Dragon Ball Z: Harukanaru Densetsu First Look

By Ricardo Torres, GameSpotPosted Feb 7, 2007 11:08 am PT

We check out an early version of Atari's upcoming Dragon Ball game for the DS.

Although Atari has found a good deal of success with its series of fighters based on the Dragon Ball license, the publisher is changing up its approach for its latest DS game. The upcoming Dragon Ball Z: Harukanaru Densetsu will depart from the fighting formula seen in 2005's Super Sonic Warriors and let players get their card battle in a turn-based action card game. The work-in-progress game we saw was still in its nascent stage, but we were able to get a sense of what to expect.

Crazy anime card fighting is coming to the Nintendo DS with DBZ Harukanaru Densetsu.

The game follows the board game presentation seen in DBZ: Budokai 2 on consoles and sends you on your way save to the world. But whereas the board game setup drove people insane in Budokai 2 because of its effect on the pacing of a 3D fighter, the more deliberate gameplay in Dragon Ball Z: Harukanaru Densetsu seems like it's going to be a good fit for a card game. The brief demo of the game we saw showed the main player moving around a board and engaging in combat with familiar faces from the series.

The combat system is being touted as easy to pick up and simple to master, which from the look of things so far is about right. You'll be randomly dealt five cards from your deck at the start of a match. Each card will represent one of eight actions, power levels, or guard levels. You'll be able to mix cards to enhance their attributes and yield greater attacks. As you progress, it appears that you'll earn more cards for your deck, which will improve your performance.

The visuals we saw in the demo were mostly 2D in nature but featured special effects to enhance the action. Attacks yielded crazy light shows around the cards initiating them and those taking damage. The audio wasn't fully implemented yet, so the game was mostly silent.

Based on the brief demo we saw, Dragon Ball Z: Harukanaru Densetsu could wind up being a fun little card game for the DS. If the card system really does turn out to be accessible, then it should be an addictive game for the DS, thanks to its multiplayer support for up to four players.

13 Comments

  • Pedro7_2000

    Posted Jun 5, 2007 8:10 am PT

    DBZ 4 Ever!!! They'll never stop 'em. I'm not saying that's a good thing, I just think they'll always be around. Something tells me the multiplayer support won't be Infrastructure online...it'll just be local (like so many other DS games).

  • Jon_Sly

    Posted Mar 22, 2007 6:08 am PT

    When will the DBZ games stop!!!! I have seen enough of them lol. they should make a new game but with the same style of dbz with new characters.I love future trunks and vegeta but I have used them so much there just boring now.

  • apwc

    Posted Feb 28, 2007 6:14 pm PT

    How come Atari never translates the subtitles of their DBZ games? Do you know how hard these games are to talk about?

    "Hey man, you hear about the new Dragon Ball game?"
    "Which one?"
    "Oh you know, Dragon Ball Z: Sudoku Toyota Bushido Shammalammadingdong"
    "No, the last one I played was Dragon Ball Z: Hakkunah Mahtata Sakura."

  • Legacyoftain

    Posted Feb 17, 2007 5:05 pm PT

    While we are at it lets make more Ranma 1/2 games

  • Gobo666

    Posted Feb 15, 2007 8:03 am PT

    Im hoping this games plays like the dbz ccg

  • The_Weekend

    Posted Feb 12, 2007 9:19 pm PT

    I pray hard they will do a remake of the old famicom games for DBZ ... the card battle RPG they had was one of the most unique games ever made back then and it's a classic worth looking into ... Think Super Robot Wars with Dragon Ball!

    I would love to see a better remix, cutscenes and increased difficulty as well ... not to mention some additional stuff to be added ... one can wish hard can't we?!

  • doreensum

    Posted Feb 12, 2007 5:43 pm PT

    Wow...I waited so long for them to redo a classic version of Dragon ball...Hopefully it will be as good as the one we played on the ancient Nintendo console...=)

  • cfamgcn

    Posted Feb 11, 2007 11:35 am PT

    I hope they do a better job than the lousy card game for the GBA...

  • S-Biz

    Posted Feb 9, 2007 10:19 pm PT

    If it's anything like Legendary Super Warriors, it might be worth a check out.

  • ex_nihilo380

    Posted Feb 8, 2007 10:11 am PT

    Im a little afraid of how this will turn out aswel. But I'll see what happends

  • SM42

    Posted Feb 7, 2007 1:28 pm PT

    Oh Jesus, don't get me wrong, I love DBZ, but this is almost destined to be crap.

  • gary_safc

    Posted Feb 7, 2007 1:13 pm PT

    sounds intresting dbz Budokai 2 was my favourite.... so it might work

  • EvilNinjaGabe

    Posted Feb 7, 2007 11:39 am PT

    it looks cool i think _im writing from wii

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