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Dragon Ball Heroes is a Japanese arcade carddass game developed by Dimps, released on November 11, 2010.

The game allows the usage of many characters from the Dragon Ball franchise, as well as new characters and transformations, in 5-on-5 turn-based battles by using special trading cards made for the carddass arcade machines. It also lets you choose one of 21 avatar characters from 7 different character types (Male Saiyan, Female Saiyan, Majin, Namekian, Freeza Race, Android, Supreme Kai and Dark Demon God). The game has undergone several name changes over time, including Galaxy Mission (covering the first half of Dragon Ball GT), Jakku Mission (focusing on the Shadow Dragon Saga from GT), God Mission (which seems to be mostly drawing from Dragon Ball Online, Dragon Ball Xenoverse and Dragon Ball Super), Dark Demon Realm Mission (A new storyline feature characters from Xenoverse searching for Dark Dragon Balls), Universe Mission (a sequel to Future Trunks story from Dragon Ball Super that introduces Fu as a major antagonist, and continues the Dark Demon Realm storyline) and most recently Big Bang Mission (that continues the storyline with Fu). The game has been ported thrice to the Nintendo 3DS as the Dragon Ball Heroes: Ultimate Mission series and has four spin-off manga, Victory Mission, Charisma Mission, Super Dragon Ball Heroes: Dark Demon Realm Mission and Super Dragon Ball Heroes: Universe Mission.

There has also been numerous openings and gameplay trailers for the game, that are posted to the game's YouTube channel.

In late 2016, the game was updated to "Super Dragon Ball Heroes", which increased the size of battles to 7-vs-7, updated the graphics and added a lower touch screen for more input. Here is the first trailer of Super DBH. And as of April 2019, Super Dragon Ball Heroes has also been ported over to the Nintendo Switch and Steam with the subtitle World Mission, and was released worldwide.

On July 1, 2018, a promotional anime to commemorate the game was released, adapting the events of the Universe Mission story arc.


This video game contains examples of:

