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Cancelled Dragon Ball Games

T

Takao

Banned
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Dragon Ball GT: Transformation 2

In August 2005 Atari released Dragon Ball GT: Transformation for the Gameboy Advance. The game was a spiritual successor to the popular Legacy of Goku series (and in fact was developed under the name Legacy of Goku IV - Buu's Furry being Legacy 3) but ended up being more of a beat 'em up than an action rpg. The game did not receive as much praise as the previous Legacy of Goku games, but just prior to launch multiple video game websites, and retailers began listing a "Dragon Ball GT: Transformation 2" for Gameboy Advance with a Fall 2005 release. As many Atari games were leaked this way (which in fact includes a large amount of their Dragon Ball games) it is safe to assume there was a Transformation 2 in development at Webfoot Technologies at one point. Reason for not coming out could simply be poor sales of the original game, or a lack of willingness to develop original content on the GBA once the DS began to pick up steam. Atari would no longer develop any further Dragon Ball games from this point forward.

Dragon Ball: Red Ribbon Army

This time revealed by a listing on Atari's own website (which also revealed a Legacy of Goku IV - or Transformation), no one truly knows what Red Ribbon Army was other than the fact it was meant to be on the Gameboy Advance. It could be assumed that Red Ribbon Army was an early name for Dragon Ball: Advanced Adventure, however it should be noted that this listing was up in mid 2004. Advanced Adventure wouldn't hit Japan until November 2004, and wouldn't hit North America until mid 2006. Kind of early to announce localization plans.

With that said, the website did offer this description:

On his continuing quest to regain the Dragon Ball which represents the spiritual essence of his beloved grandfather, Goku is horrified to learn that death and destruction seem to be following just behind him. He soon learns that the source of this chaos is the Red Ribbon Army, who are also in hot pursuit of the seven Dragon Balls which, when assembled, will grant their owner a wish.

Goku’s toughest challenge lies ahead as he faces the Red Ribbon’s Evil Generals, Hired Assassins and ultimately the Army’s Muscle Tower. Along the way he will meet interesting characters who will become great allies or terrible foes.
Click to expand...

Dragon Ball Z: Saiyan Smash

In 2003, just prior to the launch of Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 2 for the PS2, Atari announced a new title for the PS2 and Gamecube to be released in the third quarter of 2004. The game would never be heard of from that point onwards. Given the time frame, and platform choices it is probably safe to say the game became Dragon Ball Z: Sagas for the PS2, Gamecube, and Xbox.

Untitled Nintendo Gamecube Project

In a 2002 issue of Gamepro magazine Infogrames (soon to be Atari) Senior Vice President Paul Rinde discussed at lengths about their plans for Dragon Ball video games. He mentioned that they planned on making the Legacy of Goku series a trilogy, and would in fact be able to directly link up with the Gamecube game for bonus materials and such. This title was set to be released in 2003 despite not having a developer attached to the project.

the bolder picture has this trilogy linking literally to a GameCube Dragon Ball Z game that's planned for release some time in 2003. The GameCube game will be a much bigger, enriched product than any of the GBA series, and it will also enhance the gameplay of the GBA games, says Rinde.

The GameCube game will be an action/adventure RPG with some fighting elements similar to The Legacy of Goku. It will be a one-player title, but it will also allow you to play as over 36 Dragon Ball Z characters. The story line, however, is still in the early stages - a developer hasn't even been picked, but the goal is to have the story line connect with the GBA series. Moreover, you'll be able to transfer valuable power-ups, characters, and other cool stuff between the two systems. Rinde also stresses that transferring information from the GameCube version to the handheld version will actually enhance the gameplay in the GBA games.
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The only GameCube Dragon Ball video games would be ports of Budokai, Budokai 2, and Sagas. The action rpg aspect of the game may have eventually evolved into Sagas.

