I’m too old to have been a Dragon Ball Z fan (look, I was 25 when it premiered in the West, and I was taking my newspaper career very seriously at that time, OK) and I’ve never been much of a fighting games player. But goddamn if Dragon Ball Fighter Z hasn’t charmed the pants off me.
Here is the opening cinematic for the game, launching Jan. 26, 2018 on PlayStation 4, Windows PC and Xbox One. It is as straight, fine cut Arc System Works an intro as there ever was, still working within the Dragon Ball millieu: relentless guitar and thrash vocals; motion blur and electrified explosions; and plenty of >;-) smirks with the occasional constipated face, as Dragon Ball FighterZ introduces the roster.
For the record, that’s: Goku, Vegeta, Trunks, Gohan, Piccolo, Krillin, Yamcha, Tien, Androids 18 and 16, Nappa, Captain Ginyu, Frieza, Cell, Majin Buu, Kid Buu, Gotenks, Hit, Goku Black and Beerus. I don’t know who any of those guys are but I want to find out now.
Yesterday my best friend came over to drop off a Christmas gift (booze) and told me he’d leveled up a bunch of characters in Street Fighter 5 without even knowing how to block, until his brother-in-law came over and whooped his ass. This is the fighting games community I run with, gang. But I get the feeling that, even in our incompetent hands, Dragon Ball FighterZ will still be a riot. Mark me down as looking forward to it.