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DragonBall FighterZ Adds A God And A Goku, And Gets Even Better

Eric Van Allen Avatar
Eric Van Allen
DragonBall FighterZ Adds A God And A Goku, And Gets Even Better

Two new fighters joined the Dragon Ball FighterZ cast this week, and both are fusions of characters already in the game. Vegito and Zamasu clearly indicate that the gameplay and design in DBFZ is getting more elaborate; they’re both hard to play and fun as hell.

Screenshot: Dragon Ball FighterZ

(Some spoilers follow for Dragon Ball Super. If you don’t want to know who Goku Black is, stop after the Vegito section.)

Vegito is another Goku. Specifically, he’s Goku and Vegeta fused together through the Potara earrings, so he’s half Goku, half Vegeta. Originally showing up in Z to fight Buu, this game’s blue form Vegito is from his Super incarnation, and his moves reflect his new bag of tricks from the more recent series.

Also, when Gotenks (the fusion of Goten, Goku’s son, and Trunks, Vegeta’s son) calls in Vegito for an assist, he yells “Dads!” Not dad. Dads. God bless whoever made that decision.

I really like Vegito, but maybe that’s just because I like fighters with tricky moves. His 2L (here’s a quick crash course on anime notation) is a leaping punch that looks like it hits low but goes high instead, and his 2M is a pretty decent range low hit, reminiscent of Adult Gohan’s.

In fact, most of Vegito’s basic moves look like a mix between Goku and Gohan, with a little Vegeta for good measure.

While his normal moves throw in some interesting options, there are two attacks in his arsenal that instantly stand out. His 2S, which can be used on the ground or in the air, is a ki sword from Super that can give you some interesting resets on combos by tossing your opponent around. And his grab, one of his special moves, is akin to Broly’s, seizing the opponent and throwing them to the ground.

So at least right now, Vegito’s game plan is a whole lot of combos and resets. A few players have been working through the technical possibilities, but even outside the seven-bar optimised combos, there are some intriguing things Vegito can do to put opponents in the corner and keep them occupied.

I’m not quite sure where Vegito fits yet; right now he’s slotted into my main team at point, mostly because I was desperate there. Overall, he has some potential, but it’s the other fighter in this week’s two-pack that really got the people going. Major Super spoilers follow.

You’re warned!

Zamasu (Fused, as the character select screen notes) is actually just the same character from different timelines fused into one super-narcissist. Those are the Zamasu who took the form of Goku to attain limitless power and the one who still has immortality as a god.

He’s self-obsessed, aggrandising, monologue-laden and generally rules. Goku Black and Zamasu are easily some of the best villains in Dragon Ball history, and FighterZ gives their ultimate form some real respect with a kit that is unlike anything else in the game.

First off, Zamasu can fly and hover a little bit. It’s an interesting problem for opponents to deal with and like a superior version of Dhalsim’s hover in Street Fighter 5.

The former Kai apprentice can also summon orbs – or maybe blades is a better word – that sit behind him before automatically firing at different intervals, depending on your input. And he has some great supers that combo well with most characters, but especially Goku Black and Frieza.

So to recap: He can fly, he has big supers, and he has the Dragon Ball version of Fate‘s Gate of Babylon. He’s fucking cool! But he’s highly specialised and not as easy to slot in as other fighters because his tools are so different.

He’s also harder to play than most characters for me so far. Zamasu means more to consider; more branches in setplay; and more complex inputs, strings and optimisations.

Bardock, Broly and Vegito all have their own quirks and capabilities, but Zamasu feels like the most unique character in Dragon Ball FighterZ‘s downloadable fighter rollout. With his float and ability to stagger pressure from a distance – among other things – Zamasu incorporates concepts from DBFZ and fighting games in general in a way that no fighter has yet in the game.

Play him for just a few minutes and it will immediately become clear that pros are going to do incredible things with this character.

So on the competitive side, watch for a lot more teams being built around Zamasu. A team with him at point or anchor backed up by Kid Buu, Gotenks or Vegeta sounds like a nightmare. Somehow, two more Gokus (well, half-Gokus) were added to Dragon Ball FighterZ and it hasn’t gotten annoying yet.

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