Untitled PlayStation 2 Project

Rinde would go on to discuss a completely different PlayStation 2 Dragon Ball project:

Rinde explains, "The level of complexity will be much different than in the GameCube game. The universe will be much bigger, it won't be part of a trilogy, and it will have its own story line. It will be an action/adventure game with a significant number of fighting elements."

Like the GameCube version, the PS2 title will have over 30 playable characters, but it certainly won't be just a one-player game. Plans so far call for a multiplayer brawl, arena style. Rinde hopes that once Sony finalizes its online strategy (meaning a network that actually exists), the game will support between six to eight players duking it out at the same time. The game will also support multiplayer havoc offline, as well.
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Due to the time frame of release, the game most likely was Budokai for the PS2. However, that game would not feature an online mode (not to be seen until 2007's Wii release of Budokai Tenkaichi 3), an action/adventure mode (has yet to be seen), and featured no arena-style combat (which would be featured in 2005's Budokai Tenkaichi).

Interestingly at E3 2001 Infogrames demoed a PS2 game that did not look like Budokai. Video of the demo can be see here.

Untitled Xbox Project

This is the game that Rinde is the least sure of being released. Of them all it was in the earliest stage.

There are tentative plans for a Dragon Ball Z Xbox game, which Rinde hopes will be released some time in 2003. Rinde stresses, however, that the Xbox version is just an idea since "the demographic of the Xbox right now doesn't fit real well with Dragon Ball." That idea won't become a reality unless the hardware base is expanded and Xbox demographics bround.
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The Xbox would only receive 1 Dragon Ball title, which was a version of 2005's Sagas.

Untitled PC Project

Lastly, Rinde talks about a first person (!!!) Dragon Ball project for PC set to hit shelves at the end of 2002.

Finally, the PC will have a Dragon Ball Z game, too. Rinde isn't saying much about it except the game will be a first-person action game and that it is scheduled for release in time for the holidays at the end of the year. Rinde, though, hints that "we [Infogrames] will be utilizing a proven 3D action engine" to run the game. Quake? Lithtech? It's all conjecture, but Infogrames does publish PC games based on the Unreal engine.
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Interesting to note is that no first person Dragon Ball game would ever be released by Atari. No Dragon Ball game has been released on PC in the past decade. Also, it should be noted that at the time Infogrames would send C&Ds to Dragon Ball fan mod projects on PC, indicating that this may have been a real game.

Motion Controlled Tech Demo for PlayStation and Sega Saturn

gwDuz.jpg


Demoed in March of 1997 by PC Gamewatch of Japan. This tech demo was supposedly a game in development for the PlayStation and Sega Saturn just near the release of Dragon Ball: Final Bout. The demo featured a man on stage using motion sensing technology to battle against foes. The game version was never released. Though motion sensing Dragon Ball games would be available in the late 2000's with Bandai's Let's TV Play line of plug and play video games.

Dragon Ball Z: Cell To Kogeki Da

ZfypE.jpg


Previewed to the Japanese public in 1994 Cell to Kogeki Da would be the first Dragon Ball video game on the 3DO. The concept was simple as you'd be asked to beat up Cell using some sort of boxing glove motion sensing device. The game was never released most likely due to the less than stellar success of the 3DO in Japan.


Huge thanks to the Daizex.com community for gathering a lot of this information together.
 
S

Seven Force

Banned
I remember actually catching wind of that Red Ribbon Army game awhile back and wondering if it was retooled into Advanced Adventure after no other news surfaced about it.

A shame too, the RR saga was one of my favorite arcs.
 
C

Celsior

Member
I am just happy DB:Advance Adventures made it to the Us, found it for 10 bucks a Circuit City, well worth it.
 
I

Ickman3400

Banned
I always hoped for a AAA quality and high budget DBZ console rpg. I wanted one so bad I would have even accepted it being a jrpg, but prefer a more open western style approach.

