Dragonball FighterZ Season 3 Battle Intros Ranked
Dragonball FighterZ is a beautiful fighting game made by the legends at ArcSystemWorks. It perfectly encapsulates the feel and looks of the anime, tied with a solid battle system for this amazing 2D fighter.
But, beyond the tight battle system, there lies an often very overlooked inclusion: the battle intros!
The intros have a lot of care put into them yet most of the time, in online battles, they’re skipped completely. It’s a shame since alongside the cool visuals are unique interactions amongst certain characters.
It’s such a cool addition because it allows us fans to make dream interactions come true. One of my favorite ones is between GT Goku and Kid Buu, where Goku says, “Wait. If you’re here where’d Uub go?”
I cannot fathom how much that makes me happy, and we’ll talk about Uub another time, but you can tell there was care put into the intros. So, let’s rank the intros starting from the newcomers of FighterZ Pass 3. This is based solely on visuals, and a bit of personal bias. Remember: the points are made up and the ranks don’t matter!
Quick Note: The gifs I’ve used here are taken from AurochSpirit on Youtube. The original video is called, “Dragon Ball FighterZ All Intros”. With that out of the way, let’s begin!
Number 5 : Gogeta (Super Saiyan 4)
Gogeta Super Saiyan 4 takes the number five spot. Now, I know what you’re thinking, and I wanted to give him the number one spot. But compared to the others, this one is fairly generic.
His godly counterpart has a much more visually striking intro. Gogeta Blue’s intro plays with multiple angles and has some neat visual effects. Also, I think it’s cooler to have Gogeta Blue stay in his base form, says his line, then power up.
He loses a couple points because the lip-syncing for a lot of his English lines leave much to be desired. But I don’t want to complain since this is a problem for a lot of the cast, but I noticed it more here.
Verdict: Although Gogeta 4 seemed to have shaken the world, especially with that insane insta-kill and cool-looking moves, his intro isn’t much to write home about. It’s like Gotenks’, but with some new effects. I adore that they’re showing Dragonball GT some much-needed love, and I think Gogeta’s intro is fine, but the others really steal the show for me.
Number 4 : Master Roshi
Next up is the Turtle Hermit himself, Master Roshi! His intro is based on a bit of animation from Dragonball Super during the Resurrection F story. It occurs when Roshi and the other Z Warriors have to fight off the Frieza Force. I like the way it shows Roshi’s skill and speed, but I think this was a missed opportunity.
I would’ve liked the devs to lean more into that ‘Turtle Hermit’ idea. There’s not a single instance of Turtle, Roshi’s friend/pet turtle, showing up in his moveset or intro and outro. The only time turtles, in general, are mentioned are in the names of some of his specials.
What most predicted for Roshi’s intro was him riding in on Turtle spinning at lightning speed with his iconic purple turtle shell and orange button-up giving us the peace sign.
Even his interactions, while very charming and very teacher-like, don’t really show off that Master Roshi charm! With only four female characters, his signature trait can’t really shine through with that aspect (with one of them being a teenage Videl, so you better watch yourself Roshi, or else Krillin is gonna come speeding by to lock you up!)
But times have changed and I guess they wanted to lean away from that aspect of the character. Even in Super, Roshi has taken a backseat when it comes to involvement in the plot and when he does get some time to shine, they try to train him to be less perverted.
Not a bad change, but I thought Roshi would be the joke character in this game, only to find out he’s the most technical one! Roshi gets extra points for not only letting you see your team when he’s flipping his cane but because he calls Broly (DBZ), Broccoli.
Verdict: Roshi has a striking intro that shows why he earned the title ‘Master’ in front of his name. But, as you’ll see, there are just more active intros that will leave you jaw-dropping (Maybe not JAW-dropping, but they’ll be impressive for sure!) His appearance in this game is based on Super, rather than Z or the original. And while he doesn’t have his Jackie Chun costume as we’d hoped, he’s still a top-notch character!
Number 3 : Goku (Ultra Instinct)
This is a bit of a hot take, but I think UI Goku’s intro is smack dab in the middle of the Season 3 newcomers.
It definitely looks very cool and references Goku during the Tournament of Power unlocking the true form of Ultra Instinct. I think Goku falling before the fight looks sick, and, amazingly, you can see your teammates from that bird’s eye view.
Despite that, he is still only ok. The falling is very nice, and the holy nature of the intro proves that Goku has finally tapped into the power of the gods. The intro itself doesn’t do MUCH, though. Goku falls, breathes in, then puts his eye into the camera.
