Since this is a DBZ-inspired fighting game, you know that ki and momentum are going to come into play somehow. In the show, the fighters need to build ki in order to perform special attacks. They typically do this by staying in one spot, grimacing at their opponent, and grunting for a long time. It's pretty much the same in the game. By holding the L button, you can build a character's ki. At certain percentage levels, you can tap the A and B buttons to perform a variety of projectile, combination, and finishing moves. Momentum is represented by a gauge at the top of the screen. The indicator starts out in the middle, but it moves off to the side as a character lands combinations or forces his opponent to block multiple times. When the indicator reaches the edge, the character being pummeled is stunned. That allows the character with the upper hand to land an extra combination, perform a ki attack, or even execute a heavy attack that can knock the stunned character completely off the screen and into a mountain or building in the background. Between the ki attacks, the momentum gauge, and being able to kick an opponent off the screen, DBZ: Supersonic Warriors does an excellent job of capturing the aggressive nature of the TV show.
Akira Toriyama's original artwork was used to put together character portraits and cinema scenes.
It's impressive how much the game looks and sounds like the TV show, especially considering how badly other games have missed the mark in the past. The 2D character sprites are large and nicely animated, and they look exactly like the characters from the cartoon. They use the same kicks, punches, and projectile attacks too--attacks like the big bang attack, the cosmic crusher, and the kamehameha are just as spectacular in the game as they are on the show. The backdrops are colorful and vaguely reminiscent of familiar Dragon Ball Z locations, but there isn't much in the way of fine detail, and there isn't that much going on in them either. Most likely, this is a consequence of the zoom effect that's used to scale down the characters and scenery whenever two fighters move away from one another. Fans of Akira Toriyama's original artwork will be pleased to know that many of the character portraits and cinematic scenes were lifted directly from the show's animation cells. Like in the previous game, the music and sound effects are woefully generic. This time out, however, there are voice effects accompanying many of the heavy and super attacks in the game--taken from recordings of the actual English voice actors.
Dragon Ball Z: Supersonic Warriors is the portable fighting game that Dragon Ball fans have been wanting for a long time. The developers managed to strike a balance between the kinds of things that ought to be in any decent fighting game and the kinds of things that fans of the show want to be able to do.
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