:(
 
C

Celsior

Member
Ickman3400 said:
I always hoped for a AAA quality and high budget DBZ console rpg. I wanted one so bad I would have even accepted it being a jrpg, but prefer a more open western style approach.

:(
Click to expand...
Sagas was suppose to go through all the DBZ Sagas but it was such a shit game and sold like shit that idea died.
 
T

Takao

Banned
Metalmurphy said:
Wow, it's amazing how similar they are. I think it's because Portuguese broadcasted the French version, but dubbed. I think I remember some titles being in French.
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Most of the European dubs are based on the French dub thanks to the French company AB Groupe having the license for all of Europe.
 
T

Takao

Banned
PumpkinPie said:
I'm amazed they've never made a proper RPG for modern consoles, they obviously don't like money.
Click to expand...

Scamco could probably get the Tales team to make one, but that would require the Tales team to make a game that would have global appeal.
 
S

SpacePirate Ridley

Member
American dub of Dragon Ball and digimon, just to name a few, are fucking horrible. Some of the worst things ive heard in my life, from horrible voices, to horrible rap openings, to directly censoring a whole lot of it.
My question is, why the fuck your voice actors are so good for using them in the majority of american animation and some videogames, but they are so fucking horrible when they try to dub an anime (distributors I mean, as I suppose they dont use the same voice actors).

Takao said:
Most of the European dubs are based on the French dub thanks to the French company AB Groupe having the license for all of Europe.
Click to expand...

Im pretty sure spain has his own license for Dragon Ball. And for spain I mean the one they used for all the communities except the main spanish one. I dont know were the got the spanish (probably tried to dub the catalan one) but is pretty terrible and there lot of dialogue censoring to the point were some scenes make little sense and are fucking laughable.

Catalan, Valenciano, Gallego.... im sure those dubs came directly from the original japanese one.
EDIT: yep. In Spain is Selecta Vision.
 
T

Takao

Banned
Earl Cazone said:
kinect hacks <3

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=18htzk534OY
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Who needs Kinect.

SpacePirate Ridley said:
American dub of Dragon Ball and digimon, just to name a few, are fucking horrible. Some of the worst things ive heard in my life, from horrible voices, to horrible rap openings, to directly censoring a whole lot of it.
My question is, why the fuck your voice actors are so good for using them in the majority of american animation and some videogames, but they are so fucking horrible when they try to dub an anime (distributors I mean, as I suppose they dont use the same voice actors).
Click to expand...

Most voice acting in English anime is good. Dragon Ball and Digimon's dubs were just done in another time where the stuff was solely aimed at children. With the Texas dub of Dragon Ball Z in particular the show was dubbed by people who were picked off the street in an insane amount of time without any money. Sound engineers became major parts of the cast (hello Chris Sabat), etc. It was never going to be a quality product thanks to those conditions.

However, there's almost always been an uncut version of Dragon Ball in English, and Japanese in print in North America. As well, the English dub of Kai is pretty good. Too bad it's Kai, lol.
 
B

Big One

Banned
Takao said:
Scamco could probably get the Tales team to make one, but that would require the Tales team to make a game that would have global appeal.
Click to expand...
I would love something like this, but not sure if it could be done if it actually follows the series from beginning to finish considering you have the factor that Goku - for the most part - worked on his own throughout the series.
 
D

Dedication Through Light

Member
Ickman3400 said:
I always hoped for a AAA quality and high budget DBZ console rpg. I wanted one so bad I would have even accepted it being a jrpg, but prefer a more open western style approach.

:(
Click to expand...

That would be good (well for any of the shounen manga series). I would love one to pull me back into the DBZ universe, last game I played was on the GBA, though I did play demos of newer ones for the sake of it.
 
T

Takao

Banned
Big One said:
I would love something like this, but not sure if it could be done if it actually follows the series from beginning to finish considering you have the factor that Goku - for the most part - worked on his own throughout the series.
Click to expand...