  • Adapted Out:
    • Despite the game adapting everything under the sun in the franchise, Goku Jr. and Vegeta Jr. are not in the game yet. It took until Ultra God Mission 3, which was after the game's 11th anniversary, for them to be added.
    • The manga adaptions of Dark Demon Realm Mission and Universe Mission ignore Beat and Note and instead makes Xeno Trunks the protagonist.
    • The vast majority of the participants introduced in the Tournament of Power have yet to appear; currently, only Bergamo, Ganos, Obuni, Ribrianne, Katopesia, Anilaza, Dyspo, Toppo, Jiren, Caulifa, Kale, and Kefla are playable.
  • Adaptational Badass: Invoked as this is a fanservice game: Many characters get transformations they did not have in canon, such as almost every Saiyan character getting Super Saiyan 3, Gohan and Broly getting Super Saiyan 4, Cooler getting a Golden Form (a gold version of his fifth form, no less, as his Cool Mask is just too iconic to pass up), Dabura and Towa becoming Demon Gods... The list goes on.
  • Alternate Self: The Time Patrol versions of the DBZ cast are this, coming from timelines other than the ones seen in the anime. For example, Xeno Goku's timeline includes Dragon Ball GT and some of the DBZ movies, but pointedly doesn't include Dragon Ball Super.
  • Amplifier Artifact: In Super Dragon Ball Heroes, Towa crafts a set of Dark Dragon Balls that have the power to embed themselves in the bodies of evil beings and give them a substantial power-up. The villains who benefit from this are Frieza, Cell, Kid Buu, Turles, Janemba, Lord Slug, and Broly.
  • Anime Hair: As a Dragon Ball-related game, lots of characters have crazy hair.
  • Assist Character:
    • Super DBH added a fourth class of character, Special, who don't participate directly in combat but buff the rest of the team. These characters are generally non-combatants like Teen Bulma, Gine, and Zen-Oh.
    • A second class of Special applies to giant characters who take their own turn fighting. This list includes all Great Apes, Hirudegarn, Anilaza, and Dr. Wheelo.
  • Badass Longcoat: Seems to be part of the Time Patrol's standard uniform, as Xeno Trunks, Gohan, and Goten all sport these. Goku and Vegeta don't at first, but add them to their normal Xeno outfitsnote  during Universe Mission 3 — ironically, Gohan and Goten stop wearing the coats at the same time.
  • Blown Across the Room: Whenever a strong attack hits the opponent.
  • Calling Your Attacks
  • Cannibalism Superpower: Majin Ozotto can gain abilities by absorbing people, revealed in UM 11 when he absorbs Lagss.
  • Card Battle Game: The game uses cards to summon characters into the battlefield, similarly to most Carddass arcade games.
  • Cel Shading: Borrowed from the Budokai series.
  • Collectible Card Game: The cards used for the game can also be used as for normal card games.
  • Combination Attack: Certain combinations of characters can use Super Unit Attacks that are expensive to activate, but deal massive damage to the enemy team.
  • Combined Energy Attack: The Spirit Bomb and some of the team attacks.
  • Composite Character: The Dark Demon Realm Mission and Universe Mission manga series makes Xeno Trunks take over the roles of Note and Beat.
  • Contractual Boss Immunity: Most bosses have the "Adrenaline Rush" ability, which prevents them from being stunned and gives them a number of other abilities exclusive to bosses.
  • Crossover: Luffy and Tesoro from One Piece were added to the game for a limited time as special bosses to help promote One Piece Film: Gold.
  • Demonic Possession: Oren and Kamin, as Machine Mutants, have the power to liquify and take over peoples' bodies from the inside. They take over Caulifla and Kale, then later Oren possesses Vegeta and assumes a form similar to Super Baby.
  • Dualvertisement:
    • Evil Dragon Mission 6 introduces Time Patrol Trunks under the name "Trunks (Xeno)".
    • God Mission 10 had Future Gohanks and EX Gohanks as a cross-promotion for Dragon Ball: Fusions.
    • Super DBH Mission 5 added a temporary boss mission with God Broly from the Super Tenkaichi Budokai 4D movie.
    • Universe Mission 2 introduced Android 21 and the Clone Fighters from Dragon Ball FighterZ.
  • Enemy Mine: Demigra joins forces with the Time Patrol during the Dark King Mechikabura Saga to defeat Mechikabura.
  • Evil Counterpart: Super Dragon Ball Heroes sees Towa getting a set of Dark Dragon Balls thanks to a mind-controlled Dende. They're blood red with black stars, scatter throughout time rather than space, and can merge with evil beings to make them more powerful. Naturally they come with a Dark Shenron.
  • Fanservice: The game's huge cast of characters, including many obscure picks even the most dedicated fan would forget.
  • Guest Fighter:
  • Gotta Catch Them All: There's currently over 3000 cards made for the game so far, with many of them being variations for the same character or transformation with slight differences in appearance and abilities.
    • In the game, there's the Dragon Balls to collect to summon a dragon for a wish, either of the Earth, Namekian, Black Star, and Super varieties.
    • The Dark Empire Saga has the Time Breakers trying to recover the Dark Dragon Balls so Mechikabura can restore his youth and power, while the Time Patrol tries to stop them. The Prison Planet Saga has the heroes trying to gather Fu's seven Dragon Balls to escape the Prison Planet.
