The Latest Dragon Ball Game Has Something In Common With Its MMO

Dragon Ball Xenoverse allows players to create their own original player character to take part in the history of Dragon Ball. It’s a fan’s dream, sure, but there’s something familiar about it.

Upon seeing the announcement article, astute commenters quickly noted a similarity between the new original player characters and publicity images released for the MMORPG, Dragon Ball Online.

Dragon Ball Online was an MMORPG that was announced for release in Asia. The game enjoyed a short life span in Korea, Taiwan, and Hong Kong, but ended its service before it became available elsewhere.

Looking over what information remains about the Dragon Ball Online, some overt similarities are quite apparent. Both game allow players to create their own original characters with some of the models being very similar. Both involve stories that focus on time travel and going to various pivotal points in the Dragon Ball history and partake in the battles.

Asked about the relation between Dragon Ball Xenoverse and Dragon Ball Online the producer, Masayuki Hirano, rather than giving a stonewall template response or a shady denial, offered a surprisingly honest answer.

“Dragon Ball Online is a completely separate game. Online is an MMORPG, and for [Dragon Ball Xenoverse] we have made an action game. But that’s a very good question. There are some areas where we are using elements [from Dragon Ball Online] in terms of things like characters and world setting.”

Regardless of whether assets are being reused, Dragon Ball Xenoverse looks cool, and from what I played on the demo, will probably a lot of fun. Dragon Ball Online closed its doors in2013, but Dragon Ball Xenoverse is going to give many fans who never got the chance and opportunity to live out their fantasy.

Dragon Ball Xenoverse is scheduled for release on the PS3, PS4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, and Steam.