Eh, it's not like they can't take liberties with the story. Action RPGs work pretty well with the franchise, but the most we've ever gotten out of Scamco (not Atari) was a turn based RPG on DS by Monolith.

Lucky Number Seven Force said:
This. LoGII was surprisingly awesome.
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There is a Legacy of Goku III you know. ;) It's Buu's Fury.
 
S

SidVicious

Banned
I used to watch DBZ before school, but the '5 minutes' on Namek totally killed whatever interest I had in the show. It was just impossible to take seriously after that.
 
W

Wazzim

Banned
I totally LOVED DBZ games when I was a little child, even the terrible ones. I heard about a DBZ MMO a couple of years ago but it doesn't seem to be releasing here anytime soon :(
 
R

Red

Member
SidVicious said:
I used to watch DBZ before school, but the '5 minutes' on Namek totally killed whatever interest I had in the show. It was just impossible to take seriously after that.
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Yup. I remember watching the Saiyan saga and loving it, then Frieza rolled around, the English VA changed, and suddenly five minutes was being spread across ten hours. Couldn't stand it after that, except for a few episodes of the Cell Saga.

There were too many instances of cheap looking/reused animation as the series went on, and ultimately I stopped watching before it ended.

I do enjoy some of the earlier DBZ movies. Deadzone, Tree of Life, and The World's Strongest are all on my shelf. Haven't seen much of the others, but I don't really expect they match up.
 
T

Takao

Banned
Crunched said:
I do enjoy some of the earlier DBZ movies. Deadzone, Tree of Life, and The World's Strongest are all on my shelf. Haven't seen much of the others, but I don't really expect they match up.
Click to expand...

You like some of the worst ones...
 
R

Red

Member
Takao said:
You like some of the worst ones...
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I dunno. Once Super Saiyans and fusions were introduced I thought the series got even sillier than it was at the beginning. And considering it starts with men punching holes through mountains that's saying something.
 
T

Takao

Banned
Crunched said:
I dunno. Once Super Saiyans and fusions were introduced I thought the series got even sillier than it was at the beginning. And considering it starts with men punching holes through mountains that's saying something.
Click to expand...

None of that is really out of the ordinary when you consider that men punching holes through mountains happened years after a boy flew on a cloud, found a talking pig that could transform into anything, wished a Dragon for a pair of panties, and defeated a demon king with his legs.
 
T

The Broken Ska Record

Member
Crunched said:
I do enjoy some of the earlier DBZ movies. Deadzone, Tree of Life, and The World's Strongest are all on my shelf. Haven't seen much of the others, but I don't really expect they match up.
Click to expand...
Fusion Reborn is probably the best DBZ movie. It's so fucking off the wall, it's great.
 
R

Red

Member
Takao said:
None of that is really out of the ordinary when you consider that men punching holes through mountains happened years after a boy flew on a cloud, found a talking pig that could transform into anything, wished a Dragon for a pair of panties, and defeated a demon king with his legs.
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I think Dragon Ball is more thematically consistent than Dragon Ball Z. It's almost always lighthearted. DBZ is weird for me. The seriousness seems to clash with the irreverent parts. It starts strong, but once Namek is introduced it stumbles.

Maybe I'm in the minority in thinking that way. I haven't ever seen GT, so I can't speak to that, but I think Dragon Ball overall is a better series than Dragon Ball Z.
 
B

Big One

Banned
Takao said:
Eh, it's not like they can't take liberties with the story. Action RPGs work pretty well with the franchise, but the most we've ever gotten out of Scamco (not Atari) was a turn based RPG on DS by Monolith.
Click to expand...
True but Attack of the Saiyans was primarily based on a period not covered in the Dragonball anime/manga so it kind of worked. I think something like this could work for a Tales of-esque RPG, maybe leading up to a certain saga. I could imagine an expanded version of the very first arc could work well with Goku, Bulma, Yamcha, Krillin, Master Roshi as party members.
 
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