The is a series of
fighting games based on the ''
Dragon Ball'' franchise. The first game was developed by
Arc System Works
, commonly referred to as ArcSys, is a Japanese video game developer and publisher located in Yokohama. Founded by Minoru Kidooka in 1988, the company is known for arcade 2D fighting game franchises, including ''Guilty Gear'' and ''BlazBlue'', a ...
and
Cavia
''Cavia'' is a genus in the subfamily Caviinae that contains the rodents commonly known as guinea pigs or cavies. The best-known species in this genus is the domestic guinea pig, ''Cavia porcellus'', a meat animal in South America and a common ...
and was released for the
Game Boy Advance
The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console developed, manufactured and marketed by Nintendo as the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, in North America on June 11, 2001, in the PAL region on June 22, ...
on June 22, 2004. A sequel, ''Supersonic Warriors 2'', was released in 2005 for the
Nintendo DS.
Gameplay
''Supersonic Warriors'' pits either two players or two teams composed of up to three characters from the ''Dragon Ball'' franchise against each other in large environments. The player can use strong and weak variations of close combat attacks, and charge their ''
ki'' to fire strong and weak energy blasts. Each character also has three unique "Certain Kill" abilities that deal heavy damage to the opponent. The Certain Kill ability varies depending on where the player is located - above, below or horizontal to the opponent.
Games
''Supersonic Warriors''
is the first game in the ''Supersonic Warriors'' series and the ninth ''
Dragon Ball'' game released for Nintendo handheld devices overall (preceded by ''
Dragon Ball Z: Taiketsu'' and followed by ''
Dragon Ball Z: Buu's Fury''.
It was developed by
Arc System Works
, commonly referred to as ArcSys, is a Japanese video game developer and publisher located in Yokohama. Founded by Minoru Kidooka in 1988, the company is known for arcade 2D fighting game franchises, including ''Guilty Gear'' and ''BlazBlue'', a ...
and
Cavia
''Cavia'' is a genus in the subfamily Caviinae that contains the rodents commonly known as guinea pigs or cavies. The best-known species in this genus is the domestic guinea pig, ''Cavia porcellus'', a meat animal in South America and a common ...
for
Banpresto
(formerly Coreland Technology Inc.) was a Japanese video game video game development, developer and video game publisher, publisher headquartered in Shinagawa, Tokyo. It had a branch in Hong Kong named Banpresto H.K., which was headquartered in t ...
and released for the
Game Boy Advance
The (GBA) is a 32-bit handheld game console developed, manufactured and marketed by Nintendo as the successor to the Game Boy Color. It was released in Japan on March 21, 2001, in North America on June 11, 2001, in the PAL region on June 22, ...
on June 22, 2004. The game offers a variety of modes that the player can choose from, and when completed, can earn points to unlock various characters and missions.
Playable characters
Story Mode
In this game mode, the player selects one of sixteen different stories to follow a core narrative - there are three Z-Stories which roughly follow the canon of the DBZ Manga and Anime across the Namek, Android and Majin Sagas from numerous characters, and thirteen Character Stories for each of the thirteen playable characters, many of which show alternate 'What If' outcomes to the DBZ story. In each story the player fights through a series of six to eight opponents, which follow the original Dragon Ball Z anime storyline in the chosen characters’ perspective. The story mode is presented through short scenes; where long texts associated with pictures and scenery are involved.
Once a scene is done, the player must fight an opponent, continue with the scene, and fight again against computer AI, where the next opponent is slightly more difficult than the previous.
As the storyline progresses, the character gains new abilities that enhance the players’ gameplay experience, allowing for more strategic battle combinations.
Once the story is completed, the player will gain points that they can spend in the options mode to unlock new characters in order to engage in the storyline from another characters perspective, battling different opponents.
If the player is able to defeat all opponents without dying once in a story, a certain number of stories give players a bonus fight, extending the storyline as a special reward.
Challenge Mode
The player selects three characters to form a team and must battle against pre-set enemy teams that are generated by the computer AI.
Character selection cannot exceed level four, and in order to defeat the enemy team, the player must fully utilize their three chosen characters’ abilities.
Only after defeating the first enemy team, the player can unlock new teams to fight against until the mode is completed.
Defeating the challenge mode grants the greatest number of points that can be spent in the options menu, allowing for a wider variety of character combinations for teams.
Z Battle Mode
In Z battle mode the player chooses a character, and must battle against 8 enemies, however after completing a round of Z battle mode, the chosen character is given a ranking.
As the player defeats more opponents with a single character, the ranking of that character will increase and various statistics are given, allowing players to continuously build on various characters to complete their full ranking. All rankings and statistics are viewed in the options mode under the rankings tab.
Free Battle Mode
Free battle mode unchains all restrictions that are placed from the other modes, allowing for a free range of battles for any combination of enemies. The player can choose from any character that is available or unlocked, and there are no limits to the levels corresponding to the characters.
The mode engages in either a 1on1 or team style of fighting, where the player can choose their own enemies to fight or a random enemy through the random generator.
Link Vs. Mode
Within this game mode, the player leaves the domain of computer AI battles in order to battle against another human player.
This game mode can offer a range of battle combinations, movement, and reactions that cannot be executed by the computer AI enemies. Two Game Boy Advances, a link cable are required to play in this mode in order to connect the two players together.
''Supersonic Warriors 2''
is the second and final game in the series. It was published by
Atari and released in 2005 for the
Nintendo DS. Featuring an expanded roster, the game saw the return of all thirteen characters from the first game alongside two new additional characters from the ''Dragon Ball Z'' movies -
Cooler
A cooler, portable ice chest, ice box, cool box, chilly bin (in New Zealand), or esky ( Australia) is an insulated box used to keep food or drink cool.
Ice cubes are most commonly placed in it to help the contents inside stay cool. Ice packs a ...
and
Broly
is a fictional character in the '' Dragon Ball'' media franchise. Two different versions of the character exist: the original Broly, a major villain created by anime screenwriter Takao Koyama who appeared in a trilogy of 1990s '' Dragon Ball Z'' ...
. It also saw a selection of support characters which could be unlocked to provide assistance in battle via special moves or a revival option. The returning Story Mode introduced a branching path system where battles would be unlocked if certain conditions are met. These alternate outcomes would lead to special "What If" storylines.
Playable characters
Reception
''Supersonic Warriors''
''Supersonic Warriors'' was met with average reception upon release, as
GameRankings gave it a score of 73%,
[ while ]Metacritic
Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...
gave it 73 out of 100.[
]
''Supersonic Warriors 2''
''Supersonic Warriors 2'' was met with a little more mixed reception than the first game; GameRankings gave it a score of 70%,[ while Metacritic gave it 66 out of 100.][
]
References
External links
Official Japanese Bandai site
Official Japanese Banpresto site
*
*
{{ course assignment , course = Education Program:University of Toronto Mississauga/CCT110: The Rhetoric of Digital and Interactive Media Environments (S2014) , term = 2014 Q1
2004 video games
2005 video games
Arc System Works games
Cavia (company) games
Supersonic Warriors
Game Boy Advance games
Nintendo DS games
Shueisha franchises
Video games developed in Japan