In addition, he loses points for two reasons. First, there is no reason not to have Ultra Instinct -Sign- as an alternate costume. They have the model in Goku Blue and Kefla’s Dramatic Finish, which further confuses me. The only difference is in the hair, where instead of being a full silver color, it’s only a silver outline. Personally, I think it looks cooler and it’s a crime not to include it.
The second point is that his interactions are very limited. He has some with 17, Frieza, Jiren, Vegeta, Kefla, and a few more. But when it comes to some of Goku’s friends like Yamcha or Krillin, he just says one line unique to that big group of friends. I want Goku to talk to these characters, rather than have them all under one big umbrella with a generic quote.
Verdict: UI Goku is fun to play as, and his intro encapsulates what Ultra Instinct is all about, but it isn’t quite at the top. It stumbles with a limited pool of interactions and not much in the way of pizzazz.
Number 2 : Super Baby 2
Super Baby 2 at number 2. Pretty fitting, if I do say so myself. I gotta say, I’m a big Baby fan, so don’t expect bias NOT to be present. Anyways, I gave this spot to the Tuffle engineered parasite because, I mean, IT’S SO COOL!!!
The way it starts with Baby having already infected Vegeta and is now assuming control is perfect for the character. And I’m glad it wasn’t just Vegeta already infected and then he powers up (aka Cooler style where he’s already in his fourth form, then powers up to his final form) Baby infects Vegeta, and we get a little glimpse of Super Baby 1, and as darkness fully envelops Vegeta’s body, Super Baby 2 starts taking shape before revealing himself.
Awesome. I’m glad they went with his second form, too. While Super Baby 1 did a better job of showing an infected Vegeta, this one just gives him his own identity. We have plenty of Gokus already in this game, Vegeta doesn’t need to join the party.
Seriously though, Goku does not need so many slots just for him. Think about it: We have Base Goku, Super Saiyan Goku, Super Saiyan Blue Goku, Goku GT, Ultra Instinct Goku, and Goku Black. And if you want to get technical with it: Gogeta Blue AND 4, Vegito, and Bardock.
…Oh yeah! Super Baby 2. He’s got a great intro with amazing visual flair and references but is held back by one major flaw. His interactions.
Now, UI Goku had some poor interaction game, but they weren’t bad. A lot of characters reacted to Goku using UI against them funnily and interestingly. But with Baby, it’s like he doesn’t even exist. Baby has a few lines, and while they’re amazing lines, there aren’t many and NONE of the cast from my knowledge even acknowledges him.
And I get it, Baby didn’t really involve himself with a lot of the Z Warriors and technically GT takes place in the future so they wouldn’t even know him at this point, but give us something.
Just have adult Gohan say, “I’ve been training recently, so you won’t be infecting me this time!” or have GT Goku, the guy I thought would already have something to say to Baby, exclaim, “I’ll pay you back for what you did to Vegeta and all the others!”
Verdict: Awesome intro held back by Baby seemingly not existing on the same plane of existence as the rest of the cast.
Number 1: Kefla (True Legendary Super Saiyan)
Our winner here is Kefla, the fusion of Saiyans from Universe 6. She is the fusion of the brash and battle-ready Caulifla, and the shy yet powerful Legendary Super Saiyan, Kale. I don’t know if Kale is supposed to be the Broly of her universe, but I wouldn’t mind interaction between the two legends.
Kefla won because of how quick it feels. Kefla is FAST. And as soon as the two Saiyans fuse, Kefla is already dashing around at Mach speed before stopping on a dime and the dust lagging behind her.
I like that she’s in her Super Saiyan form, but it doesn’t make much sense that she’s like that right off the bat. If Kale and Caulifla were Super Saiyans before fusing, sure, but I’d make it so that after she stops and the dust follows, she powers up, but that’s just me.
Another cool thing they could’ve added was if Kefla stopped right behind the opponent to show them how outclassed they are. It’d fit her personality. She did this during the Tournament of Power when she first fused and was showing off in her base form in front of Super Saiyan God Goku. She moved at lightning speed behind him and left Goku amazed.
I know it’d be hard because characters like Beerus, Goku Black, and the fusions aren’t actually present at the scene until their intro ends, but the guys at ArcSys are legends.
Verdict: Fun character with an even better intro. Shows off her personality well and is probably the best intro amongst the fusion characters.
Conclusion
The rankings go as follow:
#1- Kefla (True Legendary Super Saiyan)
#2- Super Baby 2
#3- Ultra Instinct Goku
#4- Master Roshi
#5- Super Saiyan 4 Gogeta
Kefla is our winner here. Hooray! (Hooray!) She started off the FighterZ Pass 3 with a bang, so she definitely deserves that spot.
Preview:
References:
AurochSpirit (Youtube)