forms for Goku and Vegeta.
- 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.
- DLC pack 4 covers Bardock's story and his last stand against Frieza.
- DLC pack 5 covers the Piccolo Jr. arc of the original Dragon Ball story and retools the combat system around ground-based battles.
- DLC pack 6 covers the final chapters of the original manga (or "End of Z"/"Peaceful World Saga" in the anime) up to Goku's fight with Uub.
- Early-Installment Weirdness:
- There's an attempt to explain it InUniverse. The original Dragon Ball had a lot of Funny Animals 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. However at the same time, it's indicated that Oolong (and by extension Puar, etc.) has ''not'' taken the drug and has always been a beastman, and there are plenty of beastmen background characters still seen, more or less completely contradicting the explanation.
- 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.
- Fishing Minigame: 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.
- Hope Springs Eternal: 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 he goes out with a smile.
- Hope Spot: In the Bardock: Alone Against Fate DLC, Bardock faces Frieza in the final battle. He manages to punch Frieza away, then during a Beam-O-War, 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.
- Hyperactive Metabolism: Everything Goku eats immediately imparts benefits. This is justified given his Saiyan appetite.
- Interquel: The side-quest with Towa and Mira takes place between Dragon Ball Xenoverse and Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2, with Mira recovering his body.
- Invisible to Normals: The Z Orbs used to unlock skills are stated to be only seen by those those that can manipulate their ki as a Hand Wave to explain their presence.
- Irony: A sidequest involves Trunks helping Eighter by destroying hunting robots being used by poachers. Eighter's gentle and caring nature gives Trunks an even more resolve to save people like him from the androids, completely unaware that he is an android.
- Just Toying with Them: Frieza fighting Bardock in the final battle of the DLC is less of a fight and more Frieza just toying around with him while not taking the Saiyan seriously at all. While Bardock <i>can</i> 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 a Supernova.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall:
- When Goku meets Launch, he says it's been so long it's like someone forgot about her.
- In the 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 Dragon Ball FighterZ is directed at the player.
- Lighter and Softer: 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 attack in his saga, much of the more violent moments from the source material have either been altered or omitted.
- Like a Son to Me: In the third DLC, Future Chi-Chi tells Trunks that she sees him as her second son, even before her original son's death.
- Mecha-Mooks:
- During the early Saiyan Saga, a common type of enemies to contend with are old malfunctioning Red Ribbon Army robots. Skull Robos are another type of free-roaming enemy type that are also used by characters in side missions like poachers and Yamcha's angry girlfriends.
- Starting with the trip to Namek and the appearance of Frieza's forces, the player also encounters small support drones that heal and boost regular enemies. They have the least health of all enemies but can drag out fights if they're not taken out first.
- Mythology Gag:
- Many of the sidequests in the game reference filler episodes from the anime series, including the fan-favorite episode "Goku's Ordeal," where Goku and Piccolo attempt to get driver's licenses and Hilarity Ensues.
- Many locations from the series can be visited, from iconic locales such as Master Roshi's Island and West City to lesser-known areas like Ginger Town, the settlement Cell ravaged in his first appearance.
- When playing as Vegeta during the early Android Saga, he wears his pink "BADMAN" shirt.
- In the Buu Saga, Gohan can practice playing baseball with Yamcha, who is a professional player.
- Vegito'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 Gogeta's fusion in DBS Broly. His following speech and immediate transformation into Super Vegito mirrors his introduction against Fused Zamasu in the Super anime.
- One for CyberConnect2 themselves: The final battle against Kid Buu has Goku and Buu become so fast that time itself seems to halt to a standstill around them. The color palette and particle effects used to showcase this are not unlike the ones featured in the Eyes of Heaven game.
- Future Bulma tricking Trunks into giving Future Oolong candy that gives him an upset stomach when anyone says "piggy" is a direct reference to the original Dragon Ball where Bulma did the same thing to him.
- Many of the sidequests in the game reference filler episodes from the anime series, including the fan-favorite episode "Goku's Ordeal,"
- New Game Plus: Of a sort. Similar to the Xenoverse games, there's a chapter selection 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.
- Not in Front of the Kid: Vegeta confronts the remnants of the Ginyu Force, along with Zarbon, Dodoria, and Cui, led by Jeice to get revenge on him while he's training with Trunks. Vegeta defeats every member and when the others leave 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
- Optional Boss:
- Point of No Return: Entering the tournament in the Buu saga is a polite one, as the game warns you that you won't be able to access certain features until you beat the game.
- Power-Up Food: Goku and his friends can eat meals to increase their stats. The bigger the meals, the bigger the gains.
- Protagonist Title: Anyone with even a passing knowledge of the series knows that the subtitle refers to Goku, specifically his original Saiyan name. Alternatively, the title refers to the second chapter with the same name as the Saiyan saga in the manga, which introduces Gohan.
- Rearrange the Song: The game's music is primarily composed of arrangements of Shunsuke Kikuchi's soundtrack for the original anime, done by a full orchestra.
- Related in the Adaptation: Inverted. Multiple games and some guides stated that Future Trunks' sword is the same one Tapion has. Kakarot just states they are similar-looking ones, which solves the Continuity Snarl that idea provides.
- Retcon:
- Unsurprisingly, considering it's 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 Horror Hunger necessitated clones to be eaten regularly.
- The Oozaru is retconned from a transformation that boosts one power tenfold as long as a Saiyan has a tail and sees a full moon to one that is not accessible if they "exceed the strength of the Oozaru".
- The animal-type Earthlings are retconned from being their 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 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 still their species.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: In The Bardock: Alone Against Fate 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.
- Shows Damage: Kakarot goes for the "numbers fly out of the enemies with every punch" approach.
- Sliding Scale of Gameplay and Story Integration:
- 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).
- When first playing as Gohan when Piccolo leaves him alone in the wilderness to survive, since he has no training in ki at the time, pressing the button used to sense ki will initially do nothing.
- In-universe, Goku can't use the Spirit Bomb while in Super Saiyan form since the rage and bloodlust brought on by the transformation interferes with the technique's Only the Pure of Heart caveat. If Goku uses the technique while a Super Saiyan, he will briefly revert to his base state to use it and then turn back.
- Spared by the Adaptation: 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 DLC based on Resurrection F.
- Super Mode: In addition to Super Saiyan transformations, there is also a "Burst" mode that can be activated which will temporarily enhance movement speed and attack power.
- Supreme Chef: Chi-Chi, as only she can make Full-Course Meals. They require recipes and a handful of normal meals, but the permanent and temporary bonuses gained are much higher.
- Theme Music Power-Up: Some key moments, like certain boss fights, involve Cha-La Head-Cha-La playing as the BGM.
- Villain Respect: Frieza is impressed enough by Bardock to fight him personally, though it's 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.
- Voodoo Shark: A particularly egregious one in the sidequest featuring two beastmen. They explain that the animal-like Earthlings are actually humans that took a drug as a fad, and that said fad died out with people turning back to humans between DB's end and DBZ's beginning and they claim to have been outcasts due to their appearance. However, not only is there plenty of beastmen NPCs walking around in the cities without any apparent scrutiny, Oolong is suspected as having taken this drug, but claims he's always been a beastmen, contradicting the earlier statement anyway with no further attempts to explain it.
- Wide-Open Sandbox: Outside of following the main story, players can explore vast open areas on Earth and Namek.