  • Joke Character: Super Dragon Ball Heroes added "Society Survival Saga" versions of the cast, from the 2017 April Fools' Day joke claiming the next saga of Dragon Ball Super would be about the DB crew as white-collar office workers. Averted however since these versions of the characters are just as effective in combat as the canon versions, making them Badasses in Nice Suits.
  • Kamehame Hadouken: As always.
  • Ki Manipulation
  • Kill the God: The goal of the Core Area Warriors (the villains from the Universal Conflict Saga) is to kill Zen-Oh.
  • Legion of Doom: Fu creates one in the Universe Creation Saga consisting of Towa, Turles, Bojack, Super 17 and Dr. W, with the common goal of creating a new universe.
  • Life Meter: All characters on a team share the same lifebar.
  • Limit Break: Any character's super or team attack.
  • Living Shadow: Black Smoke Shenron creates one of GT Goku to fight in his stead.
  • Luck-Based Mission: Successfully attacking often devolves into this when the Charge Impact speed is raised enough.
  • Mana Meter: Hero Energy, used to unleash Super Attacks and activate Unit abilities.
  • Mechanically Unusual Class: Special-type characters cannot be attacked and don't require Hero Energy, but can't act without allies.
  • Mighty Glacier: Any of the giant characters and forms.
  • One-Hit Kill: Certain bosses during Round 3 of their battle will change their Super Attack to one which, if successful, automatically deals max damage to the player.
  • Original Generation: The player avatars, which can be Saiyan (male or female), Namekian, Frieza Race, Majin, Android, Shinjinnote , or Dark Demon Godnote .
    • A good deal of the content following Online is this, including Gravy and Putine (Demigra's allies during his previous attempt to conquer the Heavenly Realm), Mechikabura (the original King of the Demon Realm, and a former candidate for Supreme Kai of Time), Salsa and Shroom (other inhabitants of the Demon Realm), Fin (a Majin Buu-like entity created by Towa), Time Patrol versions of the main Saiyan heroes, and Dark Dragon Balls which have the ability to merge with evil beings and power them up.
    • The Prison Planet Saga introduced Kanba/Cumber, an evil Saiyan so powerful that he can hold off the Super Saiyan Blues even in his base form while in a metal straitjacket.
      • The end of the Prison Planet Saga introduces the Core Area Warriors: Hearts, Lagss, and twin siblings Oren and Kamin (who are Machine Mutants like Baby from GT).
  • Overly Long Fighting Animation: The team attacks.
  • Power Creep, Power Seep: Having Kid Goku fight against Beerus seems ridiculous, but it's possible!
    • Some characters are also far more powerful than they normally would be. Any character with a form that multiplies their power falls under this, especially Frieza.
  • Promoted to Playable: Goku's mother Gine was first added to the game as a support character in SH2, then made a fully playable character in UM5 thanks to her appearance in Dragon Ball Super: Broly.
  • Rule of Cool: A lot of things in Heroes simply flat out don't make sense, but are otherwise pretty cool. For example, several fused characters get accessories to their outfits beyond the standard "vest and parachute pants" costume granted by Metamoran Fusion.
  • Self-Duplication: Certain bosses, such as Hatchiyack and Whis, form a team out of themself.
  • Status-Buff Dispel: Certain bosses have the "Power Tuning" ability, which prevents the player's cards from gaining any damage increases during the battle.
  • Super Mode: Any character's transformation.
    • Golden Super Mode: The Super Saiyan and Golden Frieza forms, as well as Ultimate Hearts.
  • "Super Sentai" Stance: The Ginyu Force, both Great Saiyamen and Jaco.
  • Tactical Rock–Paper–Scissors: The luck-based gameplay is based on this tactic, mostly through the use of Hero, Elite, and Berserker-type characters on your team.
    • As of Super Dragon Ball Heroes, new Special-type characters have been added, who act as supporters.
  • Theme Music Power-Up: Whenever a team-attack is executed, the current theme song of Dragon Ball Heroes or Dragon Ball Super usually pops up during it.
  • Time Stands Still: Members of the Time Patrol can summon the Supreme Kai of Time to interrupt an enemy's attack by freezing them, leaving them open to a flurry of punches.
  • Took a Level in Badass: Towa starts off as a Non-Action Big Bad, letting Mira and her other allies fight the Time Patrol and being killed by the heroes when backed into a corner. After resurrecting and gaining her Dark form she is able to keep up with the heroes, and only grows stronger after becoming a Demon Goddess.
  • Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny: Besides all the gameplay examples, Super Dragon Ball Heroes starts off by pitting Super Saiyan 4 Xeno Goku against Super Saiyan Blue DBS Goku. In the arcade game, it's close and he holds his own for awhile, but Xeno Goku tires out first and concedes that Blue is more powerful than him. In the anime, they're evenly matched and call off the fight when they realize the other isn't the enemy. In the manga, the fight gets interrupted but both were evenly matched. And now, during the story mission of World Mission Xeno Goku and Xeno Vegeta easily defeat their DBS counterparts, forcing them to fuse into Vegito Blue to avoid losing.
  • Wake-Up Call Boss: If one follows the recommended arcade mode order in World Missions, Merged Zamasu is certainly this. While Beerus and Champa could be overcome with a sufficiently powerful deck, Zamasu will destroy those who go in unprepared as his CI speed debuff combined with his triple-turn buff and ability to power himself up every time you mess up a clash makes short work of smaller units, which he tries to force you into having by devastating your stamina once the second round starts.
  • Wham Episode:
    • One of the latest trailers recaps the last 8 updates of the game, which were all Dragon Ball GT related. The trailer then ends on Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta confronting Time Breaker Bardock, which revealed that the next batch of updates would be Dragon Ball Online related.
    • The God Mission 9 trailer revealing Xeno Goku and Xeno Vegeta!
    • The final cutscene of God Mission 10 reveals that the Time Breakers have successfully revived their founder, Mechikabura.
    • SDBH 7 ends with Mechikabura assembling all seven Dark Dragon Balls and summoning Dark Shenron.
    • SDBH 8 ends with Mechikabura successfully wishing for eternal youth. The Supreme Kai of Time sacrifices herself to seal away the entire Demon Realm.
    • The 3D trailer for Universe Mission features Super Saiyan Blue Goku fighting Super Saiyan 4 Xeno Goku, Beat turning into Super Saiyan Blue, and Future Trunks in prison.
    • UM 10 ends with the Time Patrol failing to stop Mechikabura from destroying space-time, with only his tower and the Time Nest left remaining.
  • What If?: A large part of the game's appeal (especially to Western fans who can't play it) is how much it indulges in this trope:
    • Most common is giving canon characters new levels of power. As of Big Bang Mission Set 2 (June 2020)...
      • Gohan (normal and Xeno), Broly, and Bardock (normal and Xeno) have all achieved Super Saiyan 4.
      • Vegeta (Saiyan Saga, Majin, GT and Xeno), Trunks (Future, GT, and Xeno), Gogeta (regular and Xeno), Vegito, Raditz, and Nappa have all achieved Super Saiyan 3note .
      • Xeno Vegito can use Kaioken and Super Saiyan at the same time, something which Super said should be impossible. He differs from his canon counterpart by using Super Saiyan 4, since his component forms never achieved the godly transformations.
      • Xeno Goten gets his potential unlocked by Elder Kai.
      • Xeno Trunks gains Super Saiyan God after performing the ritual with his allies.
      • Oceanus Shenron, Haze Shenron, Nuova Shenron and Eis Shenron all get "Super" forms. Oceanus grows into a giant, and the others grow spikes on their bodies.
      • Most of the DBZ movie villains (Garlic Jr., Turles, Lord Slug, Super Android 13, Hatchiyack, Bojack, Super Janemba, Broly, Hirudegarn and most of their henchmen) get Majin power-ups from Babidi and become "Kings of Destruction".
      • Pikkon has a "Super Pikkon" form in which he wears clothing like the South Kai.
      • Demigra has a "Transcended" form, resembling his normal self with elements of his monstrous final form from the first Xenoverse.
      • Mira has a "Rampaging" state and an equivalent to Super Saiyan, as well as his Towa absorbed "Final Form" from Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2 and a form having absorbed Fin.
      • Towa has a "Dark" form and (along with her brother Dabura) got upgraded to Demon Gods by Mechikabura.
      • Dr. Gero perfected his control over the Androids, letting him mind control them into obedience.
      • The Dark Dragon Balls conferred transformations upon the villains bonded with them: Cell became Cell X from Online, Turles went berserk, Janemba became an Evil Demon, and Lord Slug became giant and merged with the Earth itself.
      • The Supreme Kai of Time has a "Power of Time Unleashed" form, where she becomes an adult and gains a halo like Fused Zamasu.
      • Cooler gaining a Golden form just like his brother. Likewise Metal Cooler gets a Golden form, but his artificial body has a harder time controlling it.
      • Goku is temporarily driven insane by Cumber's aura and gains a "Berserk" version of Super Saiyan.
    • Also common are new fusions/combinations:
      • Gotenks is given an adult formnote . Their Time Patrol versions can also fuse into Xeno Gotenks.
      • Gohan and Trunks can fuse into Gohanks; this includes the normal Future incarnations and the Time Patrol versions. As a Cross Promotion with Dragon Ball: Fusions, EX Gohanks was added to the gamenote .
      • Xeno Trunks and Vegeta can Potara fuse into Xeno Vegeks.
      • Kid Buu can absorb Kibito Kai and Babidi; his Xeno incarnation can absorb Dabura and Xeno Janemba.
      • Super 17 can absorb Android 16, Cell, or Android 18 (the latter with Towa's help).
      • Demon King Piccolo can forcibly absorb Kami to achieve his full power.
      • Baby can merge with Janemba, GT Trunks or Hatchiyack.
    • "Xeno" versions of canon characters. For the good guys (Goku, Gohan, Goten, Vegeta, Bardock, Pan) this means joining the Time Patrol alongside Trunks and the Supreme Kai of Time; naturally this also extends to their fused forms like Vegito and Gotenks. For the bad guys, this means joining Towa's Time Breakers, either willingly (Dabura, Paragus) or via brainwashing (Bardock, Xeno Vegeta, Dende, and King Vegeta). Super Dragon Ball Heroes added a new spin on this with the Dark Dragon Balls scattering throughout time and merging with villains (Frieza, Cell, Kid Buu, Turles, Janemba, Lord Slug and Broly).
      • There are also Xeno versions of GT's Shadow Dragons, who were born from the Dark Dragon Balls rather than the Black Star Dragon Balls.

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